interested in 87 monte, worth it? - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

transamkid · 06-11-2007, 07:31 PM

ok so around the corner from my house is an 87 monte carlo for sale. so i call the guy b/c me and my friend are looking for a project since his jeep is out of commission. he wants 1500 obo, the car has a rebuilt 350 with only 5k miles on it, done four years ago. the exhaust is new from the uncoated headers back, and the body and interior is acutally pretty good. the tires are a year old on it, but the 700r4 is in the trunk. the mechanic at the shop said it needs to be rebuilt and what ever.
so how hard is it to rebuild a 700r4, i looked at the usual jegs/summit and the kits are like 250. but how are they to install? the tranny shop here wants like 6-750 to rebuild it, i forgot the exact price so.............
any info, advice, suggestions?

thanks

The Fixer · 06-11-2007, 07:47 PM

Well, there's a few red flags here. Is the car an SS, or LS? $1500 for a non-driveable G-body is crazy unless the body, paint, and interior are near perfect. You have no way of knowing what the brakes, steering, etc. are like until you put it on the road, and you might find a ton of hidden issues. Look the car over for rust; G-bodies like to rot in the rear framerails (near the bumper mounts), door seams, rear wheelwells and floors. Do you have any proof it's a 350, and not just a 305? Does the guy have any paperwork to prove what was done to the motor? Also, the stock trans would be a 200-4R, is that what's in the trunk? Or was the guy in the process of swapping in a 700R4? It's an easy enough swap; you can either put a Caprice tailshaft on with the original crossmember or buy an aftermarket crossmember to reuse the regular 700R4 tailshaft. Once the tranny is in, you'll need to have the stock driveshaft shortened 3".

transamkid · 06-11-2007, 07:55 PM

its an ls i believe, and me and my friend are gonna see if we can get the car for 800. the interior is almost perfect, a drivers seat rip and a small bald spot on the carpet. the paint is good enough for now, we work at a sandblasting place and can get it taken care of. the brakes idk about, the steering either. the 350 is carbed and the small amount of rust i found was on the lower part of the passenger door, and the lower rear quater panel, pasg. side. and ill ask the dude about the 350 paperwork. and if it is a 200-4r, are they better or worse to fix than a 700r4, the mechanic at the shop said it was a 700 though.

one more question, instead of putting in/fixing the 200 or 700 trans, how hard would a switch to a th350 be? we have relatively easy access to one for cheap.

thanks

V · 06-11-2007, 07:58 PM

earlier montes came with th350s, my 84 SS had one, i still have the trans in my garage($40). not exactly sure what was different, i believe the crossmember and the driveshaft MAY fit,... Steve can tell u for sure about that i bet.

NJSPEEDER · 06-11-2007, 11:12 PM

between teh th350 and the 200-4r the drive shaft stays the same, just a change in the crossmember because of the trans mounting length.
there has been an ongoing debate for a long time about which is better, the 700 or the 200. both can be built to handle 700-800ft/lbs on teh input for a hefty price. a lot of racers tend towards the 200 because it can be changed over to roller bearing internals and also has a smaller gear split between first and second so you don't see nearly as much RPM drop on the shift.

Jared1970Chevelle · 06-12-2007, 12:11 AM

a one seam turbo 350 id say is better then a 200 or 700r4....

back to your original question.... rebuilding a trans is pretty hard if you never did it before a few times like everything else in life.... however a 700r4 you need 2 special tools to take the main drum out of the case... from what i hear from a few people its a 5 or 7 hundred doller special tool..... you get the tool or theres tricks to do it its the same as rebuilding any other trans... a headache and a coffee tin full of spare parts lol....

buy a done trans or a stock one seam turbo350.... i usually find mine in perfect order for 10 - 100 bucks.... you blow it buy another one.... heheheh

The Fixer · 06-12-2007, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokingSS

earlier montes came with th350s, my 84 SS had one, i still have the trans in my garage($40). not exactly sure what was different, i believe the crossmember and the driveshaft MAY fit,... Steve can tell u for sure about that i bet.

Yep, an earlier G-body TH350 crossmember will bolt in, and you can reuse the original driveshaft as Tim mentioned. Since it's an LS it probably only has 3.08 gears (unless the p/o swapped something else instead) and you could use the 3-speed auto without too much damage to your fuel mileage. FWIW, you should be able to find running/driveable G-bodies for around $1K, so if the guy won't sell you this car for $500-700, keep looking.

transamkid · 06-12-2007, 06:56 PM

if we get a 350, should we get the whole lock-up thing if we can?

The Fixer · 06-12-2007, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transamkid

if we get a 350, should we get the whole lock-up thing if we can?

It depends. Did the guy re-use the stock computer-controlled carb and distributor when he swapped the new motor in? If so, then you can get a TH350-C (I think that's what Paul has, since it came out of an '84 SS) and drop that in, and the lockup function will work since the ECM will lock the converter in 3rd and 4th gear. If there's no computer controlled carb anymore, then just stick with a regular TH350.

maroman88 · 06-12-2007, 07:39 PM

mm i looked at an 87 SS aerocoupe tonight, all redone to bone stock condition 84k miles askin 5k$....someone bought it as we were pulling up to the house lol thats how nice it was!