Build Regrets, Change of Plans

[Tony_SS]

Has anyone got to a point with a project and decided that they should have went a completely different direction?

That's kind of the crossroad where I'm at now with my 79 Monte.

Now I'm wanting it back to a factory green with blacked out trim, charcoal/black wheels and an LSx drivetrain. And here I am with it copper red, Gen I SBC.

Should I do it over or sell it off and start over?? Or wait it out and see if I change my mind again?

[Bill Howell]

Yep, that was me with my 80 Malibu. After all the work, and money spent on that car, I really wanted a LSx engine. I also changed things on it so much that I had way too much money in it. I had someone that had always wanted it so I bailed. I will probably do another one, once I figure out exactly what I want. Trouble with G-bodies is finding a decent buyer, most people think you are nuts if you ask more than $15K for one. I was fortunate enough to get $25K for mine.

[Steve1968LS2]

Hey Bill, I have a buddy with an 80 Malibu wagon for sale. Super clean and has a 383 stroker in it. Would make a cool build project and he only wants $3500 for it.

Best of all, no rust!

[Bill Howell]

email me the info Steve. Hey, you could drive it to RTTH4:drive1:

[79_GBody]

I'd say sit on it and see if you feel the same way by the end of the summer. If you don't want to stick with what you got, I'd say another cost effective plan would be to keep the copper red, black out the trim, powder coat or paint the wheels charcoal/black, sell the engine and tranny, do some shopping around, get busy on the LSx swap over the fall and winter and be back for spring and summer fun next year.

[tintman]

I had a couple 79 Montes when I was younger. In fact the first car I had a full paint job done on was one of them and the color was real close to yours. I have wanted to do a build on one and have had it planned out for quit some time. I am new to the site and before I came here I thought I would be the only one to do so. I love your car the way it sits now, so to answer your question I would sell it and start over. That way you will bring another car back to life and their will be two nice Montes on the road instead of one.

[MrQuick]

I'd enjoy whatyou have for now but in your mind keep an eye out for another one you can do as your other taste.
Going over the new changes on this car will/might be costly.

[Tony_SS]

Yeah.. G-body's are an anomaly. I do think there is a small niche market for the third gen Monte but I think this one's too far gone to get what I need out of it. If I could get $25K out of it, I think I would, even though there are alot of parts that cannot be replaced in any way.

I guess that's part of the problem, I don't want to drive around an NOS/rare parts car. I'd rather have all the eggs in the drivetrain/braking/handling basket and not have to worry about the paint and polished wheels. Change of course I guess.

Tentative plans are to go black on the wheels, yank the drivetrain and look for an LQ4. Sell off or put away the NOS grille/bezels and black out some others. Get it painted back to the factory green.

Wait til the wife hears about this..she's gonna love it!

[CRCRFT78]

Out of curiousity, do you want it back to green because thats what it was or you just like the color? I would consider buying another one and building it the way you desire now. I have seen nice examples of them still available for a decent price. What about selling/trading the Malibu for another Monte Carlo to build. IDK, I think your Monte Carlo is one of the best looking I've seen. I would hate for you to get builders remorse in the middle of a rebuild on an already beautiful car.

[dstryr]

I know exactly how you feel as thats how I feel right now. I built something that most people would like to drive but it wasn't what I wanted but what I could afford. I wish I would have taken more time and saved and did it the way I wanted to begin with.

Car is for sale now so I can start over and do things how I want this time.

[BritishGreen68]

just did it with my camaro, but to a lesser degree so far. Had a ZZ4 350 with muncie and 12 bolt. I decided I wanted air ride so I built a 4 bar for the 12 bolt and and had it all in and going up and down, then decided I wanted to build a different motor and had a friend that wanted the ZZ4 so I took a 327 and some money.. Now I sold the 12 bolt, bought a 9" ford and have the engine and tranny out and am looking a LS series motors, the front suspension is off to put on disc brakes and air bags, and Im thinking about painting the car. Funny how it goes from a perfectly good driving car to a body on 4 jack stands over a simple engine swap and some air bags... I would just keep the car if I were you, it's easy to do a repaint when all the body work is done, scuff and shoot! And you can sell the parts you dont want to fund the new stuff, and you know whats uder the bodywork and whats been done so no mysteries of buying someone elses project..

[Stu Seitz]

Trying to build a pro-touring car then realizing all I really wanted was a racecar in the first place. Now I’m selling everything PT off the car and I know the circle track catalogs like the back of my hand.

[Tony_SS]

Out of curiousity, do you want it back to green because thats what it was or you just like the color? I would consider buying another one and building it the way you desire now. I have seen nice examples of them still available for a decent price. What about selling/trading the Malibu for another Monte Carlo to build. IDK, I think your Monte Carlo is one of the best looking I've seen. I would hate for you to get builders remorse in the middle of a rebuild on an already beautiful car.

It was a factory 2-tone green when I bought it, I never hated it, but I now favor it over the current color. I'd rather the concept of the car to have more of an ugly street fighter vibe and the factory green/blacked out scheme would suit that idea perfectly.

I don't think I could bring myself to part with the Malibu. It would be impossible to replace a solid factory black on black with less than 60k miles. The car has too much potential. I might drop the crate engine from the Monte in there and go LSX in the Monte or just go LSx in the Malibu.

I need to choose a path and stick to it.
:hmm:

[Restomod]

HMMMM lets see.....gas climbing to $4 per gal .....500+ ci = not a good ideal!

[Tony_SS]

4.8 / 5.3 / 6.0 LSx = ~20mpg + 350+hp (Good Idea!):hammer:

[Nine Ball]

Must be a St. Louis thing. I have a co-worker from there that still daily drives his '86 Monte SS. Bigtime Monte fanatic it seems. We went thru there during Power Tour and saw a ton of Monte Carlos driving around.

Here in TX, the Monte's are only popular with the lowrider crowd, rare to see one without gold spoked wheels and one wheel in the air, with shag carpet on the dashboard. lol

I think your car looks great as-is, be careful of the trendy paint/wheel themes going around right now. The way yours looks now, it will remain timeless and won't appear dated.

Tony