Max's Malibu

[Wile E]

Nothing against the aftermarket gauges, they do look cool and problally lots more accurate, I wanted the factory "sleeper" look to the interior so I went this route for now. (I'm thinking of concealing some gauges near the floor shifter)

 

[Max Headroom]

I like the sleeper look, too. Yours looks terrific. I have the compelte factory guage set in my first Malibu. (1978) I don't want to rob from the interior because a buddy and I will eventually put that car on the street with a cage and some serious parts under the hood.
I'm pretty sure my 84 Camino has the guage setup too. The guy I bought it from swapped out the idiot light dash about a year before I bought it from him. The camino also has a 700 R4 and front and back swaybars from a Cutlass (I think) I'll be working on it too with my son. It is going to be his ride. I completely redid all of the suspension front and back when I bought it about 12 years ago. I've only put about 500 miles on it since then so the suspension is still in good shape. The car sits real nice. I blew the motor about two years ago and it's been sitting. This has not done it any good.

Anyway. I will start looking for those dash parts. I want to go that route. I was going to get someone to fab me a faceplate out of sheet aluminum but I think this would look waaay better.

How are they listed by the way?

 

[Wile E]

I think somebody on MalibuRacing was making the gauge panel blanks a while back. Might want to check there.
http://maliburacing.com/

 

[dogsht]

I like the sleeper factory hot rod look myself. That was one thing I liked about my 442 was that it had the factory tach and 120 mph speedo. I hooked the big Cad up to the factory tach and oil pressure sending unit so that all my guages worked. For my 5,200 rpm shift point the 6 grand tach worked perfect. Although with a hot small block you might use all 6 grand of it. Just an idea you might like I have seen pics of a MCSS 115 mph round speedo in place of the 85 and it looked factory stock.

 

[JBreu]

They ebay seller i got them from doesn't have any more listed currently, i just checked, but just do some searches they will show up. I Know ClassicIndustries Sell a complete setup for the Chevy G-Body dash but the price is $1000. I will build mine for around $550 with all the gauges necessary for me comfort. Whatever you choose take your time and do it clean. Don't wanna disturb that beautiful interior

Not a bad idea at all, that looks pretty simple. Did you have to cut the back half if your doghouse or did you buy both the front/rear pieces??? Also, you could always shoot the make a PM and tell him there is some interest here...Only a suggestion is all 8)

 

[lildudefl]

They ebay seller i got them from doesn't have any more listed currently, i just checked, but just do some searches they will show up. I Know ClassicIndustries Sell a complete setup for the Chevy G-Body dash but the price is $1000. I will build mine for around $550 with all the gauges necessary for me comfort. Whatever you choose take your time and do it clean. Don't wanna disturb that beautiful interior

Not a bad idea at all, that looks pretty simple. Did you have to cut the back half if your doghouse or did you buy both the front/rear pieces??? Also, you could always shoot the make a PM and tell him there is some interest here...Only a suggestion is all 8)

It comes with both front and rear pieces. I may try to send a pm to the guy i got them from and see for future reference

 

[Max Headroom]

If you could contact him I would appreciate. I found a place called Classic Dash that makes what looks like the same thing. They offer it like yours (with no holes) or with holes for 6 guages predrilled or with the guages installed. http://www.classicdash.com They seemed a little pricey to me. Maybe not, I have not been in the market for car parts in a very long time.

JBreu,
I looked at the pics of your ride today. Your car is extremely sano. Really nice job. I do have to say though, that it's a good thing you are LE. That license plate would get me stopped on a regular basis where I live.

You know, I get CarCraft and Hot Rod regularly and I am so tired of seeing nothing but cars that people have paid professional shops to build or who have enough money to spend whatever they want on the project. I appreciate the quality and all that but twelve years ago these magazines were about the guys like us who scrimp and save to buy it a piece at a time and who do without other stuff so we can put together our rides. I promise my G means more to me than those $60,000 store boughts mean to the collectors and big money guys.

Anyway, I think you did an excellent job on you ride.

