engine/drivetrain

Whether or not you want to admit it, a stock Monte Carlo SS is not a fast car. With 90,000 miles and a blown head gasket, mine definitely needed some help in the performance department. To fix this, I have installed a new GM Goodwrench 350. Even though there are no emissions tests in Nebraska, I thought it would be a good challenge to make an engine that performed well and still was legal in all 50 states. I have retained all of the emission equipment and replaced everything that goes on the engine with new parts as well as added a few emission legal performance parts.

The first thing I did was borrow my friend Matt and his truck. We went down to the local Chevy dealership and picked up a new Goodwrench 350.

Then I got out the Summit catalog and ordered an Edelbrock Performer EGR intake, cam and TES headers. To hold everything together, an ARP bolt kit was also ordered.

Deciding which transmission to use was easy. I already had the TH200-4R, so why not get it rebuilt? Overdrive sure is nice!
Before			After

This is my first try at an engine swap, so I made sure to have the right tools to do it. An engine hoist and stand are mandatory. The old engine came out and the new one went in pretty smoothly. The only problem I ran into was the hoist almost touched the front bumper cover. I didn't want to destroy the front end, so I took it of as a precaution.

Here is the new engine in the car. The cam, harmonic balancer and Performer intake manifold are installed.

This is with all the stuff hooked up. Where'd the engine go?