Millipede Monaro (it's a bit leggy!)
Discussion
aka_kerrly said:
I was initially rather shocked when I read that you might consider breaking the car, then saw the MOT result , happy days.
I expect you'd have a decent number of people who would love to take it on as a project , id love to find room for a bit of V8 action.
Cards on the table.I expect you'd have a decent number of people who would love to take it on as a project , id love to find room for a bit of V8 action.
When I bought the Monaro seven plus years ago, there was always a long term plan, which involved picking up an LS1 and 'box with all ancillaries as cheaply as possible, with a view to ultimately re-homing them in my '67 Camaro, which has no running gear worth mentioning.
The benefit was having a known good engine and box in running condition to begin the conversion with, rather than the unknown quantity of a cut out engine from a breaker.
The risk was that in buying the cheapest Monaro in the UK at the time (and probably still) as a donor, I might have end up needing to rebuild the engine and gearbox before they were usable. I considered that risk to be more than offset by the reward of running and enjoying the car for however long it took to be ready to start the Camaro build.
The engine and 'box are still rock solid, so perhaps the gamble has paid off, and I have enjoyed running the Monaro very much in the intervening years.
However, I hope to relocate the Camaro to my home later this year. There is some bodywork to do before I can start the mechanical side of the build, but I'm going for usable rather than pristine, so that shouldn't be years of work - maybe by this time next year I'll be getting closer needing the parts.
In the meantime, I'll try to do a few more miles in Millie this year, assuming I ever go anywhere again!!
wormus said:
Potential rat rod?
She's getting there on her own, won't need my input to achieve that!!Somewhat later than planned, the final update to this thread.
The 2020 MOT advisory for "power steering hose damaged / corroded" turned out to be more prophecy than advisory, as by the time I had driven home from the MOT station, another section of PS hardline had let go with a substantial leak in an unpleasantly inaccessible place.
And that really was it for the Monaro as far as I was concerned. I limped it back to the barn, parked it out of the way and disconnected the battery, having no inclination to fix it further.
Fast forward to late 2023 and with the prospect of losing my barn storage looming larger, it was time to trim the fleet. My 1975 Saab 99 combi and '66 El Camino had already been sold and it was time to bring the Monaro home for the last time, to break.
After three years in a slightly damp barn, would it start? Well, I did need to clean a little corrosion from one of the battery connectors first, since the first turn of the key didn't even produce a click. However on the second turn it cranked and fired almost instantly. Took a few seconds for the idle to stabilize as the ECU reminded itself what was what, but it quickly settled into the usual, slightly offbeat idle.
I won't document the very short journey home other than to comment that rusted brake discs combined with partially seized calipers and a lack of power steering do not make for relaxed driving. A quick prod of the throttle confirmed all eight cylinders to still be healthy and more than capable to doing their thing...
Final resting place
The first job was to drain most of the fuel, since I brimmed the tank before putting it into storage. Obviously as the fuel is over three years old, I'll be selective what I use it in, but since the Monaro still seems to run happily enough on it, I'm sure it'll be fine in the mower and C10, both of which will run on almost anything vaguely flammable!
Not wishing to crawl under the car and start undoing pipes, which inevitably ends up in a petrol bath, I dug out the trusty Tech II, since I was sure I'd seen an option to "test" the fuel pump...
Sure enough
A little bit of bodgery later and I was ready to start filling fuel cans. Is it a stupid idea if it works?
Tank emptied, I started stripping everything either useful or saleable from the shell. A little while later...
Now it was easy to see just how far the tin-worm had advanced.
Pretty sure the rear tyre shouldn't be visible from inside the boot?
Prop centre bearing rubber not looking too healthy either..
I have to say, the response to my "breaking" advert on ebay was genuinely surprising. I have sold so many parts so quickly that, whilst trying to be more than fair in my pricing, I have already recovered a high percentage of Monaro's purchase price, meaning the LS1 and T56 will have ended up being somewhat bargainous!!
Finally, the object of my desire! Nothing wrong with this that a little spit and polish shouldn't fix..
