Ok so here are some new pictures of the filler neck and that general area and some new pictures of the rear rusted spots. The filler neck isnt looking too good and should probably be replaced. The black really rusted things in the 4th picture, what are those called? can those be replaced? they look structural, and look attached to the frame going width wise. I THINK its called the suspension cross member??

 

Wow, didnt expect to see it that clean. The fender with the filler neck I mean. Lucky. The actual filler neck tho, its seen better days. You dont want that to rust all the way thru or it could let rust into the gas tank, leak gas and be a fire hazzard, clog the fuel filter, just a mess.

4th picture black thing, I think youre talking about the sway-bar? Yea thats easy to replace. Few nuts and a bit of leverage, maybe a couple grunts. That is something to keep an eye on. Its doesnt look like its to the point of failure (it could be, hard to tell with rust) but if it were and it broke while driving, it will throw the weight balance of the car off and potentially cause loss of control.

You can definitely just grind and sand the rust away and paint over it for the time being.

I hate seeing what salt does to these cars.

 

Well thats good news, at least i got lucky with something on this car. Yeah i will get that neck replaced asap. Its weird how thats rusted to hell but the rest of that area is fine.

These big thick black things with rust here marked with red are the sway bars? I hope they arent because Belle Tire replaced them 44 days ago and I wouldnt think they would get that rusted in that short of time, but idk maybe they would. If you mean the thing in front of those, between them and the spare tire well (I dont fully know what all this stuff is yet), then that seems to be pretty rusty for that short of time still. They told me the sway bars were original and they replaced them last month.

 

Ohh I was thinking about the black bar just behind what you have marked in red. I can see in an above picture that the shop replaced the sway bar end links.

The thing you have marked is the rear subframe or the crossmember. I think thats what they are. Can someone else confirm or correct that?

 

How much are you willing to spend on it? I see you just spent $10k on it and seem to be headed towards another $10k+ with all of the added work you want done. I get the sentimental value thing, but I'd be cautious about trying to get everything back to new unless money is no object here.

If you do end up putting that kind of money into it, I'd consider calling insurance to get it insured for what you've actually got into it. Last thing you want is for someone to hit you / destroy the car beyond repair, and the insurance cuts you a $3k check for the book value.


For the suspension part rust, I prefer pulling them off - sand blasting them, and then powder coating them. I did that with a few suspension pieces on my monte that didn't have aftermarket options. Thatll ensure you get every spot of rust off the part and will let you make an assessment if its all just surface or if it goes deep enough to warrant replacement.

That external body rust is going to be a pain. Id probably buy some good front fenders from a junkyard even if they're the wrong color. Pro body man time to fix that fender rust correctly will be a fortune and the fenders are a dime a dozen. Theres no sense spending the money to fix these when there are plenty of good OEM left.

The rear will have to be stripped to clean metal and built back up. How much work depends on how much needs to be cut away to get back to all good metal.

I'd agree with the POR on the underbody seams and stuff you can't remove and can't really access. Id still hit it with a wire wheel to strip it as clean as you can before sealing it with the POR though.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm willing to spend as much on it as it takes, so long as all the repairs arent grouped together at once and I have time to recoup my losses and stuff. I just do a little bit at a time unless its urgent and needs immediate repairs. I mean i'm not really trying to get it back to brand new, I just want it to look nice and not have any problems so I can keep it as a reliable daily driver.

So if i were to do this myself, what tools would I need? I am not mechanically inclined at all, not even slightly, which is why i have a shop do all my work for me. The most ive ever done was change my tire in an emergency, but even then i put the jack in the wrong spot and bent my frame, and now my passenger door groans when i open it haha. I'm still pissed about that. but anyways, craping rust is simple enough, if i decide to do it myself, what grit wire wheels? I already have the POR 15 in my amazon cart saved for later. When i scrape the rust off, do i only need the Por 15 or do i need paint too for underneath? Any other tools or anything i would need?

Also I wanted to use a bottle of Seafoam High Mileage but im concerned. I've heard both good and bad things. I was going to pour some in the crank case when its cold, and some in the gas tank to clean it out. Then drive it for 100 miles and get an oil change. My main concern is that any gunk in there is keeping a seal on a gasket and if i use that stuff it will get rid of it and make the gasket leak. Ive had the intake manifold and timing cover gaskets both replaced, is there any other gaskets in the engine i would need to worry about? because if there is then I will not use it now. I bought two bottles but I can just hold on to them.

 

Your car is in a lot better shape than my car was when I started on it! You definitely want to clean up underneath and get some paint or undercoating on it. The only thing that could be real trouble is the driver's side rocker panel, you'll know once you get the plastic cover off. It really is not a good design, unless you live in a desert. You don't have to repair stuff like that exactly like it was, just has to be as good as it was. The actual body repairs are not that bad, just cutting out the bad and patching in new metal. What you find in junk yards probably won't be as good as what you have, so you'll probably be learning to fabricate. (I read on one forum someone's signature was "It is easier to shape metal than someone's mind") You can still buy fenders, hoods and bumpers for the front, hopefully there isn't something more serious under it.

