GJS's 67 Monaco 500 - Restoration Time

[GJS]

Bev is going into a new realm here. I blew my heater core which lead to an overheat ... I'm not totally sure what that may have done mechanically but it's sort of moot at this point as the engine has needed a rebuild since I've owned it.

The couple of gallons of coolant on the carpet however has lead to discovery of many things, good and bad. The floors aren't too bad, though it's clear that it's suffered a roached heater core before. Some deep pitting in the front passenger footwell. Driver and passenger rear footwells look fine. Rear drivers footwell has some deep pitting and one noted hole less than 1/6". In pulling the carpets, I also pulled the back seat, surround and package tray and found that my rear lower window channel is very punked.

I just can't justify a patch up at this point and the car is currently in a position to be restored without killing me so I've decided to do it. This'll be my first *full* restore in about 15 years. The last was in a little worse condition but it was a 66 VW bug so it was nearly impossible to not find parts.

I'm not totally sure how nut and bolt I'm going to get on this. Certainly far enough to correct any budding rust issues and to protect against further rust issues. The drivetrain will be built back to as close to stock as possible. I'd like all electronics done over with proper bypasses and upgraded wiring .. likely similarly upgraded starter and alternator.

The interior will need carpet, seat covers, headliner, wind lace, window and door seals, window scrapers. .. corners for the rear window trim. I'll be able to resurrect basically everything else in there and what I can't, I'll be able to live with.

The exterior I'm not totally sure of. Everything looks solid but with that foot wide rocker trim, I have no clue what I'll hit there. Other that that unknown, theres a couple dent's I'm itching to get rid of before a new coat of her original colors.

Anyway, I expect this thread to last a good long time. It's been sort of a blast ripping into her ... fantastically few secrets so far and even less that seem entirely out of my wheelhouse. .. ask me about this when I button her up in a few years!

 

[1978 NYB]

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

[live4theking]

A few years... that would be rough for me too do. Even though it doesn't look the greatest I enjoy driving the duckling.

 

[GJS]

A few years... that would be rough for me too do. Even though it doesn't look the greatest I enjoy driving the duckling.

That estimate is me being grossly conservative... still, I don’t was to rush this one. I’ve been sort of getting stuff done all over the place since I got it. Just want to do as much as I can in one shot.

 

[rags]

you were driving it and enjoying it. now for a bad heater core, all this. x thousands of dollars and how many years before you'll be driving it again. careful, man. there are some outstanding success stories amongst these pages, but very often this doesn't end well.

 

[Fratzog]

As a 68 Monaco 500 owner I will be following your progress here with interest. Mine is an old restoration the quality of which I'm unsure of. There are some things on mine that need attention so I'll be watching and letting you beat the path.

 

[GJS]

As a 68 Monaco 500 owner I will be following your progress here with interest. Mine is an old restoration the quality of which I'm unsure of. There are some things on mine that need attention so I'll be watching and letting you beat the path.

Bev may be taking a path slightly different than other restorations. I don’t believe this will be the nut and bolt perfection that is sometimes seen on this board but I do need to make her as right as I can.... even if that happens stepwise.

 

[FURYGT]

Good Luck!

 

[cbarge]

Bev may be taking a path slightly different than other restorations. I don’t believe this will be the nut and bolt perfection that is sometimes seen on this board but I do need to make her as right as I can.... even if that happens stepwise.

Doing it in steps or stages is the way to go..it took me 12 years!!

 

[GJS]

For perspective, I'm limiting myself to these issues at the outset. For now, the car has a full tank of gas so I imagine I'll be bolting the front seat and belts in to burn some of that before I cocoon it for the fall/winter work. This is what has been uncovered.

The floors are not bad at all. I've not found any holes in the passenger front footwell but it's really scabby... I imagine an hour of cleanup will reveal at least some weak spots if not a pinhole or two. Driver's front is perfect. Passenger rear has some paint off and surface rust but is very solid. Driver rear has a small hole ... again, clean up will show how strong the area around it is:

I had hoped the seats would be serviceable. I could have lived with the passenger seat and the rear seat bottom is pretty impressive as well but taking the cover off the drivers seat and the hot glued fabric off the top of the back seat back showed some nasty decay. I'd slap another cover on both and not think of it at all if the fronts were not spitting bits of dry rotten foam all over the car ... the burlap on the underside is eaten through in several places

The front door cards are near perfect, only a little discoloration which may or may not clean up ... I don't care, they're in one piece, will get cleaned as much as possible and put back on. The rear panels got enough moisture to let go of the backing material .. those will likely get re stretched over a new backing if necessary. All the arm rests are good, just dirty, chrome accents, door handles, ash trays and window cranks will be cleaned up and reused.

Dash pad is surprisingly in one piece .. going to have to take care not to mess that up while doing the in dash work. Lower dash is discolored but I've not tried doing anything with that yet .. if it's got to be resprayed, it'll get resprayed along with the steering column. I'll do some cleaning on the dash bezels but I like them as they are.

Front kick panels have some cracking around where they go over the pinch weld under the sill plate. I'll likely back those with some fiberglass mat, touch that part up and clean the rest.

All the console parts are solid, just need a cleaning and a touch up to the black around the top plate. Shift knob needs replacing as it cuts my damned thumb every time I shift.

Heater core and controls will all be checked and replaced as necessary before reassembly.... that is, after all where we started.

The real ugly part is the rear window channel spreading out into the drivers side c pillar:

The first photo above is looking through the rear window at the deck lid (top). The chrome is the trim around the lower edge of the window and below that is the NOTHING that used to be the lip of the dutchmans panel that was pinch welded to the lip on the strip above the flow through air box. The lip on the strip is still there (as far as I can tell with the window in) but the lip on the dutchmans panel is almost completely gone all the way across.

