Welcome to CHR!

We have a couple Monte Carlo fans here including our favorite hot rod lady Barb aka “Junkyardgirl”. Lots of good folks here and we hope you have a long and happy stay with us!

The 1987 Monte Carlo came with an LM1 350. It was the base 5.7 L (350 cu in) with a 4-barrel carburetor (usually with a QuadraJet) used in all Chevy passenger cars until 1988. It was rated at a whopping 180 horsepower and all (in the Monte Carlo) were mated to 4 speed automatic transmissions. Weigh in stock form is about 3400 pounds.

It’s easy to get 400 horsepower out of a 350 in your $3K budget with any number of head/cam/intake/carb combinations; however, the limiting factor in your current drive train will be the stock 700R4 as it is good for about 350 lb/ft. If you put 400 plus in front of a stock transmission and habitually shift at WOT it will fail. The good news is that a mild build on the 700R4 will allow it to handle 450 lb/ft and 450 plus horsepower – see Bowtie Overdrives - View Item. While I know you have a new rebuild transmission, unless it was built by a reputable high performance shop you may be better off to eBay it and recover a few dollars toward a quality HP unit and a good 24-2600RPM converter.

The engine can easily produce 400 plus. A set of AFR Street 180 Cylinder Heads should give you about 9.5:1 on an LM1 base engine with the stock .051 thick gasket (assuming stock deck height of 9.025 – if it’s been squared you’ll need to do some math). A hydraulic cam in the 224/224 @ .050 lift range with .470/.470 lift would work well with these heads. Assumption is that your 1987 is a roller block (transition year - most are, some are not) – if not I’d recommend a roller cam and a 1987 block should already be ready for it. I’m a bit leery of flat tappet cams unless the installation and break-in is done exactly by-the-book.

Top the engine with an Edelbrock 7101 Performer RPM and a 750 cfm Holley with vacuum secondaries and a good set of 1-5/8” headers and you should see 400 horsepower. Assumption is that you have a stock HEI distributor – if not get one. Start with 8-10 degrees at initial and 34 degrees all in.

Have fun and let us know what you decide to do.

Again, Welcome to CHR!
Glenn