Thank you guys for all the comments! I consider myself lucky to find the car again. I hope you enjoy the build process. I am happy to answer any questions if you see things in the pictures you are curious about.
Monza deconstruction continued as we attempted to piece together the missing history of the car. After making a few calls, it was determined that the car sat in a junkyard from 1994 until 2008 when it was sold to the dealer that we purchased it from. We couldn’t figure out what happened to it before that, because apparently the junkyard picked it up, abandoned, on the side of the road in ’94. I sold it in late ’88, so there is a 5-year period where I really don’t know what happened to the car. But some how it made its way from Sacramento, California (where I sold it) to Montana (The location of the auto salvage yard and also where I repurchased the car.)
The only reason the car is as complete as it is, was because the auto salvage owner thought the car was too nice to part out, and had set it aside for 14 years. You would think that this would have preserved the car the way I remember it, but it seems that a lot happened between ’88 and ’94. There is a lot I might never find out, but my best guess is that my car was stolen and stripped and possibly joy ridden. The interior is not original to my car. But does seem to be from another ’78 Monza, as the build sheet was found inside the passenger side seat.
It seems that a few other things have been replaced as well. The rear end is out of a 1980 Monza, according to the serial number stamped on it. The Transmission is from the same Monza as the interior, it is a Borg-Warner T-50. My original transmission was the Saginaw 4-speed. The Engine is original to the car, the 3.8 Liter Buick that came in the California Monza’s.
This is a picture of the sticker in the driver’s door jam. This first thing I did was start decrypting serial numbers and VIN numbers to make sure that it was in fact my car.
As my son and I continued to disassemble the car, it became evident that it had been heavily abused. As you can see in this picture, the inner tie rod arm was bent…. Who knows what kind of impact could have caused this.
One of the most painful looking dents on the car can be seen in this picture. If you examine the rocker panels, it looks as if someone high dead centered the car on a log or something. The underside of the car has a distinct impact all the way from one side to the other, as if it was run up onto a curb or something bigger.
The pile of parts continues to grow as we strip parts. Wiring harness, front and rear facia, rusty exhaust, heater unit, radiator, etc….
The driver and passenger side floor panels resemble swiss cheese. I’m not sure if they did this from the factory? Maybe to save weight? Haha It was still wet down there when we pulled the carpet out, so the rust must be from years of water pooling while it sat in the junkyard.
Here is a picture of the rear end after removing the gas tank. Notice the rear sway bar. I added this when I was in college. I also added a front sway bar after scrounging the lower control arms off a factory Monza Spider, since mine didn’t have the sway bar mounts on them. This was one of the ways I determined that it was in fact my car.
A picture of the engine bay after removing the radiator, heater core and heater assembly, a long with the exhaust and manifolds.
Engine Removal.
Engine successfully removed. Buick 231 cu in. that came in the California Monza’s. It is mated with the Borg-Warner T-50 5-speed. It doesn’t start, but it does spin freely when rotating the fan.
Here is the stripped engine bay. Needs a lot of work…
The new temporary home for the Monza. This should give us plenty of room as we start ordering new parts for the car.
Stay tuned for more updates….
