Here's my rust bucket. :lol: I bought it in June 2007, with good intentions, and lots of hopes. Due to the economy, and some other unfortunate incidents it has pretty much sat without doing anything to it. I paid $500.00 for it, and drove it home. The V6 that was in it ran, but not very well. It was barely good enough to get it home. I decided to scrap it, and put a V8 back in it. But money didn't allow for that, so I just waited.
Finally last Winter my dad bought a really nice 1971 Monte Carlo with a good running 305 in it, that leaked oil all over the place. He gave me the engine for free, since he was putting a 402 Big Block in his Monte. I re-gasketed the engine, cleaned it all up, painted it, and now I'm working on getting it in my car over the next couple of weekends. I have a bit of work to do before I can drop it in. The previous owner welded the V6 mounts to the frame, and hacked up the wiring harness, overall he did a pretty crappy job on anything he touched.
Anyway, I wanted to start this thread to kind of document my entire project over the next few (or many) years. My first car was a 1984 Grand Prix, and it was a really nice car with very little rust. I really loved that car, and wish I still had it. But when I found this one, I fell in love all over again. This one has all the options I wanted that my first one didn't have, with the exception of a tach. Rear defrost, Buckets, Floor Shift, Power seat, Power Windows, Power Locks, and trunk opener in glove box.
My intentions are to get the body done and painted the same color as my first car, which is going to be expensive. I believe it needs floor pans, trunk floors, and doors and deck lid. I also want to rebuild the suspension, put a good posi rear end, and nice small block in it at some point. The interior should be fairly easy, just carpet, headliner, console, and reupholster the seats. For the most part though the interior really isn't in too bad of shape. If at some point I find a nicer one, I'll maybe just take what options and parts from this car I need for a nicer bodied car. This one may not really be worth doing all that body work too, but that is yet to be determined.
I got a really decent set of Rally II's for free for it, and those will be going on with new tires this Summer. It should be running in the next few weeks, and a new exhaust. That way I can at least drive it around and enjoy it a little bit this year. It sucks having a car for 6 years, and not being able to drive it.
Anyway, here's my pictures of it.
The lovely after market shifter that is rigged up with a 2" x 4" to mount it to the floor.
The junk V6 that was in it.
Welded in motor mounts for the junk V6
Hacked up wiring harness
Last fall my dad and I pulled out the V6, and found it has a TH350 attached to it, that I will re use. It seemed to be okay when I drove the car home, so I'm hoping it will be good.
Yesterday my cousin came over and helped me work on the car for a bit. We cut out the motor mounts and cleaned up where the crappy welds were. Installed new/used mounts in the correct spot. I started trying to figure out the wiring mess, I'm going to post a thread in the tech section with pictures to see if anybody can help me identify this mess some.
Here's the before pictures of the mounts.
After we cut them off.
I didn't take any pics of the new mounts being in place, but everyone knows what they look like anyway.
Tom
Finally last Winter my dad bought a really nice 1971 Monte Carlo with a good running 305 in it, that leaked oil all over the place. He gave me the engine for free, since he was putting a 402 Big Block in his Monte. I re-gasketed the engine, cleaned it all up, painted it, and now I'm working on getting it in my car over the next couple of weekends. I have a bit of work to do before I can drop it in. The previous owner welded the V6 mounts to the frame, and hacked up the wiring harness, overall he did a pretty crappy job on anything he touched.
Anyway, I wanted to start this thread to kind of document my entire project over the next few (or many) years. My first car was a 1984 Grand Prix, and it was a really nice car with very little rust. I really loved that car, and wish I still had it. But when I found this one, I fell in love all over again. This one has all the options I wanted that my first one didn't have, with the exception of a tach. Rear defrost, Buckets, Floor Shift, Power seat, Power Windows, Power Locks, and trunk opener in glove box.
My intentions are to get the body done and painted the same color as my first car, which is going to be expensive. I believe it needs floor pans, trunk floors, and doors and deck lid. I also want to rebuild the suspension, put a good posi rear end, and nice small block in it at some point. The interior should be fairly easy, just carpet, headliner, console, and reupholster the seats. For the most part though the interior really isn't in too bad of shape. If at some point I find a nicer one, I'll maybe just take what options and parts from this car I need for a nicer bodied car. This one may not really be worth doing all that body work too, but that is yet to be determined.
I got a really decent set of Rally II's for free for it, and those will be going on with new tires this Summer. It should be running in the next few weeks, and a new exhaust. That way I can at least drive it around and enjoy it a little bit this year. It sucks having a car for 6 years, and not being able to drive it.
Anyway, here's my pictures of it.
The lovely after market shifter that is rigged up with a 2" x 4" to mount it to the floor.
The junk V6 that was in it.
Welded in motor mounts for the junk V6
Hacked up wiring harness
Last fall my dad and I pulled out the V6, and found it has a TH350 attached to it, that I will re use. It seemed to be okay when I drove the car home, so I'm hoping it will be good.
Yesterday my cousin came over and helped me work on the car for a bit. We cut out the motor mounts and cleaned up where the crappy welds were. Installed new/used mounts in the correct spot. I started trying to figure out the wiring mess, I'm going to post a thread in the tech section with pictures to see if anybody can help me identify this mess some.
Here's the before pictures of the mounts.
After we cut them off.
I didn't take any pics of the new mounts being in place, but everyone knows what they look like anyway.
Tom