I'll be updating my Camaro thread from here on with progress preparing and fitting this engine and box into my '67.
The 2020 MOT advisory for "power steering hose damaged / corroded" turned out to be more prophecy than advisory, as by the time I had driven home from the MOT station, another section of PS hardline had let go with a substantial leak in an unpleasantly inaccessible place.
And that really was it for the Monaro as far as I was concerned. I limped it back to the barn, parked it out of the way and disconnected the battery, having no inclination to fix it further.
Fast forward to late 2023 and with the prospect of losing my barn storage looming larger, it was time to trim the fleet. My 1975 Saab 99 combi and '66 El Camino had already been sold and it was time to bring the Monaro home for the last time, to break.
After three years in a slightly damp barn, would it start? Well, I did need to clean a little corrosion from one of the battery connectors first, since the first turn of the key didn't even produce a click. However on the second turn it cranked and fired almost instantly. Took a few seconds for the idle to stabilize as the ECU reminded itself what was what, but it quickly settled into the usual, slightly offbeat idle.
I won't document the very short journey home other than to comment that rusted brake discs combined with partially seized calipers and a lack of power steering do not make for relaxed driving. A quick prod of the throttle confirmed all eight cylinders to still be healthy and more than capable to doing their thing...
Final resting place
The first job was to drain most of the fuel, since I brimmed the tank before putting it into storage. Obviously as the fuel is over three years old, I'll be selective what I use it in, but since the Monaro still seems to run happily enough on it, I'm sure it'll be fine in the mower and C10, both of which will run on almost anything vaguely flammable!
Not wishing to crawl under the car and start undoing pipes, which inevitably ends up in a petrol bath, I dug out the trusty Tech II, since I was sure I'd seen an option to "test" the fuel pump...
Sure enough
A little bit of bodgery later and I was ready to start filling fuel cans. Is it a stupid idea if it works?
Tank emptied, I started stripping everything either useful or saleable from the shell. A little while later...
Now it was easy to see just how far the tin-worm had advanced.
Pretty sure the rear tyre shouldn't be visible from inside the boot?
Prop centre bearing rubber not looking too healthy either..
I have to say, the response to my "breaking" advert on ebay was genuinely surprising. I have sold so many parts so quickly that, whilst trying to be more than fair in my pricing, I have already recovered a high percentage of Monaro's purchase price, meaning the LS1 and T56 will have ended up being somewhat bargainous!!
Finally, the object of my desire! Nothing wrong with this that a little spit and polish shouldn't fix..
I'll be updating my Camaro thread from here on with progress preparing and fitting this engine and box into my '67.
Wow, I’d totally forgotten about this thread. What a final update!
There’s a twinge of sadness here until I saw the rot. That chassis leg looks badly, snd I bet the more you’d poke the more you’d find.
In fairness this looks like the idea way to have a car. Make some nice memories, sell the bits for the purchase price back and have a known goof engine and gearbox to use in something else.
There’s a twinge of sadness here until I saw the rot. That chassis leg looks badly, snd I bet the more you’d poke the more you’d find.
In fairness this looks like the idea way to have a car. Make some nice memories, sell the bits for the purchase price back and have a known goof engine and gearbox to use in something else.
Absolutely a shame and a sad end to a fabulous car. Just short of ten years since I drove it from Malvern to Preston in a blizzard!
I get quite attached to most of my cars (more than is healthy sometimes) so physically starting to break it was quite a wrench (literally!)
The further in I got and the more problems I found with the shell - rust and mediocre accident repairs (more extensive than previously thought), the more obvious it became that I was doing the right thing, which helped my guilt.
I get quite attached to most of my cars (more than is healthy sometimes) so physically starting to break it was quite a wrench (literally!)
The further in I got and the more problems I found with the shell - rust and mediocre accident repairs (more extensive than previously thought), the more obvious it became that I was doing the right thing, which helped my guilt.
Fatboy said:
Don't suppose you still have the driver's door mirror do you?
Sorry, long gone. I could have sold the lights and mirrors many times over...Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff