I tore into Bonnie yesterday afternoon, and despite only having about three hours before I lost the sunlight, I think I did fairly well. The wire harness and hoses are being a bit intimidating, especially on the rear bank of the engine, but we'll see how it goes.

Engine bay at the start


Parts waiting to go on


Progress so far


I want to get rid of the engine lift brackets on the rear for easier access to the plugs and getting the valve cover off (I'm doing rockers as well) Fells like its going to be tight going back there all around

Oooh shinies! It'll be worth it, nice looking car will have an engine bay to match

Teardown stage is complete, except for pulling the rockers. The rear engine lift brackets were a bit of a pain, but not as bad as the stubborn plug boots. Everything else came apart cleanly and with out fuss (well not too much)

Now time to clean up and paint some other parts to go back on, change out the plugs while they are so easy to get to, and begin re-assembly. When I lay out the new gaskets tomorrow I'll decide if I'm going to pursue the porting clean-up. If so, I'll do that before installing the new rockers. I grabbed one of the rear view mirrors off of my bicycle (LOL) which is working nicely for looking at the back bank (big help locating the lift bracket bolts)

Teardown so far...


A shot of the old parts pile shows the water pump with the impeller we dont want (good call guys) and the inside of the valve cover which thankfully were not filled with sludge. The Dex which has poured out hasnt looked cloudy and aside from some gunk around the coolant ports, everything else seems fairly clean. Nice to know Bonnie wasnt in critical health before all this began.

oooooh shiney parts! hows it feel to tear into the engine and adding nice parts? what wires are you going with?

MSD coils and wires,

Have you not heard all the bad things about MSD coils?

You should have gone with an Intense FWI.

All kidding aside, plenty of people have had problems with the MSD coils and switched back to stock, just FYI.

tim, just paint your stock coils red. plenty of people have had problems, but others havent. its more of a hit n miss kind of deal. hope you have better luck than others have.

Another vote to skip the coils.

Progress at the end of day 3


Powerlog, ported LIM, Yella Terra roller 1.7s and new water pump in place...a few more parts painted in prep for install.

Starting to look like an engine again

*drool!* Gawtamn! That's one sharp looking mill, good man! Where'd you get that filler cap?

ebay sir richard….

anyways, tim, its weird seeing those engine bay's, so much more room than in a gp its not even funny. where are the supports for the upper half of the engine? sorry for the noob questions, just never dealt with a bonne before.

Different mount system on the Bonnie...no dogbones, but the front "hockey puck" mount is notorious for splitting if any serious power is applied to it. Many different mods have been tried, but the most widely used is a solid rubber block with a thru-bolt for strength.

The engine bay looks roomy now with the upper rad support off, but it does have slightly more room than the GP...I would absolutely LOVE to drop the LS4 mill in there...plenty enough space and that sweet V8 growl!

well shoot, if youve got the money and the room for it, do it! haha that would be an awesome upgrade.

Yes it would be, but no funds for that kind of thing right now...plus I would need someone who is a wizard on the electrical stuff since the LS4 has drive-by-wire plus other system issues that would have to be tackled (might be less headache to just sell and grab a GXP!)

Day 5 and progress is looking good...tomorrow night I have dinner with my Mom, and Friday's forecast is rain, so might be stalled for a few days

lookin good sir!

Wow, impressive... I love a shiny engine bay!

That does look really nice...

Have you thought about blue exhaust tips and a NASCAR sticker?

lmao, it would be a great color contrast piece!

I love your UIM

Semi finished for now. I have a JMB Performance FWI on the way that should be here in another couple days.



I also added a new set of wheel center cap decals


And a steering wheel logo to match


Last but certainly not least, the polished stainless tips and Thrush Turbo mufflers have been installed!


The exhaust system sounds great! Just a touch louder than stock with healthy growl at WOT. The engine mods have made a substantial difference by the butt dyno as the engine pulls much quicker and much stronger especially above 3k rpm. The car is a joy to drive and I cant wait for my next road trip!
The only other thing I'm still considering at this point is some kind of subtle mod to the hood, but still undecided on what that may be...but for now, I'm lovin the look and feel!


btw...I've put the stock airbox back in for now until the FWI arrives. I didnt want anyone thinking I was buzzing around with an open TB!

looks real good tim. I really like your ghost hawk decals, definitely unique and adds a "prestige" look to the already sleek look of the bonneville.

haha Im beginning to sound like you with these words...

I have another decal that I'm going to apply to the red powdercoat intake tube. I think that will add a nice touch under the hood. I just hope the decal stands up to the heat.

And if youre starting to write like me, I'll take that as high praise...there are worse things that could happen to you! LOL

I will be posting up some more pics as soon as I get the FWI installed.

haha that means you are teaching the young and dumb of the society to be old and wise!

The FWI arrived today and the red powdercoat finish is beautiful!
Looking forward to getting that installed this weekend and snapping some final engine bay pics!

cant wait to see it!

Finishing touches


Dont know how long the decal will hold up under the heat


Finished engine bay...aside from some detail cleaning

omfg...get some halo lights up front and call that a project! that car, man...breathtaking!

Put some clear coat over the decal itll hold up alot longer.

Dang...... *low whistle* That's one hell of a engine bay there TBat. Please drive on over in June so I can witness such greatness.

so, i really want that intake for the monte now…..

DANG NAB IT!!! The SlowMaro gets slighted...again!

ya i know where to get it from, Wbodystore sells them. I just need to sell my K&N intake first...