1965 Monza Crown Conversion

 Darrell has a unique Crown conversion on which he has done most of the work himself. The car was an untouched 110 four speed with NO rust that had been stored in a warehouse in New Jersey since 1974. Darrell found and bought it on E-bay. The paint is original with the exception of the stripes which were added to cover a blemished area.

The interior has a set of seats from a 98 Toyota Celica GT sitting on custom mounts bolted to the stock Corvair seat location. A custom six point roll cage is tied into the custom engine sub frame support. A custom steering wheel and shifter T-handle can also be seen.   

The engine is a 355 small block Chevy  with Lunati cam with flat top pistons producing a 10:1 compression ratio. An Edelbrock fuel pump  and a 650 CFM Edelbrock carb topped with a marine air cleaner from a jet boat. A Performer intake makes up the rest of the induction system. The throttle linkage is a Morse cable unit. The ignition is a billet HEI. Darrell had a different idea on how to support the engine The exhaust headers breathe through a single Dynamax muffler with dual inlet/outlets. Twin exhaust tips exit in the center of the grille.

The transmission is a Corvair Saginaw four speed with the Crown modifications hooked to a four spider 3:27 posi. The differential has a steel cover plate with shoulder bolts.

The rear suspension has a blend of Corvette hubs and custom slip shaft axles with large U-joints on both ends. There are no lower control arms.  Instead, the trailing arms are tied together with a tubular cross bar running over the top of the drive train, making it act as a solid axle.  Whoa power is by disc brakes on the rear from a 69 Vette including the hubs, rotors  and four piston calipers. The front end has a set of discs  from an S-10 with Camaro calipers. A power rack and pinion (not hooked up) from a Mustang does the steering. .

The cooling system is mounted up front with a four core cross flow radiator and an 18" electric fan in the puller position. All of the air is directed through the radiator by aluminum sheet ducting and the coolant pipes are 1 1/2 aluminum tubing custom bent and recessed into the floor pan from above. A cover will be installed later.

Crown style openings under the front bumper allow the cooling air into the radiator. A Z28 style chin spoiler helps direct the air.

Wheels are the ever popular Chevy Rally style with the fronts at 15 X 7 and the rears at 15 X 8. Tires are Cooper Cobras, 225-60 and 235-60 front to rear.

For specific comments or questions contact Darrell at gswagon@zoomtown.com .