Post by TommyTwinCams on Jul 6, 2013 22:12:39 GMT 10
I figured I'd make a post about both my cars to save space.
I'll start with my Monte Carlo.
The car is a 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34, with the LQ1 3.4L DOHC 24 valve "Twin Dual Cam" V6 and the 4T60e 4 speed automatic. Yes. Even the dealer material actually refers to the engine as the "Twin Dual Cam V6". GM decided to name the engine in classic American muscle car fashion.
Anyways. My mother bought the car in 1999 after my brother and his (at the time) wife totaled her 1994 Ford Escort LX wagon (or Ford Laser for you Australians. But hers had a 1.9L SOHC 8 valve Ford 4 cylinder engine and not a Mazda engine.). She bought the car for it's quiet looks and the fact it didn't attract attention to itself. The car had been special ordered by a Monte Carlo enthusiast in 1994 with a car-phone (listed build date is August 7, 1994). The first owner babied the car, only driving it on weekends as his prize. His wife made him trade it in in 1999, just a few weeks before my mother bought the car with 12,000 miles on it. Think about that for a second. 1995 model year car. 1999 it was bought by my mother. 12,000 miles. It was OBVIOUSLY well-taken care of.
My mother used the car for her daily driver for years until she started losing her eyesight to cataracs around 2005, 56,000 miles. At this point, the only time the car saw the road was when my sister or dad took me out to teach me to drive. The car was still babied.
My brother was living with us at the time. His S13 1989 Nissan 240SX (2.4L KA24E SOHC 8 valve I4) blew its headgasket (S13's are known for it here). So, my mother let him borrow the Z34 until he decided what to do with the Nissan. He had the car for 6 months, during which time he put just over 40,000 miles on it. Don't ask me where he went. The car had NO service done during this time. Not even an oil change. It wasn't his car. He didn't care. The only thing done to it in that time were new tires. My parents had given him the money for the tires and told him to put new Goodyears on it (That's what the car came with and we believed in supporting American parts companies). He went out and put the cheapest Yokohama's that would fit on it (225/60/R16). My parents were PISSED. How dare he put Japanese tires on an American car. Well the argument ended with my mother defending him for being her first born.
My mother's health deteriorated as well as her mental health during the years after. She was suicidal and was in and out of the hospital. On June 4, 2008 at 6:33 PM, she died at age 56. The death was ruled a suicide. I personally think she just wanted attention. Her pancreatitus combined with her failing liver and a hefty overdose of tylenol that left her organs failing one by one until we decided to pull the life support. She had said she didn't want to be kept on life support during the Terry Schaivo debate. The Monte Carlo was left to me in her will as well as a share of her portion of her share of my grandmother's estate, as my grandmother had died in December 2007. A few months before she died, me and her talked about the car. She told me the car was mine and she wanted me, with my vast knowledge of cars and passion for them, to restore the car, but to customize it as well. She said to paint it Candy Apple Red, make it a convertible and call it "The Sandy Special".
I have made my own compromises on the plans for this car just because of my own personal tastes. I won't make it a convertible. Too much structural stiffening to be done. So I'll eventually put on a rag top sunroof. I plan to paint it Metallic Purple instead of candy apple red, as purple was her favorite color. The engine will be rebuilt and breathed on if I have anything to say about it. The aim for the engine is 280 HP. Naturally Aspirated. And a 5 or 6 speed manual swap. Probably 6 speed. And an OBDII swap.
I used the car sparingly as I didn't get my license until I was 20. Long story. After that I took charge of the car again. 103,000 miles. In December, 2009, my father was driving the car back from Cabela's and had JUST pulled into the driveway of my aunt's house. He was walking away from the car unloading some items from the trunk when the car's engine suddenly died. It refused to start back up. He had it towed to our family mechanic the next day where we learned the timing belt had snapped and the car was originally due for it to be changed at 60,000 miles (remember. That mileage passed when my brother had the car). The timing belt was changed, timing set, and the car was back on the road 2 days later. My father had refused to let me work on the car due to lacking the mechanical experience necessary. The car continued, with me gaining experience fixing various electrical issues. At 124,000 miles... about a year ago, tired of a cooling issue that the car had had that wouldn't go away no matter what we did, we brought it to our family mechanic, discovering 2 blown headgaskets and blown intake manifold gaskets and that the car had been burning coolant. My father had it fixed and I had had enough of not being allowed to fix mechanical issues with the car. I enrolled in a local tech training school in the Automotive Technology program, Porter and Chester Institute. The course just over a year long. I graduate next month and am finally allowed to work, mechanically, on my own cars.
