Looky what I bought... 'new' car

I was selling the Talon to get away from cars for awhile, but me and my bro came across this little piece, and decided to pick it up.


1975 Chevy Monte Carlo :)
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs638.snc4/59788_441134272704_514997704_5180276_4059211_n.jpg
This is the first night car was home.

Motor is currently pulled and sitting on a stand waiting for it to be completed. The owner had bought a ton of performance parts for it and just didnt have time (kids, work) so we got it for cheap. It's a joint venture for me and my bro, doing everything half and half.

Car has never seen snow, never will. Will be garage kept

Right now, we're going to get it back together with all the new parts and get it running. Car needs paint, interior needs work, but we're doing that over time. Has 29,000 miles on it originally.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs429.snc4/47204_441134537704_514997704_5180283_2928606_n.jpg



http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs635.snc4/59492_441134707704_514997704_5180290_777126_n.jpg
Wheels are from a Stingray and have been powdercoated. Tires are 255s all around. Have ~20 miles on them :)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs604.snc4/58415_441134882704_514997704_5180301_4407703_n.jpg
Custom cowel hood.

I may put up a project thread once things start going. For now, she's just sitting until I get the motor home. Then I'm spending lots of time with her and doing all the engine work.

GNARLY! Loved those years.

Ummm, so what's the motor?

More pics please

Thats a sick car to build up

Gotta love an old school chevy. They only thing I dont like is the hood. Cowl hoods go hard on some cars....but not this one. I have been dying to build a small block chevy. Cant waaaait to get my s10 going..

Nice, nice car. These were everywhere when I was a kid, but are all gone now. Such a low mile example is so rare, and a nice project :)

Actually I really like the Cowl hood on this car. Personally like it over the stocker. And the fact that it's custom made adds a little extra touch to it. But to each their own.

I didn't have a chance to work on her this weekend since I was out of town, but my bro washed her down and started cleaning up the engine bay. Looks a million times better already. But definitley will need new paint. We're still going to degrease more, and I'll start grinding down some of the rust in the bay and use the rust converter and then paint it up. Will be black still.

Still waiting to pick up the motor. This week I'm going to take inventory on the parts I got and see what else I need and what I'm going to replace. I opened the box for the intake mani and it was still new in the plastic. It's extended up (kind of like a builtd in IM spacer) and full aluminum with very opened ports. Cam is a custom grind. But I'm going to get inventory and see what all the parts are and what all works together and replace or upgrade where ever.

That would be a high rise intake manifold and neccessitate the cowl hood (stock won't close).

Nice, nice car. These were everywhere when I was a kid, but are all gone now. Such a low mile example is so rare, and a nice project :)

To say anithing about surviving 35 Chicago winters where the salt to snow ratio is like 10:1

To say anithing about surviving 35 Chicago winters where the salt to snow ratio is like 10:1

Car was in Cali most of its life. Believe it was Chicago for about 8 years total. Both here and in Cali, it was garage kept.

ahh but in these here parts, there exists the phenomina known as garage rott. :(

ahh but in these here parts, there exists the phenomina known as garage rott. :(

True. I'm pretty confident this thing will be looking near spotless when done. We really want to do this right. Should be a great finished product. Really can't wait to get this on the street. Should be pretty baller. Would be pretty nice too when everyone pulls up thinking some old man is driving this car with antique plates, but in fact its me. Will be great at the car shows too.

I really wish the Talon was still running so I could take pics of them side by side when all done :'(

Looks like a nice car Dave. Maybe you will have some better luck with this car.

Ordered a bunch of parts and got a lot cleaned up this past week. New water pump, thermostat and housing, some nuts and bolts, fuel pump... some other stuff too.

Cleaned off the piston tops and got the surface rust off the cylinder walls. All taped off for paint. Bought some engine paint (Chevy Orange of course) since when cleaning the block it stripped a lot off. Will throw a bunch of coats on this week.

Finally got around to degreasing the engine bay and grinded out some of the rust. The battery I guess had leaked or something at some point, so the tray where it sits was rusted away. Did some slight grinding and have rust converter paint that I'm going to spray this week as well.

Motor (I'm hoping) will start getting assembled this weekend. Been reading the manual trying to learn everything. Will double check the rod caps and everything before I close her up. Also going to blast out with air to get any dust or anything else that has fallen in there.

These 400 small blocks are notious for overheating, so I was working on getting a perfect setup for that. Already have a 4-core radiator to put in. Thermostat is a 180*, waterpump flows 30% better over stock (and aluminum instead of cast iron), and switching the single motor-driven fan to an electric fan setup. Thinking of havint 2 14" fans. Will have them kicking on at about 180* and should supply enough cooling power. The A/C is being kept in, so I know that's going to cause fitment issues with the fans, but should turn out good in the end.


