Max's Malibu
- Thread starter Max Headroom
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ballsy driving a car like that back home with no sticker :lol: not that i havent done that kind of thing before 
looks very clean!! I'd throw a cowl hood on it and call it a day!
looks very clean!! I'd throw a cowl hood on it and call it a day!
thats one nice malibu! welco to the GHOOD... u can use photobucket to upload photos and copy nd paste the img link on here
I appreciate all of the great feedback and comments. In response to the questions asked:
When I first got on the highway I drove slower than traffic in the slow lane, about 55 - 60 mph. With the gears in the car the sweep speedo pegs out at about 55 actual mph and the car had no tach. Anyway, the car ran reel well and the water temp never got over 190*, so I slowly started driving a little faster. By the time I reached South Carolina I was driving in the fast lane with the big kids. The it felt like the motor was tachin around 3,200 rpm. Drove it like that the rest of the way home.
Not knowing if the gas guage was correct, I put gas in every time the guage read 1/2 tank. I got around 14.5 mpg fir the whole trip.
The car has been lowered 2" in the front and 1 1/2" in back. It has shorter springs and shocks in front and cut coils in the back. I spent about 17 hours in the car on the way home and never was uncomfortable. It rides like a luxury car on the highway. I would actually prefer it be a stiffer ride and will make changes to the suspension down the road a litlle.
Had a new camero pull up next ot me and invite me to stretch it out a little. Being a very polite person, I couldn't refuse. We were rolling at about 55 mph and when he dropped his hand I nailed it in drive. I don't know what drive train package he had or what the car weighed but when I took my foot out of it he was completely in my back mirror. I had to get out of the motor because my car didn't have the front tires you see in the pics, it had 185 70 15s on a 4" rim. I am not only polite but can, at times, also be a relatively bold fellow so running over 100 mph on those tires didn't seem lika an especially bad idea. However, I wasn't going to do it all day. Besides, with no A/C, the windows were open and candy wrappers and fast food bags were flying around the inside of the car.
As I said last night, I have msot of the dashboard on the floor of the car. I have a couple of bulbs out and was investigating what it will take to go to aftermarket guages. I will put the dash back in today, clean the inside of the car and shoot some interior pics. I'll post later this afternoon.
One of the problems I am having is finding some place to buy Malibu specific parts like taillight lenses, window gaskets, etc. Is there such a place, or places??
Once agian, thanks for all of the positive feedback.
When I first got on the highway I drove slower than traffic in the slow lane, about 55 - 60 mph. With the gears in the car the sweep speedo pegs out at about 55 actual mph and the car had no tach. Anyway, the car ran reel well and the water temp never got over 190*, so I slowly started driving a little faster. By the time I reached South Carolina I was driving in the fast lane with the big kids. The it felt like the motor was tachin around 3,200 rpm. Drove it like that the rest of the way home.
Not knowing if the gas guage was correct, I put gas in every time the guage read 1/2 tank. I got around 14.5 mpg fir the whole trip.
The car has been lowered 2" in the front and 1 1/2" in back. It has shorter springs and shocks in front and cut coils in the back. I spent about 17 hours in the car on the way home and never was uncomfortable. It rides like a luxury car on the highway. I would actually prefer it be a stiffer ride and will make changes to the suspension down the road a litlle.
Had a new camero pull up next ot me and invite me to stretch it out a little. Being a very polite person, I couldn't refuse. We were rolling at about 55 mph and when he dropped his hand I nailed it in drive. I don't know what drive train package he had or what the car weighed but when I took my foot out of it he was completely in my back mirror. I had to get out of the motor because my car didn't have the front tires you see in the pics, it had 185 70 15s on a 4" rim. I am not only polite but can, at times, also be a relatively bold fellow so running over 100 mph on those tires didn't seem lika an especially bad idea. However, I wasn't going to do it all day. Besides, with no A/C, the windows were open and candy wrappers and fast food bags were flying around the inside of the car.
