1972 Monte Carlo

I've always loved the bad ass lines of a Monte Carlo.

So this is my Third Monte, third time is a charm right?
My first was a 73 that I drove for over 6 years and although I loved it, I spent more time fixing it then driving it. So sold it was. It haunted me for quite a while after that, 4 or 5 years after that. I would see it once or twice a month at first then less after time but I never forgot and vowed to get another. My second was a 71 that a young and stupid guy thought he was going to build into a Hot Rod. With no money and no time, this too was relinquished to someone with more time than me.
This time I hope to go all the way. This one has a good foundation and now being older and hopefully a little wiser,(me not the car) I can make it the car that it deserves to be.

A good place to start!

402 4BBL, TH400, 12 Bolt and ready to be rebuilt.
08/29/2007 - Monte was delivered today
08/30/2007 - VIN issues prevented title transfer
08/31/2007 - After much negotiation with our Tax office I had to get GM to certify that the VIN on the old Title had never been issued. Only then would they re-title the car with the correct VIN
09/02/2007 - Replaced missing Trans dust shield and traced down a major vacuum leak. Removed fender skirts. Installed chrome wheel well trim. Re-aligned trunk and passenger fender. Removed Hub caps in favor of center caps and trim rings
09/16/07 Reset the timing and adjusted the Carb. It was running way to rich. Fed it some 94 octane and ran it out for a quick 100 miles today. Then had the air Re-charged now it blows 36 degrees. Lets see if it lasts this time. When I brought her home I gave her a good bath and tucked her in. The suspension is ordered but will not be in for 3-4 weeks. I will work on rewiring under the dash in the mean time. I found lots of legacy wires not properly terminated and shorting out when I hit a bump. I assume from old gauges and maybe the old radio. I will remove what is not needed. I will also remove the power feed to the distributor that goes into the ACC port on the fuse box. I don't like the wire coming through the firewall like it is and I really don't trust 35 year old fuse boxes.

09/18/07 Started getting parts for the suspension today.

And for those of you that know me, you will notice something that is very important to me in this picture.

9/25/07 Christmas came early this year. The suspension is all here. Now I just need to get the spring compressor and the time to install it.

9/30/07 Took advantage of a weekend that fed me soaking wet grass. Since I wasn't mowing or weedwacking or whatever....
I installed the front suspension. Not bad at all but getting the upper control arms out really sucked. This is where having a partner would have come in handy. Since the only gear heads I know are either female or 1400 miles away, I go it alone for now, but I digress,
On the Passenger side, it was way too close to the exhaust to get the front side loose. So I needed to do a little force feeding and pulled the back out and then manhandling it to get the front out. I should have used the torch. (at least it would have been fun.)
The drivers side however was way harder than it should have been. The steering column was 1/2 inch from the adjustment side of the upper and the only way I was getting that out would be to remove the column. Now normally this is as easy as removing the rag joint and the top mount and pulling it out. However in my case, there was just not enough slack in the colum to pull either side free to give me enough room to slide out the column. SoOOOOOO, out comes the steering box. Which really bites my ass, since my next project is the rack-N-pinion. It would have been nice if I found an extra $1400 laying around somewhere and just went out and got it so I wouldn't have to put that mess back together but look as I may, I didn't find it, so back in the old 400 turn box went. ( I know but it feels that way)

Anyway, here is what I had when I started.

As you can see, I did the easy side first and after wrestling out the top control arm, here we are.

Now how about some comparison shots, old vs vew.

Quite a difference here. It was a bear to install too, I hope it makes as big of a difference in the ride.

There is a bit of a difference in the reach on the control arms too.

Not to mention the springs. I was really surprised that I got these new springs in without a compressor. I will take the small victories were I can.

OK, so now the upper arm is in place I can remove the old spring and then the lower arm.

And now that the lower is out you can see the difference here

Now that the lower and the spring and shocks are back in, I can start the drivers side. It is mostly the same thing so I will not bore you with those pics.

And after the bar is installed, we have the finished product, well at least the front end is finished.

I can't believe I got this far and only called my Monte an escape from a Toyota factory once! Well only once out loud.

Now I can start the rear............well, maybe after dinner. :)

09/30/07 - Finally got back to the Rear. I just couldn't climb back under there last night so here we go.
Here's what I started with

Although the springs are brand new GM springs, I just want it all to be Hotchkis at this point. This way if there is something to complain about, I know where to go.

Now I have some more control over the geometry of the rear suspension. Not too much of a difference huh?
Old and new, Nuff said.

Lower trailing arm in.

Parts is parts, just some more old N new.

Another view of the lower.

Gotta move the Muffler. It was put in backwards, or should I say upside down. The inlet is outboard and the outlet is inboard so the whole exhaust is crooked. It hits the bolt here and is less than a 1/4 inch from the driveshaft. No fear the new flowmaster aluminized system is on the way. :)

10/01 Through 10/03/07 - finished the rear. Working a few hours each night and getting just as dirty as working all day really sucks but it is done. I have yet to take it for a ride as its raining again / still and sorry, this Monte does not come out to play in the rain. But here is the finished product, well as much as I could get pics of.

Here you can see the adjustable Upper Trailing arm and the original compressor controller valve. Maybe some day it will be hooked up again but then I will need to fabricate some new brackets. It used to be connected to the upper arm.