Joined a few months ago, light poster, ALWAYS messin with something, can't leave well enough alone. Picked up an 83 Malibu Wagon, kinda rough, but not horrible in my eyes. I'm not much of a painter, but do very well with transplants, upgrades, EFI stuff and so forth. Well, cruising craigslist I spied a nice looking 82 wagon. Kinda junky 3.8 T-350 combo. Right paint, right year, so we swung the deal for $3400 And the thrash begins- just after picking it up- Made it home. Leaked oil like crazy, trans slipped bad. Wife not happy. Taking the Posi and bags out of the '83 and swapping to the '82 Snagging the good dash and tilt, etc... Out with the 3.8 ....and prepping it for an HO 454 crate motor with a 700R-4. This is a much better looking car and will be an awesome tow rig
Pretty damn nice donor you got there ... and least you didnt gut the C-6 for the LS motor! LOL ... seriously, looks like a fun project ... yee-haw!
OK, I got sidetracked on a sweet '72 Camaro, that had consistent power degradation. This car is absolutely stunning. Had it on the Dyno, made 563Lbft 416" N2o, Small Block. I pulled my hair out for two days trying to figure out what was wrong. Has all MSD components, I thought the 6AL was going out, but we noticed a little corrosion at the 85551 distributor base. Pulled the cap. and the whole insides were junk. The carbon tip and spring were gone, evidence of tracking, lots of moisture. Replaced the cap/rotor and the car runs hard again. Lesson here is that no matter if the whole car is new and has under 500 miles on it, ALWAYS do step by step diagnostics. I walked right by that cap, cuz it was new. The detailers pressure washed the car, got water in the distributor, it sat...and sat...and sat, just corroding away. Plus the car sits in an unheated garage and that doesn't help matters at all. Made me look pretty stupid. Oh well, we live and learn, now off to the local wreckin yard for some V8 G-body stands to get this wagon rollin!! The Camaro that beat my ass....
The Rat resides! Dropped it in this morning, next is the 700R4. It looks close to the seam weld on the drivers side, but I'll squeeze it in. The plan is to keep the A/C. The previous somebody cut the evaporator off at the connection. Why not just unscrew it? If your car's air isn't functioning all that well, it might be years worth of debris. I'm glad I pulled the condensor now. And I can pull a vacuum servo test now to verify operation. The top comes off the evaporator/Heater core case easily.
Trans is in. 700R4 out of a 92 V-8 chev full size van. Went in suprisingly easy, no hammering stuff, or grabbing the sawzall. I'll have to do a mod to the crossmember, or fab a replacement altogether, for dual exhaust and the longer trans. Here's where we are now. Everything is all just mock up and is filthy, plus the mercury marine valve covers are disgusting, but, I'm not about to scratch up the good ones in just a fit up. Now, it's time for a mojor clean up and detail....
