81 Malibu "Uncaged" Performance Therapy project thread

[NOT A TA]

Several months ago I won a contest I learned about here on Lat-G called, "The Performance Therapy Online Photo Contest" http://www.performancetherapycontest.com/ organized by John Hotchkis. The winning photograph of me in my Firebird was taken by my bud John Hendrick at the famous Sebring Road Race track. As the Grand prize winner of the contest I am recieving products from Hotchkis Sport Suspension, Baer Brakes, Flowmaster, MSD, Rushforth Wheels, Yokohama tires, Lifeline Fire Systems, Redline synthetic oils, and Hot Wheels.

Since my Firebird already has a Hotchkis suspension, MSD ignition, and sidepipes (which I like) I'm going to use some of the prizes to give my Malibu some much needed Performance Therapy. During the 15 years or so since I paid a whopping $300.00 for the bu I've used it on and off as a DD and slowly fixed it up a little at a time until about 5 years ago when I decided to repaint it again. It hasn't been driven much since then mostly due to an idiot keeping it for a couple years when he was supposed to install a Jegs rollbar which some of you may have read about on one of the forums or can read about here. http://www.maliburacing.com/forum/vi...hp?f=2&t=90869 And after that I moved far away which was a huge nightmare and at one point I was so fed up I didn't even look at the bu for a whole year.

With 70,000 miles on the car currently, it still has the original unmolested 229 V6 auto combo and all stock suspension except for a rear swaybar I got off of a parts car. So this is going to be an awesome upgrade I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. I've just about finished reassembling the exterior of the car and just need to put a new Landau vinyl top (I like them) back on.

The Plan:
I've got a '70 350 4 bolt engine from a C-20 that was rebuilt by my brother almost 30 years ago but never fired. According to the note on the engine it was magnafluxed and decked, bored .030, has a 3 angle valve job, double roller timing chain, ported head, and a ported intake refered to as an "inverted high rise" which I never heard of. That is all I know (or will know) about it.

I'll be installing that engine with the stock trans and rear by using the MSD prize to set up the ignition, the Flowmaster prize for the exhaust (the new stainless system coming out in a couple weeks), and the Hotchkis prize will cover the suspension and steering. Should turn out pretty cool!

Ideally I'd pull the engine apart and give it the once over with new assembly lube etc. before installing but thats not going to happen. This has to be done on an extremely limited budget and pretty quickly. I've got a few carbs hanging around and I'm hoping I can make one of them work. As it is I think I'll need to upgrade the radiator? and find a V8 fan shroud plus probably a few other odds and ends along the way. This is a grassroots type effort, no media blasting, powder coating or any other costly unnecessary expenses can be done at this time. If a hose or belt can be reused it will be. Anything that comes off that can be sold to help offset expenses will be. The engine compartment will get the infamous "Krylon Touch" to give it a neat clean appearance.

I started recieving the Hotchkis products so I figured I'd start this thread and let everyone follow along and I'll update while I progress. Here's the list of Hotchkis stuff I'll be using. And yes, I know I need to switch spindles to use the kit.

TVS kit with Extreme swaybars
Steering rebuild kit
Ball joint kit
Tubular upper A arms
Bilstein shocks
Air bag kit

Here's a few pics of the car. The dormant mouse that will be installed can be seen on an engine stand in the corner in the 1st pic.

[NOT A TA]

After coming up with a plan to awaken the dormant mouse thats been sitting on an engine stand for almost 30 years I discussed it with my buds Stewart and Dan at "The Machine Shop" in Delray Beach near my house. They thought I was crazy and that I should just bring the engine over to the shop and tear it apart, clean out all the gummed up prelube, check over everything in the engine, then lube everything up again. I know it's the right thing to do but I can't spend anything on it. They assured me that they had extra gaskets etc. kicking around I could use to put it back together if I needed any. That was a very nice offer on their part knowing I have no money to spend. (I'll help them out with stuff at the shop so I don't feel like a user.) So I guess thats the route I'll take. It'll be a little more work that takes time and effort but it will reduce the chances of me harming the engine on start up or having to yank the engine back out. I'll get the engine over to the shop this week and maybe have time to take it apart.

One of the prizes from the Performance Therapy contest was a selection of Redline fluids. So I'd asked for assembly lube along with the rest of the fluids I'll need for this car. Hopefully the Redline products will show up this week.

[ElkyZO6]

Man that really sucks about the roll bar. I'm really excited about this build post lots of pics.

[70rs]

Hey John!
Sounds like a great plan for the 'bu. I am glad you started a thread on this. I think a lot of guys doing tight budget builds can learn from what you are doing with this car.

[NOT A TA]

Thanks Eric! It'll be fun to see what can be done with a very small budget and how much it improves the car overall. First tip for people on tight budgets. ENTER CONTESTS! You never know, you might actually win something! LOL

Here's a familiar sight in many garages. An old school engine put together for a project that was abandoned sits in a corner. This one had been assembled at roughly the same time the Malibu was sold as new!!! Luckily for this engine it may get a chance to breathe again (pending inspection). Today I got things out of the way to make room in the garage to do the swap, took a few pics, and dug out the engine hoist.

[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?

[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.