1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS

My friend Mike asked me to finish his Monte after another person bailed on him and I was only to happy to help. Here is how we got it, some sandblasting was done but not very well.

So my first step was to break it down and get her sanded blasted and see what we have to work with. He did not want a frame off job, so I will do what I can do get it cleaned up.

The worst part was the floor, we will need to replace the entire thing. The rest of the car is in pretty good shape. Nothing we cant take care of.

First, the floor, for that Mike arranged for a donor car to be brought out to the shop and we proceeded to cut it out using the plasma cutter, saws-all, and a few choice words. Four hours later, PRESTO! Putting it in his car will be a whole nuther matter.

Passenger side rear floor brace is rotted out near the end. We built a new piece to patch in as it is solid back a bit further. The body mounting bolt is rust welded and had to be cut off as well.

Here the patch brace is welded into place and I used a cage nut from an unneeded piece of the replacement floor. With some trimming it fit good and will be stronger than the original.

A small patch to fix an area of the forward fire wall where the flange had rusted away.

After measuring, measuring, and measuring again we finally got the floor to fit in with some trimming. These pictures show it almost finished up, a lot of welding was required to get it looking this good. Double layering and over lapping combine to make this floor stronger than the original so Mike wont have to go easy on the double cheeseburgers. 

The frame is now set in POR and looks great, next we will paint the firewall and door openings as well as the trunk opening.

The fenders are also set into POR to stop rust inside and on the seams. Next they will be painted on the inside and hung back on the car.

The car is now jammed out as well as the doors and fenders in this shoot. This will speed up reassembly so the full on body work can begin. We did the new door hinges off the car to get paint under them.

Now with the car reassembled and gapped out properly I put down some acid etch primer over the bare metal.

Jumping ahead a bit, here is the high build primer on the car.

Now the fun begins, full on body work and push to the end. Probably 4-5 days to straighten this car out. Lots of minor damage all over. Then it will be paint time, I'm looking forward to seeing this car finished. Lots of work but it will look awesome.

Fast forward to a finished paint job. Usual work was done and now it will be color sanded and buffed out.