2002 Monte SS Dale Earnhardt LE
and congrats on the ride!
#3
05-14-2018, 04:26 PM
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Mountains of Utah
Posts: 4,903
Hello and Welcome to the forum! 
FYI: Dale Earnhardt is a dirty word around here...
LOL, JK
his name both Sr & Jr. get plenty of play here, Many kudos, but hey someone has to give you guys heck! Glad to have you here! Lets spend some of your money modifying this project more than you were expecting to. 
FYI: Dale Earnhardt is a dirty word around here...
LOL, JK
his name both Sr & Jr. get plenty of play here, Many kudos, but hey someone has to give you guys heck! Glad to have you here! Lets spend some of your money modifying this project more than you were expecting to.
#4
05-17-2018, 07:38 PM
Thought I would enter a couple photo's !! Obviously it needs a windshield, tree branch fell on it during storm. I really wanted to keep it as original as possible. Needs new drivers seat upholstery, those are the easy parts. Keeping it original may prove to be problematic. Somebody had a lift kit in it, and cut out the wheel wells to put bigger tires on it. Unless it proves problematic, for now I will leave the lift kit in it, and later since I have the number to the guy who did the lift and trim for a previous owner. I'll probably get him to custom make new fender liners. Since the body has no rust and never wrecked, I dont see replacing quarter panels as a reasonable option.
The big part of the project will be the engine and trans. I Put a new battery in it, but wont turn over, not sure yet if its starter or engine, engine has decently clear oil in it. In addition the plastic intake is shattered, and the plastic fuel line where it L connects to the fuel rail is burned and broken. First i want to see if I can get it to turn over before I decide to go from there, thought I would first pull the plugs, to see if with no compression it would roll, and if not remove the starter and have it checked.
The trans fluid looks pretty black, and the radiator looks like its full of swamp water. So drive train wise this car is not looking so good and seriously been neglected.
Time to give it some Love!
Probably my best bet is to just go ahead pull the Engine and Trans, have the Trans rebuilt, would love to have a manual, but that would take away from being original. Probably isn't any manuals that fit this car :-( . I dont work on slush boxes myself.
Radiator no big deal, probably flush it out good, and new hoses.
The Engine: my biggest dilemma! To keep the car as original as possible would require me to rebuild the original engine and trans, but just how far does original matter? This one will obviously never be one of those showroom condition originals. So why not, since its not unreasonable, that when repairs need to be made, make it a little better. If I'm going to need rebuild the engine, why not since its already shattered, buy a higher performance intake ( if there is one ) maybe cam it up a bit, a little higher compression on the pistons. I'm not sure what all can be done on these type engines.
For the record Zippy, although I'm a Nascar Fan, I never was much of an Earnhardt fan. I'm a Mark Martin fan, so that really puts me on the wrong forum lol !
Some of the vehicles I had when I was younger are worth huge now ! Scout II, 77 Dodge Macho SE Power Wagon, 77 Olds Cutlass Salon with 5 speed <
#5
05-17-2018, 08:19 PM
This car came with no paperwork other than the title, but I read where another poster asked where to get some paperwork on a 2004 version, so I'm starting there with that info. hopefully I can get a duplicate Certificate of Authenticity!
#8
05-18-2018, 07:50 AM
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Nebraska
Posts: 5,278
Thought I would enter a couple photo's !! Obviously it needs a windshield, tree branch fell on it during storm. I really wanted to keep it as original as possible. Needs new drivers seat upholstery, those are the easy parts. Keeping it original may prove to be problematic. Somebody had a lift kit in it, and cut out the wheel wells to put bigger tires on it. Unless it proves problematic, for now I will leave the lift kit in it, and later since I have the number to the guy who did the lift and trim for a previous owner. I'll probably get him to custom make new fender liners. Since the body has no rust and never wrecked, I dont see replacing quarter panels as a reasonable option.
The big part of the project will be the engine and trans. I Put a new battery in it, but wont turn over, not sure yet if its starter or engine, engine has decently clear oil in it. In addition the plastic intake is shattered, and the plastic fuel line where it L connects to the fuel rail is burned and broken. First i want to see if I can get it to turn over before I decide to go from there, thought I would first pull the plugs, to see if with no compression it would roll, and if not remove the starter and have it checked.
