BUILD THREAD Poor Man's Monte Carlo

[Opie Knievel]

I've been debating whether to even make a build thread seeing how I daily drive my car, the budget is kinda small and progress is slow but after some encouragement from a member on here I figured, why not? This isn't your typical build thread with all new parts and great body work. This is building on a budget, using used parts sometimes, worrying more about performance than looks. Not that I've got the performance anywhere close to the level I want it yet. I'll probably cover a lot of maintenance and repairs that have to be done just to keep the car on the road too. My basic plan for this car is a stout small block or LS type engine, manual transmission, lower rear end gears with limited slip, better brakes and a better handling suspension. Basically a quick, good handling daily driver. Nice paint isn't really a concern right now and I may leave it looking a little shabby just for the sleeper effect. I would like to repair the rust, replace body mounts and fix up some other odds and ends that need some attention after 30 years of use.


I found the car on Craigslist for $650. I had been wanting a Monte Carlo again for a long time and had been on the lookout for a cheap one. The previous owner thought that something was wrong with the torque converter because of a noise coming from that area. He dropped the price to $500 and I happily drove my "new" Monte Carlo home!!

This is the day I bought the car.

A couple pics of the car when I first got it.

^ Yeah, I know the air cleaner is turned the wrong way. Lol.

Not long after getting the car home I discovered that the sound that the previous owner thought was related to the torque converter was actually a cracked flywheel. I replaced the flywheel. When I put the transmission back I could never get the TV cable on the 200 adjusted right and ended up burning it out. I don't really like 200's anyway so it gave me a good excuse to put in a TH350 from a '79 Corvette. The 350 is the one on the bottom.

Then a replacement steering column and a better looking steering wheel.

The car had a dented driver side fender when I bought it. I found a good used fender through work and primered it to match.

I had the fender looking good but I didn't end up putting it on the car for over a year!

The car came with steel ralley wheels without rings or caps. They don't look so great without these in my opinion so I found a set of aluminum wheels at work. No idea what brand but the bolt pattern is right and they fit the car.

I think the car looks much better with them.

I have been driving the car since I bought it. Every now and then something would break and I'd have to park it and work on it. Last Fall the fuel pump went out. I replaced it and then discovered a bad brake line. I ended up replacing the rear brakes completely, including wheel cylinders and new lines. Not too long after that I had to replace a wiper motor.

 

[Opie Knievel]

Finally, over a year after I bought the car, I finally replaced the dented driver's fender.

I put a big external trans cooler off a pickup truck on next. I can't remember if it came from an F150 or from a Dodge.

This required cutting the center support for the fascia.

Not too long after this the left front wheel bearing died.

I replaced the wheel bearing, hub/rotor, upper control arms and front calipers using S10 parts.

Next the rear air shocks started leaking so I replaced the rear springs with a set from a '95 Caprice and a new set of load adjusting shocks. The Caprice spring is the one on the left.

Now the car sits level when I've got my tools loaded in the trunk and rides much better than it did with the air shocks.

 

[64nailhead]

I like the manner in which you're going about it. Get all of the mechanical aspects of the chassis in good working order and continue to drive it. These cars are great drivers and are budget friendly because of both parts availability and interchange. The path you're following is the same path we (my son) chose with his car. Of course, he has put a pile of money into it, and has plans to put more into it over the winter. We have reworked some of the parts more than once and alot of people will say that he has wasted money, but as the intended use has changed, then so have the components.

The bright side to that though, is he has a spare transmission and rear ready to be swapped into it in less than a day if a problem occurs. This allows for him to continue to drive (ENJOY) it.

 

[Opie Knievel]

I have Blazer spindles and calipers to go on the car. I need rotors and pads for them. I have an old 2 piece rear main seal, 4 bolt main 350 engine that needs rebuilt that might end up in there. Like I said this will be slow progress, small budget but I figured I might as well document the experience.

 

[pontiacgp]

I like the way your doing it and it looks like you live in a great place to do it. Alot of us live in cities where neighbors don't act like neighbors. My car will never be done and I always keep an eye open for parts that show up in scrap yards and online.

 

[Opie Knievel]

I like the manner in which you're going about it. Get all of the mechanical aspects of the chassis in good working order and continue to drive it. These cars are great drivers and are budget friendly because of both parts availability and interchange. The path you're following is the same path we (my son) chose with his car. Of course, he has put a pile of money into it, and has plans to put more into it over the winter. We have reworked some of the parts more than once and alot of people will say that he has wasted money, but as the intended use has changed, then so have the components.

The bright side to that though, is he has a spare transmission and rear ready to be swapped into it in less than a day if a problem occurs. This allows for him to continue to drive (ENJOY) it.

I LOVE driving a G body. I fell in love with these cars about 15 years ago. If I can find another one cheap enough, I'd love to drive one and tear down and rebuild the other. If I had a bigger budget, I'd throw money at this car like nobody's business. Lol. But, I'm making due with what I can. Lol.

 

[Opie Knievel]

I like the way your doing it and it looks like you live in a great place to do it. Alot of us live in cities where neighbors don't act like neighbors. My car will never be done and I always keep an eye open for parts that show up in scrap yards and online.

Yeah, I do live in the country. It is nice to be able to work on my car without nosy neighbors interfering. My boss is pretty good about letting me use the garage at work too. That's the white, multi bay garage in the pics.

 

[Kwik_Cutty88]

Whats the benefit to running caprice rear springs? More load carrying capacity?

 

[Opie Knievel]

Whats the benefit to running caprice rear springs? More load carrying capacity?

Yeah. That and they were what I had available. It was a week wait for new springs and I found the Caprice springs at work. I figured since the Caprice was a heavier car that the springs would hold more weight without compressing as far. It worked.

 

[pontiacgp]

Threads like this give encouragement to those on tight budgets to show them nothing is out of their reach. It takes more ingenuity and more thought to get it done with a little money but stretched over time it can be done....