BUILD THREAD 1987 Monte Carlo from Iceland

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Sævar Örn Eiríksson

Greasemonkey
May 5, 2018
136
574
93
ICELAND
Greetings G body lovers.

I have recently aquired this 1987 Monte Carlo, I first saw this particular car in good shape about 15 years ago, and now we meet again, and I'm the owner!

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First, a little bit about myself...

My name is Sævar Örn, I'm born in 1991 and I have a master technician degree as an automotive mechanic, but I left the repair field a few years ago because I like to do that kind of work as a hobby, and doing it from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, and then again in my own shop after dinner to midnight was just too much! So today I am a automotive safety and emissions inspector.



I've had some trucks before, I had a suzuki vitara from 2009 to 2014 and it came a long way, it was my first modification vehicle, it started out as just a normal everyday 33" vitara, and ended up as a 38" solid axle swapped monster, toyota hilux mk3 axles actually, and gearbox, but an engine from a Hyundai Galloper, 2.5. turbo diesel! A true monster really, and it was called Rudolph Diesel.
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After I sold that car in 2014 I bought a Ford Explorer which was my second modification vehicle, it was the same there, it started slowly but by the time I sold it I had put a 2.9 mercedes turbo diesel 5 cylinder engine in it, 46" tires and GMC 3500 heavy duty solid truck axles!

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I sold the Ford and bought myself a Toyota Hilux Pickup truck at the auctions, I spent the better part of 2017restoring the car and modifying it to fit 38" tires and travel the glaciers.


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here I have some photo of each of these cars, the build threads for them are mostly in Icelandic, and I don't plan to translate them very much, but maybe you will like to scroll through the photo albums, please keep in mind that when I was modifying my Suzuki I was 18 years old so not everything was done to "the book!"



but it worked!



Here are links to the build threads on Facebook

Suzuki Vitara album part one and part two

Ford Explorer album

Toyota Hilux album





This thread is ment to focus on the building of my 1987 Monte Carlo, however, I will gladly answer any questions you may have, regarding Iceland, my other projects, or most importantly, the Monte Carlo project.
 
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O. D. Showtime

Comic Book Super Hero
Feb 6, 2009
3,007
3,527
113
Regina Sask. Canada
Nice work on the trucks!

Will certainly go over the builds and of course be watching for work on the Monte.
 
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Sævar Örn Eiríksson

Greasemonkey
May 5, 2018
136
574
93
ICELAND
The first project post of many, this spans from wednesday last week, from when I bought the car. To the tuesday of this week. I will probably be posting weekly updates, or monthly updates if not much is happening.(waiting for parts, being broke, unmotivated etc..)

I know how it goes, it's not my first project vehicle, but that being said, I've never given up on a project, and I don't intend for that to happen with this one either, even though it is a massive project.


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The evening when I bought the car, I drove straight to a gas station and filled him up and drove to the city, about 50kms cirka 30 miles away, the seller was skeptical that I would make it, and suggested that I use a car hauler to transport it, but I had a good feeling about the trip, and it went well.



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The next evening, teardown.

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The front clip was off in a matter of about two hours...

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The next morning, the body was off before noon, I only had to loosen 4 body mount bolts, the other either sheared off or werent attached at all to begin with (due to excessive corrosion)




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This is the body mount bracket on the drive side front, it looks OK but I will have to remove it and strenghten or fabricate a new one, the rocker panel is collapsing from the weight of the body itself, NOT supposed to happen, hehe


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The rear is better, however the rocker panels will need replacing, the body mount is sheared right off the floorboard brace, but the rear seatbelt mount is solid.


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on the passenger side it's the same story in the back, the rocker panel is a little worse here, and the floorboard has some corrosion too, I'll see this better from the inside

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The trunk floor is good, but the trunk braces that accept the body mounts are completely deteriorated. The fuel tank braces are good.
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The trunk floor is good around the spare wheel hoop also, but the body mounts are sheared off
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The rear of the frame is completely ruined(typical, I've bought the repair pieces off Conrad from Canada.)


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The seatbelt mount near the floor on the driver side, here goes to show not everyone should tackle rust repairs... rivets and plastic puddy metal repair are not supposed to be used near such an important structural point, I would have not liked to crash in this vehicle with that rust lurking around the belt fastener...

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This is the worst of it, the floorboard,inner and outer rocker panel, and the body mount brace on the passenger front side.


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Preparing the body to accept a rotisserie which I am building


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The front brackets almost finished


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The front almost done, I need wheels under the feet, and a longbar between the front and back bars, I will be bolting a flywheel to the front rotisserie axle, and using a bendix gear from a starter motor on a handle to roll the car over easily and safely without any sweat.



Stay tuned for further updated as they come along, please note that I have been able to do a lot of this work recenly because I'm on holiday from my day job, progress may not be as fast once I'm back at work.
 
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85442/86buick

G-Body Guru
Feb 12, 2013
746
1,118
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Perth Country , Ontario
WOW ! So many questions..........were to start ? So this shop is your personal workspace ? if so I am impressed .
I am hooked on your built and it's only a week in.

looking forward to following along

keep up the great work
 
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Sævar Örn Eiríksson

Greasemonkey
May 5, 2018
136
574
93
ICELAND
WOW ! So many questions..........were to start ? So this shop is your personal workspace ? if so I am impressed .
I am hooked on your built and it's only a week in.

looking forward to following along

keep up the great work

Hey man and thanks for your interest.

I got this shop in 2011, I had been in a smaller shop prior to having this one, this one is very bright, one side of it is all glass, but the glass is northwest so I don't have any sunglare, just natural brightness.

I bought the 2 post lift in 2012 and I've loved it ever since, best investment any hobbyist, or mechanic can make.

There is a pit in the workshop, however I use it mostly for storage, its a little shallow for working on smaller cars, but it's ok for jeeps. The pit was originally designed for working on semi tractors.

However, when proceeding on a project like this one, having the rotisserie and everything, space is still limited. It will mean that for the duration of the rebuild, not much else will be done in the workshop. This is fine by me, but I can understand how it would be more difficult for, say an employee who can use his garage only on the weekends. Or a mechanic that needs to have income on his property.

I love my shop, and I couldn't be without it, and I believe everyone should have one!

Wow, right out the gate & getting it done. I like how you just jumped on it to fix it up.

Thanks man, I only drove the car 30 miles and it was enough to figure out that a serious chore was ahead of me, hehe.

You never know what you find when you dig deeper, and I found out I might as well just do it once, do it right.

This car has been "mended" (not fixed) by several, individuals(i hope) and their skills and experience have caused this car to become somewhat neglected over the past couple of years, no sane person wants to buy a junker. So I did.
 
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TURNA

Rocket Powered Basset Hound
Jul 24, 2009
10,941
19,990
113
Socialist NY
Welcome to the site.
 
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