This is when I was cleaning the surface rust
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs333.ash2/61384_447942982704_514997704_5330988_2682485_n.jpg




http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs676.snc4/61639_447942842704_514997704_5330986_4462160_n.jpg

All old parts that are getting replaced
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs011.snc4/33919_447943102704_514997704_5330991_3855741_n.jpg

It is almost looks like a vintage car. Vintage collectors need to have this include on their collectors item.

Motor has been coming together... pretty close to being ready to get dropped in

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs420.snc4/46324_450485662704_514997704_5378580_4279439_n.jpg

This is the only pic we get?? loser

This is the only pic we get?? loser

Fine, one more from last night
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs366.snc4/44896_451231862704_514997704_5393016_5588258_n.jpg

LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My brother into MUSLCE CAR NOW !!!!

LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My brother into MUSLCE CAR NOW !!!!

Oh man dude you haven't even seen it altogether yet. I'l post some pics right now.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs803.snc4/68310_455185952704_514997704_5461117_3380304_n.jpg

Going in
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs943.snc4/73685_459085982704_514997704_5528353_199345_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs458.ash2/73180_468481977704_514997704_5688234_2390815_n.jpg

So what are you going to use to tune with? MS? Jk!

Lookin good

So what are you going to use to tune with? MS? Jk!

Lookin good

Haha... I wish. Sadly it's been too cold the last couple weeks so it's just been under a cover waiting til spring. Have to do some valve adjustments and it's good to go.

Oh man dude you haven't even seen it altogether yet. I'l post some pics right now.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs803.snc4/68310_455185952704_514997704_5461117_3380304_n.jpg

Going in
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs943.snc4/73685_459085982704_514997704_5528353_199345_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs458.ash2/73180_468481977704_514997704_5688234_2390815_n.jpg

OMFG !! I do put that engine in my bed room and sleep with it lol. VERY NICE bro !!.

Decided to give a little posty posty here.

Engine fired up for the first time last night!

I had to put it away for the winter last year and been waiting to get to it. When I did, I torn it down to the block to double check the cam and timing. Still had problems. Did more and more reading, some tweaking, and bam. Fired up. I only had it on for about a minute since it started to leak some coolant from somewhere and started smoking (crap burning off the header). So this Saturday, going back to the garage for a wipe-down figure out where the coolant leak is coming from, and get her running great.

She still has open headers, so when that thing fired up... wow. It sounded great. When revving, the whole car just shakes. I plan on taking some videos this saturday, and will get them posted up.

Awesome...

Awesome dude! Congrats. More pics asap

If you have a flat tappet cam (non roller) be very careful breaking in the cam, its very easy to wipe a lobe, especially with a larger cam and stiffer springs! Hopefully you used tons of break-in lube on the lobes!!
Many people will remove the secondary set(s) of valve springs for the break-in to reduce the pressure on the lobes. After the 2000rpm/10min break-in they go back in.

Looks great. Im excited to get rolling with our small block project.

Just wanted to do a little update here.

Each time the car was running, it would leak coolant out the back of the engine, by the intake manifold. Ended up pulling the IM, putting in new gaskets, and back together. Started, leak was worse. And then had coolant in the oil. So ended up pulling the IM again, new gaskets yet again (better ones though), and got the intake on perfect. Had a small leak from one of the 10an SS fitting (Summit brand) so replaced with an extra Earls I had laying around. Coolant leaks gone.

Finished doing cam break in, and now the thing idles great. Had it idling for quite some time yesterday while looking for leaks. Headers smoked hardcore (cermaic coated) at first, bu burned off all the crap on there and it's all good.

Only leak, is a small bead of oil coming from the timing chain cover, but only happens when I shut the motor off. I'm going to check all the bolts, then add a bead of gasket sealer around the edge. Problem should be solved there.

Will get the power steering pump installed and finish wiring the electric fans up this week. Need to tune with the timing light. Too bright yesterday outside to do it lol. Hood will go on after tuning is done.

Filing for new registration and plates next week.

I'll get some idling videos up by this coming weekend. I have one on my facebook of it revving, but hard to hear. I have a gap between the headers to exhaust because they just didn't match up. So it's loud.

Right on dude. More pics is a must

Right on dude. More pics is a must

It looks pretty much the same as earlier. The video will be the money shot!

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/263567_10150223225837705_514997704_7356964_2138885 _n.jpg