Jeez! Once again, it's been a long while...and as always, a LOT has transpired. The ugly wagon, my '77 Malibu that I adored was less than cooly welcomed to the fleet. I could even easily go as far say to say it wasn't welcomed at all, this despite the factory tach, gauge pack, posi, full power and all the perfectly placed Patina. I sold it to the owner of a local stereo shop, Driving Sounds, because at least HE saw the potential. It is now in the body shop getting stripped, molding holes filled and is getting Black with flattening agent applied. Then,it comes back to me for suspension upgrades in the way of bags.
The Malibu has been a point of contention with the Race Crew and anyone else that has to ride in the back of it, because..well, you know. The Back windows don't roll down. I told everybody, I'm going to sell it and buy a Burb. So, I set my eyes on 2WD 70-72's cuz I REALLY like the style, but came up with nothing but rust buckets for 2K or bondo filled monsters for 10K and really nice Cali rigs for 15K. There were a couple temptresses in Cali that I almost went for, but decided to stick around here as the shop is still busy. I settled on a square nose, something I never would normally do, but this one is CLEAN. Plus, it's a 2WD. It's a 3/4 ton, which I'm tepid on, but it does ride very nice, plus it's a barn door rig. It's a little old manish for me, with the running boards and all, but..in my best old man voice-"It doesn't get all dirty when it rains..." So, they may stay. The interior is about as nice as I've seen. The guy I got it from wouldn't let his kids eat in it and it has never been smoked in. It has an injected small block, t-400 (odd I thought, but in the early years of 700R4, they experienced a lot of failures in trucks) R134A retrofit, new tires/wheels, I felt a slight vibration at speed, had new drivelines built, new exhaust, remote start, alarm,one day I noticed a piss of anti freeze, so in went a new radiator. It has a gov lock posi, trailer pack, brake controller, Alpine tunes that will blast you out of the cab and shake the mirrors to the point of readjustment.I've had it for five weeks. I REALLY like it. but, it's gotta go too. I'll explain later.
A customer of mine brought me his '03 Tahoe with inoperating oil pressure gauge. I told him I'd scan it and see whats up. I had reportable oil pressure, so I figured it must be the gauge. I've never had the dash out of a later model, so I fearlessly dug in. The dealership wants 700ish plus a reburn for a refurb unit, so I got online and checked it ut. Turns out there a little "Stepper motors" driving each gauge independanly. tach,. Speedo and oil pressure are usual culprits. You can get stepper motors for about $10 the good thing, you don't need to reburn, cuz the dash and ECM are already familiar. Heres the inside view-with the oil pressure stepper removed.
The Stepper motors solder in and they go quick. There's a little to it, but they are not difficult at all. I charged the guy around $400. He was/is ecstatic.
He comes the NEXT DAY and tells me he smoked the rear end in his Yukon. I tell him a grand maybe a little greater. He looks at me and says, if he has to start with major components on it, he's not going there. He loses too much money sitting along side the hiway with a pissed off crew. So he gave the Yukon to me. It's an '01 LS powered, loaded and 2WD. He's from SoCal and they're common down there. He ordered it new. So NOW I have a Yukon that needs a rear end, but is white and that matches my Daytona. So it's the new tow rig. That's why the Blue Burb has to go...and so does my Malibu Wagon. Here's the Yukon
That drags me to the relevance of this post and Forum. I repowered the wagon with a low hour, 330 HP genV Mercury Marine 454. It's a roller motor, small port. Was injected.
I had mashed the pan on the HO motor one day, being dumb, but since have installed QA1s to pick the nose an inch or two.
The car, as people here have seen has gone through a complete transformation. I decided to remove the factory clutch fan and run thermostatically controlled electrics. Just cuz when the air is on, sitting in traffic..it's nice to not worry.
It knocks down 23 MPG hiway now, absolutley ridiculously HORRIBLE city, cuz it's like a streetbike, you just can't keep your foot out of it stoplight dragracing!
It has MonteCarlo SS front and rear sway bars, Detroit locker, tilt, intermittant wipers, 140MPH speedo, factory gauge pack, with tach, 2.5" Dual exhaust, Flow Masters, Hooker Ceramic coated big tube long headers, alarm, Tunes that make your ears bleed (in a GOOD way) New tires, 17" Americans, trailer hitch, air bags, on board compressor, MSD 85551, MSD 6AL, New four core radiator, 700R4 with shift kit and lockup converter, vacuum initiated, new brakes. Still needs a headliner, but the backing board is there. I would buy a donor car and rob the power widows out of it, as I bought a really nice power window interior that is blue and goes with. I've got well over 20K cash and countless hours into this very nice, compliant driver. I'm going to be asking 15K...okay OR a really special 2WD suburban in the 70-72 range. Or maybe cash and trade. Do you guys think that's out of range for the quality? Be honest. Thanks guys!
Cheers MFR
