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    1. #1
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States

      Derek Kiefer's 69 Malibu build

      (I will post a small batch of pictures here daily until I get to present-day)

      In the spring of 1998, I bought my '69 Malibu for $500, running driving unmolested car, but quite rusty. 250hp 2bbl 350/TH350 car with A/C, 2.56 open 10-bolt, Lemans Blue with excellent condition black cloth bench interior.



      I was 15 years old at the time.
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    2. #2
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      Fall of 1998, Dad had waited a few months after I bought the Chevelle to transfer the title so he would get 30 days of free insurance at the same time I got my driver's license. I had a farm-permit, which turned into a full license on my birthday, so at 11:59pm I headed out, knowing I would have a license by the time I would get to the highway, taking the Chevelle for a short drive.

      The next day, I found some blue enamel that matched, brush-painted over all the rust, and sprayed black over all the lower body argent silver which hid the rust well. I had bought some 15x7 ralleys, and got the used tires off my parents' Caprice. The car looked great from 50' away. Unfortunately, I never took any pictures of the car at that stage... It only lasted 30 days on the road like that.

      That winter we started the body work at Dad's body shop. This was planned to be a quick job over one winter, but the project stalled out for a little while after the metal work stage was done.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      Like most of our car projects, what was planned to be 6 months for paint stalled out for a while and turned into 2-1/2 years. We took the car apart when I was 16, but I really wanted to have it done before I graduated high school.
      Spring of 2001 we got serious about getting paint on it and freeing up the space it had been occupying in Dad's body shop. Huge thanks to Dad, the paint turned out awesome, and still looks great 20+ years later.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      After paint, I assembled the Chevelle in May of 2001. The picture on the trailer was when we hauled it to a shop for exhaust and alignment. I was finally able to drive it to school the last 3 days of my Senior year.

      With the completely stock drivetrain it was a very nice comfortable driving car. I drove it daily like that during the summer for two years, putting 9,000 miles on it in 2001, and 8,000 in 2002.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      Fall of 2002 I thought this car was "done". It ran great, drove great, and I could see no reason to change it. Being completely satisfied and done with this car, I just knew I would have all sorts of free time, so I started looking for another project car to build.

      I bought a '66 El Camino in late September.

      One week later, my Chevelle was rear-ended at a stop light.

      One week after that, I met my wife Jenna.

      A week later, I took her on our first date in this car. She thought I was a dork, but liked the car enough to agree to a 2nd date.

      Two weeks after that, the original 350 blew a head gasket or cracked a head (still haven't taken it apart to diagnose) on the way to meet her parents the first time.

      So much for the free time and plans not to mess with it.

      I bought a used, completely stock '77 400sbc with 200,000 miles on it, and cleaned and painted everything under the hood, and added some chrome. I had the TH350 rebuilt with a shift kit and a used 2400rpm B&M converter, and found a 3.08 posi rear out of a '66 4-4-2.

      It was back on the road by July 2003, but the new quarter panel was in primer that whole summer. We repainted the back of the car some time during the winter of 03/04.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      In 2004 the Chevelle was fixed from the crash, and back to being a great cruiser. I changed wheels again (3rd time) to some 15" Torq-Thrust IIs that I bought used. It wasn't fast, but it made noise and did some decent burnouts.

      I was getting bored with it, and thinking about selling it.

      That fall, Tony Hoffer talked me into going drag racing at Rock Falls, WI. I was reluctant, but he reassured me that the car didn't need to be fast to have fun, and I was really no more likely to break things there than I was doing the dumb things on the street that I was doing all the time anyway.

      The car ran very consistent, with a best of 15.045 @ 89.9mph. With some beginner's luck, I went multiple rounds, but red-lighted in the final, taking home a 2nd place trophy that was way more satisfying than any car-show trophy I had ever received previously.

      The hook was set. Racing restored the fun, and I started planning how to make the car faster.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Sep 2013
      Location
      sw Kansas
      Posts
      1,639
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice start.

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      In 2005, I went drag racing a few more times, and the old tired 400sbc was getting slower each time. I was getting interested in "Pro Touring" type car builds, and wanted a more modern drivetrain. LS1/T56 was the dream, but they were still prohibitively expensive at the time. I bought a wrecked 9C1 Caprice and salvaged the LT1 and 4L60e.

      The original frame had a lot of rust, so I bought a better one, boxed it, and started building my first suspension setup with handling in mind, using mostly dirt-track parts and tall balljoints with stock spindles. I started building the new setup while still driving the car.

      In the fall, I took the car apart and got to work on the frame swap. I was young, energetic, and didn't have kids yet, so things actually moved forward at a pretty good pace. I had a deadline though, Jenna and I were getting married in May and I wanted to drive it to and from the church on our wedding day.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Sep 2010
      Location
      corona,ca.
      Posts
      1,078
      Country Flag: United States
      Keep the pictures coming derek.
      72 chevelle.

