The car was given to me from my parents when I turned 16 the next year, THANX MOM & DAD! I drove the car every day throughout high school. The only problem in those four years was that the transmission gaskets began to fall apart and leak from the car sitting and now being driven daily. The car was then repainted in the winter of 1998, staying with the factory color.Begining college at the University of Cincinnati, I bought another car for daily transportation and could then begin to rebuild the Monte Carlo. By now I had racked the odometer up to 90,000 miles :(
Over the winter of 2001, I managed to located a partially assembled rebuilt 350 motor to replace the old, but very reliable, 267. In November I drove the from Ohio to Kansas to pick it up. The deal for outwayed the 1,600 mile drive. The 350 was partially assembled and consisted of: .040 bore block still in plastic from machine shop with new pistons, rods, Comp Xtreme Energy Cam, bearings & seals; rebuilt and assembled 882 heads also in plastic, brand new Edelbrock Performer Intake, new Edelbrock 600cfm elec. choke carb.
With the help from a high school friend and his shop, Angelo's Automotive, we were able to pull the 267 out in what seemed to be a matter of minutes. THANX NICK & ANGELO! I then had the car towed back to my house, THANX JIMMY, to clean and detail the now empty engine bay. After a thorough cleaning and about six cans of high temp paint the bay was looking a little better. I also removed the old fiberglass hood insulation to repaint the underside of the hood. While I was at it, the door jams also got resurfaced and a fresh coat of paint. During this down time and some winter savings, I ordered all of the finishing pieces for the motor including: Heddman Headers, Hypertech Ignition System, Accel Wires, Mallory Tach (THANX MARK), Auto Meter Oil Pressure and Temp Gauges, Chevrolet valve covers, water and fuel pumps, and belts and hoses.
Finally on Daytona 500 Sunday February 17, 2002 the motor was first started. I ended up driving the car back home that day, little loud with open headers but only going a half mile. The car then died about half way home. To make a long story short, remember to remove the fuel line plug before hooking it back up to the fuel pump!
Since the car did not come with a factory tach I decided to custom mount the Mallory tach in place of the factory clock (where the factory tach would have been located). I did not want to cut-up the interior of the car so I also mounted the oil and temp gauges in place of the center vent.
I decided to go with 3" duals with 40 Series FlowMasters dumped at the rear axle. Tri State Muffler ran this and also notched the cross-member, they did a great job.
