93formulalt1's Projects Thread

[Gottork]

what monte carlo? Thought you were working on your bird??

[93formulalt1]

what monte carlo? Thought you were working on your bird??

See my original post, when my Father passed away a couple of weeks ago, I "inherited" his 1970 Monte Carlo SS454 "Clone". This thread is kind of a compilation of the progress for both vehicles, since I will be working on both of them during the same time periods.

Let me put it this way, driving the Monte Carlo makes my Firebird feel like a Prius in comparison. We got the idle on the BBC fixed yesterday, it actually sounds like a cammed big block car now. I was having some fun with that last night on the drive back home.

[Gottork]

sorry I totally skipped the first post, thought I read it.. Sorry for your loss and congratz on getting it up and going..

[93formulalt1]

sorry I totally skipped the first post, thought I read it.. Sorry for your loss and congratz on getting it up and going..

Not a problem. Hopefully pics will be up soon, I know Ben took a bunch of pics with his camera phone.

[ktl711]

Here's the 1970 Monte Carlo 454 as it arrived at Brent's garage on Sunday afternoon.





The massive and awesome 454 motor!





Our host, Brent, doing a preliminary tune on the carb.





Ben and Nick at work.





Ben's cleaning with Tough Stuff aerosol made a big difference on the rear seat belts. Here's a side-by-side of the before and after.





The trunk was filled with a jumble of parts.





Nick and Brent install one of the door trim panels.





Ben is showing signs of inhaling too many Tough Stuff cleaner fumes!

[Gottork]

nice car, I love that body style..

[ktl711]

One of the found items in the car: a 20-year old photo of Nick and his sister that his dad kept with him.





Proof that I actually did more than just take pictures!







And at the end of the night, the Monte looked better and ran better!

[meissen]

Very cool! Thanks for posting the pics Kevin!

[bigjon88]

wish i could of made it out but emily got really sick glad to see it running and looking better!!

[93formulalt1]

wish i could of made it out but emily got really sick glad to see it running and looking better!!

Not a problem, Jon. We were worried you got lost or something.

We might be doing it again this weekend, Ben and I pulled the wood burner out of the basement last night, I'm hoping to get it installed and working today or tomorrow. Shouldn't take too much work, just gotta cut a hole in the wall for the exhaust pipe to go through, then find somebody who's got some firewood they could part with. . . I still have most of a case of Budweiser sitting in the kitchen, I'll throw it out in the garage so it will be nice and cold. lol

Not too much more to do, just need to get a stripped screw drilled out of the mount for the front turn signal on the old bumper, then track down the electrical gremlin that's keeping the front turn signals from working. The front seats need new holes drilled and tapped, and the old holes filled in. Seat belts need installed, driver's side door panel needs replaced (or repaired) and installed. I might start installing the chrome trim pieces, but I think I'm going to repaint the black stripes on them first. Hoping to have the whole thing put back together before I (might) have to leave.

The car is definitely running a lot better, I think Dad had it set to idle so high to break in the cam, but now that it idles at around 850-900 RPM's, it sounds like it's supposed to. It's really funny driving it around, I had an Acura Integra rev at me at a stop light Monday night, I revved back, and he turned right to avoid me. . . haha I think that has a lot to do with the fact that the back tires *may* have gotten a little too excited to stay still, but most of it is because the guy in the truck behind him was laughing his ass off. Oh, and so was I. . .

[93formulalt1]

Well, I finally got my tax refund back, and I'm looking to buy a couple of 'little' parts for the Formula, as well as a few more things to help finish up the Monte. I need some suggestions, though. I have no idea what I should do next to free up some more power.

I'm installing the headers when I get home and the weather is decent, I was thinking of buying a convertor, electric cutout, and a B&M Shift Improver Kit (700R4, electronic shift improvers won't work), and pulling the trans and installing everything all at once. It will probably be a lot easier to get the headers in with the trans out too, so the whole install would probably go much more smoothly. Not to mention, with a convertor, shift kit, e-cutout, headers, and ORY all being installed at once, I think I would be MUCH more impressed with the results after all the work done. I'm a very goal-oriented person, and just the thought of driving the car and having it feel like a whole different animal when I'm done is exciting.

Not to mention, there are a few demographics I'd like to be able to surprise with my car this year (ricers, mostly, but some of the domestic guys as well). There are a couple of new pony cars in town that rev at me and drive like *******s every time they pass me, so I think I'd like to have a little more under the hood to embarrass them with. lol

Any other suggestions? The car is already dropped, air shocks in back, STB, CAI, headers and ORY are in my apartment waiting for install, WS6 rims, new rubber to come, and it's already got a kickass system in it (Pioneer touchscreen 2 DIN headunit, 2x 12" Cerwin Vega subs, 1200w Sony amp, 600w Sony amp, Pioneer door and sail panel speakers, etc.)

Just looking for some suggestions. . . Appearance mods are welcome, but I think I'd rather have a car that's all "go" and no "show" than the other way around at this point. . .

[Gottork]

so did you get your transfer back to the states? or are you still stuck overseas for awhile?

window tint.. only suggestion I could make,lol

[BP_Z28]

I like your plans with the tax return

[93formulalt1]

so did you get your transfer back to the states? or are you still stuck overseas for awhile?

window tint.. only suggestion I could make,lol

Still stuck overseas, hoping to be home in a few weeks. Window tint is kind of a touchy subject for me, I know it looks good on a car, but being on the Law Enforcement side of things, nothing is scarier than approaching a fully tinted car while on a traffic stop. Plus, I really don't need any help attracting attention from the police, I seem to get pulled over almost weekly when I'm home. . . lol I'm still considering window tint, but I might go the "legal" route with the tint strip on the top of the windows and windshield, or go ahead and get a doctor's note, since I do suffer from photosensitivity, just don't have documentation for it. Not to mention, working in LE has made me realize the simple things people can do to make a traffic stop easier for the officer(s) involved, as well as less painless for you. . . So I would be able to kind of offset the fear by taking the extra steps to put the officer at ease before he approaches my vehicle if I do get pulled over for tint.

[s.reef]

If you have the money I would swap the gears and definitely do a convertor