82 Monte Carlo Restoration

[doberman_52]

I'm looking at possibly looking into restoring my Uncle's 82 Monte Carlo. It has been sitting for the past 15ish years in a grove, collecting dust and mice. It has a nonstock 350 in it and I was wondering if there was any way of finding out what car that came from. Also, does an 82 have a unibody or does it have a real frame? And where can I find the electrical parts at, I will need to replace all of the wireing and stuff because of the mice.

[MagicRat]

IMO this project is not worth doing. Early '80's Monte's are common and were made in huge numbers. Good running ones are cheap; much cheaper than fixing this one.

Cars that sit outside, especially for many years deteriorate quickly. You should expect that rust and corrosion will have damaged all systems including the brakes, exhaust, carb, ignition, seized engine, due to rust, rusty frame (yes its a seperate chassis, and is susceptable to rust weakening and holes) rusty/holed body panels, especially the floor.

Furthermore, why was the car parked in the first place? Did something major break that was not worth fixing at the time. Obviously you woudl need to fix it now.
You would have to rebuild/repair many many parts, likely to the tune of several thousand dollars.

Mice do huge damage and always chew, pee and crap all over car interiors rendering them at best unbelievably stinky, or worse, full of holes.

IMO if you must have an '82 Monte, find a good driving one and use your uncles car for parts.

[doberman_52]

It was put out to dit because it didn't run right when my uncle swapped the motor at 16. Not sure why it didnt run right and I can't really get that info because he was killed a few months ago (he was only 32). There are a few others in my family who are looking into the restoration too because of the sentimental value. My uncle loved this car and planned on restoring it with his best friend and his cutlass. How many were made with T-Tops? this has them, I havent seen all of the specs produced for thoses.

[MagicRat]

I have not seen any specs for T-top car production; the vast majority were not t-tops, though
I am sorry to hear about your uncle. Many people have done projects for sentimental reasons which otherwise do not make financial sense.
Just be careful and aware of how much work and money will be required to see the project through to the finish before you start.

[doberman_52]

Well, if I do restore it, I will plan on doing most oof the work myself with a few af my Uncle's friends, and others in my family. It would just be the parts that I would need to replace.I already know most, if not, alll of the interior is going to need to be replaced. All seals, suspension, possibly a few body pannels, etc. will too. Would this be a unibody frame or a regular frame?

[portworx]

For Your Uncle Go For It . Do Alittle At A Time .get It Running First And Go From There .

[doberman_52]

I need to talk to a few people first, and it's sitting 60 miles away. I will want to get the interior cleaned up first, mice suck with cars. the motor is a 350 tho, should be easy, would it be possible to set up a stand alone ecu or something like that in there, or someting to tune it better? And what does IMO mean? I cant figure that one out for some reason

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by doberman_52

. Would this be a unibody frame or a regular frame?

As I posted earlier, these are a separate (regular, as you say) frame.

Huge caution, these frames were notorious for rusting out, especially from the rear axle to the rear bumper. You can get replacement frame rails for the back only, but require decent welding and metal fabrication skills to install.

[doberman_52]

Ok, I didn't notice that in your first post.