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The cast-aluminum Edelbrock Pro-Flo XT EFI manifold doesn’t crack at 10 psi like the
factory plastic LS4 unit. A charge intercooler is located inside the front fascia.A simple hood-clearance slit provides
turbine-housing clearance. The cam is a
hand-me-down item from a friend’s ZL1
Camaro project.The Bullseye TCT72 turbo cranks out 24 psi
and hasn’t yet hurt the junkyard-sourced
LS4 long-block, which Brandon spins to
7,000 without fear. LS4s have the same
“number 243” aluminum heads used on the
LS6 Corvette, but without titanium valves.3.8L V6 with 240 hp and 280 lb-ft of
torque. He says, “My supercharged V6s
always walked away from the anemic,
305-powered G-body Monte SSs on
my local scene. The blower whine
more than made up for how it was
turning the wrong tires. Plus, I was
getting 30 mpg and toasting my ass
with the heated leather seats.” Later,
when Brandon added nitrous, tuning,
and other tricks, his supercharged V6front-drive street sleepers were
running 12s and surprised plenty of
Fox Mustangs, IROC-Zs, and even Buick
GNs.
Mechanically, Brandon loves all front-
drive Monte Carlos, but when it came
to the body redesign that came along
with the 2006 model year’s V8 option,
not so much. “My 2004 is a so-called
Gen 6, which ran 2000 through 2005.”
For its final two years, 2006–2007,Chevrolet massaged the body, interior,
and driveline options to render the Gen
7 configuration. And while the 5.3L V8
wasn’t available in the 2000–2005
Gen 6 Monte Carlo, it’s an easy swap—
as we’ll demonstrate here.
Tune in as Brandon reveals what it
took to install a 2006–2007 Gen 7 LS4
V8 into his 2004 Monte SS plus a
transaxle upgrade trick straight from
the Cadillac cook book!