Malibu Down

[patmckinneyracing]

On new years eve on the way to work, the malibus motor developed an outrageous knock and metal to metal sound on the highway. The oil pressure dropped from 45-50 psi cruising pressure down to 0. Managed to turn the motor off and coast the car off the exit and to a TA travel center.

I noticed a subtle problem after launching from an intersection and putting a mustang in his place. The night before I had taken down a new challenger and mustang together. After launching from that intersection and returning back down to cruising speed, something didn't feel right. All gauges read good and didn't hear any metal to metal yet.

The plan was to park it back down here at my dads for the semester so I could begin collecting parts for the Roadrunner. So now I'm going to start on the conversion for the malibu. Begin designing motor mounts to go from sbc to big block mopar. Going to combine the best of chevrolet suspension, with the power of big block chrysler, and the dependability of a ford 9 inch rear end.

I will be doing this in tandem with working on the Roadrunner. The g-body platform has proven to be rather universal and I believe this setup will prove itself in the long run.

 

[LS1GN]

So what happened to the engine? Did you have to get towed home? Why not save the hassle of a swap (BTDT) and just build a SBC?

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Sounds like the stories of mellings oil pump castings thinning out turned out to be true. Sounds like the casting has broken loose and the pump is being struck by the counterweight. At the same time the motor is giving all the signs of a spun rod or main bearing.

Yeah I had to have my father make the hour trip so we could load it up on a trailer and get it back down to san antonio. I'm tired of building sbc. Of course there is always the option of stroking it. This 440 I have is sitting on the side. i was going to use it in my roadrunner but decided to stick to an original restoration with it.

 

[307 Regal]

I like how your story had a lot to do with smoking people. I wish I could have stories like that. I can smoke U-Haul trucks and that's about it..
I think it would be beyond awesome to have a 440 Malibu. That would be an extremely rare bird.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Figure that the motor had 2000 miles on it but it was all primarily drag strip racing, 2 autocross racing trips, and lots of street abuse. This build had gotten me into the final race in the street car brackets at the strip before I tore the rear intake gasket which got me DQ'ed for safety reasons. At the autocross races, I was the oldest and most powerful car there. The import guys were very suprised at the malibus agility and maneuverability with the power it was making.

I had finally gotten the holley 750 I built tuned right in and had figured out the sweet spot between opening the secondaries and shifting between 3rd and 4th the same day I smoked the challenger and mustang. Gotta say took down more mustangs and cars in those 2000 miles than I did on the last build which lasted 4-5 years lol.

Its expensive doing it this way, but damn was it fun. Going to drain the oil and see whats in it in hopes I get a sign of what happened.