I get what you're saying about your Dad and your car. My Dad had an 83 SS I bought from him, and it had a CD player in it. I took that out before I sold it, and kept it for my 55. My Mom had a Grand Am that she wrecked, and I pulled the leather bucket seats out of it before she got rid of it for my 55 also. My Dad has since died, and my Mom is 82, but every time I drive my 55, I have them both with me.

 

WOW this thread has been active! Lots to read. Bumpin mentioned stuff I was pushing towards.
Looking at the pics, assuming Michigan does not have any safety inspections, I would guess with NO work, the body has another 5 year or more into it if it remains a daily driver. I base this from my experiences living near Cleveland Ohio all my life. If you do have safety inspections (like PA has), the inspections may force you to do other repairs.

I totally understand sentimental value, I have an '84 Z28 because of that. I am going to take a very serious view here for things you need to consider.

1. - These cars had lots of thinner gauge sheet steel. It does make restoring existing parts difficult. Such is, if you remove the rust on the fender, it will either be paper thin steel left OR big holes. In that case, a replacement fender is probably cheaper than repairing the existing fender.
2. - Do NOT remove the rocker panel ground fx unless you are prepared for what is next (as you *might* end up with a one way trip). What I mean, things look OK, but you might find during removal rust so bad that damage is done while removing the ground fx that makes putting them back on near impossible without repairing the damage.
3. - There is currently NO aftermarket restoration rocker panel parts. You either have to buy an entire quarter panel from GM or source rockers from a southern car.
4. - Many parts for restoration do not exist as mentioned in item #3. Plus, look at discussions on this page about things like the window sweeps for the doors, no luck finding those.
5. - This is probably the most important part. If you cannot afford a winter car, then money to fix this is DEFINITELY an issue. Before I would concern myself with making this car last forever to be your special car, get a "daily driver". This way you don't spend another say $10k into the car only to be forced to watch this damage come back.

If you can source a "daily driver", then restoring this car is more worth while (if that is where you want to put your money). Plus, if you are no longer driving it during the winter, odds are the rate of time for issues to get worse greatly decreases. Allows more time to have things done and done right.

Also, if you are planning to restore this to keep it longer than 5 years, something to consider for brake and fuel lines is the journey I just did this summer. Take a look at this thread (when looking at the pics, keep in mind, my 2004 Monte was a daily driver in Buffalo NY, I bought it in August of 2008 and it has not seen a winter since, the underside pretty much looks like it did when I bought the car in 2008):
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/mo...el-line-62645/

 

Thank you all for the advice and responses, I really appreciate it! So what I think I'm going to do is call Ziebarts either in the summer or on my next vacation and have them look at it. I will try my best to fully inspect my car, maybe try taking a look under the rocker panel and panel fx, without taking it off, if possible, maybe i can get a little snake camera, idk we will see. But I will let professionals handle the rust removal and undercoating and the interior of the car is easy enough for me to do myself, most of the stuff inside the cabin is just remove and replace, and it all clips together or is held in by screws so that's easy enough for me, so that will save me a lot of money.

That will wait though, my biggest concern and top priority is the rust. I can grind down the areas on the body and fenders that are affected and paint over them, even if it doesnt look pretty, i can at least stop the rust from getting worse until i can get it properly taken care of, and just monitor it from there and maintain it as needed. but I need to know how bad other spots are and if the rust is worse under the rocker panels and rocker fx like you said. We do not have any safety inspections here as far as I know, I've never had to take one, or an emissions test either. Your brake lines look exactly like mine do haha. I will get those replaced soon.

Unfortunately, getting a new car is just out of the question, I wish I could believe me, I do, but I cant afford $600 monthly payments. If I get these repairs done, even if its like $4k worth of work, I only need to pay $29 per month on my credit cards, no interest as long as I pay that amount on time, which is way more doable than $600 per month. Even at the 10K I put into this car, its still cheaper than a new one. But I don't know, maybe I'm naïve, or maybe I'm just plain foolish, I'm not sure, but to me, that seems like the better route. Hopefully it pays off.

My new concern though is my transmission. I decided to check the fluid in it because i was just curious, and it seems like its a pinkish color. I took a picture of it.



So I looked at a chart, and it says if its a pinkish color then there's water in the transmission and it needs to either be rebuilt or replaced...

Can this be confirmed if that's what this is? Maybe im wrong... hopefully.

If anything happens to this car, I'm getting a bicycle haha.

 

So I just called Lansing Transmission and they quoted me between $2,300 and $2,800 for a full rebuild so thats not too bad. Dont get me wrong, thats a lot of money, but its a lot less than what i was thinking. So if thats what the issue is, then I might do that.