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BUILD THREAD A Teenager and His Malibu Wagon.
- Thread starter BlairC_789
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Contact GP403 about getting it scanned. Its been awhile since he posted about trying to scan & print trim clips.
i did break those clips but I also just struggled pulling out all the interior plastics
I am planning on getting a 3d printer soon to mess around with making things since I already know a little bit of CAD
I have one of the wing/deflector screw caps intact and am planning on giving my shot at it.
I saw a couple of people wanting to making some of the wagon specific pieces but I don’t think they ever got around to it
Time to do another post on my progress with my wagon so far. This should be the last post on previous work Ive done so I can start getting into the current work I am doing next.
I started to do reliability maintenance with the wagon despite expecting to blow up the 305 within 3-4 months of ownership based on how the condition the motor was in and how it was ran without a water pump for a while by the previous owner. This included an oil change, cleaning up plugs with a wirewheel (the 305 didn't deserve brand new ones 😆), some new(er) spark plug wires I had in a storage drawer, coolant flush, packing wheel bearings,
and new master cylinder.
On top of that I buffed the roof and the original hood since it was heavily oxidized in order to make it
match with the rest of the car. The rear wing paint was coming off so I used a scotchbrite to make it entirely shiny aluminum. Replaced the outside door handles with new ones since the front passenger door handle was somehow split in half. Got a new windshield from safelight with the integrated antenna for about $150 installed. The guy even let me go back with him to look at the channel where the glass sat in. Which had a tiny bit of surface rust, so they grinded it off and sealed it, and even put in new trim clips. (say what you want about safelight but I've never had a bad experience with them.
When I got the car the power steering had no belt, nor the pressure lines put on (they were in a box), and the pump still mounted in the engine bay. I put on the hoses, filled the pump up with fluid, and with low hopes of it working. IT WORKED, smooth as butter, and still no leaks to this day.
Also after an unfortunate hail storm the plastic license plate holder area got smashed up around the bottom, and I fixed it using some fiberglass and some black paint. The hail also broke the glass of the mirrors and smashed up the tail lights (not the end of the world because they were already cracking).
After a month or two after buffing out the hood I bought a 2 inch steel cowl hood from 'ClassicMuscle.com' for about $330. Although I went and picked it up locally in NC to save on shipping cost. I scuffed down the hood and sprayed on some grey epoxy primer to prevent the black storage primer from wearing off and start to get surface rust. The hood was made with GREAT quality. Bolted on perfectly, had great gaps around it. My only complaint is under the hood around the edges of the skeletal structure supports they were sharp. Although this was solved easily with 5 minutes of quickly running a Dremel over the edges.
Onto new rims! I wanted to find something cheap and have a set up that I can rotate my tires with, so I picked up some JEGS SSR Spikes.
Wheel Specs: Both for front and back.
15x8"
4.5" Backspacing
235/65/15 Milestar StreetSteel
The rim on the fronts rubbed on outer tie rod just a hair so I added a 3/16" spacer
The front center caps aren't deep enough to fit over the dust cap (can buy ones that are deeper from JEGS)
The rears are maybe 1/4 away from the frame. Which is due to the wagon axle being shorter. Plus I have
plans to swap to an 8.8" rear end which will push the wheels out further away.
The rear I needed longer studs. I had a hard time finding some since I have the metric ones. I found some Moroso studs and cut them down a bit shorter (cant remember what the part # is, ill add it here if I find out again)
The day my rims arrived in shipping I took my tires off my old rims at home with our manual tire machine, and was rushing around to discount tire for them to put the tires on my new rims since I didn't want to scratch them with out manual one. This was because I ended up taking my girlfriend out on our first date that night after putting the new wheels on.
Props to her and her parents for looking past this absolute rag of a car.
I started to do reliability maintenance with the wagon despite expecting to blow up the 305 within 3-4 months of ownership based on how the condition the motor was in and how it was ran without a water pump for a while by the previous owner. This included an oil change, cleaning up plugs with a wirewheel (the 305 didn't deserve brand new ones 😆), some new(er) spark plug wires I had in a storage drawer, coolant flush, packing wheel bearings,
and new master cylinder.
On top of that I buffed the roof and the original hood since it was heavily oxidized in order to make it
When I got the car the power steering had no belt, nor the pressure lines put on (they were in a box), and the pump still mounted in the engine bay. I put on the hoses, filled the pump up with fluid, and with low hopes of it working. IT WORKED, smooth as butter, and still no leaks to this day.
Also after an unfortunate hail storm the plastic license plate holder area got smashed up around the bottom, and I fixed it using some fiberglass and some black paint. The hail also broke the glass of the mirrors and smashed up the tail lights (not the end of the world because they were already cracking).
After a month or two after buffing out the hood I bought a 2 inch steel cowl hood from 'ClassicMuscle.com' for about $330. Although I went and picked it up locally in NC to save on shipping cost. I scuffed down the hood and sprayed on some grey epoxy primer to prevent the black storage primer from wearing off and start to get surface rust. The hood was made with GREAT quality. Bolted on perfectly, had great gaps around it. My only complaint is under the hood around the edges of the skeletal structure supports they were sharp. Although this was solved easily with 5 minutes of quickly running a Dremel over the edges.
Onto new rims! I wanted to find something cheap and have a set up that I can rotate my tires with, so I picked up some JEGS SSR Spikes.
Wheel Specs: Both for front and back.
15x8"
4.5" Backspacing
235/65/15 Milestar StreetSteel
The rim on the fronts rubbed on outer tie rod just a hair so I added a 3/16" spacer
The front center caps aren't deep enough to fit over the dust cap (can buy ones that are deeper from JEGS)
The rears are maybe 1/4 away from the frame. Which is due to the wagon axle being shorter. Plus I have
plans to swap to an 8.8" rear end which will push the wheels out further away.
The rear I needed longer studs. I had a hard time finding some since I have the metric ones. I found some Moroso studs and cut them down a bit shorter (cant remember what the part # is, ill add it here if I find out again)
The day my rims arrived in shipping I took my tires off my old rims at home with our manual tire machine, and was rushing around to discount tire for them to put the tires on my new rims since I didn't want to scratch them with out manual one. This was because I ended up taking my girlfriend out on our first date that night after putting the new wheels on.
Props to her and her parents for looking past this absolute rag of a car.
Lookin' good. Nice to see you making progress. Keep up the good work...👍😎
If I had a daughter, I'd be happy you pulled up in an old project car. It tells me 1 very important thing about you. You don't have a drug problem..... no way you can afford it.
Sweet longroof, plenty of room for "activities" in the back 😉
Sweet longroof, plenty of room for "activities" in the back 😉
- Status
BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL. Thru 12/2 Everything (Including Calendars!!) in the shop is 20% off. use code BLACKFRIDAY24.
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