Looking very sharp!!
Figure out your hood latch issue??? If you POR15-ed it, make sure the mechanisms are not bonded together.

 

Thank you

Thanks, I'm very fortunate that I was able to get an apartment with a garage, I wouldn't have been able to do any of the work I've done without one. At our new place were actually getting a second one this week for our motorcycles. Going to make it a little easier to work on my Monte since it will have it's own garage. I don't think I could live anywhere without a garage now lol.

Thank you!

Thanks! I actually decided not to paint or Por15 the hood latch. Going to take a look at it later. May just purchase a new one.. I'm really not sure why it's not locking. It clicks at the first point where the hood is a few inches up so its good enough I can close it if I have to, but the second lock where the hood is suppose to stay flush with bumper/fenders/etc. doesn't happen. I moved the latch all the way up to see if maybe it was just an allignment issue but it's not. I saw a few brand new ones on eBay. I'm hoping I can fix this one but I'm glad there's an alternative just in case.

 

I was able to get the latch fixed! Not sure what was going on but it just wouldn't close all the way.. Works now that I removed it and put it back on again lol..

Got my new control arms and sway bar bushings on tonight.. Also realized I'm leaking coolant from somewhere Can't tell for sure where it's coming from but my guess would be lower intake manifold. Gaskets must not have seated properly or something during the ss m90 install. Seems odd that there were no leaks a few weeks ago when I parked the car, but once I jacked it up it started a slow drip. Now it's became a puddle..... Going to have to look at that later I guess. Too much going on at the moment.

Started classes two weeks ago so the Monte is only going to become a weekend thing. Focus on class throughout the week and work when I can. The rest of my parts should be here this week so I should be good to get everything back on up front this weekend. May just take it to a shop once I get the suspension on. Don't really have the time to tear down everything again. If it's just the LIM, I'd almost rather pay someone else to do it correctly right now than to try and deal with that during school. It will be costly but it's a little less important than my grades at the moment

 

Funny you mentioned that. Spring 2012, I did a bunch of upper engine work on my Monte (including a port matched LIM and aluminum LIM gaskets). Then came along winter, I parked the car. Then this spring, I jacked the Monte up (while it was still "winterized") to do something (I don't remember what), and along came Dex, dribbling from the pulley side of the engine. I was DUMBFOUNDED!!! Popped the radiator cap, she was full, put the pressure tester to it and pumped it up to 13 -15 lbs (just hairs shy of what the cap said max pressure was). Left the system with pressure for over and hour. NEVER dropped a bit of pressure nor did I find any new coolant.

My BEST guess, when I popped the LIM off and coolant went all over the place, it found a spot to "pool up" into and was enough coolant to not evaporate and just sat. It must have rode with the car about 3000-5000 miles during 2011 and sat all winter! Now, I did have 1 year old Dorman plastic elbow push out on my 2nd drive of the Monte 2012 (I think part of that might have been my fault, I'll spare the story).

My long winded explanation is, don't get freaked, get a pressure tester and check it out. It might be a lot of nothing.

 

Very nicely done !!! Taken your time and doing it correctly is the key to a job well done...


Just curious:
I noticed a cpl of peices you baked in the oven....

Question is....
Is the Oven in the Garage? or in the House?

If its in the house....
Did the Girlfriend, Mrs... or anyone get "pissy" with you about it?
Or is it the "Bachelor" pad?

Otherwise it looks great and should last far longer than anyone who hasnt taken care of those rusted areas!! with such detail as you have!

 

A pressure tester will be my first thing for sure. I'm really unsure of where it's coming from! I notice a slight leak from my coolant elbow from the LIM but no where near the leak that I have under the car so it's got to be coming from somewhere else. I really hope it's an easy fix. My assumption currently is that I didn't torque the LIM correctly. I torqued them to specs but a friend was doing it while I read the order from the manual. He didn't completely tighten a few things on the SC because he "thought" they may have been stripping out the threads in the zzp LIM.. I'm not as concerned about the supercharger gasket, seeing how that wouldn't allow coolant to leak.

I know I forgot to drain all of the coolant prior to the ss m90 install so alot of it went all over. Possibly pooled somewhere and just now is dripping since the car is lifted in the front.

I'm guessing I'll have some time to rent a tester tomorrow evening and hopefully I can get something figured out!

Thank you! I actually baked those parts in the oven in our apartment, my girlfriend was not too happy to wake up at 3 a.m. to the heavy smell of clear coat I was outside working on a few things so I was totally unaware of the scent that had been produced. She wasn't too happy but she got over it haha.

However, I did spend the next day scrubing all I could at that thing haha! We haven't cooked anything in it since, I'm still kind of nervous to I'm not sure it was the best idea to bake them in a house oven but hey, it was three a.m. when the clear coat was nearly dry and the can said bake it! Haha

 

SSC Springs came today! New strut mount kits will be here tomorrow or Thursday. Going to go ahead and rent a coil/spring compressor while I rent the radiator pressure tester.

Should have my front suspension/por15 completed this weekend

 

Gonna throw the axle on tomorrow and start up on the passenger side









New pads and rotors will be next after the suspension. Payday's not til the 14th though Would be so convenient to just do them now lol.

 

looking good! At the rate you are going your winter project will be done before winter lol

 

Thanks! and yes, there's a possibility it will be done before winter lol! I didn't plan on having this much free time during school. Pays off to work mornings and have all of my classes/homework done by 4 p.m. most days.

It's all one big project now.. so many little things I want to get done. May as well change the thread from "Rust Removal" to "Everything, and anything related to my Monte"

I'm possibly going to start on another project, (I know I should probably finish this one up first lol) with a lighting upgrade. Considering a projector retrofit up front, full led conversion inside (about 50% on that already) and new tail lights. I'm not really a fan of the tinted tail thing I've seen too many cars around here with them nearly blacked out to the point you can't see any red when they're on the brakes. I'd just prefer not to be associated with that group. Black LEDS may be in the future, along with speaker upgrades, some custom pieces under the hood, blah blah blah. Only thing holding me back for what I'd like to get done is $$$. Not going into a financial crisis or anything, just trying to limit myself each month lol.