Already getting a few miles on the Black Monte. I have been itching to drive one of these two cars lol!!! It is a great feeling to finally have one on the road!

 

My celebration of fun is short lived. I had the black Monte at a local cruise in last night and she was trickling some coolant. Found a crack in the radiator side tank. Given that is the factory original radiator with over 204k miles, cannot complain (especially since the side tanks are plastic). I ordered a TYC replacement, with a new level switch (old one is bad) and new retaining clips for the transmission line. After tax $110 from Amazon (I don't have prime, so it arrives Tuesday). No complaints! She will be good to go again real soon!

 

Some of us tend to loose some fluid control as we get a little older.... And sure enough, this old girl had a moment. I pressurized the cooling system after all the work I did and I must have just gotten lucky and did not see this pressure loss. After a couple rides, she was leaking a little coolant. 22 years old, over 204k miles and the plastic side tank of the radiator finally had enough! It was crafty to find but didn't take long. The crack is on the front of the radiator. The coolant traces on the ground gave a general location, but at first look, nothing, shy of ONE SMALL wet spot on the back of the radiator (facing the engine). Once I got the radiator out, yep, that was it.

I bought a TYC radiator (I have used TYC brand parts before without issue). I had NO issue with the radiator, but did bump into a personal preference issue. The drain on the factory radiator has wing like pieces BUT a 19mm hex head, making it easy to open. This uses only a plastic wing nut. I tried to swap it with the original drain, but different size threads. So, if you are looking for OEM feel all the way, this is not it, but if you are looking for it getting the job done, this will totally do it!

The factory fans are gone, this car has aftermarket slim fans (required for the previous Novi Paxton install). I tried my hardest to release the retaining clips so I could re-use everything, no luck! The retainers for this fans basically zip ties. I tried to re-use them but after I got it in the car and retested some things, they did not hold. I didn't notice until I finished the job, the shop that did the original install looks to have placed the fans low enough to rest them on the radiator core support, I wish I would have thought that part through. But, I improvised. There are three holes on top and bottom. I originally used two zip ties in the center (much like the original retainers) and then the original 4 retainers. When they failed my final test, I used zip ties on the upper corners to go through the radiator, used a small piece of rubber hose to help save friction wear and used the top of the radiator as a hanger. The previous mounting also passed those weird zip ties through the AC condenser. I opted not to.

Over all, it ALL works. No issues. Car is back on the road and I have taken it on a few little drives without issue.

 

I can FINALLY talk about this. I actually saved this as a bit of a surprise as Mike had no idea he was going to see the black Monte in Carlisle this year. Thanks to the help of @MAMONTE, it happened!
Still a LITTLE work in progress, but the black Monte is now going for a red/black 2000 Monte Pace Car inspired interior! It started with a post on Facebook from a guy I never met who was two hours from my home. I messaged the guy, he was super cool. The front door panels were sadly trash, but the rears just needed from cleaning. He went to the yard, grabbed the panels. I met up with him that evening and got the panels.



From there, I grabbed a spare set of black interior door bezels. Painted those (the guy that helped me get those rear panels recommended a red interior paint and that worked well). I also used 3d paint to paint the Chevy bow tie on the steering wheel. I want to paint the rings on the instrument cluster red and I am debating on painting the passenger dash piece red or leave it.

Here is where things are at. And if I ever want to go back to all black, it is a simple swap!

 

Been a while since I gave any updates, but that is because I have not had any updates to give.
When I got the Black Monte, @ChibiBlackSheep also included a pair of brand new Dorman control arms. The ones on the black Monte still look OK, but that vertical bushing on them is starting to show signs of wear. Even though these come fully loaded, I wanted to change the rubber vertical bushing for the Moog spherical bushing (works like a ball joint, some people thought it was solid rubber, that is just a dust boot). I am running this Moog style bushing on the blue Monte and the my daily (2004 Grand Am). They work great! Been on both cars a few years (the Grand Am has about 30k miles on them and they were installed in 2019).

