Steve G

Torque, traction and weight... you got at least two already ...

Play it safe and run the skinniest tires you can find or your breaking point will be whatever breaks first...

2021 my health I took for granted caught up with me... 2022 has been my first year in a long time I stopped worrying about the uncontrollable, stopped penny pinching and began to enjoy what’s around me rather than worrying about what’s around me... my health is not too good anymore but my marriage and outlook on life is actually better than it ever was, I enjoy the things I denied myself of for a long time... plus I had to quit smoking...

The interior was reupholstered in 1973 from fabric to vinyl because the fabric absorbed the cigarette smoke too much... haha.. absolutely beautiful work too. well 49 years later the seat finally let go.. instead of seeing foam poking through I got to see this..

Dude... you just Gordon Ramsey’d a spoiler .... haha

I like it! Compliments the turn signals. At first when I saw the title I dreaded looking because I expected something massive bolted to your trunk lid...

Yes same color, it’s Ford willow metallic with a tad of yellow and black. Color looks way better on a Monte! That’s my wife’s 67, factory column powerglide with a bench lower front seat and fold down rear seat. Odd car.

Yep that’s the 402

Mine has the seams inline with the top seams, roughly 6” inset on each side of the trunk lid ... this is what I want if possible .

I built a lot of motors back in my 20s but always went with new parts and a clean machined block. Never did a basic cleanup before so I’m a tad paranoid.. also times have changed and now the internet car scene requires that every motor be built with the most expensive parts on the planet plus an extra 10k invested or it will instantly blow up the first time it hits 4,000rpms. Thank you car building TV shows for misleading everyone. I learned back when I was 18 that a motor can be an internal disaster and still be a good performer. I bought a 64 falcon that had a built up motor from the 60s. The guy warned me the motor was tired and needed a rebuild. This thing didn’t even start putting out power till 5500 and I was doing 7000+ rpm shifts constantly.. the oil pressure gauge never went over 20psi so I assumed it didn’t work and the crankcase pressure was so bad it would pop the breathers off the valve covers... still went strong. After a few months I took it out to refresh the motor and found bearings worn past the copper, the 20psi oil pressure was probably generous. Rings and ring lands broken, part of a piston skirt missing, all the valve spring retainers were cracked and about to let go and a cylinder wall ridge that was so deep it looked intentional.. if I had known it was that bad I would have never even drove the car in the first place.

One of my goals was to do a big block swap that looked close to factory... not perfect but able to fool 95% of most GM fans. I scored big time when I came across a 402 car with very low miles and never tampered with. Just about every plastic part, every hose and clamp was original. Ran smooth and quiet no oil leaks. Since the owner was doing an LS swap I got it all from radiator to driveshaft for $1500. In my opinion well worth it. So my big plan was to just replace the freeze plugs, some gaskets and a tad of paint and call it done. When I pulled the valve covers i was pleased with the cleanliness of the heads but one pushrod caught my eye, I could tell it was bent. So like any engine cleanup it snowballed into me ripping the entire engine apart. I kinda got mixed feelings about doing it, the engine is like brand new inside... no it was a bonehead move on my part.. haha. Other than the bent pushrod and the piston with the mother of all valve gashes there is no other damage... I’m still going to redo the heads just in case (that valve does not appear to have any damage!) and new cam and lifters/pushrods. I’m leaning towards just doing a ring and bearing job on the bottom end and calling it good (never done that before) but I need to be able to sleep at night. Yes or no... would you trust this piston? thanks!

My monthly gas bill is horrific, but I did get to have fun with it a few months ago when a lady in a beat up old faded red Prius with a bunch of political and climate change bumper stickers on her rear bumper was complaining about gas prices.... I told her “eh just another number in my bank account”... Ever see an angry Prius owner?

Yes please.... there was a time when upholstery shops did beautiful jobs with vinyl tops from scratch... I have seen a few lately and it looks like garbage with a lot of excuses... i even saw one with the seams 4” from the drip mounding and they ran the seams down the sail panels...

Looking for opinions of the OPG or other companies vinyl tops in recent years. that’s all ... thanks.

I washed her up.. after sitting 12 years outside I guess it could be a lot worse.. I can’t believe it’s been 21 years since I painted it. I was only 22 years old... it’s amazing how time flys. Unfortunately it needs to be stripped to metal because it’s full of lacquer checking under the paint. I’m really up in the air about the condition of the roof, I’m hoping I have enough good metal to work with because I just don’t have it in me anymore to tackle roof skins for fun. Interior is dead, one rip in the front seat but everything is mildew and water stained. So now the project begins. Luckily the car is still fairly solid (just turned 70k) the only big changes this time around is goin to black interior, goodbye opera windows and I collected every bone stock part to do a full 402 swap.

It’s currently on the trailer .. all pressure washed and rolling. Cleaned up a lot better than I was expecting.

Hey Tony! holy cow it’s been like 8 years! I will mail ya the opera windows once I yank them out. More like 10+ years!

When I painted the car in 2001 my buddy as a joke stuck the SS emblems On with some emblem adhesive.. the adhesive burned into the clear coat so I stuck them back on to cover the ugly.

Getting ready to come home.. needed some tires that hold air.

5 speed?

1985 wcm 1986 wcm pre-production with lumina body My other Monte Carlo project

The ones that are worth the most are vintage “as raced” or original never restored, also 70s-early 90s are most desirable. This one being a custom made car built on a modified wcm frame would probably sell for $1,500 at best, even though it couldn’t be built for that. The rear axle is a reproduction of the SeCo skellenger rear axle that was used in the 80s in several production cars. The heim joints are from a rock crawler 1/10 scale truck and too weak for abuse but looks good. The engine is a custom built rc airplane 2 stroke with a boat crankshaft so I can run a pull start.

It’s a 35 year old frame I got off eBay, all the parts are either vintage parts I hunted down or had made by a machinist. Tons of time fabricating and test fitting. It does run, throttle, steering and brakes function smoothly. The car weighs over 25 pounds and would not take a wreck well at all (neither would whatever it hit) so it’s going on the shelf on display... this time last year I had respiratory surgery (non-covid) and the doctors were talking about a long recovery. So my wife bought me one of these and I bought a few with intentions of having to sit in front of the tv and tinker with something to keep me amused. Doctors said I could be down as long as 6 months but I was back at work 9 weeks after surgery.

I just finished this car today... 10 month project.

The opera windows were a option generally seen in 71 for the caprice and impala... they were installed in this car when the vinyl top was put on... I just never removed them because the top was in perfect condition when I restored the car in 2001. This time around I’m probably going to remove them because the top finally went bad. Honestly I’m not looking forward to restoring the car again. It was absolutely beautiful when parked in 2009 but life took priority over the cars. I never cancelled the insurance or registration in the 13 years it has been sitting just to remind me It’s patiently waiting..