In late September, 2011, I was on my way to pick up some friends to go to a local fair (I know there are a few people on this forum from Connecticut. Surely, you guys know of the annual Bethlehem Fair). The car broke down and again refused to start. My father again refused to let me work on it and heavily begged me to get rid of the car. He even offered to buy me another car to get to and from school. I accepted but on the condition I get to decide what to do with the Monte Carlo. So we went car shopping while our family mechanic diagnosed it. He diagnosed it as a blown crankshaft position sensor (which is what I said it was in the first place when it broke down), and a blown timing belt tensioner. The news was bent valves this time (which threw me for a loop as it's supposed to be a non-interference engine). I had the car towed to my house and shoved in the garage until I decided what to do with it.
And so the car hunt continued. With the stipulations it be an American car, with an OHC engine and a manual transmission, and in an actual color (no black, silver, gray, or white), with aftermarket support, we had it down to 3 cars. A 2008 Saturn Astra 3 door hatch (this car was silver but we forgave the color for how pretty it was.) was intriguing but it ultimately lacked the aftermarket support here for me to consider it. In the end, it came down to a metallic red 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt LT coupe with a 2.2L DOHC 16 valve Ecotec, and a Getrag F23 5 speed manual or a 2004 Saturn Ion Level 2 Quad Coupe with a 2.2L DOHC 16 valve Ecotec, and a Getrag F23 5 speed manual. The 2 cars were on the same platform and shared almost identical mechanicals (I'll go into detail about this later), so it came down to personal preference between the two. The lighter, quicker Saturn, or the more aftermarket friendly Cobalt. In the end, none of that mattered to me as I wanted a car with a clear history. The Cobalt's history had shown an accident with a deer, that had been professionally repaired. The car drove fine and showed no visual signs of damage, underneath, in the engine compartment, outside, or in the way it drove, but due to this, I chose the Saturn, which had turned up clear and clean.
This January I had finally decided on the Monte Carlo, opting to keep it and try to restore it myself with said mods. I purchased a used set of heads for the engine (valves, springs, etc intact) from a 1991 Chevrolet Lumina Z34 in Canada. I discovered when the heads arrived that they weren't normal LQ1 heads and they were heads from a manual transmission car, meaning a compression ratio of 9.5:1 as opposed to the automatic cars compression ratio of 9.25:1. Epic win in my book. Waiting to order other required parts. More on that later.
Photos:
me about a year and a half ago with the car.
My now ex girlfriend and current best friend, Ariana, being goofy with the car.
More photos in the posts to come.
I'll start with my Monte Carlo.
The car is a 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34, with the LQ1 3.4L DOHC 24 valve "Twin Dual Cam" V6 and the 4T60e 4 speed automatic. Yes. Even the dealer material actually refers to the engine as the "Twin Dual Cam V6". GM decided to name the engine in classic American muscle car fashion.
Anyways. My mother bought the car in 1999 after my brother and his (at the time) wife totaled her 1994 Ford Escort LX wagon (or Ford Laser for you Australians. But hers had a 1.9L SOHC 8 valve Ford 4 cylinder engine and not a Mazda engine.). She bought the car for it's quiet looks and the fact it didn't attract attention to itself. The car had been special ordered by a Monte Carlo enthusiast in 1994 with a car-phone (listed build date is August 7, 1994). The first owner babied the car, only driving it on weekends as his prize. His wife made him trade it in in 1999, just a few weeks before my mother bought the car with 12,000 miles on it. Think about that for a second. 1995 model year car. 1999 it was bought by my mother. 12,000 miles. It was OBVIOUSLY well-taken care of.
My mother used the car for her daily driver for years until she started losing her eyesight to cataracs around 2005, 56,000 miles. At this point, the only time the car saw the road was when my sister or dad took me out to teach me to drive. The car was still babied.
My brother was living with us at the time. His S13 1989 Nissan 240SX (2.4L KA24E SOHC 8 valve I4) blew its headgasket (S13's are known for it here). So, my mother let him borrow the Z34 until he decided what to do with the Nissan. He had the car for 6 months, during which time he put just over 40,000 miles on it. Don't ask me where he went. The car had NO service done during this time. Not even an oil change. It wasn't his car. He didn't care. The only thing done to it in that time were new tires. My parents had given him the money for the tires and told him to put new Goodyears on it (That's what the car came with and we believed in supporting American parts companies). He went out and put the cheapest Yokohama's that would fit on it (225/60/R16). My parents were PISSED. How dare he put Japanese tires on an American car. Well the argument ended with my mother defending him for being her first born.