 

[JBreu]

Max Headroom
Thanks for the props on my ride. When I get compliments it makes me want to try and do so much more with regards to my Monte. I , like most others have come to the conclusion that I'll never be done with it...That's ok though, I have the support of my wonderful Wife, Shannon, and the rest of my family.. I still don't think my Monte is where it needs to be..Sooner or later it will be though.....We, Family, enjoy taking local trips in the car and appearances to the local drags as well.....
I will say, that 'Bu you have is a great looking ride and one hell of a foundation and I look forward to more pics/progress updates as well 8)

 

[lildudefl]

If you could contact him I would appreciate. I found a place called Classic Dash that makes what looks like the same thing. They offer it like yours (with no holes) or with holes for 6 guages predrilled or with the guages installed. http://www.classicdash.com They seemed a little pricey to me. Maybe not, I have not been in the market for car parts in a very long time.

JBreu,
I looked at the pics of your ride today. Your car is extremely sano. Really nice job. I do have to say though, that it's a good thing you are LE. That license plate would get me stopped on a regular basis where I live.

You know, I get CarCraft and Hot Rod regularly and I am so tired of seeing nothing but cars that people have paid professional shops to build or who have enough money to spend whatever they want on the project. I appreciate the quality and all that but twelve years ago these magazines were about the guys like us who scrimp and save to buy it a piece at a time and who do without other stuff so we can put together our rides. I promise my G means more to me than those $60,000 store boughts mean to the collectors and big money guys.

Anyway, I think you did an excellent job on you ride.

I meant to say ClassicDash not ClassicIndustries I spent 250 on mine total which i dont think is bad, depends on how much you think its worth. Ive seen people custom fit them in the OG panel but the usually don't come out as great IMO.

 

[Max Headroom]

Re: Max's Malibu - Update 7/22/12

Hey everybody,

Been real busy with work and haven't had any time to post and almost no time to work on the G. Things are loosening up a little now and I thought I would post what I have done to the car. So, here goes.

In April of this year, I bought and installed a B&M Ratchet shifter. Went in easy, looks good (although I can't find a boot I like and the the little console that came with it doesn't fit) and works like a charm. I was surprised it fit where I wanted it because I still have the bench seat, but it does.

Since I bought this car with the intention of building my own motor to put in it, i was not too concerned about how the moter that came in the car ran. On the drive home from picking it up in North Carolina I was pleasantly surprised by how well it did run so I decided that since time was so hard to come by because of work, I would upgrade the motor in the car and drive it till the new one was ready.

What I thought I had was a Q-Jet on a POS aluminum GM intake, stock heads and a smallish cam. It ran good, didn't smoke and could spin the tires with no problem. My plan was to pull the carb, manifold heads and cam and put some of my parts in.

So one sunny Saturday morning, I started working on the car. I pulled the carb and manifold and looked them over. The manifold was a POS that was beat to crap. I'm surprised it didn't have half a dozen vacuum leaks. I know Q-Jets like I know Chinese, so i have no Idea what shape it is in except "Dirty".

The heads were a pleasant surprise. They are World Products S/R Torquers with 2.02 & 1.60 valves. I'm glad I decided to change them out because the guides were just starting to leak oil. Anyway, the heads are in great shape so I plan to put some bronze guides in and clean up the valve seats. I have two more cars to build so I'm sure I'll get a chance to use them.

I got another surprise when I pulled the cam. It was actually a decent Comp Cams with a nice torque grind on it. I was surprised because I have run cams similar to this and they made much better power than this one. I called Comp Cams and asked if they could shed some light on why it didn't run better. The guy asked a few questions about the motor setup and when I answered he told me that if I bumped the compression up over 9.5/1, the cam would come alive. When I pulled the top end down and figured the compression, it was 9.28/1.

So now its time to put the motor back together. The heads I was going back with had 64 cc chambers and came off a 66 Chevelle that ran in the high 10s. They have been fully ported, smoothed and gaske matched. I went back in the with cam that came out, a Performer RPM manifold, a 600 Holley, an all new high voltage distributor and a new high volume fuel pump. I used a .015 non compression head gasket to bump the compression to 9.81/1.

Anyway, I put the motor together and the difference is amazing. With the torque cam and small carb it is major quick off the line and pulls like a team of mules on HEAVY drugs.

I have a couple of more comments but am tired. I'll post some more tomorrow. Later.