1972 MC 350 A/T - Out of the Garage!!!

[B-Man]

After a year and a half (maybe more) of various delays and too many projects started at once, my Monte Carlo is FINALLY out of the garage and street worthy!!!! Woohoo!!!! Feels great

Needs a solid pressure washing to get all of the "barn dust" off (the paint is really rough). And of course, miscellaneous stuff I didn't manage to get to. But no way was I going to let another summer go by and just let it sit in the garage.

I'm going to be daily driving it for the near term. And maybe all summer. As much as humanly possible anyway. And I have a few 4 to 5 hour road trips planned too.

Get em out of the garage boys and girls! Even with the list of unfinished projects!

[Parked along the Mystic River in town]

[Scott S.]

Picnic by the river !!!!

Nice idea.   

[FrankOC]

Looks great out of the garage, the dust adds character!

[willie]

Nice pic Brendan!!!   Yes she looks great with a little bit of dirt. You have to give some slack, its her first time out!!!!  lol

[Chris shipley]

Nice well said. Enjoy the cruising!

[714024SPEED]

Enjoy 

[B-Man]

200+ mile road trip for a Friday overnight visit to see a good band at a friend's bar / music venue. The Monte Carlo ran and drove great! No issues. And I calculated 16 MPG, which seems near impossible. I'm going to do another check at the next fill-up to confirm / disconfirm

Anyway, happy road tripping boys and girls!

[B-Man]

Here in coastal New England (Mystic CT) the tourist season hasnt kicked in quite yet. So us locals get prime parking right out in from of some of the best afternoon hangouts! Live music, great pizza and BYOB!

Palmers Provisions,Noank CT

[B-Man]

 

I'm a horrible human being!!!!  After 2+ months of daily driving my Monte Carlo I just this morning finally got around to checking the engine oil.  I always keep an eye on the gauges, including oil pressure, of course - always good oil pressure at idle and at RPM.  I've noted some oil drips on my stone driveway over time, but nothing major.

No oil on the dipstick this morning!!!  Holy cow.  I'm awful. Just stupid!

So ... the engine still runs fine, no issues.  I will pick up some oil (10W-30 I think is what I put in). And maybe some sort of fancy treatment to make me feel better, and apologize to that poor engine .  I will also give the engine a good pressure washing (I never cleaned it after purchase ~3 years ago, and it needs it) in order to better track the source of the seepage / leakage.  I do recall it being pretty messy both up front and in the rear.  So it's long overdue.

And yes, I will check the oil at least once per week, and / or at each fill up.  Just like the old days.

CHECK YOUR OIL boys and girls!!!

[Robnhood]

35 minutes ago, B-Man said:

 

I'm a horrible human being!!!!  After 2+ months of daily driving my Monte Carlo I just this morning finally got around to checking the engine oil.  I always keep an eye on the gauges, including oil pressure, of course - always good oil pressure at idle and at RPM.  I've noted some oil drips on my stone driveway over time, but nothing major.

No oil on the dipstick this morning!!!  Holy cow.  I'm awful. Just stupid!

So ... the engine still runs fine, no issues.  I will pick up some oil (10W-30 I think is what I put in). And maybe some sort of fancy treatment to make me feel better, and apologize to that poor engine .  I will also give the engine a good pressure washing (I never cleaned it after purchase ~3 years ago, and it needs it) in order to better track the source of the seepage / leakage.  I do recall it being pretty messy both up front and in the rear.  So it's long overdue.

And yes, I will check the oil at least once per week, and / or at each fill up.  Just like the old days.

CHECK YOUR OIL buys and girls!!!

Dude!  It is all good.  I am groveling to my car that I let sit for far to long, and there were other things that were more important to me.

I am not blaming anyone, it just happened.  

Now I am trying to make it up my monte with some brand new expensive parts. 

(DON'T LET ANYONE HERE HELP YOU!  THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVE SPENDING YOUR MONEY ON YOUR MONEY CARLO, AND GIVING YOU TONS OF IDEAS OF THINGS YOU CAN DO TO YOUR MONTE, BUT YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW THAT!)

[cny first gen 71]

26 minutes ago, Robnhood said:

Dude!  It is all good.  I am groveling to my car that I let sit for far to long, and there were other things that were more important to me.

I am not blaming anyone, it just happened.  

Now I am trying to make it up my monte with some brand new expensive parts. 

(DON'T LET ANYONE HERE HELP YOU!  THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVE SPENDING YOUR MONEY ON YOUR MONEY CARLO, AND GIVING YOU TONS OF IDEAS OF THINGS YOU CAN DO TO YOUR MONTE, BUT YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW THAT!)

I'm hoping your just kidding around because I've gotten great advice form a lot of people in this group.  People here are always willing to help with whatever you may need. 

[Robnhood]

9 minutes ago, cny first gen 71 said:

I'm hoping your just kidding around because I've gotten great advice form a lot of people in this group.  People here are always willing to help with whatever you may need. 

Yes.  Indeed.  This is a great group.  I say they like spending your money, because I have seen many pictures of the dakota digital dash on these forums, and well.  I want one!

