If you read the headline, you’re probably wondering what kind of voodoo was necessary to squeeze a 5.3-liter LS4 V8 from a Chevrolet Impala SS into the engine bay of a Pontiac Montana minivan. Well, it wasn’t magic, and fitting the V8 engine under the hood of the Montana didn’t take much magic—or as much as you think would be required for such trickery. The Pontiac Montana above, owned by Kevin Piper, is a tire-smoking monster that can run a 15-second quarter-mile race. That doesn’t sound impressive when a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 can run a 10.6-second quarter-mile at 134 miles per hour. However, that doesn’t make Piper’s endeavor any less exceptional.Â
Road & Track reached out to Piper, who had posted the Montana for sale—he’s since removed the listing, wondering how exactly the “Montana SS” came into existence.Â
“I’m not sure why anybody hasn’t done it,” Piper told the outlet. “I mean, a few people have talked about the concept. I actually dreamt about doing that for years, and finally I got the okay from the wife, and I just kinda dove into it. I just didn’t really know what to expect.”
And Piper’s right. When you look at what you need to do to turn your otherwise bland minivan into a tire-burning scream machine the list is rather short. That’s due, in part, to the fact the Pontiac Montana SV6 and Impala SS use the same gearbox—GM’s 4T65-E automatic transmission. However, the Impala SS gearbox was beefed up to handle the additional power.Â
Surprisingly, the hardest part of the project wasn’t the engine. It was the windshield wiper system, according to Piper. He had to modify it and relocate the washer bottle to the trunk because he lacked space under the hood. After that, he had trouble getting the electronic bits to work correctly. According to Road & Track, Piper estimates he spent 300-400 hours getting the engine and vehicle to communicate.Â
Now, everything you’d expect to work works except the steering-wheel-mounted volume control. When you think about the complexities of marrying a massive V8 engine with a minivan, you’d imagine an electric nightmare of malfunction. Many parts came from GM’s corporate parts bin, which was likely beneficial thanks to years of badge engineering from the automaker in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Â
Comments
The SS and GXP with this drive line was such a disappointment.
The transmission was too weak, the engine management slowed the car. Also the fwd traction sucks as it was difficult to put down anyways.
Too bad they were not RWD.
Well if you don’t count cars from
Audi
BMW
Ford
Lincoln
Jeep
Dodge
Mercedes
Alfa Romeo
Range Rover
Porsche
Maserati
etc
Then sure, you might have “The fastest grocery getter around”
“ I actually dreamt about doing that for years, and finally I got the okay from the wife, and I just kinda dove into it. ”
Really?!? He had to get his wife’s permission to go forward on a hobby? GTHO. This along with many other things is why the west is in decline. I’m sure this guy has a decent job and has reliably provided for his family FOR YEARS. I bet his wife either handles all of his money, or occasionally comes top him with two, three maybe even 500+ dollar request or bills and he doesn’t so much as bat an eye when he writes the check. But How Dare he take a some of his hard earned money and do something he enjoys without asking momm* – I mean wifey first.
I guarantee that this project did not cause his family to miss any meals, or go without lights, water or heat, or even allow for the possibility of that. Yet he had to get permission…SMH.
I swear, what passes for “men” these days.
Hey smart guy, if you were married to anything but your hand you’d know that a partnership was a group effort worth open dialog. Ps I did ask for permission.
I’m gonna go smoke some tires till i feel better. ????
Wassup Kevin, appreciate your response, but as you’ll see in the comment below; I am married and have been for over 20 years.
Lay down a few 11s for me too…If the Mrs will let ya… 😉
The West may be in decline, but I bet his family isn’t. It is revealing when a person says things like GTHO.. THAT is decline. LOVE.. Commitment, Partnership, Support and Respect.. Not just money, providing bills
My compliments to a man that tries to honor wife and family. Much bigger that the one that GTHO. It will be cool for him AND his family to go grocery shopping together in their project together instead of bitterness and comments every time he drives it out looks at it.
Good for him.
“It will be cool for him AND his family to go grocery shopping together in their project together instead of bitterness and comments every time he drives it out looks at it.”
What are you talking about? Even more telling, why should anyone in his family have bitterness or negative comments about his project? That statement is an example of what I’m talking about. Why would his wife or family have a nagative outlook toward him for pursuing his dream? Why do you feel the need to explain how the fact that a man who is taking care of his family in everyway (as far as we know) should be asking his wife for permission to tinker with a minivan?
Do you not understand how ridiculous that sounds? Lets flip it. What if there was an article talking about how she just achived a big aspiration of hers, say refinishing an old table she brought from a yard sale. BUT she had to ask his permission first…yep it would be considered asinine and slightly oppresive. I mean, I would assume that she would not be putting any of her family and wifely duties at risk to occupy her free time working on a table. In fact the idea of such is beyound ridiculous. Yet a husband tinkering on a old van is something worthy of a wifes approval?
Yeah, not even. About the only reason I could see for him getting her approval is because its her van and hes going to take it out of rotation for his hobby. Then it woukd make perfect sense to get her permission.
Now I say this because Ive been married over 20 years, have had many hobby cars, raced, and pursued many other hobbies. She never had a say in any of them, or if I could pursue them. Especially considering that none of them impacted or limited my ability to meet her needs or my families. I have had many many male friends leave the auto hobby, sell their cars and etc. All with the sheepish “well my wife says…”.
Ive even seen wives and girlfriends harp and nag their man over his hobbies. Even coming to meets with him or hanging around while hes trying enjoy his hobby with friends and just moan and complain the whole time. And most men just take it, in fact its generaly considered normal behavior.
My final point with this rant is how western society is so invested in this `happy wife happy life’ BS. As if the husband is just some beast of burden with no aspirations or desires outside of making his wife happy. I will say, if you have a wife or spouse that does not give you space and support to enjoy your interest, then you have a bad spouse.
“Now I say this because Ive been married over 20 years, have had many hobby cars, raced, and pursued many other hobbies. She never had a say in any of them, or if I could pursue them.”
That says it all.
Does anyone know if a transmission from a 2004 Chevy Ventura will fit a 2005 Pontiac Montana the only thing I can find different is the 2004 says hydra automatic and the 2005 says electronic automatic what’s the difference