In part 3 of Smokin’ SS, Mark Davis and his students designed, fabricated and installed custom suspension components that will make this Monte Carlo handle like a racecar. Custom tubular control arms and hand-built spindles now ride under the car, along with AFCO coilovers on all four corners. Such an inspiring suspension is great, but to pull off this car, and to allow it to operate within its intended envelope, the Monte Carlo also needs a matching brake system.

For that, Davis knows the Wilwood brake component lineup—he used them for years—so the choice for this project was obvious: race-ready brake parts from Wilwood. In fact, he ordered the entire braking system, including the pedals and master cylinders, from Wilwood. When the parts arrived, the students went to work fabricating brackets for the calipers and welding them to the rearend housing and custom spindles.

After setting up the rotors and calipers, the crew mounted the pedals with a mock-up seat in place to make sure it would be comfortable for any person willing to slide behind the wheel. First and foremost, Davis wants his students to drive the car, but before any of this can happen, and to eliminate the problem areas going in, considerable work needs to be done, including seat fabrication, deciding just where those pedals will go and how that relates to the steering wheel, and the list goes on.

As progress continues on the Smokin’ SS Monte Carlo, we see more and more function, as well as innovative details throughout the car, ensuring that this will not be your average street machine. Functional details such as a true cowl induction were not overlooked, but more than that, every part of this car has a function, and that reveals Davis’ racing background.

If there was ever any doubt about this car being fast—and it will be fast—plans call for a small block that will make well over 500 hp at the flywheel, but we’ll elaborate on that in a later installment. For now, take a look at the steps involved to set up the braking system, fabricate custom seats and build a custom air cleaner for the true cowl induction system.