As I said last night, I have msot of the dashboard on the floor of the car. I have a couple of bulbs out and was investigating what it will take to go to aftermarket guages. I will put the dash back in today, clean the inside of the car and shoot some interior pics. I'll post later this afternoon.
One of the problems I am having is finding some place to buy Malibu specific parts like taillight lenses, window gaskets, etc. Is there such a place, or places??
Once agian, thanks for all of the positive feedback.
Good story. If it had 28" tall tires in the back like you now have accounting for just a smidge of converter slip you would have been taching 3,500 to go 70 mph to stay up with traffic. 14.5 mpg is very good considering the gear and trans. With a 200-4R and a lock up converter you would have gotten 19 or 20 mpg. The tires wheels and stance that she has now looks just right. 8) Yea let us know what she runs. Oh yea what kind of cam specs does she have?
The Malibu is kind of the stepchild of the Gbody cars from Chevrolet in terms of aftermarket i mean. In the recent years it has grown a little more popular so more and more Malibu specific parts are showing up. If anything you looking for is transferable from the other sister chevy Gbody cars, id start there first, but there are many sites out with parts.Max Headroom said:
OPGI
HonestCharley
MikesMontes
Can't remember the rest of the top of my head
Thanks for the response on getting parts. I'll start looking into other g body models.
As for the trip home, what you said sounds about right. I plan on swapping in a 200 4r in the next couple of months. I found a sight where i can get a moderately beefed up 200 with converter for about $1,150 before shipping, with no core charge. It's probably not going to be enough trans for my final engine but will do for now.
The engine in the car now is an 86 single piece rear main seal 350 from and 86 pick up truck. The heads are World Products steel castings. I'm not sure what size valves but they seem to breathe well at top end. I'm guessing 2.02 and 1.6 valves. The cam is a roller and is either stock or pretty close. The car has shorty headers (1 5/8" tubes - 4" collector) mandrel bent 2 1/2" exhaust, flowmasters (don't know what series) and no cats.
I pulled the trans into low in a parking lot and nailed it. The car smoked the tires till i got out of it. It runs ok for now. I will put a new cam in and change to a 750 with a performer rpm.
I have a 383 I started building about 6 years ago for a 76 camino I had. I let my mom drive the camino one day while her car was in the shop and some fool ran a stop sign and t-boned the camino.
Anyway, the stroker was going to be relatively bad *ss. I have the bottom end together and all the parts to finish. I will have to change the cam to a roller and back off a little on the specs. The Camino was not going to be a daily driver, the Malibu is.
I'm going to do posts on the interior and under the hood in the next few days.
As for the trip home, what you said sounds about right. I plan on swapping in a 200 4r in the next couple of months. I found a sight where i can get a moderately beefed up 200 with converter for about $1,150 before shipping, with no core charge. It's probably not going to be enough trans for my final engine but will do for now.
The engine in the car now is an 86 single piece rear main seal 350 from and 86 pick up truck. The heads are World Products steel castings. I'm not sure what size valves but they seem to breathe well at top end. I'm guessing 2.02 and 1.6 valves. The cam is a roller and is either stock or pretty close. The car has shorty headers (1 5/8" tubes - 4" collector) mandrel bent 2 1/2" exhaust, flowmasters (don't know what series) and no cats.
I pulled the trans into low in a parking lot and nailed it. The car smoked the tires till i got out of it. It runs ok for now. I will put a new cam in and change to a 750 with a performer rpm.
I have a 383 I started building about 6 years ago for a 76 camino I had. I let my mom drive the camino one day while her car was in the shop and some fool ran a stop sign and t-boned the camino.
Anyway, the stroker was going to be relatively bad *ss. I have the bottom end together and all the parts to finish. I will have to change the cam to a roller and back off a little on the specs. The Camino was not going to be a daily driver, the Malibu is.
I'm going to do posts on the interior and under the hood in the next few days.
fwiw I have had real good luck with www.extremeautomatics.com. Lonnie has been at the forefront of 200-4R with high performance parts development since the beginning. If he can price he may match the price only with a better build.
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