[B-Man]

Haha,  @Robnhood yeah I want one too!  I drool over every Dakota dash I see here on the forum.  But that's a story for a different day / wallet

Thanks to my 'Tune Up' post linked below, I've well-documented the fact that I used OReilly 10W-30 and some off the shelf zinc additive.  I guess I will pick up some more on the way home from work.

And CHECK YOUR OIL!!!!!  [might put that in my signature]

 

 

[Robnhood]

2 minutes ago, B-Man said:

Haha,  @Robnhood yeah I want one too!  I drool over every Dakota dash I see here on the forum.  But that's a story for a different day / wallet

Thanks to my 'Tune Up' post linked below, I've well-documented the fact that I used OReilly 10W-30 and some off the shelf zinc additive.  I guess I will pick up some more on the way home from work.

And CHECK YOUR OIL!!!!!  [might put that in my signature]

 

 

I have a wish list a mile long.  LOL!

[cny first gen 71]

Oh yes I'd love one too but don't think I'd be able to put one in and dash wiring. I gotta start sucking up to Joe a little bit 😁

[Dtret]

48 minutes ago, cny first gen 71 said:

Oh yes I'd love one too but don't think I'd be able to put one in and dash wiring. I gotta start sucking up to Joe a little bit 😁

Joe hates working on cars so you better put some thought into this. lol. 😝 

[B-Man]

UPDATE: 2 quarts is all it took to get it back up to the FULL mark. So, I'm not as horrible as I first thought. 

But ... CHECK YOUR DANGED OIL folks!!!!

[DragCat]

4 hours ago, Robnhood said:

(DON'T LET ANYONE HERE HELP YOU!  THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVE SPENDING YOUR MONEY ON YOUR MONEY CARLO, AND GIVING YOU TONS OF IDEAS OF THINGS YOU CAN DO TO YOUR MONTE, BUT YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW THAT!)

 

3 hours ago, cny first gen 71 said:

I'm hoping your just kidding around because I've gotten great advice form a lot of people in this group.  People here are always willing to help with whatever you may need. 

But we DO like helping you spend your money too 🤣 The LED's I just bought for the IP are more of a fashion over function purchase, but when I saw Greg's green I just had to pull the trigger 🤣

Good thing there is so much experience here, people that have gone down that road before, and share. We all have a to do list and it just comes down to time and priorities 

[B-Man]

Summer of 2025 update - it's been a while!  Well, my MC has been sitting back in the garage since I think mid-June.  Ugh, how the heck does this happen???!!!???!  I've been having a great summer in general and I let some cooling system issues cause me to relegate the car to the garage.  Only because I havent made time to address them.  And one of the tires went flat due to age and a sidewall crack.  So new tires have been in process (see my Suspension Upgrade thread).

Well, it's a cool morning here in New England and I figured I'd drive it to work this morning.  I made it a few miles before the temp gauge made it upwards of 240F - dang it!  I turned around and it did cool down some.  I made it home, tucked it back in the garage and took my 78 Triumph Spitfire to work instead.

Expect a 'cooling system rebuild' thread in my near future.  Hopefully it's a quick one that will get me back on the road for some New England fall road trips.  We shall see!

[Rob Peters]

Maybe just as simple as a new thermostat, who knows.  It may not be opening up enough.

rob

[Scott S.]

They (thermostats) haven't been the best quality for a few years now..... 

I've been through a couple, as have several others.   

[B-Man]

@Rob Petersand @Scott S. I actually don't even know if there is a thermostat even installed to be honest.  I bought one, and all of the associated essentials, from an O'Reilly's when I went on the first 2+ hour road trip earlier this summer and saw the temp creep up past 210F.  It's still on the shelf.  But yeah, one of the first things I will check.  While the water pump isn't making any noise, I do question whether it's functioning optimally.  Could be anything at this point I suppose.  Given how bad the front (and rear) main seal leaks I may be in for a might-as-well strip the whole front of the engine down.  We shall see.  First things first though is a good coolant system flush, check flow (water pump) and see if a thermostat is in play.

[Glen]

No oil on the dipstick this morning!!!  Holy cow.  I'm awful. Just stupid!
 

Some guys will do anything to justify rebuilding a motor with more HP 😂. 

If it makes you feel better I’ve driven box Chevys with 350s at work that were down 4+ quarts (for God knows how long) when I checked levels while gassing up. Coworkers almost never took car of cars that were driven by three different shifts. Those motors still lasted for years after that. No visible smoke. No audible knocking. I’d never advocate trying to emulate such a stunt and agree with what we’re all aware of as “car guys”… regular checks of fluids, normal wear & tear items and preventative maintenance is where the smart money is. 
 

 

[cny first gen 71]

I always keep an extra quart of all fluids in the trunk just in case. Luckily my truck don't use any oil between changes but I do still check it.

[Dtret]

Regular maintenance is a myth. You don’t need to do it at all. Just do what I do and never drive the cars. See no maintenance. lol. 😂.  Yes do your regular checks.