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I have just beat a Monte Carlo SS in a race today. Can anynoe tell me how fast they are? It was the boxy style (probably around 90'ish) White with red letters in the back reading Monte Carlo SS. I raced it from a stop light to about 90 mph and beat it by a few carlengths. On the top end, my car seemed to pull away from him. We also raced from about 70 to 110mph later on and i passed him by about 2 car lengths. Doing those ultimate TBI mods w/ AFPR really helped. What do those SS's run in the 1/4?
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Pat Hirsz www.iit.edu/~hirspat/MyPage2.htm
88 305TBI
Mods:Hooker Aerochamber 3" exhaust, gutted kitty, March pullies, no smog, 180 thermo,
14x4 K&N, 3.42 gears, Ultimate TBI Mods,AFPR,
Eibach springs with KYB's all around,
Harwood cowl hood, Z-28 wing, fresh paint(black)
120,000 miles, 5spd, T-tops
Edelbrock Performer TBI w/ MSD ignition & wire getting installed next week,slp headers on its way
Stuffing a 305 into a Monte and calling it an SS wasn't one of GM's better ideas. The car has good looks but is lacking in performance. The true muscle car from that era is actually the Buick Grand National.
I can't find my magazine article on the SS. From the factory it ran something like 15.2 at 87 mph in the 1/4. It's a big car with only a 305. Now being a G-body car it's easy to drop any type of big block into it. Chev, Olds, Buick, Pontiac or Caddy to make it a real performer.
87 IROC-Z Pro ET Bracket Race Car
383 stroker (carbed) with double hump cast iron heads and pump gas
461 Big Block installed and ready for the 2001 racing season
Best results before the 383 blew up
Best ET on a time slip: 11.857 altitude corrected to 11.163
Best MPH on a time slip: 117.87 altitude corrected to 126.10
Altitude corrected rear wheel HP based on power to weight ratio: 476.5
Best 60 foot: 1.662
Racing at 3500 feet elevation but most race days it's over 5000 feet density altitude!
Member of the Calgary Drag Racing Association
if a 305 stock monte-car-slow runs that then my huffy must run 10's the , all the monte's at the track pull 16 1/4 times but, the buicks gn run 13's what a differance
That site is pretty cool. I love how some of those monte carlos look. Especially in black. It was definitely a fourth gen that i raced, but i really don't know the year. I checked the site and they only put out 180 hp. stock. That's 10 hp more then my car stock. I don't feel so good anymore. I thought i beat a larger competitor.
Bone stock the 83 - 88 would run as slow as 16.7's and as quick as 15.9's depending on the options (peg leg, t-tops, fully loaded), who was driving, and track conditions. With a mild "trick-tune", they could run as fast as 15.20's with 26x8.5 slicks. My 85 factory fresh could only do 16.2's, bump of the timing and a couple of tricks to the carb it ran 15.78 - still basically "stock". Headers, no cat, and a few more carb tricks - 15.27. Intake and cam - 14.89. Not untill nitrous - 12.97 - did the car really become fun. However, that was the 80's and there are stock LS1 cars with slick running that off the showroom floor now!!!!
Don't feel that that wasn't a good kill. Most Montes are modified from stock because of the stock performance (not as good as looks would lead you to believe).
I probably have one of the very few with no mods - I'm trying to keep my 83 original - there were just over 4,700 made in 1983 and very few remain. In addition, I haven't come across another 83 that has no mods yet...
my best friend has a 1985 Monte Carlo SS. with the anemic 305/200R4/3.73gear out the 10bolt and he has run a best of 15.6 with never even touching anything on the car, and the car smokes enough oil to look like a factory (not really that bad, but bad enough). and he is rebuilding his carb and some minor replacement stuff to make it into the low 15s, but stock montes ran 16.2 1/4 from GM. and yes he is a great driver. he grew up in drag racing so he knows what he is doing and when to shift. but still his car is faster than most stock montes.
but it will never be as fast as my car!!! and he knows it.
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Jarrad
1990 IROC-Z L98 350 TPI
TH-700R4
G92- 7.5" 10 Bolt 3.23gears
Bright Red Hardtop/ Grey Custom Interior
5,507 IROC's; 2,415 5.7L IROC's Produced in 1990
the Monte Carlo SS are slow as hell i raced one the other day in the qauretr and beat it by at least six or seven car lengths. if my car is running a 16.1 in the quarter, then the montes are running a at least a 16.7
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Steve
88 Firebird TBI - Open Element, Cat Delete
1/4: 16.1@85
Well i guess my buddy had a factory freak 87 MC SS cuz his ran 15.0s all day long bone stock. At least the later ones all came with 3.73 gears, and their stock converter stalls at 2-2200 rpms (at least my friends did.) Then remember that the L69 is one mighty engine for only being a 305.
Any MC SS running in the 16s must have been missing a spark plug or 2 (and been running in 90' heat with a poorly prepped track.) And if you throw a magazine # at me i'm gonna throw a rock back at you.
...ed
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Ed Maher - Moderator @ The Carb Board 92 Z28 Convertible - Quasar blue / Tan top
LB9 4L60 GU2 G80 - stock, soon to be sleeper -=ICON Motorsports=-
- Definitely prototypes, high powered mutants of some kind. Too weird to live, too cool to die
i have an 87 ss stock with 3;73 rear i dont know what i run but its most likely mid to high 15,s 15.0 on a stock ss must be a factory freak because that is too good for a stock l69
Ed,, Almost every SS I tested (over 15 - from 83s to 87s) factory fresh would run in the 16.2 - 15.9 range on the Vericom - which was and is accurate to within .12 at the track each time it's been tested.
