Now this? This is fun. Before the era when everyone had a 2,000hp street race car, guys had stuff like this! The 1977 Monza you see here is a really cool little car that while not perfect is pretty damned clean and certainly has the right boxes checked to be a barrel full of monkeys on the street or the strip. For starters, the thing is pretty well gutted as far as extra weight goes. There’s no AC, there’s no back seat, there’s nothing here that does not need to be here.
The engine is a claimed 400+ horsepower small block. With the parts list here, we can buy it. Brodix heads, tall single plane intake manifold, Crane solid roller, etc. All of this sounds good and then we tell you that the car has a four sped in it, which immediately throws a red flag because the factory four speed in these cars would shatter like glass with all that UMPH in font of it. Welp, you are covered there as well. Hayes clutch and a Muncie M-21 gearbox handle all that work. The rear end is listed as having a 3.73 gear but we don’t know anything other than that. You may be replacing that part sooner rather than later depending on how aggressive you get with the car.
We love the fact that this thing is completely devoid of flash and that it has plenty of dash. The side exist exhaust likely bellows pretty good when you hammer the pedal and the light nature of this car makes the 400hp plant really, really good.
What do you think?
CL Find: This 1977 Monza is pretty clean, 400hp worth of mean, and BS approved!
Clean car…If you buy it PLEASE leave it alone. Celebrate the past!!!
Had a ’76 V8 Monza early in my military career. Previous owners swapped the 262 for a 350 and added a shift kit to the TH350. It had a posi and I put 13″ cragars on it. I really enjoyed that car. Must have some structural reinforcement if you plan to beat on it much. Mine was developing tears in the structure around the rear suspension mounts. The rear suspension is very similar to a 3rd and 4th-gen F-body.
Changing plugs 6 & 8 require unbolting the passenger-side motor mount and raising the engine a bit. Seriously. Many folks will drill a hole in the inner fender for access.
You definitely have to full frame these, just like Vegas. They make kits for it. Hell, I full framed my 70 Camaro.
If anyone is interested… this is in my area…send me a pm on here derbydad276 and I can go put eyes /live phone on it for you
Where is it located? Does it have a Craigslist Ad somewhere?
Nice car, too bad its just a wee bit of a distance for me. Must be covered in snow now!