MALIBU 1980 Malibu 500 Cadillac
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Wile I prefer the stock bumpers on the car, kudos for dropping something in the engine bay out of the ordinary.
Great build!
Great build!
While I like all other G-body bumpers, the Malibu bumpers look like leftovers from a ‘73-‘80 Chevy pickup.
Since I built the headers to fit the QA1 upper arms I went ahead and installed them.
Let’s roll. I just traded up a 3.50 Detroit Locker and I have the 28x9 slicks off of the Regal and a whole gallon of VHT. I’m kinda worried about blowing the rear side windows out of the car. That would be awesome!
Well I got a video today. Dang I need a GoPro or something. 2nd gear punch from 35-100mph and holding the phone in one hand isn't perfect even though the car goes straight. Geez the car has unreal low speed torque. That was from 2000rpm to 5200rpm held in second. 5200rpm isn't straining at all even with the 4.304" stroke. The video sucks since it really just shows the centerline stripes becoming a blur.
I changed the high speed air bleeds from 31 to 33, removed the rear power valve and replaced the rear 84s with a set of 90s, added a 50cc rear accelerator pump, and downsized both squirter nozzles from 33 to 31. Secondary hesitation is gone and AFR gauge is on 12.1 running down the road instead of 11.5. Once in the secondaries I was previously seeing AFR hit as high as 17.1 at WOT, now it maxes at about 14.3. I have a little tuning to do, but it is much improved.
Anyway, I got the timing set at 13 initial and 35 total without vacuum advance. With advance its about 21 initial. The car drives along beautifully at any speed from 5mph to 100+. No chugging, missing, hiccupping, bogging, or anything at all erratic.
I put a set of 18x7 American Racing VN215s and 225/45ZR18s on the front but still have the 15s on the back. Jegs botched my rear wheel order but they should be here Monday. 255/40ZR20s on 20x8s. I have a like new set of Nitto 555R 275/40-20, I just don't know how they'll fit on the 20x8s. With the new front tires the car handles super, much improved over the 205/70-15s. It doesn't push through the curves anymore which will be nice when I put in the Detroit Locker.
One complaint is the front bumper blocks a lot of air and I feel like it could run cooler with some sort of ducting or something to divert some air from underneath. The factory front air dam is completely hidden behind the bumper. I may temporarily extend the air dam down 2" just to see if there is any change.
I changed the high speed air bleeds from 31 to 33, removed the rear power valve and replaced the rear 84s with a set of 90s, added a 50cc rear accelerator pump, and downsized both squirter nozzles from 33 to 31. Secondary hesitation is gone and AFR gauge is on 12.1 running down the road instead of 11.5. Once in the secondaries I was previously seeing AFR hit as high as 17.1 at WOT, now it maxes at about 14.3. I have a little tuning to do, but it is much improved.
Anyway, I got the timing set at 13 initial and 35 total without vacuum advance. With advance its about 21 initial. The car drives along beautifully at any speed from 5mph to 100+. No chugging, missing, hiccupping, bogging, or anything at all erratic.
I put a set of 18x7 American Racing VN215s and 225/45ZR18s on the front but still have the 15s on the back. Jegs botched my rear wheel order but they should be here Monday. 255/40ZR20s on 20x8s. I have a like new set of Nitto 555R 275/40-20, I just don't know how they'll fit on the 20x8s. With the new front tires the car handles super, much improved over the 205/70-15s. It doesn't push through the curves anymore which will be nice when I put in the Detroit Locker.
One complaint is the front bumper blocks a lot of air and I feel like it could run cooler with some sort of ducting or something to divert some air from underneath. The factory front air dam is completely hidden behind the bumper. I may temporarily extend the air dam down 2" just to see if there is any change.
OK, so the rear end wasn't exactly next. I finished up converting the E85 Holley that I got with the Regal back to gasoline. The previous owner had the 'like new' carb powdercoated gloss black and it was done nicely. I bought a black Proform billet front metering block, a QFT billet rear metering plate, notched float, jet extensions, and Holley quick change vacuum secondary spring kit. I tied up about $200 in it but the results were well worth it. I chose the secondary metering plate instead of metering block just because. My QFT carb that I pulled off liked to idle rich and cruise rich, but ran good at WOT. Idling and cruising never got better than 12.5:1 AFR. This Holley is very responsive to the idle screws and idles well at 13.5:1-14.0:1. The QFT would not idle well that lean. Cruise on this Holley is 13.5:1-15.0:1 depending on the load. Much better! WOT needs a heavier secondary spring but runs great. I believe the QFT just needs some air bleed tuning to be better but I'm not likely to change back as I really like the vacuum secondary on this Holley.
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