Has anyone seen a 1978 Monza wagon U/S(or u/say)

Greg Reimer 7376 · 04-11-2020, 07:54 PM

I worked in various Chevy dealers from summer 1975 to late spring 1980. Never could find that many that you wanted to work for, although the last one,Allen Gwynn Chevrolet was a good store with an excellent service manager. I left them for a job with the County fixing sheriffs cars. Benefits, paid days off and a retirement package were a novel concept for me back then. In 1975, the Chevy Monza came along, and the out of state Monzas had an optional 262 V8 with a 4 speed. The California only Monzas were a 350 with a Turbo 350 and a stronger rear end. That was the car that took a few special tactics to change some of the spark plugs on the left bank. Also, the 1975 HEI ignition specified a spark plug gap of around .060" or something like that. It was easy to gas foul the plugs and then the car wouldn't clean them off, you had to replace them.The only Monza body styles I ever remembered was a fastback coupe with a hatchback, and a two door sedan with a separate trunk. It seemed to me that the only two engine choices were a 4 cylinder OHC unit that had definite block issues, or the 2 barrel V-8. Pontiac had a version of the Vega called the Astre, and I think Buick had a version of it as well.Don't quote me on that, however. The cars weren't that durable, I don't think a V-8 version of one of these would hold up as a stocker since you couldn't add enough stiffness to the unit body with just a roll bar or cage to make it work. As it was, when the 350 Vega swaps got popular, those cars soon got to where the doors didn't open and close very well, front fenders didn't line up, and they had very serious rust issues. Not a good place to start.

04-11-2020, 07:54 PM	#11
Greg Reimer 7376 VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Glendora,Calif. Posts: 1,135 Likes: 172 Liked 704 Times in 218 Posts	Re: Has anyone seen a 1978 Monza wagon U/S(or u/say) I worked in various Chevy dealers from summer 1975 to late spring 1980. Never could find that many that you wanted to work for, although the last one,Allen Gwynn Chevrolet was a good store with an excellent service manager. I left them for a job with the County fixing sheriffs cars. Benefits, paid days off and a retirement package were a novel concept for me back then. In 1975, the Chevy Monza came along, and the out of state Monzas had an optional 262 V8 with a 4 speed. The California only Monzas were a 350 with a Turbo 350 and a stronger rear end. That was the car that took a few special tactics to change some of the spark plugs on the left bank. Also, the 1975 HEI ignition specified a spark plug gap of around .060" or something like that. It was easy to gas foul the plugs and then the car wouldn't clean them off, you had to replace them.The only Monza body styles I ever remembered was a fastback coupe with a hatchback, and a two door sedan with a separate trunk. It seemed to me that the only two engine choices were a 4 cylinder OHC unit that had definite block issues, or the 2 barrel V-8. Pontiac had a version of the Vega called the Astre, and I think Buick had a version of it as well.Don't quote me on that, however. The cars weren't that durable, I don't think a V-8 version of one of these would hold up as a stocker since you couldn't add enough stiffness to the unit body with just a roll bar or cage to make it work. As it was, when the 350 Vega swaps got popular, those cars soon got to where the doors didn't open and close very well, front fenders didn't line up, and they had very serious rust issues. Not a good place to start.