What did you do to your Monte Carlo today?

[Rob Peters]

20 minutes ago, jft69z said:

I'm in the Lazyboy right now, been here all week...

I did go out there a couple times to gather research for other members car issues,  but then it was back to the chair.

(Joe T.'s tech support, open 24/7)

Being sick doesn't even keep you out of the garage.  Hope you are feeling better.

rob

[FrankOC]

29 minutes ago, jft69z said:

(Joe T.'s tech support, open 24/7)

I have that on speed dial.

That rear bracket is a pain.   An inspection mirror to see the bracket and screws then remove them by feel worked for me.  

 

[Leghome]

I remove my lower backseat by moving the front seat forward as far as they go and sit on the floor with a towel on the seat and push it in and up with my leg.  That has never failed me yet but it has been ten years since the last time so I more than likely would not be able to do that now

[Rob Peters]

11 hours ago, Leghome said:

I remove my lower backseat by moving the front seat forward as far as they go and sit on the floor with a towel on the seat and push it in and up with my leg.  That has never failed me yet but it has been ten years since the last time so I more than likely would not be able to do that now

Bingo Larry, that is exactly what I was saying... age has its limitations.  My process is about the same as yours but as I said, I don't remember it being as hard a number of years ago as it is now.

rob

[cny first gen 71]

Mine was similar but I used a pry bar to lift up on it after pushing it in. I don't think the seat had ever been removed before as everything was original and I did find a build sheet under the springs but of course it fell apart as I was removing it. Luckily I did find another one when doing interior at a later date. Found a few coins dated from 70s also.

[McCall72]

Ordered my cloth seat covers from Legendary Interiors. Man, the Sandlewood cloth is a kick in the wallet!

[Rob Peters]

A little more progress.  

I got the radio out.  My issue was the back of the radio support screw.  It is very hard to access from beneath the dash, just no way to get a good angle on the head of the screw.  I solved this by removing the screws from the ash tray frame.  This allowed me a line of site and more access and once the ash tray was moved out of the way the radio was out in minutes.

I siphon pumped as much gas out of the tank as I could but not sure if I got it all out.  I was only able to get about 6 gallons out but I feel there has to be more than that in there.  I will try again to see fi I can get more out prior to dropping the tank to install the new fuel sender unit.  The gas gauge still shows a half tank but I know that is not accurate.

I reinstalled the new package tray and marked the speaker holes and the speaker grill holes.  When I was done at the storage garage I took the speaker tray home where I had a good area to properly cut out  the speaker and grill holes.

When I got home I cut out the speaker holes using a dremel tool.  At first I tried using a box cutter and xacto knife but I found the dremel and using a cutoff wheel to be easier.

I will have some paint left over from painting the rear speaker grills and since the spray can of the Dark Blue from Lutty's Chevy Warehouse was $24 I didn't want it to go to waste so I brought the A-Pillar panels home.  They were a little faded so I sanded and primed them and as soon as I get a decent day I will repaint them.

 

[cny first gen 71]

2 hours ago, Rob Peters said:

A little more progress.  

I got the radio out.  My issue was the back of the radio support screw.  It is very hard to access from beneath the dash, just no way to get a good angle on the head of the screw.  I solved this by removing the screws from the ash tray frame.  This allowed me a line of site and more access and once the ash tray was moved out of the way the radio was out in minutes.

I siphon pumped as much gas out of the tank as I could but not sure if I got it all out.  I was only able to get about 6 gallons out but I feel there has to be more than that in there.  I will try again to see fi I can get more out prior to dropping the tank to install the new fuel sender unit.  The gas gauge still shows a half tank but I know that is not accurate.

I reinstalled the new package tray and marked the speaker holes and the speaker grill holes.  When I was done at the storage garage I took the speaker tray home where I had a good area to properly cut out  the speaker and grill holes.

When I got home I cut out the speaker holes using a dremel tool.  At first I tried using a box cutter and xacto knife but I found the dremel and using a cutoff wheel to be easier.

I will have some paint left over from painting the rear speaker grills and since the spray can of the Dark Blue from Lutty's Chevy Warehouse was $24 I didn't want it to go to waste so I brought the A-Pillar panels home.  They were a little faded so I sanded and primed them and as soon as I get a decent day I will repaint them.

 

One thing I did Rob was after I had ground removed and lines disconnected from tank I loosened the bolts almost all the way out and then saw how heavy the tank felt before I dropped the bolts completely out. That way I knew if I was going to need help holding the tank. Just a thought.

[Stuckin70s]

Rob, was this a replacement tank with a funky fuel sending unit?