My mother's health deteriorated as well as her mental health during the years after. She was suicidal and was in and out of the hospital. On June 4, 2008 at 6:33 PM, she died at age 56. The death was ruled a suicide. I personally think she just wanted attention. Her pancreatitus combined with her failing liver and a hefty overdose of tylenol that left her organs failing one by one until we decided to pull the life support. She had said she didn't want to be kept on life support during the Terry Schaivo debate. The Monte Carlo was left to me in her will as well as a share of her portion of her share of my grandmother's estate, as my grandmother had died in December 2007. A few months before she died, me and her talked about the car. She told me the car was mine and she wanted me, with my vast knowledge of cars and passion for them, to restore the car, but to customize it as well. She said to paint it Candy Apple Red, make it a convertible and call it "The Sandy Special".
I have made my own compromises on the plans for this car just because of my own personal tastes. I won't make it a convertible. Too much structural stiffening to be done. So I'll eventually put on a rag top sunroof. I plan to paint it Metallic Purple instead of candy apple red, as purple was her favorite color. The engine will be rebuilt and breathed on if I have anything to say about it. The aim for the engine is 280 HP. Naturally Aspirated. And a 5 or 6 speed manual swap. Probably 6 speed. And an OBDII swap.
I used the car sparingly as I didn't get my license until I was 20. Long story. After that I took charge of the car again. 103,000 miles. In December, 2009, my father was driving the car back from Cabela's and had JUST pulled into the driveway of my aunt's house. He was walking away from the car unloading some items from the trunk when the car's engine suddenly died. It refused to start back up. He had it towed to our family mechanic the next day where we learned the timing belt had snapped and the car was originally due for it to be changed at 60,000 miles (remember. That mileage passed when my brother had the car). The timing belt was changed, timing set, and the car was back on the road 2 days later. My father had refused to let me work on the car due to lacking the mechanical experience necessary. The car continued, with me gaining experience fixing various electrical issues. At 124,000 miles... about a year ago, tired of a cooling issue that the car had had that wouldn't go away no matter what we did, we brought it to our family mechanic, discovering 2 blown headgaskets and blown intake manifold gaskets and that the car had been burning coolant. My father had it fixed and I had had enough of not being allowed to fix mechanical issues with the car. I enrolled in a local tech training school in the Automotive Technology program, Porter and Chester Institute. The course just over a year long. I graduate next month and am finally allowed to work, mechanically, on my own cars.
In late September, 2011, I was on my way to pick up some friends to go to a local fair (I know there are a few people on this forum from Connecticut. Surely, you guys know of the annual Bethlehem Fair). The car broke down and again refused to start. My father again refused to let me work on it and heavily begged me to get rid of the car. He even offered to buy me another car to get to and from school. I accepted but on the condition I get to decide what to do with the Monte Carlo. So we went car shopping while our family mechanic diagnosed it. He diagnosed it as a blown crankshaft position sensor (which is what I said it was in the first place when it broke down), and a blown timing belt tensioner. The news was bent valves this time (which threw me for a loop as it's supposed to be a non-interference engine). I had the car towed to my house and shoved in the garage until I decided what to do with it.
And so the car hunt continued. With the stipulations it be an American car, with an OHC engine and a manual transmission, and in an actual color (no black, silver, gray, or white), with aftermarket support, we had it down to 3 cars. A 2008 Saturn Astra 3 door hatch (this car was silver but we forgave the color for how pretty it was.) was intriguing but it ultimately lacked the aftermarket support here for me to consider it. In the end, it came down to a metallic red 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt LT coupe with a 2.2L DOHC 16 valve Ecotec, and a Getrag F23 5 speed manual or a 2004 Saturn Ion Level 2 Quad Coupe with a 2.2L DOHC 16 valve Ecotec, and a Getrag F23 5 speed manual. The 2 cars were on the same platform and shared almost identical mechanicals (I'll go into detail about this later), so it came down to personal preference between the two. The lighter, quicker Saturn, or the more aftermarket friendly Cobalt. In the end, none of that mattered to me as I wanted a car with a clear history. The Cobalt's history had shown an accident with a deer, that had been professionally repaired. The car drove fine and showed no visual signs of damage, underneath, in the engine compartment, outside, or in the way it drove, but due to this, I chose the Saturn, which had turned up clear and clean.
This January I had finally decided on the Monte Carlo, opting to keep it and try to restore it myself with said mods. I purchased a used set of heads for the engine (valves, springs, etc intact) from a 1991 Chevrolet Lumina Z34 in Canada. I discovered when the heads arrived that they weren't normal LQ1 heads and they were heads from a manual transmission car, meaning a compression ratio of 9.5:1 as opposed to the automatic cars compression ratio of 9.25:1. Epic win in my book. Waiting to order other required parts. More on that later.
Photos:
me about a year and a half ago with the car.
My now ex girlfriend and current best friend, Ariana, being goofy with the car.
More photos in the posts to come.
