75 Malibu family car budget build

What a nice looking car. Like me you apparently are not afraid to tackle any repair job.

The front bearings probably couldn't stand up to the refreshed steering system.

Just think, if you put $5,000 a year in that thing it still would be less than a new car.

 

Thank you, sir. That is exactly my thinking. I needed a car that would fit the whole family but really didn't like what was available so I decided to spend the same amount of money on fixing up this one. Since I'm doing most of the work myself I figure it should run around $15,000 total.

Kevin, I like that. "Barn find with only 44 miles on it!"

 

Here are a few photos I shot during the trip.

We wound up buying a little too much so we had to use the luggage rack on the way home. That's what they are there for. We usually don't pack very heavy and my wife is fantastic about keeping things light. She has good experience when we were regularly driving the Corvette. We could go for a two week trip and easily fit our luggage.

 

Sweet pictures, and one awesome Malibu!!

 

keep up the good work burners, you and your daughter can crew on my ride any time

 

So it's been a little while since I've updated anything here. I've been working and making some headway. It's still going to take me a few days to post most of it but here is some of it. The windows needed some serious attention. The tinting is about 15 years old and have faded significantly. It has also been scratched pretty badly from worn window felt. So I'm re-tinting the windows and polishing the glass. New window felt is going on as well. Here's what things were looking like.



The back window tint was scuffed which made it difficult to see out of.


The side windows were even worse. It was like driving in permanent fog.


The outside of the glass didn't look much better. It really makes the car look beat up.


You can see how worn the felt guides are. I bought some replacements from OPG but discovered a much cheaper solution. I'll up date further tomorrow, hopefully.

 

One of my favorite bodystyled wagons of all time.

 

So, I never completed my updates from a few months ago and I haven't been around the forum much. Sorry about that. I've been pretty busy on all fronts but the car has been somewhat neglected in the project sense but it is serving well otherwise. It's hauling the family around pretty good. I had some issues with the battery so it was time to replace it. After a TON of research I came to the conclusion that Odyssey batteries were the best and most reliable. I can't believe I paid so much for a battery. I started out thinking the $100 to $150 Optimas were a rip off but in the end paid $248 (w/tax of $28). I got it as a Sears Diehard Platinum. It's the only part of the Diehard line that Odyssey builds and they are $30 to $50 cheaper than direct from Odyssey. Sears is also more accessible to buy and to exchange if needed.

So there is my new investment but I think it's a good one. Considering that a typical $30 battery is now selling for about $80 and the quality is worse than a few years ago. I'd expect a cheapy to last 3 years at most. This battery has a 4 year free replacement and 100 month pro-rated warranty so that gives me confidence in its quality. There were also a lot of good reviews on Odysseys and quite a few negative reviews on Optimas.

I also spruced up the engine bay a little. As you can see in the battery photo the paint was pretty beat up. So I sanded and shot a quick coat of satin black. It looks much better even without cleaning the rest of the engine.


In other news I've discovered some valve train problems that look to be the cylinder heads. The valve guides were leaking oil and giving the typical white smoke start up.

I went to change the seals for a stop gap fix and discovered two exhaust valves that appear to be sinking in their seats. They are supposed to be hardened seats but to be honest I don't know the exact mileage on these heads. It's at least 80,000 and probably well over 100,000. So it's time to replace them. After a lot more research I settled on the Brodix IK 180 street heads. They are a good value for all the features they include and they flow quite well. A nice set of modern aluminum heads should wake things up!

Here are the specs on the heads:
These Brodix Cylinder Heads IK 180 cylinder heads for small block Chevys will give you big-time performance. Made from revolutionary lightweight castings, these virgin aluminum, fully assembled cylinder heads offer the following features:

* 180cc intake ports and 64cc or 70cc combustion chambers
* Phosphorous bronze valve guides
* Valve seats for use with unleaded gas
* End-milled and drilled for accessories
* 2.02 in./1.60 in. stainless steel valves
* Valve springs
* Valve stem seals
* 5/16 in. guideplates
* Rocker arm studs
* Retainers
* Locks

And the flow numbers

..............Valve Size 0.200.. 0.300... 0.400... 0.500... 0.600
IK 180.... 2.020 Int ....138.. . 188 ... 234 ..... 243...... 245
..............1.600 Exh ...112.... 149.... 167...... 175...... 178


Overall I still need to complete my update on the windows and I've worked on the suspension, too. There is much left to do. I'm planning a junk yard trip next week. Hopefully I'll find a few good things.

 

Keep up the good work on that cool Bu, burns! I like how you are systematically fixing everything!

 

I am curious to see your solution for the worn window guides.
It looks like you are making great progress.

 

Thanks, Silverfox. I'm really looking forward to some customizing as well.

So I've purchased a few more parts this past week...
These arrived on Friday. They will match the new carpet I have but make the interior a little better looking for the time being. They are ACC Essex floor mats and RockAuto has a killer price on them. Essentially half of what everyone else wanted. So they were about $100 for the complete set. The loop carpet is even less money.


And what was delivered today.




I have to say that I'm impressed with what I see. They are CNC bowl blended and port matched. They look really good and they are made in the USA.

 

This has nothing to do with my project but I found it online and wanted to share. What a great car and photo. I'm stalled out at the moment due to visiting family. I did some baseline performance testing to see where the engine stands before I swap the heads. It isn't pretty (and I knew it by its performance). I'll get a graph up but it's basically putting out around 200 HP at the flywheel. Pretty pathetic but I'm expecting big things from these heads. I'll update as I can.

 

I have an update that is a bit out of order. We just got back from the Hot Rod Power Tour with the wagon and the entire family (plus my nephew). It was great fun and not too cramped with seven people in the car. If not the fastest on the tour at least she ran reliably. I had no issues the whole time.

My big task to complete before the tour was adding some pizzazz to the old, beat up paint. It's also the first visual test to see how my idea will look on the car. I've been formulating paint ideas for some time but I'm not sure what I'm going to go with. I've been wanting scallops so I decided to try that first. Other ideas include various two-tone combinations. So here's what I did with about $30 worth of materials.


Laying out the scallops and masking with 1/4" vinyl masking tape. That tape wasn't cheap but it was worth it. The lines were so clean and it was very easy to make straight lines and smooth curves.

I've never done anything like this before so I was very concerned about how it would turn out.


I used krylon satin in a spray can. It took four cans of paint.


The finished product out on the Tour.



I didn't finish until mid-night on the day we were leaving for the Tour but it was well worth it. It looked like a proper hot rod and I think it turned out pretty nice. I'll share some photos from the Tour in another thread. There were a lot of nice wagons there.

 

Looks like a lot of views but no comments. I guess no one likes my scallops. Oh well, I do. It's been a busy couple of months. I've taken the family on a few more road trips and racked up quite a few miles. Two weeks ago we hit something metal on the freeway and it punctured a rear tire beyond repair. So the pair needed to be replaced. What to do with the other one? Properly dispose of it, of course.


I know I promised to add some info about window rub strips. I'll get to that soon. Cheers for now.

 

I like the scallops! Makes it look even faster and cooler! Nice work!