1978 MALIBU "PROJECT TUMMY TUCK"

[19elcamino82]

Dont give up on the welding bro ... its all in the practice and getting the hang of it.

i looked up the specs on the welder and its capable of using gas setup. what your using is the fluxcore, essentially like stick welding, the wire has a coating that when welding it realeses a gas the makes it weld. It's not as nice looking as with straight gas but with practice i think your welds will improve.


here are some pics of my first welds from a year ago. they dont look like this now lol. on this pic i didnt have the connection for the gas completley connected all the way in so it welded like crap.



and here with gas. not perfect but big improvement. BTW these were my first welds with a MIG and its also 14 guage sheetmetal i believe.



and practice practice practice. you can tell how the right side is uglier than the left cause of not having the gas connection properly connected lol.



so dont give up bro, once you start welding and get good at it you will be asking yourself why you didnt learn earlier. the possibilites are endless.


i like the actuator idea for the plate would look nice and clean .... are you going to make the plate flip and out or have it slide up and down?? keep up the great work

 

[Dave V]

So i have an idea about my front license plate...since i didnt go with the fiberglass bumper with the plate insert, i wanted to go something more smoother.....

I going to be putting an Electric Actuator from (Firgelli Auto)...they have very good products, they also have color picture installation sheets, and videos, which makes it look very very easy to install..of course i will need two brackets and a up and down switch that they sell on the website as well..prices are very resonable, but i need to save my hustle money, times are rough, lol, and hopefully get it soon...Dayum cops out here in LA will stop you for everything....so when i see a cop i can hit the down switch and the lisence plate will come down, hit the switch up and should go up, so this should be a cool little mod...stay tuned..

http://www.firgelliauto.com/product_inf ... cts_id=129

Nice setup for the front plate looking good

 

[80ELCAMINOFLAKE]

Thanks guys all the great comments get me motivated....need to finish her...

Yesterday took the Bu for a test drive and everything was going good...went a cpl block around da hood and right when i got the my drive way she started to back fire and no power and it shuts off......made it to the drive way, ever time i tried to turn on the mally it would go forward!! ....my shift column was so loose at the column, i popped da hood and my kickdown long metal stick connected to the coloumn was not connected the pin in it was gone....so i fixed that and figured i needed gas....poured about 2 gallons and she started right up....had a problem with the 22" rocs hitting the inner fender just a tad bit, so i cut that, and off i went for another test drive..oh yes Skip hooked me up with a Jeep shaft...thats installed too..oh and new valve covers...

Dont get me wrong mally drive good, but i forgot what it felt like to ride on 22" with low profile :shock: ...i was feeling all bumps all over da place...lol. , but over all she held her ground...

My only concern was, if im at idle like at a red light and your ready to step on da gas, it kinda hesitates to go, like if it loses power, or no gas to carb...??? I made sure the choke was workinng corretly, adjusted the carb, etc etc....new distributor...i was thinking maybe the spark plug wires touching the manifolds, make it loose alittle power???

N E Ways, this week i will be cutting for the Headers, and maybe this weekend get them installed so that i can put the New Accel spark plug wires, and wire looms, might do the trick...i dont know we will see....stay tuned...

 

[Dave V]

Could be the fuel pump or is the fuel line run by any heat source?? Had that happen on my 55 Chevy and the fuel was cooking in the line and when hit the gas it would hesitate. Also a problem in the carb could do that too.....

 

[melman109]

Man she looking good bro!! I'd check the timing on her to might need a little adjustment if it was set by ear

 

[80ELCAMINOFLAKE]

Could be the fuel pump or is the fuel line run by any heat source?? Had that happen on my 55 Chevy and the fuel was cooking in the line and when hit the gas it would hesitate. Also a problem in the carb could do that too.....

thanks dave, i will ck that out...maybe adjust the carb alittle.

 

[80ELCAMINOFLAKE]

Man she looking good bro!! I'd check the timing on her to might need a little adjustment if it was set by ear

thanks bro,

YUP YUP!!! thats what me and warren were texting about...since the homie Rick adjusted it only by Ear, i think it really needs a good timing gun to take care of the problem....my bro in law has one and he did the timing on the elko, so im sure he can do the same for da mally....keep u posted..

 

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Another possibity could be "vapor lock". Fuels gettin too hot. I was worried about that on the SS. I think the stock fuel setup had a return line or something to prevent that from happening. Maybe the cannistor on the driver side took care of the extra fumes. Not sure. Ur fuel lines looked good to me. I've seen peeps cover the fuel lines with heat shielding on the lines before they connect at the carb. But then again u said u added some fuel. Maybe u just ran out of gas? Time it, fix the cotter pin and fuel up. Swang it again and see what it do! Lookin CLeAN!!!!!

Elco Warren

 

[kuruption109]

tummy tuck lookin extra saucey bro cant wait to see it in person!!

 

[80ELCAMINOFLAKE]

Thanks warren and kris: shes almost there...

This morning went at it with the headers, man time flys when u wrenching, had to remove the starter this time, i remember with da elko i didnt have to, but n e ways the passenger side is in, will finish the driver side saturday morning, and off to the muffler shop, $100 for X pipe, will also take my Magnaflow exhaust tips with me....bro in law states he will be here Sunday for sure to weld the passenger side floor, and will bring 16 ga sheet metal from a shop near him, he said the 12 ga i had was to thin...and he will bring his timing gun to time the mally correctly...

Know i can start with the billet wire looms and accel new spark plug wires::