Starting up a project journal for my 1987 Chevy Monte Carlo SS.
My upcoming project is going to be a complete suspension overhaul as I'm determined to make this car handle better than my beater (Subaru WRX).
Current pictures (As of summer 2011):
Exterior
Interior
Engine bay
Some history on the car
I bought the Monte back in 2003, a year after I graduated High School. My '94 F150 was in a bodyshop being fixed (Long story involving an icy parking lot and my friend hitting my car while doing donuts ) when I spotted my future moneypit sitting in one of the bays.
Even knowing absolutely nothing about Montes (Or cars for that matter) at that point, I still knew that it looked mean as hell sitting under that lift and that I wanted it...bad. Turns out that it was the shop "beater" and was for sale. In hindsight, this should have been something to think long and hard about before I pulled the trigger, but I was 19 and way too smart to worry about such things...A month or so later, I sold my truck and used that money towards buying the Monte.
It was slow, burned oil, had terrible exhaust work (True duals with one of the exhaust pipes routed below the crossmember...ground clearance of maybe 4"), a dirty grey split-bench interior, the works.
I loved it, my parents hated it.
I performed my first oil change on this car (After having to ask the guy at the parts store where to add oil), and from there dove in headfirst and by this point have completed 3 engine swaps, converted from a carb to fuel injection (And changed to three different FI intake setups), created a custom interior, rebuilt the suspension, swapped in a new tranny/rear, etc. Pretty much the only thing I haven't touched is the body of the car itself, although a new paint job is in the works.
More details on the various projects through the years in the next few posts.
My upcoming project is going to be a complete suspension overhaul as I'm determined to make this car handle better than my beater (Subaru WRX).
Current pictures (As of summer 2011):
Exterior
Interior
Engine bay
Some history on the car
I bought the Monte back in 2003, a year after I graduated High School. My '94 F150 was in a bodyshop being fixed (Long story involving an icy parking lot and my friend hitting my car while doing donuts ) when I spotted my future moneypit sitting in one of the bays.
Even knowing absolutely nothing about Montes (Or cars for that matter) at that point, I still knew that it looked mean as hell sitting under that lift and that I wanted it...bad. Turns out that it was the shop "beater" and was for sale. In hindsight, this should have been something to think long and hard about before I pulled the trigger, but I was 19 and way too smart to worry about such things...A month or so later, I sold my truck and used that money towards buying the Monte.
It was slow, burned oil, had terrible exhaust work (True duals with one of the exhaust pipes routed below the crossmember...ground clearance of maybe 4"), a dirty grey split-bench interior, the works.
I loved it, my parents hated it.
I performed my first oil change on this car (After having to ask the guy at the parts store where to add oil), and from there dove in headfirst and by this point have completed 3 engine swaps, converted from a carb to fuel injection (And changed to three different FI intake setups), created a custom interior, rebuilt the suspension, swapped in a new tranny/rear, etc. Pretty much the only thing I haven't touched is the body of the car itself, although a new paint job is in the works.
More details on the various projects through the years in the next few posts.
Comment