On THE STREET KILLERRides Rides JOHN MICEV 1973

Words / Pics - Paul Beck

When John Micev purchased this HQ GTS Monaro from South Australia in 2012, I’m not sure if he knew it would turn out like this? The HQ’s sheet metal was showing small amounts of rust and quite a few imperfections in the original Cyan Metallic Blue paint, but John could see past those minor issues, knowing full well that a genuine GTS Monaro was always going to be a valuable car. When the Monaro arrived in Sydney, John spent a few years cruising the streets before deciding it was time for a freshen up. Wasting no time at all, the Coupe was stripped down to its bare bones, before John called on some mates to be part of the build process. Those mates just happen to be some guns in their own field of expertise, ensuring that when the Monaro was complete again, it was going to be a stand out ride for sure. The plan was always to keep the body pretty much how Holden had intended it to be. To toughen up its image, John added a Hornet scoop to the blue and white livery for that old school look, but has since replaced it with a Repliglass Fibreglass 4” reverse-cowl. The new look bonnet was added to the body before Darke smoothed out the body, added the minitubs and prepared the HQ’s panels for colour. Whilst you wouldn’t consider the factory colour scheme as offensive, John wanted to go in the complete opposite direction, and had Kevin Gilbert at Grange Smash Repairs lay on the more impressive Purr Pull from the factory colour chart. Kevin also added the original style GTS striping in white over the bonnet and bootlid, while the familiar GTS blackouts were also laid on.

Hq Gts Monaro

Sometimes you need an important deadline to meet to get your project car finished!

After the ground up resto, and his mates seeing the car after five long years, they said the car looks “Killer” lol! So, another plate change came to mind - KLR 496.

Inside, it’s like taking a time travelling machine back to 1973. In fact, the standard issue seats are still in place and still wear their black vinyl and houndstooth covers like a badge of honour. It’s rare to find all-original seating in this model car, but it proves that this GTS has had owners that have cared for it. Of course, being a project of a hardcore performance car guy, it’s not all about keeping the ‘70’s vibe alive and kicking. The dash now sports a custom 3D printed facia that holds the Racepak IQ3s dash offers more info that the Holden gauges ever could. The shifter is now a Precision Performance Products item that makes gear changes short and sharp! Retractable seat belts now keep John and his passengers safe – and the engineer smiling! And, to keep John entertained whilst out and about, an Alpine sound system has been installed. The tough street car theme continues into the boot area where there’s a 75-litre fuel cell and fuel pump, battery and hidden fuel lines. Making everything work right is due to the expert wiring by Dino.

There’s no denying the HQ Monaro is a factory muscle car, even though you could drive away from the showroom under the power provided by a 202, 253, 308 or 350 for those lucky ones that ticked the right boxes. For John though, those options are just too small for his needs. Thankfully, when he bought the car, it had already neem fitted with a 454-cube big block, 9” diff and Turbo 400. These though were stock in configuration and John wanted more! New plates were ordered as it had SA plates, (PRO 454) but the engine and drive line didn’t match the plates. John’s timing to kick start a new engine combo couldn’t have been anymore spot on, with the USD and AUD on par back in 2011-2012. After making some enquiries, John decided upon Mark Jones from Vortec Pro Engines in the USA to piece together a new street and strip 496-cube combo complete from carby to pan. The engine came already Dyno’d, with a Stall Convertor, and cost around $10-$12K shipped! How could you pass up a deal like that? More rego plates were subsequently ordered again to match the car, this time reading GTS-496! After the new engine was dropped in and fired up there was a massive difference, and after a lot of street cruising and some racing a lifter failed, ensuing an engine freshen up to be carried out by Steve and Aaron Hambridge at APM.

The engine came already Dyno’d, with a Stall Convertor, and cost around $10-$12K shipped! How could you pass up a deal like that?

After the ground up resto, and his mates seeing the car after five long years, they said the car looks “Killer” lol! So, another plate change came to mind - KLR 496. John wanted to keep the engine hardware below the cowl scoop and make the big cube big block reliable enough for regular cruising. That’s why you’ll find a single 1050cfm Dominator carb fitted to a Brodix intake manifold, that when combined with the Brodix Race Rite oval port heads, forms the perfect engine topping for what John requires. What lies below all that good gear is just as impressive, with the GM block kitted out with a Scat crank, beefier rods, Mahle pistons and a Comp Cams solid roller cam that gives the HQ a menacing lope at idle. A Mellings oil pump ensures the slippery stuff gets everywhere it needs to from its resting place in the Moroso sump as soon as John flicks the key and gets the MSD ignition firing. The exhaust system starts as a pair of Hurricane four-into-one headers with 3-inch collectors that flow into dual 3-inch pipes incorporating Hooker mufflers. Making sure everything looked the part was left up to the boys at Comp Coat. On a strict diet of Premium 98 fuel, the big block makes an impressive 720hp! Backing the 496-cuber is a TK Performance built Turbo 400 auto that employs a full manual valve body, and TCE billet 9.5-inch converter that stalls out at 4700rpm, to handle the power being showed through it. That raw grunt is then sent to the custombuilt, braced 9-inch diff, built by Red at Craft Diffs that handles the power with ease thanks to the 35-spline axles, and 3.7-motive gears inside the Mark Williams centre.

By now you’ve probably noticed the Monaro has a much better stance, that’s because there’s Viking coil-overs in the front end and Lovells Super Low coils with Viking shocks added to the rear end to get it closer to the blacktop. There’s an adjustable four-link thanks to Shanes Chassis and a quartet of Wilwood 320mm drilled and slotted disc brakes and calipers living inside the 15x3.5 and 15x10-inch Weld Racing rims – the rears featuring Dumesny single bead locks.

The closer the build came to being finished coincided with the upcoming wedding of John’s daughter. So the race was on to have it ready for the wedding, not only on time, but in absolute style! Of course, by now, John knew there was nothing going to stop him from making that all-important deadline. Naturally the car made it there. This was always going to be a happy ending for all involved! Since then, John has put plenty of miles on that big block, cruising to all kinds of events around Sydney, which is where I met him for the first time. It was at the Grudge Kings show and shine, where I was looking for a car to award the Killer Rides Show Standout award, when I heard this rumble coming down the road. The look. The sound. The attitude. It’s what Killer Rides is all about!