78 Malibu project long time coming

[Streetbu]

[Streetbu]

Few other parts showed up later in the day. New center link, engine mounts, and the 36mm sway bar bushings.

[SSLance]

Hmmm... Nothing better than bolting fresh new parts on a clean structure... Good luck with the assembly.

[Streetbu]

Still have more coming too That will be the end of it for this year though, my wallet can't take any more!

[godlemmy]

Thanks for the part#s on the brake hoses.

[mikester]

I dont know if you were planning on doing this but repaint those motor mounts. I put a set on my wagon frame fresh out of the box. They were done in a really nice semi gloss black. Not even 6 months later the paint looked like crap. No primer. Im getting ready to take them off to redo them. Sucks because now the springs and control arms are in and I used grade 10.9 pinch lock nuts.

[Streetbu]

Thanks for the tip!

[Eric Howell]

On my S10s I tacked the nut inside the frame for the motor mounts. Forget if the G bodies are the same.

[Streetbu]

The stainless gas line and return line came in. Worked on getting them installed along with my stainless brake lines. Can't do any more on them until I get the car apart so I can swap the proportioning valve over.

[Streetbu]

Looks like I waited a little too long to order the suspension from ridetech. Fox still hasn't sent them the shocks and at the moment they have no idea when they will. UGHH. I'm stuck waiting at this point until I get them. I can't use the a-arms with any other coil over so I have no choice.

[Streetbu]

I'm still stuck in limbo, waiting on the front coil overs from ridetech. They were supposed to be in on the 25th and shipped, but I guess never came in. Now the new date is 4/1.... We shall see.

[Donutboy97]

can't wait to see the rest of the build!! What part of Central NY you from? I'm From Rochester and there are a bunch of us that get together for shows from Buffalo, Rochester and Binghamton.

[Streetbu]

Just down the road from you in Skaneateles. I actually had to go to Rochester to buy the frame!

[Streetbu]

Happy days are here again! Look what the Fedex man brought today!

[SSLance]

Woo Hoo!!!

[Streetbu]

Any tips on assembly Lance or just follow the instructions?

[SSLance]

Should be pretty basic... There is a trick if you have a longer 10" front spring like I do, but if your front springs are 8" they should slide right in.

It's all pretty basic stuff, if you run into any issues just holler here and I'll see it and help if I can.

[Streetbu]

Well I ran into the first snag. The lower A arms don't fit. I contacted ridetech and they verified they are the correct ones. I have 9.25" between the lower control arm mounts, yet the new arms are 9". Had a friend check a stock a arm and he measure 9.25". ridetech said I may have to slightly bend the mount since the factory rubber bushings squish where as the Delrin won't... Still doesn't seem right though. The width of each mount is correct for the bushings to fit, just the distance apart is off.

[SSLance]

This is a common issue, I had to deal with it much the same. The variances in the G Body frames are all over the place. I used a small jack screw like this to spread the inside rear ear forward a bit and then a couple of slight taps with a hammer to move the back ear forward.



You don't want the arm to be tight in place, you want the arm to move freely up and down once the bolts are snugged up. Adjust the ears to make it so.

[Streetbu]

I'm wondering if I should just cut the whole mount off, bolt the arm into the front and rear mounts, then weld the rear mount back on...