Buddy Baker 1980 Monte Carlo WiP

[18degrees]

she got some color!

working on the back half of the chassis and rear suspension, engine is finished once i figure out how tall the air cleaner needs to be to clear the hood.

[18degrees]

engine... had to cut the distributor down so the air cleaner would fit










rear chassis half with the suspension in place.  went together pretty easy with no trimming.






and i mocked up the tires and wheelbacks to see how they would sit.  pretty tight in the wheel wells, this is with the 2 spacers that the instructions called for.

[Volzfan59]

Doggone Dave, the distributor and wheel well/ tire fit is tight.

[18degrees]

yup, Steve, sure is.  that is with 2 spacers that come with the kit, the more spacers the lower the rear axle is.  so use 1 spacer and it's not gonna be so tight. i built it how the instructions called for.

started on the front half today.

the dash mounts to the firewall/other part of the dash here


and to the firewall/other part of the dash here



i tried it that way, it fits pretty tight but wasn't happy with the "what if" i was handling it and put too much pressure on it and broke it off

so my solution was mounting tabs made of strip




should be a lot more sturdy

[18degrees]

got the firewall and dash in place. the firewall fits very well and snug on the chassis pan, but i am not too fond of the overall look of the top of the dash.  that gap is very evident.  the gauge decals are nice, they have a silver trim ring around them.

[drppr76]

This Monte Carlo looks good - Buddy Baker is one of my favorite old school drivers- I have a couple of the Salvinos 71 Charger kits in the lineup which I believe have the same chassis parts, so seeing this thread leaves me concerned- you're doing an excellent job with this kit - looking forward to seeing the finished product

[18degrees]

got the front suspension and some bars together and just glued the engine in place (not pictured)








i used the instruction sheet to refer to the mods i ended up doing, mostly because i am not exactly sure what the official automotive name of some of the parts are

first, the front springs.  i removed them... they seemed to interfere with the rest of the suspension not fitting snug




this piece wasn't long enough, it pulled the pieces that the wheels mount towards the car... if that makes sense.  so i ended up cutting some tubing and digging out some rod ends and made my own




this area had to be sanded down on both sides, the suspension rubbed on them and kept them from fitting right. 




these parts, there are 3 different versions of them in the kit.  i used the ones that the instructions recommend, seems to be the ones that would give the lowest front end stance.  they move around a little, up and down, if they aren't glued in place.




these have no specific area to mount them to the crossbar that the engine sits on.  you just have to line up the areas that mount towards the front of the chassis and fiddle with them until they look right and hold the piece from the previous picture straight




and where this bar mounts attaches to the firewall, there aren't any holes, just a recessed area where they are supposed to fit.  i ended up drilling them out a little bit so the bars would fit easier.




alrighty... hope that makes sense.  please PM or ask on here if you have questions.

i did attach the 2 chassis halves and mocked up the wheels... chassis sits level, all 4 tires touch the ground. 

[18degrees]

got the office done and glued the chassis halves together.  the instructions call for the entire front half, including the cage, to be finished before the chassis is glued together.  however, for me the cage would have blocked off the area where i clamped the halves together so i went ahead and glued them.  i think i am going to assemble the cage and then glue it to the chassis. there seems to be a fitment issue with the top hoop, one point isn't long enough to attach when it's mocked up.  everything is painted, just have to do some roll bar padding paint.  i also mocked it up with the wheels in place and set the body on it... the next one i build, i will use one less spacer on the rear end and use the "medium" front spindles... it seems to sit really low.

[18degrees]

got the black decals done on the driver's side.  i usually (and shoulda) started on the passenger side to figure out if there are little nuances that exist... but i don't know why but i didn't this time.  the decals (Powerslide kit quality decals, not sure if there is a difference between the Salvinos kit decals and regular Powerslide decals,  but Mike always seems to differentiate between them in the descriptions) were fairly easy to work with and line up.  i did get some that folded over but the wrinkles came out with some massaging.  on the passenger side i think i will put the rear section on first, the front section on second and the middle section on last.  i did them from rear towards the front this time.



AND the picture size option is available again on imgur, so the pic isn't so big.  not sure if it disappeared for a while and then came back or i just missed it, but it hasn't been there for a while that i noticed.  maybe it's because i am working from a new computer that runs Windows 11, my tower is so old it still runs on Windows 10.  not sure but whatever, i'll take it.

[18degrees]

got some decals done today

[Volzfan59]

Looks great Dave!