80 Malibu Build (Motor's in)

[bigjoenvegas]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build

Anyone know what the material is on the upper door panels that the vinyl is glued to?

Not sure if it's a type of flimsy wood or cardboard? I'm thinking of trying my hand at re-upholstering my upper door panels and the small ones at the back seat. The vinyl is starting to separate and figured it was time to try it.

I don't know what the material is called but it is like carboard and I picked it up at my local upholstery shop. I'm am starting on mine this weekend and will be posting the pictures in my build thread. I grabed the 1/8 inch stuff and I will be using foam padding under the vinyl.

 

[Longroof79]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build

Big Joe is correct. It is a sort of cardboard/ paper product using a plastic/ composite material on top were it curves and attaches to upper door/ window cavity.
I suppose using masonite or luan *spelling*. instead of the cardboard might be an option.

 

[bigjoenvegas]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build

It's a really easy process. I just haven't finished yet. I still have to clean up the top metal pieces where the window felt staples onto. As you can see the factory presses the "cardboard" on to the upper metal plates. I am gonna grind off where it is pressed and mount my new cut-outs with rivits along the top. After that I just need to spray glue the foam padding and then wrap with the vinyl. I did this before when I used to restore old VW's back when I was a younger. If you want something in the panels, just add some foam designs before you cover in vinyl. I'm gonna make some bowties in mine.

 

[jrm81bu]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build

After checking out my lunati cam, this thing has some of the most aggressive looking lobes I've ever seen on a cam. I can't wait to hear it fire up for the first time. Best part is on the camshaft and the crane lifters it says "Made in USA".

Here's some aggressive lobes for ya Pat, lol.

 

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build

Lookin good bruh! Nice polishing job on the core support. Sweet!

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build

I finally got a chance to work on the bu tonight. Started working for a security company and they gave me 40 hours right out of the gate and most of it was night shifts, making working on the bu a bit harder.

Tonight I finally started getting the body mounts replaced. Only issue is the spot where I have it parked is large gravel. While I was working on the rear bushings I had noticed one of the rear jack stands had shifted. So I was halling *ss to move the jack stand under the rear axle housing and just as I got the jack back there, the SOB banked left and the car went off the jack stands. Luckily as the car was getting ready to roll down the mountain, one of the jack stands caught the axle tube with its feet which stopped the car. At this point I had already thrown my body in front of the car lol. As low as my car sits, I'm glad I noticed it or my head would have been a scrambled egg as I would have still been under the car. Disaster avoided I guess.

There is a hold on painting what I need right now. I need to take my rear spoiler to a paint supply so they can match the red, that way I can paint all the other pieces and redo the rear bumper fillers as well. Just gotta wait till the next pay check as the cut off date for it was two days after I started working.

Most of what I'm going to be doing is maching up the new parts I'm putting in then putting them on later when I put the rebuilt motor back in. I'm hoping for a september deadline, but if this damn contractor keeps f***ing with us and giving us the run around, our garage isn't going to be done for another month and the SOB said it would be done by now, which was a month ago. Hell we don't even have a slab yet cause he was trying to half *ss the planning of it. Luckily he signed a contract with the government to do this job since we got the loan through Tex Vets, so if he dodges us the government will find his *ss. Sad part is the guy claims to be ex marine, but he has no honor whatsoever.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build

Well tonight was sorta bittersweet. One of the things I finally got mocked up was the Jeep intermediate shaft. Took a little bit of work with a torch but it went on with ease.

The other thing is I began disassembling the motor. My biggest fear right now is either the heads or the block is cracked. At one point when I was driving it, the non-thermal clutch I put on the stock fan to replace the failed factory thermal clutch later failed. Of course I wasn't paying attention and the car hit 260-280 degrees 😳.

So I popped the head off on the passenger side (it being the easiest) and luckily the piston chambers at the top have no ridge so the block doesn't need a bore. The valves and tops of the pistons are coated light brown...guessing from the engine overheating that one time?

The big problem I found was when I inspected the head itself. I have 882 heads with 2.02/1.60 valves with all the aftermarket goods. The valve springs are aftermarket and have dampeners inside the springs. I want to say 3 or 4 of the dampener springs are in 2 or 3 pieces still inside the springs. Anyone know what could have caused this?

The cam I was running was a summit cam with a .442/.465 lift and was far from radical. Could this have been caused by high rpm's or possibly the engine overheating?

I will try and post some pics tomorrow.

 

[RITTER]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build (Update)

I love your car man :!:

I see you went with the Lunati 268 cam, how come you didn't get the kit with the lifters? Just wondering

Any pictures of your front spoiler? I like it with and without your rear spoiler, looks great either way.

I will be honest with you and tell you that the blue headlights look a little funny.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build (Update)

The kit with the lifters would have cost more and summit was having a sale on Cranes performance lifters for 30 or 40 bucks.

I do have mach up pics of the car with the front spoiler. The front spoiler isn't painted yet. I've got it shot in primer and am doing finishing touches on it before starting on the base coat. I had to figure out how to mix the chemicals and also how much flex additive to use since its the factory urethane spoiler. Want to make sure the paint flexes so when I'm on the highway my paint isn't flying off.

The blue headlights are a bit unique lol. When I first got the malibu, I couldn't see jack with the stock sealed beam headlights. At the time, these blue ones were the only aftermarket ones I could find on ebay at the time where you could swap the bulbs. That bright red and blue headlights does make it a little wierd. IMO it makes the car look like it has eyes. But it's just the lense that's blue, there is a red bulb inside that when the running lights are on, the headlights shine a bright red. It makes the car look evil.

 

[84cutlassjuggalo]

Re: 80 Malibu "Revival" build (Update)

what are you running for audio brand name and watt wise. Im thinking of running for now two RockFord P3 500 watts each with two T1000 amps and im wondering if i was to get the same alt if it would be able to run 2 batteries and have enough to run the system