This is strictly going to be a toy. Not a daily driver, not a race car, just a car i can hop in and enjoy driving. I will want to go on a highway trip and hit the drag strip every blue moon. a little stop light action even. maybe even auto cross it just for Sh*ts and giggles. But 98% of the time this is going to be street driven vehicle.
87 Monte Carlo SS Build
- Thread starter Speedman87
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My two cents. I would look the car over really good. Make a list of repairs it needs, a list of my wants, and how much money I want to spend. The rearend is the biggest bang for your buck. If the frame is bad? I would buy an other frame. I would put your drive train together first and keep it mobile during the cruising season. That will help with motivation. Once the frame is done, swap the body over. Springs, big brakes, paint and body work, are all stuff you can do as you go. Make it safe and fun first! Frontend components will probably need replaced, along with the brakes. O and watch out for the rabbit hole!
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Rust is a surprise that's a b*tch
Hope you can weld to fix
This car will make u do yogi if fat
You'll be bald before you can lay the dynomat..
Lol, you got this!!!!!
Looks like a solid car to start with, I hope for your sake no surprises.. plan for the worst hope for the best, right?
Violets are blue
Rust is a surprise that's a b*tch
Hope you can weld to fix
This car will make u do yogi if fat
You'll be bald before you can lay the dynomat..
Lol, you got this!!!!!
Looks like a solid car to start with, I hope for your sake no surprises.. plan for the worst hope for the best, right?
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Sounds like a cool build looking forward to watching this one. Looks like a solid car from the pictures. Honestly if you plan to rip it down to the frame I would start by pulling the drive train and the nose off first. You may not have to pull the interior if your body mount bolts come out hassle free. If not then you want the carpet out to cut access holes above the body mount nuts. You’re definitely going to want to brace and box the frame you’ll see what the wet noodle means once the body is off. I started my 1985 Monte at the end of 2018 it’s now a running and driving car. Your lift is going to make this project much, much easier. I unfortunately found some serious rust in my original body and had to buy another shell that was in much better shape but still needed work. I learned a lot from the great folks here in the process of my build. I notched braced and boxed my frame as well as installed a 10 point cage. This is mostly a strip car but will see limited street time. I will say It was all worth it. I know the car is solid now.
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Thanks, looking forward to it myself. I'll be starting in a couple weeks, I still haven't even got the car in the air and got a good look, just inspected as much as i could on the ground before the purchase. I have to finish some work on a couple cars so i can have a bay dedicated just for the build, then the fun begins! I hope i don't find any rust surprises like you did, that's actually keeping me up at night. 😒. I do not know how to do any body work what so ever, so i would have to hire someone for that. Where was your rust located???? I have a few gear head buddies that are trying to talk me out of doing a off frame build. Ive seen plenty of videos how how weak these g body frames are from the factory, but umi's green machine got away without any boxing and is doing great. Is the boxing more for handling or for launching/ handling hp???? In the next week or so im going to have to figure out exactly where i want to go with this build and then get to turning wrenches. I'm pretty sure im going to stick with my original plan and get the frame off and just get it out the way so i wont have any regrets down the road.
Thats the spirit, Jump in, there are some outstanding build threads that will help you along, follow Donovan's Juggernaut build Thread: https://gbodyforum.com/threads/the-juggernaut-build-thread.55095/ and Olds Cool build thread: https://gbodyforum.com/threads/project-olds-cool-updated-10-16-17-drivetrain-details.62181/ to just name a couple, there's lots of excellent pic's and advice..
Frame stiffening question, You can't go wrong with boxing and stiffening a frame that was designed for a whopping 185 HP.
Looking forward to following your build, Git er done.
Frame stiffening question, You can't go wrong with boxing and stiffening a frame that was designed for a whopping 185 HP.
Looking forward to following your build, Git er done.
Thinking about the hellwig boxing kit..... any suggestions or experiences with that? I know Tony1968 used it in his build. As far as bracing after a frame notch, would the umi rear shock tower brace be sufficient enough?? or is more needed?
That kit is bad a** I would have sprung for it if I had the dough at the time. With that kit and the umi brace it will be more than enough for a mostly street driven car in my opinion. I used the umi frame notch kit on my car and I have no complaints a little trimming here and there but overall it was great.
I would not recomend a frame notch as it can really weaken your frame, even with add on bracing. That rear arch going over the rear axle is the most stressed part of the frame.
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