Has anybody seen my car?

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Has anybody seen my car?

Postby TowPro » Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:02 pm

Ever have one of the moments where you think about a car you had years ago and wonder what happened to it? I know this can be a tough one, but my car was unique.

The last time I saw it was around 1988 give or take a year or 3. I was just getting married, I had changed after 13 years into auto field to Electronics repair field and I needed something to drive every day that I could trust.
after I bought a brand new small pickup I listed my car on some newspaper and a young kid (in fact I think 2 split the car) from near West Chester PA.

Now the car :D
I started this project in early 80's. I was driving a 1976 Monza 2+2 with 140cid with 5 speed. I had painted it fire truck red with lacquer paint (yes you could still get that stuff in the 80's)
at one point i worked for a shop that had a wasted block from (I think 1978) regal 231 V6 that had a draw through 4 barrel turbo setup. I think the block was the first year for the offset crank journal (even fire), and owner might have forgot to change oil because It had around 1" of end play on the crank. So the shop threw either a v6 of v8 from wreck into to get customer back on road.

I got the shop owner to give me the "junk". I got everything I needed from the cross over pipe to the knock computer.
I also had a late 70's Odd fire 231 laying around. I did a test fit and the turbo intake onto the older odd fire block and everything fit! So I rebuilt the odd fire block and heads, rebuilt the turbo, carb distributor etc and put it all together. Since this is a "draw through" carburetor system, I had to follow all the vacuum diagrams so stuff like cruise, etc would work under manifold pressure as well as waist gate, and a couple other things I recall the normally aspirated cars did not have. I even ran the charcoal canister.
I also used the computer to sense knock, etc. The only thing I did not run was the dash lights for boost. I wired the complete motor so all the wiring went below the engine for looks.

At one point the monza was costing me more in oil than fuel so I took it to shop and pulled motor and trans.
while it was apart I put heaver suspension springs on the monza to support the extra weight.

Now that I had the original 5 speed out I checked and flywheel/trans bolted right up to the 231 so I decided to run 5 speed over switching to auto.
I mated up the Monza flywheel, clutch and trans to the V6. Its been a long time, but I am pretty sure I used the 140cid flywheel.
first major problem: I tried to find a pilot pushing for the odd fire 231 but apparently they might have never put a manual trans behind this block, so my buddy made had the right material and made me one in his machine shop in his garage :).
over a series of a couple weekends in the home garage we dropped the new V6 into the it onto the Monza. I think I remember having to cut the 4cyl mounts off, but I think the 6v motor mounts bolted up.
I don't recall doing anything different to cross member (maybe it moved back and used holes for auto trans cross member?) But I did have to get the driveshaft cut and balanced.
I can't remember what I did for exhaust, but it was single because of the way the turbo worked.

2nd major problem: The hood hits on the red air cleaner duct on top of carburetor. well it was red, and so was the car, so we cut a hold in hood just enough size to allow this "shaker" duct to poke through the hole. I was going to dress it up with something like marine vinyl so fluid from blown hose would not coat windshield (for state inspection) but never finished that.

Now it was back on the road. I think I drove it about a 2 years. Man that car was a rocket. none of the 5.0 mustangs on the road could touch it. I really enjoyed driving that car.

But I needed a reliable car for my commute. I bought a small 4 banger pickup. I think they offered me $200 on trade, than they gave me $200 off the deal and told me to just keep the Monza.
But I had no where to store the car, let along the money to pay insurance on it. and I was getting married and moving onto a new stage of my life so down the road it went. I think I sold it for a couple hundred bucks for it just to get it out of my parents driveway.

I remember a couple days after I sold the car some parents of the one of the buyers called me up and gave me crap for selling a car to there kids. I also remember the younger buyers calling later saying its not running well after they pulled all the vacuum lines :(

oh, during the time I was driving it my dog ate the back seat so I pulled it out and stored it in garage, then my dad threw the remains of the seat in a trash fire, so it did not have a back seat :(.

anyway thanks for listening,

Has anybody ever seen or heard of my car?
or did it end you in a junk yard.
TowPro
 
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Re: Has anybody seen my car?

Postby Monza Harry » Sun Jan 24, 2021 9:22 pm

TowPro welcome to the board, glad to have people with fond memories of our beloved cars around! I am now where near there but being in the rust belt my bet will not make you happy.
That coupled with the H-Bodies being well maligned in the mainstream and the fact that yours was unique doesn't increase your odds of survival. Thank You for sharing your story,
and I hope you hang around for awhile, you can probably find one to re-create that feeling with. Harry
I'm not a hoarder I'm a preservationist 78 Monza Spyder (~Soon(ish +/- I guess) To Be 2+2 with Spoilers)
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Monza Harry
 
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Location: Windsor ON Canada

1978 Chevrolet Monza 2+2


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