Found the forum on a 'google' search where the the answer I was looking for led me here.
I have two G's. One 1981 Malibu, & a 1984 GP. Both are 2 doors. The '81 was my 1st car & I've had it over 20 years. The '84 was a freebie from my girlfriend. The '81 is past it's prime & needs some help, but it was famous back in the day. It has a ZZ4/FastBurn/HOTcam, built 700r, & a GN 8.5/3.73 posi. Full Hotchkis suspension with GN steering box. It went 12.9's/102 with a 3.42/open a few years ago.
The early build '84 has 111K and was the last new car purchased by a man who died in 1985. His widow drove it until she passed away in 2001 or so. The car sat exposed for long periods of time, but suffered from incompetent, dismissive overpriced mechanics & the lack of care during it's use by a 19 year old girl. I rescued the car last year & restored the emission system's proper function & air conditioning, as well as good tires. The car is leak free, has no check engine light, & consumes minimal oil. It runs about as well as a 1984 era low compression 3.8 can. Quality secondary ignition components cured the misfires & a new o2 sensor, correctly routed vaccum lines, and a correctly connected choke fixed driveability. I fixed the oil leaks by replacing what were probably orginal intake & valve cover gaskets. It's an eye opener to see how they did things in the early era of OBD. The biggest head scratcher was the EFE gasket. The first instinct is ditch it, but I am of the belief that these early systems require an 'all or nothing' approach. Either they all need to be present & functioning in order to ensure mileage/emissions/driveabiltiy, or the car has to be 'back dated' & everything removed & replaced with non computer controlled parts in order to fuction correctly. Therefore, I installed a new EFE instead of knocking the screens out. I figure they are there for a reason.
Bottom line, even as a low option, weathered 27 year old car, the car brings me satisfaction in ways a new car never could.I saved a car that everyone else had written off as being a great candidate for 'cash for clunkers'.
I look forward to contributing to the site from my Gbody experience & learning from others.
I have two G's. One 1981 Malibu, & a 1984 GP. Both are 2 doors. The '81 was my 1st car & I've had it over 20 years. The '84 was a freebie from my girlfriend. The '81 is past it's prime & needs some help, but it was famous back in the day. It has a ZZ4/FastBurn/HOTcam, built 700r, & a GN 8.5/3.73 posi. Full Hotchkis suspension with GN steering box. It went 12.9's/102 with a 3.42/open a few years ago.
The early build '84 has 111K and was the last new car purchased by a man who died in 1985. His widow drove it until she passed away in 2001 or so. The car sat exposed for long periods of time, but suffered from incompetent, dismissive overpriced mechanics & the lack of care during it's use by a 19 year old girl. I rescued the car last year & restored the emission system's proper function & air conditioning, as well as good tires. The car is leak free, has no check engine light, & consumes minimal oil. It runs about as well as a 1984 era low compression 3.8 can. Quality secondary ignition components cured the misfires & a new o2 sensor, correctly routed vaccum lines, and a correctly connected choke fixed driveability. I fixed the oil leaks by replacing what were probably orginal intake & valve cover gaskets. It's an eye opener to see how they did things in the early era of OBD. The biggest head scratcher was the EFE gasket. The first instinct is ditch it, but I am of the belief that these early systems require an 'all or nothing' approach. Either they all need to be present & functioning in order to ensure mileage/emissions/driveabiltiy, or the car has to be 'back dated' & everything removed & replaced with non computer controlled parts in order to fuction correctly. Therefore, I installed a new EFE instead of knocking the screens out. I figure they are there for a reason.
Bottom line, even as a low option, weathered 27 year old car, the car brings me satisfaction in ways a new car never could.I saved a car that everyone else had written off as being a great candidate for 'cash for clunkers'.
I look forward to contributing to the site from my Gbody experience & learning from others.