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      May of 2006, I don't know what motivated me more, the idea of having the car done for our wedding, or my brother Chad telling me that I would never make it.

      This first picture is around noon on the day before the wedding. Wiring was pretty much done except power to the fans. I worked on plumbing the fuel system, and Dad, Chad, Carl, and Joe worked on fitting sheet metal, hanging bumpers, and putting the interior back in it. I still hadn't heard it run yet. It was still up on stands when we went to rehearsal. After the rehearsal dinner, I made some coffee and got back to work. Between the caffeine, nerves, excitement, and stress, I was throwing up outside the door of the shop shortly before I test fired it. About 1am, I heard it run for the first time.

      The morning of the wedding, we hung exhaust, did a quick string-line alignment and hit the road with only about 30 seconds of run-time on it... About half way to the church, the temp gauge spiked. When I painted the engine I removed the temp sensor from the head and installed a temporary plastic plug just to keep the threads from getting paint on them. When I put the new sender in, I used a different port and forgot about the plastic one, so it dumped the coolant when it warmed up. We towed it to the church the rest of the way behind Joe's Firebird.

      My groomsmen fixed the car while I was in for pictures, (and then took a nap on the floor of the church) and another friend took the car to his house and washed it. He reported that the temp gauge still read pretty high, so a temporary fix was made to make the fans run... Jumper leads alligator clipped to the battery.
      When we were leaving the church after the wedding, the temporary fan wiring lasted about 10 seconds before it caught fire. That was ripped off, no damage done, and away we went to our reception and all 80s hard-rock wedding dance with my awesome wife Jenna.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Apr 2001
      Location
      The City of Fountains
      Posts
      15,971
      Country Flag: United States
      Looking forward to more updates. They are never "done," are they?

      Andrew
      1970 GTO Version 3.0
      1967 Cougar build
      GM High-Tech Performance feature
      My YouTube Channel Please Subscribe!
      Instagram @projectgattago
      Dr. EFI
      I deliver what EFI promises.
      Remote Holley EFI tuning.
      Please get in touch if I can be of service.

      "You were the gun, your voice was the trigger, your bravery was the barrel, your eyes were the bullets." ~ Her

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      After the wedding, we had planned to drive the Chevelle to Tennessee for our honeymoon, but it had a few small mechanical gremlins I didn't figure out in time for the trip, and wasn't confident in its ability to make a long road-trip yet, so we took a daily driver instead.

      Once sorted, with the LT1/4L60e and 3.08 gears, it ran a best of 13.8 at 97mph, and got 22mpg on 87 octane. It did everything respectably, but fell a little short of my expectations, hoping for a 13.5 or better.

      We bought a 66 Chevelle wagon for Jenna that needed suspension and brakes, and there were some cool new things coming onto the market, so in 2007 I swapped most of the setup from my Chevelle onto hers, and I bought the new ATS AFX tall spindle, SPC A-arms, upgraded to C5 Corvette front brakes, and 98-02 Camaro rear brakes on a used 12-bolt with 4.10 posi. The new brakes required new wheels, and I scored a deal on some 17x7 and 17x8 from Billet Specialties.

      With the change to 4.10 gears and stickier tires, I improved my 1/4-mile ET to 13.62 at 98mph. I was losing interest in drag racing though, and focusing way more on making it handle.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Apr 2005
      Location
      Chicago
      Posts
      2,787
      Country Flag: United States
      What an awesome introduction.

      I can’t wait to see where you are now with the car and I am truly looking forward to more posts.
      marty-mj
      GarageScene.net High Speed Welding KDHotrods RecoveryRoomInteriors WegnerAutomotive Autometer Ride-Tech

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      In 2008, after 2 years of driving with no speedometer due to the modern transmission not having any way to run a mechanical cable, I decided to adapt an electronic speedo into the stock dash. I also wanted better seat bolsters to hold me in place while cornering, and to change the interior to "parchment" off-white from the original black.

      Scat had just introduced their new "Procar Rally" seats, which had nice bolsters, but also styling and sized to look great in a musclecar without the high-backs that most other bolstered seats had. I decided to buy those seats, and have them custom upholstered with correct '69 style pattern inserts. It was kind of expensive, but worth every penny! I still love these seats.

      For gauges, I wanted white faces to tie with the interior color and the stripes, so I cut and welded on the gauge panel to adapt 5" Autometer Phantom speedometer and tach into the stock cluster, and put a gas gauge in the clock location. One cool original feature on a 69 Chevelle dash that I knew I would miss was the little blue bowtie for the bright light indicator. I designed a small custom bracket and panel with a blue bowtie light to go in the PRNDL location. I also used the Corvette style font but read CHEVELLE instead to tie in with the Corvette brakes and fuel rail covers.

