81 Malibu project restarting

[08Malibu]

I’ve owned my Malibu since 08 and have done a few things on and off over the years but it has basically sat untouched since 2012. I recently moved into a new house with a larger garage, that I added heat to, and decided I need to get working on the car.
So far I’ve just gone over a few thing mechanically and tried to get the Hotchkis springs in the car sitting right since it was always nose high. There’s a few leaks that need to be taken care of and I have to get the front tire situation sorted since I have corvette rally’s on all 4 corners and the rub in the front.
After I get the car driving decent I want to paint it. I started by stripping the nose, since it was repainted and cracked. I’m going to get that part in epoxy then go panel by panel, then spray poly the whole car. I’m still undecided on a color. I’m a painter by trade so that’s why it’s taking me so damn long to do the car. Couple of pictures:

 

[Ratchet]

Looks like a great project. That body style Malibu is my favorite of all the G-bodies.
Have you decided what wheel/tire combination you are going with?

 

[Doug Chahoy]

Looks to be a pretty nice canvas to start with and go whatever direction you want to . Is that just a rust spot or a rust hole lower front right door ? That seems to be the worst visible in the pics.

 

[08Malibu]

Looks to be a pretty nice canvas to start with and go whatever direction you want to . Is that just a rust spot or a rust hole lower front right door ? That seems to be the worst visible in the pics.

Yes. The doors have the usual rust in the corners and a small hole next to the drivers seat in the floor. Otherwise she’s clean. I’m going to patch those holes and fill the quarter panel seams, since it originally had a landau top. Otherwise it’s pretty much parking lot dings.

 

[08Malibu]

Looks like a great project. That body style Malibu is my favorite of all the G-bodies.
Have you decided what wheel/tire combination you are going with?

The vette rally’s that are on there. I need to get different front tires though because they 245/60r15 that are on there rub like crazy since I lowered it. I have to put the original ones back on the front until I sort it out.

 

[08Malibu]

So I picked up a 79 hurst olds that a kid from my job wrecked. I was originally going to part it out but now I’m thinking of swapping the drive train into my Malibu. The olds 350 with hurst dual gate shifter is a bit of a step up to my 305 column shift. I had an 02 Tahoe lined up, before the olds fell in my lap, but the guy backed out. The LS swap will have to wait. Couple of pics of the olds.

 

[08Malibu]

I took the car to work today and primed the nose with DP. The paper job is sloppy but I’m tired so it’s good enough.

 

[08Malibu]

I brought the olds parts car in the garage tonight and started poking around. Turns out it has quick ratio steering and a posi on top of the f41 suspension package. Pretty good score.

 

[08Malibu]

Picked up a Monte ss cluster from a forum member. Started the install tonight. I like the look much better already.

 

[08Malibu]

I was going through some stuff Toni and found a pic from when I first bought the car home.