When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I would love to learn how to do the brake lines. I honestly want to learn how to do everything myself, including rebuilding engines and transmissions. Im honestly not nervous about doing brake lines, im just nervous about doing them on MY car hahaha, if i mess that car of mine up I'm far past screwed. but if I had a POS Junker or a winter beater I would do it in a heartbeat. Yeah if I did them i would try to be as factory as possible too, to keep it original. The only problems I have with learning this stuff is
Yeah I'm very serious about learning how to do this stuff, not only will it save me tons of money, but its fun and a nice hobby too. and I just find it interesting as well. That flaring tool is nice, would i need more than that though? I usually like to go all out when i do something. I don't know if this tool set is any good for brake lines but it seems like it is:
Honestly, if you eventually did your own brake line repairs, as long as you properly bleed the brake AND have no leaks, the repair was done right. If you try the repair and it's not working (say you have leaks or not getting air out), worst case, have it towed to a shop.
The tool set you shared, I have used one like it ONCE. And it's a cool set up (and a BIG price). It definitely has some nice advantages and I wish I had one in my tool collection but I feel it is a bit pricey for my needs (and I know where I can borrow one lol). I have used kits like these ones for years (and most parts stores will let you borrow one as part of their 'loan-a-tool" program):
Working on most passenger cars, all the brake tubing is 3/16. Some trucks with bigger brake or older cars with out 4-wheel ABS might have one other diameter line. These days when I do brake line work, I rarely use a tubing bender, I hand bend and I use a flaring tool (and seriously love that one from Eastwood, bought it as a "eh, looks handy" and after one use, I feel it was worth the purchase). Also, to bleed the brakes, an old pop bottle and a piece of clear tubing to fit on the nipple of the bleed screw on the caliper (helps avoid a mess and helps get a good visual if you are still bleeding out air from the line). And of course, a wrench to open/close the bleed screw.
Learning is huge and helpful. This is not something many people spend time on anymore, learning car repairs.
Yeah thats definetley something I want to do but at this point in time I think i’l let them do it. I do want to lear to bleed my own brake lines though, and I may try that before I have them do the lines, that way, if i screw anything up, theyre going to replace the entire lines and bleed them anyways. A waste of new fluid, but the knowledge I gain from it is invaluable. Ive watched a bunch of videos on how to bleed brakes and it doesnt seem too hard. I already have DOT 3 brake fluid here already that I bought in anticipation for that. I have a vacation at the end of april and i will have them do the brake lines, then when thats done I will do the POR 15 application. I ordered more POR 15 just in case. So now i have 2 Black pints, 2 Silver Pints, 2 Degreaser Pints, and 3 Metal Prep Pints. I also Ordered more paint for the car as well. I looked around the car today and the rear drivers side is the only area where the paint is bad, so once I bondo that area up and paint it, the rest of the car should look good.
I noticed my car is missing the little blue Chevrolet bowtie. The silver outline is there but the blue thing is missing. I also need some new radio buttons and a new hood and a front bumper license plate cover. The U pull and save about 20 minutes from me has 3 montes there, all 6th gen and one is my cars color, and i can see the purple color one has at least 1 or 2 of the parts i need so i will do that too.
My friend and I took out my car seats today, the front two and we cleaned out the entire car. Here's some pictures of trash that's been sitting in the car for more than a decade. Here's before and after pictures.
The carpet is really bad and still needs more work. I have a portable steam cleaner that worked amazingly for this job, except when the hose split in several places from just using it and I had to fix it with duct tape. I used meguires carpet cleaner, resolve heavy traffic carpet cleaner, 409, Scotchgard carpet cleaner and finally some arm & hammer with oxiclean powder.
That steam cleaner pulled up soooo much disgusting stuff from the carpet it's insane. Then we armoralled the interior and I cleaned up the trunk a little too, but I didn't clean the carpet.
I actually cleaned up the trunk a little before taking this photo, there was junk all strewn in it.
I put my new spare tire cover in here, it looks so out of place haha.
That flaring tool is nice, would i need more than that though? I usually like to go all out when i do something. I don't know if this tool set is any good for brake lines but it seems like it is: Brake Line Kit
I get wanting to have a nice tool, but IMO thats a giant waste of money unless you're planning to open a shop to do this regularly.
For a home mechanic this is an extremely rare job - at absolute most a once in a lifetime of each car you own if you're unlucky. It's easily doable with a basic flare tool or even the autozone rental.
I will say I did splurge and buy that Eastwood tool Maniac posted and do really like it. But even that is about the limit of the price of a tool id consider splurging on for this job.
Last edited by bumpin96monte; 04-02-2022 at 08:27 AM.
I get wanting to have a nice tool, but IMO thats a giant waste of money unless you're planning to open a shop to do this regularly.
For a home mechanic this is an extremely rare job - at absolute most a once in a lifetime of each car you own if you're unlucky. It's easily doable with a basic flare tool or even the autozone rental.
I will say I did splurge and buy that Eastwood tool Maniac posted and do really like it. But even that is about the limit of the price of a tool id consider splurging on for this job.
All well said. Granted, I have done brake line repairs more often than I care to think. Hence why I own a few of the tools I do. I think I found that Eastwood tool on sale for $20-$30 and I was going to the Eastwood store (an hour away from me). I feel your comments are completely on point. About $50 tops for a good brake flaring tool if this is NOT a frequently used tool. And push come to shove, the loan-a-tool at the parts stores will get the job done.
