81 Malibu "Uncaged" Performance Therapy project thread

[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by srh3trinity

Are you moving the wheels from the 14 car over? Did you ever decide on which Rushforth wheels you are going with on the Firebird?

I don't think I can move the wheels from the The 14 Car over to the Malibu. The rears are 315's on 11" with 6.75 backspacing and they won't fit the bu without a frame notch and a thick spacers. My welder was stolen with most of my other tools a while back so I can't do a notch.

I haven't decided on a wheel design yet for the Rushforths because there's no big rush. The Baer brakes have to be installed on the Firebird first to make sure I get the backspacing right. I'm going to try to run a 285 18 on a 10" rim on the front so I have to be exact on backspacing or I'll have problems. I don't want to risk ordering wheels without having the brakes installed to see exactly where the wheel will fit in the wheelwell.

[NOT A TA]

As I mentioned earlier one of the prizes from the Performance Therapy contest was a gift pack from REDLINE Synthetic Oil. I recieved a shipment from REDLINE yesterday with engine oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, engine break in additive, water wetter, lead substitute, and rear end gear oil as well as a T-shirt, hat and stickers! So I'm set for fluids for the new engine and also got some things I use in other cars like lead substitute. The product packaging looked really nice so I decided to set a up little display in front of the car and take some pics. Thanks REDLINE! cool.gif

[waynieZ]

Very nice.

[NOT A TA]

Just after my last post my home was burglarized and among the missing items was my computer so needless to say my Malibu project "Uncaged" had to take a backseat temporarily. They got about about $3,000.00 worth of stuff and I don't have regular insurance because of the last burglarly (long story) so it's been difficult getting online and getting camera issues straightened out.

Anyway, I got the engine out to bring over to the machine shop and after taking a closer look at it found it's not a fresh (older) rebuild. So we went straight to plan B! I've had a 350 4 bolt block, crank, rods, and some .040 over forged pistons I've been saying I'd get to sometime (also dragging around the country! LOL) Well now's the time! I donated the complete engine and a couple sets of heads to the machine shop. Can't believe I dragged that engine around the country for years and never looked in the exhaust ports or spark plug holes till now!

So I'm going to work part time at the shop along with the donated parts in exchange for machining and instruction on bulding the engine. I'm pretty psyched actually, because although I've been a car guy my whole life I've never assembled a whole automobile engine!

The top pic below is when I was getting ready to transport the engine and realized it wasn't "fresh". I should have pulled the rags, got my glasses, and looked inside the engine 4-5 years ago! And no, Although it looks like we might, we didn't put it in the trunk! Although, I do admit I did it in the 70's and 80's sometimes! Meanwhile another one of the prizes showed up to brighten the day! So the bottom pic is a huge selection of Hot Wheels products that arrived.

[NOT A TA]

The Hotchkis products have been arriving. Just a few more parts and I'll be ready to start the suspension transformation. Worked on the interior today getting it back together. It's a shame the rollbar deal didn't work out and I had to cut it all out. Now I have solid back seats without a bar, not the safest combo. I'll also have to put something in for seatbelts since there isn't a harness bar anymore. I removed the last couple stubs of the rollbar tubing today and started putting the carpet etc. back in. It's been apart so long I had forgotten about the clips that had broken taking it apart. I'll have to chase down some interior trim clips screws and other fasteners this week. Here's the Hotchkis goodies I've recieved so far.

[70rs]

Very cool John! It has to be nice to have stuff show up instead of disapear huh?

that is a serious Hot Wheels set they sent you!!!

I am happy to see the Malibu get some attention again. And glad to hear about the machine shop deal too. That should work out great!

[BigRatCamaro]

Sweet I built a 78 Bu and put the Hotchkiss stuff in it with a 9" Ford rear and a 383 sbc Turbo 350 took it to the track it ran 11:80's in Denver good luck with your build, and thats a great load of Hot Wheels

[deuce4935]

Now thats what I call getting hooked up!

[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by deuce4935

Now thats what I call getting hooked up!

Oh ya! I would have just kept driving the Malibu with the stock 6 cylinder drivetrain if it wasn't for the contest and the machine shop.

Had to take a couple months off this project to get other non car stuff done, but I'm back on it! Scrounged around the machine shop and put together a set of Manley valves from miscellaneous leftovers. They are 2.02 intakes and 1.60 exhaust and are the correct length. Some new and some used so I cleaned up the used ones and polished the stems. Then "cut" the valves. Since the 1.6's are bigger than stock the heads will be cut later for new seats.

Cutting valves involves grinding the correct angle on the face that contacts the seat and then chamfering the top the stem and cutting the tip flat. For this engine 44.5 degrees is the angle of the face where it contacts the seat. Here's a pic of the machine we use. It's an older machine and we rotate the valve by hand to do the seat angle and the bevel on the tip. In the pic the valve is set for making the bevel on the tip which is done dry. The 44.5 angle on the head is made with the grinding stone on the other side of the machine and is done with lube that flows onto it while grinding. Forgot to get a pic of grinding the angle on the valve heads.

[NOT A TA]

With a set of valves ready now, it's time to check the valve guides. Shop technique for this is to put a valve through a guide and wiggle it to feel how much play there is. Then put a finger over one end of the guide, insert a valve stem till it hits the finger, then pull the valve out quickly to listen for a pop caused by the suction. After checking all of the ones in my heads we decided the valve guides wouldn't need to be replaced but needed a bit of work to tighten them up a bit. This is done with a "sipraler".

A spiraler cuts a groove into the inside of the guide without removing any metal. By deforming the metal it causes the inside diameter of the guide to be reduced and also allows path for lubrication. After the spiraler is run through the guide a ream which is the correct diameter for the valve being used is then run through the guide. Both tools are run down from the top and drop out the bottom so the head needs to be up on stands.

Pic below is a spiraler bit and a drill with a gear deduction so the work can be done at slow bit speeds. No pressure is used just the weight of the tool is enough. A couple drops of cutting lube are used during spiraling.



In the pic below you can see the grooves cut into the inside the valve guides by the spiraler and the ream being used to make the inside of the guide straight and the correct diameter. No more lube needs to be put in before reaming, whatever's left from spiraling can stay and is fine.