 

[DragCat]

Nothing 🤣 Still in hibernation. Still lots of salt on the streets, still piles of snow in parking lots. Took the suburban to the dealer to schedule a service appointment and free truck wash, started raining 10 minutes after I left so looks the same 🤣

VMP is having a big race weekend March 8th ( 2.5 hours each way 😝) So weather/schedule permitting I'll take the suburban make a few pass's and cut some lights 😁Get a lay of the land, tech inspection (NHRA rules say no more than 4" of rubber fuel line and I havent upgraded the line from the fuel pump yet) so we'll see.

Purposely included the (tennis ball) in the shot since Glen has a facination with them, maybe its just a GSD thing 🤣 

 

[Rob Peters]

On 2/25/2025 at 10:28 AM, Stuckin70s said:

Rob, was this a replacement tank with a funky fuel sending unit?

 

No Brad, it is the original tank and original sending unit.  Since I am working on more than one project at the same time I have the tank drained but I have not been able to drop it yet.  I need to start getting the interior back together and finish the radio install completed.... A few things are getting in the way right now due to the death of a car cruise friend and family things right now and I may not get much time over the next week.

rob

[Canuck]

It’s alive!

The smell of the new exhaust gaskets burning and hot fresh paint is the best! Here is it in fast choke idle. You can see the new exhaust donut smoking. Nothing of concern.

 

[SPLATT71MC]

No pictures but I removed the front seats and carpet so I could finish welding in the trans tunnel so I can get it seam sealed and etch primed. The next step are swapping the steering column from a tilt column shift to a tilt floor shift, installing a clutch pedal set and hydraulic clutch master. I will also be taking care of various things in the engine compartment while the engine and trans are out.

[cbolt]

No pics, but I replaced the blower motor high speed wire from the horn relay to the blower relay. A/C finally works properly just in time to quit on the way to the Eastern Meet! 

[Ron Tevis]

Are you competing for the “Hard Luck Award “ already Jim ??? 🤣

[Rob Peters]

45 minutes ago, Ron Tevis said:

Are you competing for the “Hard Luck Award “ already Jim ??? 🤣

Is it possible we could start the voting now?

rob

 

[cbolt]

15 hours ago, Ron Tevis said:

Are you competing for the “Hard Luck Award “ already Jim ??? 🤣

If I start lobbying now I should have it in the bag. 

Ultimately, my diabolical plan is to sweep the hard luck awards from now until I stop attending meets. Lofty goal, I know, but definitely achievable. When I do, I will display my car covered with all the hard luck plaques to impress folks, like Ron does.

 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

You'll see. You'll ALL see..... 

[Dtret]

Jim, I sure hope not. 

[Rob Peters]

Recently I have been able to do some work on my Monte.  I had started to do the work a few weeks ago but finding time to go up to my storage garage has been tough to come by.  Finally got a chance to work on my Monte today.  I have a number of projects I am working on.  

Package Tray Replacement and New Speaker Installation:  This portion is complete, along with installing the rear fiber optic light monitor for onto the new package tray;

Repair Radio Stem Towers:  I ordered that kit from Beldin Speed.  I have replaced the radio tuning knob tower.  This kit is very nice.  As of today I have completed this tower replacement and repaired the on/off stem tower.

Run New Speaker Wires For All 4 Speakers:  This is completed

Install 2 Front and 2 Rear New Speakers:  This is completed.  All new speaker wires have been run and are connected to the radio wiring pigtail.

Fuel Sending Unit Replacement:  Today I was able to drop the gas tank.  I found no rust on the original bolts and they came out very easy.  The only problem I had was one of them had stripped threads so I had to cut the head of the bolt with my Dremel tool.  I will still have to remove the rest of the tank strap mounting bolt that is stripped.

By this time I had had enough and it was time to head home for supper.  My goals for the day were reached for the most part.  The biggest disappointment of the day is I was looking forward to finding a build sheet in great shape on top of my gas tank but unfortunately there was no build sheet to be found up there.  When I get back up there on another day, I will be removing the old fuel sender and installing the new one and hope it will work as expected.  

So, basically I made progress but still have a good bit of work to do.

rob

 

[cny first gen 71]

Progress is a good thing Rob.

[Rob Peters]

I forgot to post the photo's of the tank after I dropped it.

rob

[Rob Peters]

I went back up to the storage garage again on Tuesday.  I didn't get much done though because where my car is stored in in an apartment building.  Each apartment in the building is entitled to rent one of the private garages within that building but some of the tenants choose to not rent their garage and a lot of my car friends are allowed to rent those garages.  Each garage has its own private entrance and garage door opener.  The garage I rent has all of the electrical panels for each of the 4 apartments in that building.  Having electrical available is a great advantage when it comes to needing a drop light or electric to run any corded tools and even a battery charger.

