My 1978 Monte Carlo Build and Restoration Thread

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BowtiesOnly

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 27, 2011
42
0
0
I picked up a this '78 MC a few months back and am finally getting around to putting pictures up. I paid $2,000 for it and although it had been sitting for almost 18 months it only took me another couple hundred backs to make it road worth. At this point, as a 21 year old college student, it's going to be my slow restoration project, but one I can enjoy and drive as I do it. Everything from the doors up and super clean, but I need new rear frame horns, quarters and rockers, typical stuff for a G-Body. Everything has been undercoated to prevent further wear and tear, and it will never see a winter again as I plan to store it in a garage.

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The Interior is almost halfway done to be converting to black from the original green. It's got leather chevelle buckets, black carpet, headliner, and some miscellaneous trim pieces. It also has an aftermarket, voltage, oil pressure, and water temperature gauge.

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The biggest reason I bought it is that I am far from being a mechanic, and it came with an completely overhauled drivetrain, built 350, estimated 350 hp, a 350 transmission and a 3.73 LSD rear end. Previous owner claimed that it all has less than 5,000 miles on it. I bought this car under a payment plan, a process that took almost 10 months, and towards the end it was very frustrating for both me and the previous owner. I ended up going to pick up the car while he wasn't home, and therefore never got any of the real specifics of the drivetrain ( the exact parts used in the motor build, what rpm the stall converter is, how high it revs ( since there is no tachometer ) things of this nature, which is quite frustrating ) But regardless it hauls *ss and I can't complain at all for what I paid for it. It also has the heater core and ac units completely removed (although it was quite the hack job), as well as a completely undercoated and painted engine bay.

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The car came on 15x7 Cragar SS's with 15x8's in the back. 215/65/15's up front and 235/60/15's in the back. I had put a few hundred miles on it, and there was a consistent vibration around highway speeds. I finally brought it somewhere to have it checked out and they said the rims and tires in the rear were in such bad shape they were bending the studs... :wtf: This was probably because of the unilug design and the fact that they were pretty old. I ended up picking up some used, but in excellent condition American Racing Outlaw II's for a good price, 15x7 up front and 15x10 in the back, I also picked up two brand new Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 (215/65/15's) for the front and two Cooper Avenget GT's (295/50/15) for the back.
Me and a friend replaced all the studs today and the tires are getting mounted and balanced tomorrow and should be on if not tomorrow than by the weekend. Below are some pics of the wheels and tires and a test fit of the rim, which looks like it's going to line up perfectly with the rear fender. The plan is to eventually space the front out so that it matches, giving it overall almost 6" wider of stance. 8)

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78MC-BBC

Master Mechanic
Jan 29, 2008
451
3
0
looks like a good project, gonna have to start working on my 78 again.
you may want to get some new shock and springs in back, cause that offset on those 15x10 wheels looks to be a bit too much. you may end up hitting the tires against the fender well lips. and that will eat chunks out of your tires
 

84cutlass383

Master Mechanic
Nov 24, 2009
387
36
28
Oklahoma City
is there anyhting u need for the monte? theres one at a local yard i saw a while back. they dont crush to often at this yard so hopefully its still there
 

Blake B

Greasemonkey
Aug 25, 2011
186
7
18
KS
good to see another 3rd gen
we're the same age and look to be the same situation.. except i'm already out of college.

i look forward to see what you have in store
 

BowtiesOnly

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 27, 2011
42
0
0
Thank you for the kind words guys, I don't really need anything at the moment, and the stuff for the future I plan on getting brand new from OPGI. Also, the previous owner put in station wagon springs and shocks to hold the weight off the bigger motor, plus there are spacers in the bottom rungs of the springs both front and rear, there's about 4 inches of wheel gap even still. I put them on today and they completely solved my problem, no more vibration whatsoever. Here are the pictures, better ones in the future that weren't taken on my phone...

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I'm hopefully going to get around to spacing the fronts, and getting some centercaps all around, but I need to get a new carb, and a better air cleaner first since the engines got a 750 on it (way to big) it's just flooding the crap out of it. lmao but we'll see!
 

JBreu

Royal Smart Person
Jul 15, 2008
2,168
20
38
Livonia, New York
First off, welcome to Gbf!!! That's a decent looking Monte you have there..The first G-Body I ever had was a '79 Monte Landau and man I loved that car....Then I had a '81 Malibu 4 door, brown in color, then years went by and I went and got me a '84 Monte, which I call my "mid life crisis" . Anyways, theer are great people here and we all try to help each other out when we can. Good luck and keep us posted 8)
 

-83MONTESS-

Comic Book Super Hero
Nov 4, 2010
4,570
967
113
Bellevue, Ohio
Its a shame about the Cragers, the car looked killer with them! I would be looking at getting an AC delete heater box or just a complete block off panel for the engine bay because you will get leaks out the *ss with the way yours is.
 

87LS/88SS

Master Mechanic
Nov 12, 2008
288
6
16
Nice start. Can't wait to see the progress.
 

BowtiesOnly

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Aug 27, 2011
42
0
0
My first car was an 87 I loved it, but the transmission started slipping, and with winter fast approaching I needed to move on, I kick myself all the time. haha.

I do plan on getting a full delete plate down the road, I just have some more important things to attend to first, like floor support and frame repair... :blam:
 
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