Hi guys, how's it going...

Been reading the forums for a while but never registered as I didn't own a Monte.

Long story short we run a scrap car hauling business and I got a call from a lady... "I have an old clunker in my garage that i want gone, i believe its a 80's monte carlo. When can you come pick it up?"

Well me being a chevy lover jumped on this one right away and drove 40 miles into the country to find a very nice 1981 Chevy Monte Carlo with the 3.8L V6 Turbo engine in it and a spare th350 trans in the trunk.

She told me her son bought this car about 10yrs ago for $3000 and never did much with it and then moved to another city leaving her with the car.

All in all the car is in nice shape and it even runs with that old of fuel in it. It does need new brakes and a water pump not to mention a really good tuneup.

Here's a pic of it for you to see what i got for free...

 

 

In 1978, GM began to market the 231 as the 3.8 liter as metric engine sizes became .... It is still a 3.8 L design. Compression remains at 9.4:1 as with ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_3800_engine - 67k - Similar pages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_3800_engine

 

Great find! And it was free too? Wow. Moderator Mickey is going to be jealous. He's been looking for a project car like that. But he's down in Texas.

Is the spare tranny in the trunk salvage-able?

What plans do you have in mind for this car?

Welcome to the forum. And congrats on your free Monte.

 

The spare trans is a working pull from another Monte with a 350 in it so it should be able to take the grunt of this V6 for now.

My first plan is to get this water pump on btu i'm having a problem figuring out the bolt size for it. I tried a 1/4" course thread bolt but it binds quickly so maybe it's a metric???

I'll call the "Buick/Chevy/Olds Stealership" tomorrow and see if they know.

It's also missing the cooling fan but i'd assume it's the same as any other Chevy clutch cooling fan.

The first mod is gonna be true 2" duals with cherry bombs, the turbo cars are nice as they are not super loud.

2nd it needs a mega tuneup... the previous jackass put bosch platinum plugs in a turbo engine, what a moron those can cause detonation issues and theres a mouse house in the air cleaner..lol

3rd its getting a bath and a polish and that missing piece of trim.... eventually i'll replace the doors as the bottoms are rotted out if you look close.

4th is to crank up the boost and start showing the "rice" what american steel is all about. Oh and add a boost gauge and fuel/air meter.

 

It's great to hear that this car will ride again. Too many older classics end up in the crusher.

Hopefully the snakes and mice have gotten their eviction notice!

I figured you would decide which tranny is in better condition, then maybe sell the other one to help fund your project.

 

Contacted the dealership today and got the bolt sizes I needed to mount the new waterpump.

Once I have it all together again i'll take it for a test drive and see if the trans in it is still good or if the one in the trunk is there to replace it.

I drove it off my tow truck and onto the driveway but that's about it so far.

Still gotta get a fan blade for it or I might use the 12" electric fan I have here for it and put it on a thermostat.

No belt driven fan = more hp right...lol

 

Recommend twin electric fans.

 

I'm gonna run a single 12" for now till I can find a NOS Beltdriven one.

Anyone know if the fans are only on the 3.8L's?

 

Congrats on the find. Welcome to the world of 'before black'
Very rare. If its metric ( speedo and odo in km's )....Very rare x20...
SAVE ALL ORIG PARTS from under the hood that you remove when upgrade , ie fans and what not.... my 2 cents.
Good luck on resto
S.