      I finished the install just in time (bolted the front seats in while Jenna loaded the trunk) to drive the car to Nashville, TN for the Chevelle-abration show in June, and while the AC didn't work yet, the white interior proved to be a good choice in the 105° heat down there!

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Nov 2020
      Location
      Paso Robles California
      Posts
      25
      Country Flag: United States
      Sweet Chevelle !!!

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      In 2008 I was finally ready to try autocross, but had no idea where to start. Car Craft Summer Nationals in St. Paul, MN had a small course and I was determined to try it there, but it was not meant to be... fuel pump problems kept me out of the competition there that year. Later that fall, I found that there were local autocross events held in Winona, MN, so I tried it there for my first event. I was slow, but steadily improved with each run. I only got in one event at the end of the season.

      I competed several times in 2009, including multiple Winona events, Car Craft, and on the speedway at La Crosse, WI. I enjoyed this a lot more than drag racing.

      Dad went with me to one of the Winona events, and on his first ride-along he forgot to buckle his seatbelt, and ended up on my lap on the first turn. 🤣

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    17. #17
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      2010 was a big year for me with this car. I bought yet another new set of wheels. 17x9 Cragar D-windows were the cheapest way into 9" wide wheels at the time, and gave the car somewhat of a NASCAR vibe. With some advice from some very fast local autocrossers, I ran 265/40 Dunlop Z1 Star Specs, which were a top competitive street tire at the time.

      My 2nd son AJ was a baby then, and Jenna was off most of the summer on maternity leave. With her schedule cleared, I got a lot of racing in that year running with MAC, COM, and SCCLaC locally. I had my spring/shock/sway-bar combination figured out, and was getting a lot of practice.

      At the Car Craft Summer Nationals, I ran fastest of any vintage car for most of the day on Friday. Jeff Smith (Car Craft editor) asked me to enter the Real Street Eliminator competition, so I did. I finished 3rd in the autocross, just a couple tenths of a second behind 2 pro-built shop cars on R-compound tires. I didn't try very hard on the stop box, so my time there was unimpressive. On the dyno I made a meager 256hp. There was a small paragraph in the magazine about me and the Chevelle, and a tiny picture of it on the cover of Car Craft Magazine in their issue with the event coverage.

      We then drove it to Cleveland Ohio for the NOCC Chevelle show, where Chuck Hanson did a photo shoot for a full multi-page feature in Chevelle World Magazine.

      That fall we made plans to drive the car down to Tennessee with Scott Parkhurst for the "Run to the Hills" pro-touring event. A couple weeks before the trip, overdrive started slipping in my 4L60, so we decided to tow it there instead. We had an awesome time on the cruise to the "Tail of the Dragon" that Friday. At the autocross Saturday I did pretty well, but coned my fastest run which would have otherwise gotten me into the top-8 shootout. My fastest clean run put me in, I think, 9th of about 80 cars in a car with half the horsepower of most cars there on a course with 2 long uphill straights. The following day was drag-racing, and after a few runs, 3rd gear was slipping too, the transmission was toast.

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    18. #18
      Join Date
      Sep 2013
      Location
      sw Kansas
      Posts
      1,639
      Country Flag: United States
      Good story so far. My question is what are you going to do to take it to the next level?

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Jan 2005
      Location
      Mantorville, MN
      Posts
      835
      Country Flag: United States
      After having some respectable results against some of the heavy-hitters in the Pro Touring community, despite being way outgunned on horsepower, I needed to step up my game, and the transmission failing gave me the excuse I needed to justify tearing the car apart again.

      I bought an LS1 and T56 out of a wrecked 2000 Camaro SS on ebay, located near Green Bay, WI. The ad was poorly written, and had a bit of a scammy vibe to it, so it went cheap. Afterwards, the seller called me and apologized for not disclosing that the heads were studded. Good deal getting even better!

      I reached out to a friend who lived nearby, to see if he wanted to get together for lunch when I come pick it up. He offered to pick it up for me, and bring it 4 hours closer because he was coming this way for a hunting trip, saving me 8 hours round-trip! He pointed out that it had an LS6 intake and upgraded injectors also!

      I had it for a while before I pulled the pan, and when I did, I found it also had a 4" stroker crank, Eagle H-beam rods, forged pistons, ARP hardware, and studded mains. Jackpot!

      I tore the car apart in the fall of 2010 thinking it would be done by spring. Our oldest son, Cale was a very easy-going toddler who loved to help, stayed out of trouble, and generally let me get a lot done in the garage. Parenting was easy, right? A week later, baby brother AJ started to crawl, and my free time came to a very sudden halt as he was a mischievous one...

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      Derek Kiefer,
      Mantorville, MN

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Jan 2017
      Location
      Los Angeles
      Posts
      38
      Country Flag: United States
      So cool to see the evolution of your chevelle

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