The second photo is of rust damage in the drivers side C Pillar. This likely started as a small bubble or even a pit but when the PO got around the wrong side of the window trim (outside the trim to the paint sealing water in more) with silicon, he also filled the pit. I didn't quite understand what that was all about till I peeled the silicon out... by that point it was a hole. Everything feels solid around it but again, I won't know until the window and sail panels come out... I am very much assuming theres going to be more crap going on back there.

Anyway, That's where it's at for now. Hope to get more cleaning done tonight as what was underneath the package tray was, well:

 

[HWYCRZR]

Since those are bucket seats you may find some new vinyl seat covers. Probably won’t be Correct Monaco pattern, but I thought I ran across some Fury ones once.
Or do like I did and sew up your own. Don’t go crazy anal like I did though.
Epic 68 Polara bench seat rebuild for originality

 

[GJS]

Since those are bucket seats you may find some new vinyl seat covers. Probably won’t be Correct Monaco pattern, but I thought I ran across some Fury ones once.
Or do like I did and sew up your own. Don’t go crazy anal like I did though.
Epic 68 Polara bench seat rebuild for originality

Yup, I watched your process with those. My seats are pleated and piped up the wazoo so I feel a little uncomfortable with the process. However if the budget doesn’t allow, as I’ve said, I can live with my passenger seat and my backseat bottom. Cover the drivers seat with something, touch up the rest then I’d just have to figure a way to keep them from belching rotten foam all over the carpet. The vinyl itself cleans up well where it’s not fried.

I’m getting some pricing right now... I don’t expect it to turn out to be affordable by any stretch .. but it doesn’t hurt to look around.

 

[GJS]

Damn, didn’t even get the lower rear window trim off yet. I imagine it’s set in much like the passenger side, in a wad of filler and glue which is better(?, Worse?) Than the drivers side which is set into a whole lot of nothing.

Guessin’ on a lil more gentile prying tomorrow.

 

[cbarge]

it is inevitable the glass has to come out and the headliner needs to get pulled back to do a proper fab and weld repair.
Make sure to reference the location of the trim clips and how high/low they sit in the channel.
Too low and the trim will not snap into place---I live with that everyday.
The clips are available in repop but list for different B bodies and not for C's.
If you have a good one use it for comparison.
Hope this helps..


.

 

[Jim 68cuda]

Good luck with your restoration. I'm starting the restoration on my 67 Plymouth Belvedere wagon and I'm waiting for the body shop to let me know they're ready to bring it over.
Its a 318 car, but I'm thinking if I have to rebuild a motor, it may as well be a big block.
With that in mind, I ran across this 383 67 Monaco 500 parts car in north eastern West Virginia (near PA, MD, and VA). But maybe you could get more use out of this parts car than I could. I don't want to buy the whole car when I only want the engine and trans.
parts or project

 

[My three 67 Polaras]

Good luck with your restoration. I'm starting the restoration on my 67 Plymouth Belvedere wagon and I'm waiting for the body shop to let me know they're ready to bring it over.
Its a 318 car, but I'm thinking if I have to rebuild a motor, it may as well be a big block.
With that in mind, I ran across this 383 67 Monaco 500 parts car in north eastern West Virginia (near PA, MD, and VA). But maybe you could get more use out of this parts car than I could. I don't want to buy the whole car when I only want the engine and trans.
parts or project
View attachment 307357

Those might be 15" wheels and wheel covers? Be sure to save those if you end up getting it.

 

[GJS]

it is inevitable the glass has to come out and the headliner needs to get pulled back to do a proper fab and weld repair.
Make sure to reference the location of the trim clips and how high/low they sit in the channel.
Too low and the trim will not snap into place---I live with that everyday.
The clips are available in repop but list for different B bodies and not for C's.
If you have a good one use it for comparison.
Hope this helps..


.

Yes, I'm counting on that. Just going slowly with the trim removal. The side parts and bottom piece having been glued in or sealed with silicon, the risk of bending it is pretty good if I don't go real slow. Once the trim is off, I'll make a map of everything on paper, get the window out and double check it. As I'm sure is usually the case, the three along the top are the most presentable .. well, they're the only ones I can actually see. The rest have either turned to dust or are covered in filler... so much for unmolested.

I'm taking it slow as I said but mapping everything on paper, labeling, ziplocking .. all them anal retentive things that give this project a hope in hell of working out.

Thanks for the heads up on the clip listings!

 

[GJS]

Good luck with your restoration. I'm starting the restoration on my 67 Plymouth Belvedere wagon and I'm waiting for the body shop to let me know they're ready to bring it over.
Its a 318 car, but I'm thinking if I have to rebuild a motor, it may as well be a big block.
With that in mind, I ran across this 383 67 Monaco 500 parts car in north eastern West Virginia (near PA, MD, and VA). But maybe you could get more use out of this parts car than I could. I don't want to buy the whole car when I only want the engine and trans.
parts or project
View attachment 307357

Thanks! I've seen that car, she's been on the interweb for a bit now. As far as parts for my car, I don't really see too much that I need.... just a lot of stuff she already has that needs fixing. I say that knowing that I'll screw something up but hopefully nothing that requires a whole parts car.

 

[GJS]

Those might be 15" wheels and wheel covers? Be sure to save those if you end up getting it.

Pretty nicely optioned car, actually. Those roof shots don't leave me with a pretty feeling in my stomach... poor gal.

 

[swisherred]

I just removed mine and am getting ready for paint if you need any pictures or numbers in the next couple days.