Hello from north GA. I picked up this 79 Monte a couple of years ago when my neighbor cleaned out her late husband's warehouse. I owned an 81 Grand Prix LJ with buckets and floor shift in the late '80s, really loved it and was looking for another A/G when this one got dragged out into the yard for the estate sale. Figured it must be a sign. The owner (in her 70s) told me it belonged to her mother and had been sitting for about a dozen years or so since her ma passed.
Currently it has a 305 2v / THM350, bench seat and manual locks/windows and my favorite part--fat factory sway bars front & rear. It would crank & sort of fire when I got it, but it couldn't really do much but sputter and cough because of the naaasssty varnish in the fuel tank...I'm posting a photo for those with a strong stomach. It smelled even worse than it looked.
Except for the obvious engine swap (the VIN says it came with a J code 267) most everything appears unmodified but not really cherry original. I can't find a whole lot of rust but there are a couple of spots of surface rust around the trunk molding and the bottom of the passenger door has some rot on the inside, where the door skin folds under. There's overspray in various areas, plastic and rubber parts inside & out are decomposing into dust, the emission sticker's missing and the strangest thing is the emblems on the sail panel/B-pillar have been relocated.
It sat under a carport at my place of work for another 18 months until I had it dragged to the house. I had planned to work on it there, but people were driving me nuts trying to buy it, so I decided to hide it at home. I had a nice VW bus parked right next to it with a for sale sign on it, and I kid you not, more people would get the phone number of the bus and call about the damn Monte Carlo than would inquire about the bus! So much for the so-called lack of desirability of GM smog cars.
During the Christmas holidays, I replaced the tank, soft fuel lines, fuel pump, plugs/wires/cap/rotor and about a quarter mile of vacuum lines then rebuilt the Dualjet. I shot 10ml of Marvel into each cylinder and down the intake manifold, held my breath and cranked, and damned if it didn't come right back to life, as if it had only been last week when it was parked. Drove around a little on the farm after the MMO smoke cleared and got really encouraged. She isn't road-worthy yet by a long shot, but the bones are all here.
Future plans center around drivability and roadworthiness, not "restoration," building a hot rod or making a show car. I just want to enjoy preserving and driving an old Monte Carlo. That being said, on top of replacing a ton of worn-out parts, I do want to
--tweak it some for whatever torque and gas mileage I can get out of what's already under the hood
--swap the transmission for an overdrive unit and maybe a lower ratio diff gear
--add a few frame & suspension braces. I can't stand it when a small car like a Monte wallows around like a drunk Plymouth Fury.
--maybe upgrade the brakes
I've been lurking and digging through old posts here ever since I bought the car. The discussions and knowledge base have been extremely helpful in figuring out where I can go with this thing, so thanks are in order already. Glad this forum is here and look forward to participating...
Currently it has a 305 2v / THM350, bench seat and manual locks/windows and my favorite part--fat factory sway bars front & rear. It would crank & sort of fire when I got it, but it couldn't really do much but sputter and cough because of the naaasssty varnish in the fuel tank...I'm posting a photo for those with a strong stomach. It smelled even worse than it looked.
Except for the obvious engine swap (the VIN says it came with a J code 267) most everything appears unmodified but not really cherry original. I can't find a whole lot of rust but there are a couple of spots of surface rust around the trunk molding and the bottom of the passenger door has some rot on the inside, where the door skin folds under. There's overspray in various areas, plastic and rubber parts inside & out are decomposing into dust, the emission sticker's missing and the strangest thing is the emblems on the sail panel/B-pillar have been relocated.
It sat under a carport at my place of work for another 18 months until I had it dragged to the house. I had planned to work on it there, but people were driving me nuts trying to buy it, so I decided to hide it at home. I had a nice VW bus parked right next to it with a for sale sign on it, and I kid you not, more people would get the phone number of the bus and call about the damn Monte Carlo than would inquire about the bus! So much for the so-called lack of desirability of GM smog cars.
During the Christmas holidays, I replaced the tank, soft fuel lines, fuel pump, plugs/wires/cap/rotor and about a quarter mile of vacuum lines then rebuilt the Dualjet. I shot 10ml of Marvel into each cylinder and down the intake manifold, held my breath and cranked, and damned if it didn't come right back to life, as if it had only been last week when it was parked. Drove around a little on the farm after the MMO smoke cleared and got really encouraged. She isn't road-worthy yet by a long shot, but the bones are all here.
Future plans center around drivability and roadworthiness, not "restoration," building a hot rod or making a show car. I just want to enjoy preserving and driving an old Monte Carlo. That being said, on top of replacing a ton of worn-out parts, I do want to
--tweak it some for whatever torque and gas mileage I can get out of what's already under the hood
--swap the transmission for an overdrive unit and maybe a lower ratio diff gear
--add a few frame & suspension braces. I can't stand it when a small car like a Monte wallows around like a drunk Plymouth Fury.
--maybe upgrade the brakes
I've been lurking and digging through old posts here ever since I bought the car. The discussions and knowledge base have been extremely helpful in figuring out where I can go with this thing, so thanks are in order already. Glad this forum is here and look forward to participating...
