BUILD THREAD 1982 Malibu Wa-GOON 6.2/4L80e/8.5

Well, seems like the new master solved the brake issue. Just have to get the car moving again, and I can test it. I drained the coolant to fix a leak at the thermostat, and haven’t had a chance to refill it yet. I also swapped in a new idler pulley, hopefully that is the source of my squeal. If not, the power steering pump is next.

Also swapped in an old set of edelbrock valve covers on Pedro’s 355, hoping to solve some oil leak issues.

Well, one Malibu is sold. My neighbor bought Dads 79 that he has been asking to buy since he saw it 7 years ago. From what he has planned for it, it’s going to be awesome!

Took it for a quick ride yesterday, brakes aren’t as strong as they should be, also found a suspension issue… car sounds great though!

So, did a little tinkering recently. Started working on the e-brake setup for the car, and with it having a GN rear axle with 02 Camaro disks, I knew this would be interesting. I ended up getting a universal e-brake kit online, along with some GM e-brake brackets off Amazon.

Here is the bracket. I grabbed a small washer to fit the 12mm suspension bolt along with a fender washer to keep it in place.



I bolted it onto the outside of the lower control arm mount. It’s almost in line with the e-brake lever. You can see I put the bracket on from the universal brake kit.


I mounted this one on the inside of the lower control arm mount on the drivers side. It did require a little bit of trimming.


You can see I cut the outter housing down to length to go from one bracket to the other. I did add a couple washers just for a little peace of mind


I went through the drawers at the local hardware store and bought a bunch of different springs. I settled on this size, hoping it works good.


On the passenger side, I followed the same routing for the cable. I could have easily just used the original, but figured since I was replacing one side, why not replace the other.


Up and over the middle


Where the 2 cables come together isn’t perfect, but it should be good enough to use, and pass the state inspection.


This is where I got to. I am going to loop the factory cable around the thimble and clamp it onto itself. In my mind it works, but we shall see how it functions.

Not the prettiest, but it works. Middle clamp broke when I was tightening, so it will be replaced

carnutjw said:

Don't mean to be prick, but your clamps are backwards

Never saddle a dead horse!

The Associated Wire Rope Fabricators, INC Facebook is a great page for tech rescue personnel to follow. Below is a image that was posted on their Facebook page under the title

absoluterescue.com

Click to expand...

You can tell I don’t use these often. I’ll switch them around today when I put the new one on

so the suspension issue was that there-rod was hitting the swaybar. I grabbed the UMI bump steer kit hoping it would drop the tie rod enough to clear it, but no. A friend reached out saying him and his friends have the same problem running the 36mm F-body swaybars in their circle track cars since there is less arch or clearance than the G-body ones. He suggested longer end links.

Since the lower control arms have heim joints on them, it was 3/8-24, and I wasn’t able to get threaded rod that long (in a timely manner), so I opted to get a stud that switched to 3/8-16. With a coupling nut and a grade 8 bolt, I was able to make longer end links.





Now when it’s on the ground, I have just over 1” of clearance.

With that all done, I took it for a ride. Brakes DEFINITELY don’t feel as strong as they should be. Tried bleeding it again with a vacuum bleeder, and it seems like there is endless air in the system. I’m at the point wrenches will start flying in the garage