My friend and I took out my car seats today, the front two and we cleaned out the entire car. Here's some pictures of trash that's been sitting in the car for more than a decade. Here's before and after pictures.
Well worth the effort! Years ago, I had to do the same thing with a 2002 Grand Am I bought. The car was disgusting! My friend and I pulled ALL the seats, pulled the center console, pulled a ton of the trim. Cleaned EVERYTHING!
So I want to fix up my 03 monte, and I need some advice because I want to do some of the stuff myself. I've had so much mechanical work done to it, close to $10k worth if not that or slightly over. just this month i've had 2 new wheel bearings put on. But anyways. the paint is peeling in some spots, so I wanted to respray it but im not sure if it's something i can do myself or if i should just shell out a couple thousand to have a shop do it.
But want I plan on doing is replacing the instrument cluster, the HVAC and radio assemblies with new ones since the bulbs are burning out one by one and its only a matter of time before they all do so I might as well do it now. I read these things are plug and play, and they pre program the instrument cluster before sending it. My only knowledge of how to replace this stuff comes from youtube video showing me how to do it. I will be replacing the dash trim as well.
I also want to replace the carpet in the cabin and trunk, and I want to buy pre molded carpet and install it to make my life easier. I also want to get all the rust scraped off the bottom and having a coating put on it to protect it and was thinking of having a shop do all that but I was told that that can actually make it rust worse later down the line? is that true?
I looked underneath it and from what i can see, its kind of rusty, but it looks like surface rust, but im not sure. I dont know if this can be scraped off or if the frame is compromised, im just not sure.
Any recommendations to where i can get the parts i need would be appreciated, preferably online so i can just order it.
I've put a lot of money into this thing but it has sentimental value to me, it was my first car, and my dad gave it to me. He committed suicide last month and I want to keep it, in his memory. On top of that, I really just love the car, its fun to drive and the transmission and engine still seem like they have tons of life left in them, I've not had any issue with either of them and honestly i would pay to have them rebuilt if necessary but the car only has exactly 103600 miles on it as of me checking it just now, so its got plenty of life in it and i think that its worth keeping.
My biggest concern is rust though. Even if i pay to have a shop take off all the rust on the undercarriage, there's still a little bit of rust in the engine bay in certain spots like under the headlight assembly and battery holder, so what kind of tools do i need to get rid of that? and what kind of paint do i need to buy to make sure its protected? I was thinking about buying paint from here:
And go to Ziebarts for rust removal and get it sprayed.
Any advice would be appreciated!
I buy my parts from Rock Auto I just ordered two rear shocks this morning. I use my Monte Carlo as a work car, 196,000 miles and counting. The 3.8 is one of the best motors Chevrolet ever built in my opinion. I did put 399,940 miles on the last Monte Carlo that I owned it had a 3.1 in it.
Yeah I still have a lot of cleaning to do but this is a great start. The hose in the damn steam cleaner ripped open so now I have to take that to get fixed tomorrow 😑. But the good news is that my new transmission pan finally got here.
Fedex originally kept the package because there was something wrong with the label I guess, Soni wait 11 days to call them to see what's going on and they tell me that and I have them ship me a replacement. Then a few days ago they wouldn't leave the package at my doorstep for some reason even though it didn't require a signature, but yesterday when they went to re try the guy left it there because it was sitting in front of my door when I woke up, so I have no idea what that was about. I hate FedEx haha.
My new gasket
and the pan itself
I noticed that it doesn't have a magnet in it though, can I buy one somewhere? It doesn't seem like the drain bolt is magnetic either. Can anyone recommend a magnet for these?
Thanks, I will order that gasket, always good to have quality parts that will last. 30 is probably overkill, but I also change my oil every 3 months regardless of how often I drive it simply because I just like to baby it and make sure its taken care of. I dont drive it far or often, i probably drive 4K miles a year so if i changed it every 30k miles that would mean i would only have to chnage it every 7.5 years, although i wouldnt let it sit that long, probably chnage it regardless every 2 years. Both of those gallons of trans fluid were only $34 at walmart so thats not too bad. Autozone wanted $30 for one.
I dont do a lot of hill climbing, Michigan is relatively flat so thats good, but I would still change it just to make sure its taken care of properly. I've heard about all the issues with these transmission and I remember reading that when they made the 4T65-E's they didnt use great quality parts, so at some point when mine goes bad and I have it rebuilt, I'll have to let them know that info so they dont use the same OEM parts.
as for the spreadsheet, yeah I learend to keep track of that stuff too haha, theres just soooo much to keep track of with a car its impossible to remember it all, I got a google sheets spreadsheet made up of all my repairs, additives, filter chnages, washes etc.
I believe that GM recommends the oil change every 6 months or 5000 miles. You can download an owner’s manual online. Enjoy your Monte Carlo. I put 399,940 miles on the last one I had, it was a 3.1 1999. My current work car is a 2003 with 196,000 miles on it. It still gets 30 miles to the gallon, I have always used slick 50 every 75,000 miles, I put it in on one of my normal oil changes.
03-25-2022, 10:33 AM
