1979 Malibu Wagon build/engine swap
- Thread starter 84dragcutlass
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Its always been good to me, I cant wait to see how it will do with 1/2 the weight to pull around
Some progress, working on fitting the spare 1983 fenders I have since my neighbor ruined my driver door and fender while we were towing it to my garage (because who leaves a door open going backwards down a hill while trying to steer a car with no power steering) anyway I had to modify the inside of the header panel a little but got them to bolt up and im playing with the wheel color, they were orange when I got the wagon years ago and I painted them black and im thinking with some police style center caps or some spiked lug nuts they will look really good. What do you guys think?
Everything seems to fit pretty good, room for the air filter and all the hydroboost lines off the truck. I have the passenger side inner fender in now I need to get a picture, everything is snug but clears just fine, added the SSDiesel supply sticker to throw people off just a little more
Keep in mind, it's the overall tire diameter that matters, not the actual gear ratio. If your truck had 235/85-16, that's 31.7", 245/75-16 is 30.5", and 215/85-16 is 30.4". You will not be able to match that diameter and fit a tire in the wheelwell, so some programming is inevitable. A 235/70-15 is still only 28" in diameter. The bigger issue is the weight in front. You way want to step up to 5662 or 5664 coils, used in the convertible F-body.
http://www.maliburacing.com/coilspring.htm
Don't forget that this motor will have over 400 ft-lbs of torque, so you may just want to keep the current highway gears so this motor turns in its power range of 1500 - 1800 RPMs at speed. If you're going to keep this combo, I'd also suggest pulling the carpet and putting some Dynamat on the firewall, floor boards, and inner sides of the doors to cut the 'box-o'rox' eardrum beating. I have a heat-only blower box if you want to retain some defogging capability instead of the block-off plate.
A Powertrax soft locker might be a useful easy addition. Careful breaking the tires loose on that 7.5 with that much torque on tap...
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The wheels I have on the back are pretty big (biggest I could fit with the cargo springs I have in the rear) so you might be right I should probably see how it does with the highway gears and go from there. I have a feeling im going to have to lower them some though. The driveshaft is going to be a problem, the truck trans didn't have a slip yoke built into the tailshaft it had the connection similar to the rear axle. so ill have to do like the truck had and put a two piece driveshaft in it with a expandable piece in the middle unless I can figure something out. Ive thought about putting matting in it, but an almost rat rod/ truck/ wagon combo was what I was going for so im not sure what ill end up doing. I know its going to shake like no tomorrow with those solid motor mounts anyway so I think the slight noise would be the least of my issues.
Oh and I probably should mention the engine isn't exactly stock, its got the obvious cold air intake, Marine injectors, #9 resistor for fuel delivery, turbo master boost control so I can turn the boost up higher, and an aftermarket chip in the ecm. Something else I know im forgetting
Such as pinion gears. With the mods you're talking about, you might be one of the few in actual need of a Ford 9".
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