Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo. RIP

[Scott Liggett]

My good friend and neighbor bought this car sometime back to replace the 82 Cutlass that was wasted in a head on. We are doing some major work with some of the cash from his settlement. I replaced the bent and smashed oil pan last week with a used one I got at swap meet for $10.

This week major engine cleanup and modifying was in the works.

Here's the start, an ugly grease ball of a 350. It's the numbers matching L48 motor and stone stock.


Here are the new toys to tossed at it.


It's amazing how some degreasing and paint can make a dirty lump of iron look prettier.


New HEI and adapter plate for the upcoming carb change. I also cleaned up and painted the alternator brackets while they were off.


The new Edelbrock 1400 and $20 chrome swap meet valve covers.



More to come tomorrow.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

not bad, not bad at all....whats the story with your buddys blue Chevy

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

It's still in the body shop. I'm not sure of it's progress.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

I did my engine the same way you are doing this one and was amazed at how well it can turn out if you take your time I am not a patient man and tend to rush and screw everything up......you seem to be the opposite of that....

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

It's a bit of a rush job. I did everything in the pics in less than three hours. I need to pull the exhaust manifolds off and paint the sides of the motor later. In the mean time, I gotta get it running.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

keep the pics comming

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

The old EGR wasn't functioning and it was hitting the carb even with the one inch adapter plate. Since the car doesn't need it any longer for emissions testing; I took a chop saw to to it. It became the block off plate with the original hold down bracket.

Sorry the pic is a little blurry.


I added this fuel block from Spectre. It's actually a nice piece and only $12 compared to $36 that Edelbrock wants for theirs. I like Edelbrock's products, but they stick it to ya for little bits.


Bill liked how I used these Accel wires on another project, my Caprice, so I added a set here.




I didn't change the spark plugs. That was a mistake. They are the wrong heat range for the HEI distributor. The car drove OK, but the plugs loaded up at idle. So tomorrow, I'm gonna make a change to Autolite 26's. They work great on both my cars with electronic distributors.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

Here are a couple of pics of Bills Monte. Thanks to Squirrel, it's got a the center caps for the rallys now. We've also got the rocker trim put back on and got a new turn signal lens and housing.

[andy30thz]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

Looks great!!
Too bad somebody just put new tires on the thing..... A set of something bigger would make that car outstanding!

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

I tried talking Bill into some 15x10's and 295/50 15's out back, but he wouldn't go for it.

On another note. The HEI I bought worked OK for about ten minutes then the module could no longer keep up. The would continue running, but the spark power just wasn't there. So I went and got another good quality module and the cars idle instantly sped up and it was running lean at idle. Still, $65 bucks for the complete distributor and $40 more for a good module, I think, is a steal.

[antmnte]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

Nice solid car Reb . I wish I was closer I'd come and help you dig in there.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

Since Bill is doing so much better, healthwise and he's driving again. I had to get on fixing more stuff on his Monte. I spent Weds and yesterday underneath the dash board to replace the heater core. Not fun even when I am healthy, hell because I've been sick with some kind of flu bug. I could not believe the amount of crap that was necessary to remove in order to get the heater core out. ACK!! There was even one stud with the nut on engine side of the firewall that was behind the AC box on firewall. Who designs this shit? Instead of removing the entire AC box, I just snapped off that one tab for that stud. This is after I removed the gauge panel, radio, dash vents, and defroster vents.

Well, the good news was it went back together without a hitch even though it took me three times longer yesterday to do it than should have. He nows has heat.

I still need to wire up his choke and add a fuel filter some where in the fuel line. Next week.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

I did the heater core on Bill's 82 Cutlass before it was totalled. Much easier, because you lifted it out of the cowl vent area. My Impala was easier too, with the exception of having to reach waaay under the fender to get the last two bolts out.

While we had the gauge panel out, I replaced every bulb. Fixed the dangling front dash speaker, supported the rear of the radio and few other issues. What's cool is the original radio still works great. Even sounds decent too. The good ole days before channel lock technology; your constantly hunting for a better signal.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

You need heat in California? lol

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Bill's Project 73 Monte Carlo.

Three weeks ago we were dipping into the 30's nearly every night. And, Bill is a chemo patient in his 70's. He needs heat when I'm sweating.