Finally Coming Together

 

Yes, I haven't written in a while. The thing is though, I wanted to show progress and that orange motor certainly shows that. The motor was bored and honed. The crank was machined. It has a new oil pan, pistons, oil pump, heads, lifters, cam, pushrods, rockers, manifold, carb, valve covers, and air filter. With Gerry Reese's help I got the valve lash adjusted. John at Land Air did a great job on the motor and it looks great. I took out the fuel tank and got it coated and the condenser cleaned at Lake Zurich Radiator by Jim. He also sold me a brass three row radiator which is quite the upgrade from the original. As good as the motor looks I have found new problems with the body. A friend of mine named James and I are going to try and do the welding and we watched a video put out by Hot Rod magazine. We realized that we don't have the right tools to do the floor boards but we can probably weld the trunk. There is a brace in the trunk that could be rusted but we won't know until we cut into it. I have been getting pretty down about the rust. Yes, I knew that it was there but it equates to me spending a hell of a lot of money now. I thought about buying other shells and just dumping the Monte. I could put the motor into a 1970 Malibu and give it a four speed and Chevelle livery. I could also put it into a 1969 Camaro body. However, my friend brought up a pretty good point. I have put way too much time into that car to give up now. It seems like everybody has Chevelle's and Camaro's but the Monte Carlo is different. It is something special. This project has turned into my life. I didn't have enough money to buy a muscle car, so I built my own. I really think that is true and kind of a pleasant thought. For the first time I can see the fruits of my labor in that motor. As much as I want to give up on that car sometimes I always come back and work on it the next day. I can definitely understand why people give up on projects. However, giving up is the easy way out. If I can build a 350 horsepower machine working at a minimum wage job anybody can. The weird thing is that I am getting a sort of fever now. I really want to get the car done. However, I suppose that is typical. I was working on the car with my friend Tony and I said, "You Know something, I am never going to buy something this rusty again." He looked at me and said," Bullshit. Knowing you you'll find some stupid deal on a rusty car and buy it." I just hope that next time I can get a Mopar. As a Chrysler guy I have to stop buying Chevy's.