So I got the bushing/ball joint loan-a-tool from the parts store (the green clamp and sleeves and press plates). I managed to get the original bushings out without any issues. For some odd reason, I could not get the tool to fit so I could press the new one in. So, I improvised! I had a pair of LONG bolts left over from swapping the Grand Am N-Body laterals to W-Body laterals (I had to use the W-Body bolts and this left the Grand Am ones for bucket of spares). I know it looks a bit sketchy, but I used a little WD40 (I could have gotten oil for the job) to lube the bushing and the bolt and I sent it. It worked quick and pretty easy to get the new bushings in. Later this year, I hope to install these into the black Monte.

Changing that bushing can be a bit irritating, but in my book, that Moog bushing is a worth while upgrade if you plan to keep the car for any length of time.

 

Back when I bought the black Monte, it came with an extra set of calipers that @ChibiBlackSheep wanted to eventually send off to get powder painted. Well, I had them sand blasted, I tore them down, sent for powder paint, then I re-assembled them. Saturday, I finally put them on the car. The original calipers and brackets were painted all red. I did the same as I did with the blue Monte (black brackets and red calipers).
Next step is to change the lower control arms out with ones I put the betting Moog bushings into. After that, time to drive it for the summer.
Here are a variety of pics from the process for the calipers.

 

Finally got some time to finish things. So, new powder coated calipers, installed. New Dorman lower control arms with upgraded spherical Moog vertical bushings (if you are using stock-style lower control arms, that is a HUGE improvement and so much more reliable than the old rubber bushings). And lastly, new tie rod ends. I believe the ones on the car are factory original. They actually did not have an issue beyond the dust boots dry rotted and they are almost out of grease. It was ALMOST temping to get non-crimp on dust boots, pack in some grease and go. But, brand new Moog outer tie rod ends with grease fittings. The passenger side stuff came right out, no issue. The driver side, the stop nut that holds the tie rod in place decided to be a bit of an issue. I got the tie rod off, then used a little heat and a socket with a breaker bar on the nut, a wrench to hold the inner tie rod and no issues. Came out very easily. On the blue Monte, I had a problem with a damaged tread on the inner tie rod, I happen to have a die to chase the treads, so I ran it down, installed everything and all good. Also notice, I tend to cap grease fittings with dust covers for brake caliper bleed valves (a little bit of grease on the fitting). Even though I don't drive either Monte in the winter, I have found this to be helpful to ensure grease fittings work when you need them to.

I used the old "count the turns" method for the tie rods. I don't have the diagonal braces or strut tower brace on (waiting to have those powder coated). But, I did take the car for a quick run around the block today. Brakes seem to work and the alignment still seems spot on! I do plan to take it to a shop to verify the alignment, but this is a good sign thus far!

 

Some more love for this Monte. I believe it was last year, former MCF member @RocknSS04 and I met and he handed off some old front/rear ZZP strut braces he used on his 2004 Intimidator. I took those, the original factory front brace and the diagonal braces, got them sand blasted and then powder coated red.
I know the ZZP strut braces have a small fitment issue with non-Grand Prixs (having the oblong the bolt holes). RocknSS04 already did that, yet I am finding a problem mounting the front to this 2000 Monte. My guess, something in the process of sand blasting and baking bent the ears just a touch, but I will compare with my blue 2004 Monte before I do anything to see if it has the same fitment issue. I regret I did NOT pre-test this before powder coating (if I need to bend it, I fear it might mess up the coating). I have not installed the rear ZZP brace yet (at the moment, it has a factory brace with the old Don Rome brackets). And before anyone asks, yes I did try flipping the brace around, no luck.

Here are some pics from everything.

 

Great posts, you're mods look awesome! Can't wait to battle with mine this weekend! Mine is a 2007 SS with about 122,000 miles on it, so not sure that I need tie rods, control arms, etc... I don't want to jack your post so I'll put up a new one and show everything (hopefully) that gets done this weekend. Continue to teach us, Jedi master, and thank you!!!

 

That is funny. Master I am not, but very knowledgeable I am. Or as a popular insurance commercial says "I know a thing or two, because we've seen a thing or two".

If you haven't seen this thread from the first post, I suggest taking a look. Lots of stuff in here from maintenance to mods. If you have seen this from the beginning, you might also want to check this thread out (as some of the items in both these threads took place at the same time):
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/en...gration-62814/