This is how the car looked when I bought it. Straight body, minimal rust, 229/TH350 and a set of Cavalier bucket seats. I had a wrecked '85 Monte Carlo that would donate it's TBI 4.3, ECM, wiring, and fuel system. I already had a complete T-5 setup from a '85 Z-28 that was originally bought to go with this engine into a Monza wagon. Time to start working...

This is the original 229...

This is the "New" TBI 4.3. Yeah, it's still not spotless under the hood, but it's a driver, not a show car. I'll "gunk" it after all of the body work is done.

The original "sweeper" speedo has to go...

Adam, the guy I bought the car from, included this gauge package with the car.

This is a shot of the dusty interior. You can see the shifter and pedals.

Speaking of the pedals, this is how they look in the car.

I now have a set of 15x8 Ralley wheels on the car.

This is the only place I found a rust hole in the car. Once I dug in it a bit I could barely get a finger tip through it, but I ended up cutting out a 2 inch high by 4 inch long hole out to make sure I had solid metal and no rust remaining. Unfortunately I don't have a pic of the hole, but new metal has been welded in, and one skim coat of filler has been applied in this pic.

This is the only place that concerns me with the body work. I was grinding out a spot of surface rust and dug into a bit of filler. I ended up grinding all of it out to make sure it wasn't hiding any more rust or deep dents. Turns out it was only a repaired crease with no rust beneath. Yes, I did remove the paint in the area where the filler is applied. There is only a slight overlap of filler onto paint, which will be sanded off when I rough it in. The body line and my ability to get it straight again is the only thing that concerns me. The rest of the body only has a ding or two to deal with. I'm thinking seriously about removing the roof rack and welding up the holes, but leaving the stainless strips in place.