My 1985 SS was used in Hypertech's chip R&D and the guy doing all the number crunching (and Mark Heffington -owner of Hypertech at that time) were amazed that my SS pulled down a 15.92 with the tester and the equipment in,, and on the car. He showed me the data from the other five 1985 and two 86 SSs tested. All done at the same spot with 5th wheel test equipment and on slicks (to rule out hook problems). The slowest was a 16.70, a few were running around 16.40, most in the 16.20 range, the next quickest to my 15.92 was a 16.08. I've still got the R&D chip that worked best - I had to lower the base timing back to 6 degrees for it to run better than the stock chip set at 10 degrees,, but that's a different story all together.
Still based on my personal tuning experience with SS Monte Carlos (over 15) and being privy to Hypertech's R&D data (7 tested at that time),,, yep,, factory freak would be a nice way to explain damn near a second difference between 22 stock SSs and your buddy's 15.0 SS. You sure this buddy was not yanking your chain?
also, how is a Monte Carlo SS running mid 15's with a carburator, when i ran a 16.1 in my 305/TBI firebird? i thought i have more hp stock, and weigh less. what is up? (although i went to the track stock).
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Steve
88 Firebird TBI - Open Element, Cat Delete K&N filter 14*4 element
1/4: 16.1@85.7
the monte ss weighs anywhere from 3400-3600 depending on the year and the motor is rated at 180hp@4800 and 240lbs@4800. i have seen tests done on the montes and they range anywhere from high 16s to mid 15s . 87-88 ss,s were the quickest montes and the 83 got the lg4 so it was really probably a mid 16 second car. i have a stock 87 that runs anywhere from 15.5 - 15.7 depending on the day and temp. i dont know much about the firebird or camaro ratings since i have been a g body guy (dont worry guys i think f bodies are really cool too) but just because you have tpi doesnt nessacarily mean you have a more powerful motor. i know a guy that swapped from the q jet to a tpi setup on a 305 l69 and actually lost power. a carb can make great power if tuned right. a ti is more efficiant but a carb is not as bad as some people think it is like i said if it is tuned the right way it make great power
I think the monte carslow was a joke gm pulled. I don't know what they were thinking but, it has to be. maybe thats why all the 5.0 guys I talk to say they like them. (because they pose no threat what so ever)
First, the 1983 Monte SS got the L69. In fact, all Monte SS's had L69's from the factory. ...by the way, I own an 83. The difference in the 83 is that the HP rating is a little lower than later years.
Second, the Monte Carlo SS was made simply to fulfill NASCAR requirements at that time. The standard Monte was an aerodynamic brick and the newly restyled Thunderbird was killing them. In 1983, they made just enough of them to be able to call them production cars by NASCAR standards (some of you remember a certain #3 Monte started a serious winning streak in this timeframe). In typical GM fashion, they didn't understand their market and in later years needed to make alot more than NASCAR mandated to fulfill demand. They never intended to actually sell that many. They did anyway.
Third, any honest Monte SS owner will plainly tell you that the stock SS is pretty slow, especially by today's standards. For this reason, you will struggle to find many true stock examples. But don't fool yourself, year for year, the speed difference between similar year SS's and Camaros (5.7 TPI's excluded) are small enough that a slight difference in driver ability will determine the winner. ALso for cars of this vintage, good maintenance plays a very important role in the performance of it at this point in time. So a stock for stock comparison will provide an indication, not an absolute answer.
Fourth, GM made a mistake in 1983. The Monte SS was actually faster stock than the Z28. I have the magazine articles from 83/84 to back this up. In 1984, the engine options were changed in the Z28 to overcome this mistake. From this point forward, I can assure you that the top-of-the-line Camaro (Z28, IROC, whatever) was always slightly faster. This was GM product positioning.
Fifth. For those of you that can remember, there were very few performance cars available in the early 1980's. Sure there were Covettes, Camaros, etc., but the SS was a very unique car in it's day. ...and 180hp was alot in those days.
Sorry for the long post. I love my IROC and SS equally and enjoy the opportunity to point out the relative strengths of each one.
anybody got pics of what an 85 monte carlo looks like. Someone is offering to sell me it for a good price except i hope its not one of those really old type monte carlos. Im looking for the one thats from 87' to 89' do they look the same for the 85' please post some pics
anyone can give me some information on 85' monte carlo's plain or SS. I plan on getting one and want to know hp rating(car has orignal 305)1/4 mile anything they can on an 1985 monte carlo. thanks
If memory serves there was a post 86 Monte SS "fastback" as I call them.It had a different rear windshield glass. Those came w/the TPI 350. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure of it.
Those were called Aerocoupes. The trunk deck was shortened by a sloping rear window, rather than the vertical window on the "normal" SS (called a notchback). The Aerocoupes are mechanically identical to the notchback SS's, other thanthe rear window modifications. This means that all Aerocoupes also got the L69 305HO from the factory just like the notchbacks.
Just like the "orignial" SS in 1983, these cars were made for only one reason - to beat the Thunderbirds in NASCAR. (IMO, they are kinda ugly.) These Aerocoupes were an aerodynamic improvement over the notchbacks and again GM only made enough to appease the NASCAR production numbers (Pontiac also made an aerocoupe version of the Grand Prix in this timeframe). These Areocoupes were only made in 86 (200 were made) and 87 (6,052 were made). 86's in good condition are quite collectable.