So I was up there on Tuesday working away when one of the maintenance men knocked on the garage door because he needed access to the electrical panels.  Unfortunately he shut off the power to my garage.  This basically ended my Tuesday car work day.  So I finished up what I could.

This afternoon, I went up to the garage to finish what I was doing on Tuesday.  On Tuesday I had all of the radio wiring completed but had not tucked everything up under the dash because I wanted to test the radio out to make sure all 4 speakers were working but I couldn't do that Tuesday because the interior lights had drained the battery and with the electricity shut off, I could not recharge the battery.  

So, today I was able to get the charger on the battery and get it charged enough to test out the radio and it is working great!!!   After checking out the radio I buttoned up all of the wires, reassembled the interior with the exception of the dash pad and could not install that because the dash pad was at our house so that will have to wait till I can get back up to the garage. 

Now, the major things I have to do now is install the new upper radiator hose, complete the reconnection of rear light monitor system and last but not least I still have to install the new fuel sending unit into the gas tank.  I did get the gas tank dropped so that is the next big project to complete and then I will be able to take "Baby Blue" for a test drive.

rob

[Ron Tevis]

Hum , 🤔, sounds like a considerable amount of modifications there Rob 😂. Nah. Glad your getting the chance to give the 70 some TLC.. mine hasn’t been touched yet.. except to start engine. Seems a water line break has me digging a hole I can’t seem to get out of 😭 💦…

[Stuckin70s]

It started with a little hole....

OK, I knew the Right side Body Mount, Front Firewall needed some lovin'.  I was going to wait until I took it back off the frame the last time...  Now may address this first.  The problem is the part itself. OPGI only sells them in pairs and I only need one.  On top of that, they only sell for Chevelle

Link to part     

• Not an exact match for Monte Carlo as the additional mount location is not included.

OPGI says it is for 72 monte and then not.  From the pictures the best I can tell, I'll just have to add a caged nut?  Thoughts?  One of the comments mention only one mount was usable as it is a chevelle mount.  

Rather that drill out all the spot welds, I was thinking about just cutting the lower part I needed and weld that to the solid part of the old mount, slice it in half sorta-speak.     Opinions encouraged.  Thank you, Brad

[Rob Peters]

I got a little time yesterday and this afternoon after church to work on my projects.  Yesterday I was able mostly finish getting the interior back together from the new speaker installation and tested out the AM/FM Radio again. 

Yesterday I was able to install the new fuel sending unit and started to reinstall the gas tank but the bolts in the strap bolt mounting kit were too short.  While I was upset by this, in reality it was  a good thing because last night I remembered I wanted to check out the new sending unit reading on the gas gauge prior to mounting the tank.  That ended my day yesterday until I could get some longer bolts.

I picked up the new hardware I needed for the straps last night.  Today I headed back to my storage garage and pulled the tank back out from under the car. 

I made up a ground wire that would reach the ground wire from the new sending unit with the tank laying on the floor behind the car.  With the tank at the same angle as it would be mounted in the car and the sender unit tan wire connected on the top of the sending unit I turned the key on and the gauge needle gradually moved right to the "Empty" position as it should with no gas in the tank.

 I Now I

needed to test the sending unit for a full tank.  Since I didn't want to fill the tank with gas and then have to drain it again so I could install it I simply picked the tank up and turned it over which would cause the float on the sending unit to move to the top of the tank with the tank flipped over.  With the float now against the top of the tank I turned the key on again the gauge needle gradually moved the the "Full" position on the gauge.  This gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that as soon as I can put gas into the tank it should finally read properly.

I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel on these projects with only minor snowball effects occurring during the project, some of the snowballs were self inflected.  

The tank is mostly back in.  The new tank straps are installed but since I did not have a 9/16 deep socket up at the storage garage I will have to return with the needed tool and cans of gas so I can test the sending unit and gauge under normal conditions with gas in the tank. I will test it out with 5 Gallons, then 10 Gallons, then 15 Gallons and finally with a full tank of gas.  

With the weather starting to get a bit warmer and us having enough rain to clear the salt from the roads, Patsy and I are looking forward to our first ride of the new season.  I see on https://www.carcruises.com/ we are starting to see some cruises starting up in our area.  Car cruises . com started here locally but has been growing in the past years and is including more and more states.  You may want to start telling other people in your areas to start using this site for listing their cruises and shows.  For people around here https://www.carcruises.com/ is the main source for locating gathering places for shows and cruises.  Give it a try and list Pennsylvania and April, May or June as your month selection and I think you will see how beneficial it can be for other areas.

rob