1979 Chevy Malibu 454/T56 - picked up an unfinished project

[G_skillz81]

Greetings from mother-Russia comrades

Some of you may have noticed my mini-thread in the "new-guy" section about my 68 Camaro pro-touring project - https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...ring-in-Russia



Anyhow, that's in the shop right now to finally get all my new parts installed (speedtech subframe, ridetech airbag kit and 4-link, narrowed Moser m9, etc).



When I was discussing stuff several days ago with the owner of the shop, somehow we got to talking about a 79 Malibu with a 454 bigblock and t56 manual one of his clients did some years back. I always had a soft spot for box-chevy's so I got pretty excited when he told me that the owner put the project on hold and may be willing to sell the car to someone who will finish it...plus a big-block in a G-body just sounds like a great recipie for a sleeper.

the next day I called up the owner and we met up to look at the car and talk about the deal.... the car had been pretty much parked outside for 3-4 years at that point. the 454 turned out to be a late-model EFI truck engine mated to a CTS-V t56 (yes a telescoping driveshaft had to be fabbed up). he installed a nascar 3 disc clutch assembly, which seriously hindered daily driving qualities and was one of the reasons he abandoned the project.

we ended up talking for several hours and agreed on a price...I picked up the car on Sunday and had it towed to the shop (it did start when we dropped a battery in and made it's way to the car-wash)..... there is some rust/oxidation on the trim and bumpers and the paint job/prep work was obviously less than stellar, so I will likely have to strip it down and repaint at some point

here are some older pics from the previous owner







I must say that it looks much better in these pics or from about 15ft away than close up, but at least the body is straight and we're not missing anything (other than sideview mirrors and a trunklock LOL)



I haven't really decided which way I want to go with this yet.....maybe a tamelooking sleeper/cruiser....or maybe a blacked-out street-fighter....but in any case, I want to keep it somewhat low-buck...at least initially

the Malibu currently sits on 17x8's pictured with 255's in the back and 225's upfront. ( I'm gonna see if my slightly larger boyd 17's with 275's fit in the rear)
the dif is a one-legger with a 3.08 (the owner is giving me a locker with 3.73's ...needs to be installed)
I'm gonna also try to see if the Global West tubular A-arms that I took off my Camaro will fit
my guy at the shop has some lated model 12" disks and spindles




this all brings me to my first of many questions - what about the rear control arms? seems like there are tons of options....I'm really liking the Metco billet aluminium lowers, but haven't seen any feedback on them...they should be lighter/stronger vs steel, right?

Also, are there any dedicated resources/forums/threads to G-body mods? I'm having a hardtime finding anything recent on them, mist of the forum discussions are archived with dead-links and pics. I've went though 70or so pages of the projects section and found maybe 3-4 malibus...I honestly though they'd be more popular


So, there it is...I'm probably not thinking too straight right now, but I will make up for that with more info tomorrow when I get to the shop and we go though the suspension and brakes and change fluids

Cheers,
Greg

[JAWSS]

Very cool Malibu!! That's crazy seeing the really old Texas plates on it. There are plenty on gbody specific build on here as well as www.maliburacing.com www.montecarloss.com and www.gbodyforum.com .

The beauty of this platform is parts interchangeability. A buick grand national or olds 442 8.5 rear axle would be nice but chances of finding one and or shipping it to Russia are slim to none. Any mod that's done to a Monte Carlo SS, buick grand national, olds 442, or even pontiac Grand Prix from 78-88 roughly can be done to a Malibu as far as chassis and suspension.

Heres a thread going right now.

https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...Let-s-see-them

And one of my favorite G body Malibus

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/fe...vrolet_malibu/

J

[Tig]

Awesome car with a decent drivetrain. Swap that clutch out for a more driver friendly one and you'll be good to go.

I vote for a tame looking sleeper/cruiser

Metco makes some good quality products, Hotchkis is another great place to look.

Go spend some time of at maliburacing and you'll see how popular they are ;)


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