The trans fluid looks pretty black, and the radiator looks like its full of swamp water. So drive train wise this car is not looking so good and seriously been neglected.
Time to give it some Love!
Probably my best bet is to just go ahead pull the Engine and Trans, have the Trans rebuilt, would love to have a manual, but that would take away from being original. Probably isn't any manuals that fit this car :-( . I dont work on slush boxes myself.
Radiator no big deal, probably flush it out good, and new hoses.
The Engine: my biggest dilemma! To keep the car as original as possible would require me to rebuild the original engine and trans, but just how far does original matter? This one will obviously never be one of those showroom condition originals. So why not, since its not unreasonable, that when repairs need to be made, make it a little better. If I'm going to need rebuild the engine, why not since its already shattered, buy a higher performance intake ( if there is one ) maybe cam it up a bit, a little higher compression on the pistons. I'm not sure what all can be done on these type engines.
For the record Zippy, although I'm a Nascar Fan, I never was much of an Earnhardt fan. I'm a Mark Martin fan, so that really puts me on the wrong forum lol !
Some of the vehicles I had when I was younger are worth huge now ! Scout II, 77 Dodge Macho SE Power Wagon, 77 Olds Cutlass Salon with 5 speed <
so was Dale Jr. they just would never move anyone to get to the front. Dale Sr. had no problem with that. Lol Curious on this Car who ever had it before changed the Decal on the Back that says Intimidator and on the pilar the #3 as well. I attached a window sticker that should indicate what the car was new.
#9
05-18-2018, 09:24 PM
I was very curious about the decals before I even bought the car. Had me wondering a little if it was a hoax car, but everything else matched up, so I did some research, the decals were not matching all the other cars I've seen online. One of the sites selling a showroom original did say that there were 2 decal schemes, but only described the one you see most of them with. When I started researching the decals I noticed a red trim around the white 3's and so on. this leads me to believe that the decals were multi layered. I believe the white layer has just weathered off. The decals I have left have much of the grey peeling off the red. The interior matched up, and Chevrolet customer service gave me the verify that it is genuine, so decals whether original or not are not the end all. This one built in Canada.
#10
05-18-2018, 09:38 PM
Ok here is description from the site that states 2 schemes
Specialty nameplates
https://www.netcarshow.com/chevrolet...hardt_edition/ link to site that claims 2 schemes, Not claiming all decals are original. I speculate them myself, but the interior checks out and so does the vin.
Chevrolet released several models inspired by then-current NASCAR drivers: The first model released was the 2002 Dale Earnhardt "Intimidator Edition." This car had two color schemes; a black body with galaxy silver rocker panels and front and rear air dams, and an all black body with black ground effects. A thin red stripe above the silver ground effects was also included. Just behind the rear side windows, the Dale Number 3 logo was placed. The car also featured silver "Intimidator" SS badges on the right side of the trunk and standard Monte Carlo SS badges the bottom of the vehicle, just in front of the rear tires. An Intimidator badge with the number 3 also appeared on the dash, and Earnhardt's signature appeared on the gauge cluster. The interior is all black ("charcoal") leather. This edition also came with 5 spoke, diamond cut wheels and received GMs L36 3800 V6 engine.
Specialty nameplates
https://www.netcarshow.com/chevrolet...hardt_edition/ link to site that claims 2 schemes, Not claiming all decals are original. I speculate them myself, but the interior checks out and so does the vin.
Chevrolet released several models inspired by then-current NASCAR drivers: The first model released was the 2002 Dale Earnhardt "Intimidator Edition." This car had two color schemes; a black body with galaxy silver rocker panels and front and rear air dams, and an all black body with black ground effects. A thin red stripe above the silver ground effects was also included. Just behind the rear side windows, the Dale Number 3 logo was placed. The car also featured silver "Intimidator" SS badges on the right side of the trunk and standard Monte Carlo SS badges the bottom of the vehicle, just in front of the rear tires. An Intimidator badge with the number 3 also appeared on the dash, and Earnhardt's signature appeared on the gauge cluster. The interior is all black ("charcoal") leather. This edition also came with 5 spoke, diamond cut wheels and received GMs L36 3800 V6 engine.