Hello. I am new to the forum. Just bought my son a 1999 Z34 with 120k miles. He crashed his 1995 saturn sw2. It is black with black interior. We registered it and off he went with an ear to ear grin. I guess the extra power was too much. He drove it for about four hours and than I got the phone call. Ah, hi, uh, bad news the car made a funny noise and just stopped running. It won't crank over. Called AAA and had it towed home. I got it started and it turns out it spun a rod bearing. We will be pulling out the boat anchor this weekend.

 

Hi Andrew & Welcome to the Monte Carlo Family.

Sorry to read about your problem with a spun bearing, but it's better then another crashed Vehicle (Oh, did he beat the Mustang he was racing ?) lol

How old is you son ? I hope that he can do the majority of the repairs. It may be a good bonding experience (?)...

How do you rate the rest of the Z34 ? Body, transmission, condition ?

Wish you good luck on getting it back on the road again..Keep us updated...Good Luck

 

Thanks Mike. Eric is 20. He was just cruising around. The car seemed to be ok. Body is good. Dissapointed with the drivetrain. Looking forward to bonding and maybe teaching him something.

 

Welcome Andrew, sorry to hear of the misfortune. I have an '03 Monte LS, it has cost me a few dollars on intake/head gaskets, but other than that, easily the best car I ever had, I want no other! 54 years old, and feel like a kid every day I drive this beauty!!

 

Thanks Andrew for your reply. Look forward to your updates & hopefully seeing some pictures. Eric is fortunate to have a father to help him in life. Sadly, many do not. Good Luck on your project repairs

 

That is very unfortunate about the rod bearing. If I recall, that should have a 3800 engine. Those are usually very dependable engines. But this may be paying for the sins of a previous owner.
Your son is lucky to have a dad who can help AND teach him about cars. That has a lot to do with how I got into wrenching on cars (the start for me was my dad helping pass on the ability to save lots of money by doing a lot of car work for yourself).

While it's apart, depending how ambitious you guys are, maybe do a couple of mods
- Port matched lower intake
- L67 (3800 SuperCharged) coil packs
- upgrade the plastic upper intake to the Series III aluminum upper intake
- Lower and Upper Intake Stainless bolts:
https://alloyboltz.com/catalog/produ...i042gnpeuebge7

Nothing crazy, just some fun stuff!

Welcome to the forum and I hope you share pics of the rebuild!!

 

Hello to Maniac and Warhorse. Thanks for the welcome. we pulled out the engine last weekend. Pulled the oil pan and confirmed the #1 rod is the victim.

 

Thanks for the update. Any cylinder wall damage. What are you going to do with the engine out besides replace the rod + (?)

Keep us updated. Good Luck on getting it back on the Road to enjoy

 

Good luck with the rebuild!

 

Update on our project. crankshaft is also toasted. We decided to get a replacement engine. Found a 2002 Buick Le Sabre that was a new arrival at a local bone yard. It was hit hard in the right quarter and was a total. I got to start it up and hear it run. Bought the new engine for $450. I was told that it would require changing the oil pan, oil pickup and harmonic balancer to fit in the Monte. We started swapping out the parts and found the oil filter mount, the exhaust manifolds, the fuel injectors and fuel rail and the idler pulley were also different. Being it was out and apart we also replaced all the gaskets and the o ring seals for the coolant elbows and heater hose adapters on the belt tensioner. The coolant elbows are avalible for about $5.00 on the red help parts cards at the local parts store.