78' Malibu Build

[andrewb70]

You should shoot to make Holley LS fest 2017. Good times!



Andrew

[Wraith]

Not much done for over a month, hunting season has been using up my spare time, but I'm back in the garage for a year end push, I have all of next week off.

Floor plugs in, wheel wells sealed, and prepped for spraying Raptor Liner Monday.





And I got back on boxing the frame rails back in although I need to swap out to my .035 wire for this heavier stuff and the frame braces.

[HotRod47]

Love this build, great job. I have always liked this body style.

[Streetbu]

Looking good! You don't really need .035 wire for the frame though. .030 will work fine. The frame isnt really that thick

[Wraith]

Looking good! You don't really need .035 wire for the frame though. .030 will work fine. The frame isnt really that thick

It's not that thick but I only have .035 and the .025 I have been using for bodywork, so .035 it is!

[outragis]

are you interested in a 12 bolt rear end that will bolt right in with the south side arms? New 4;11 Richmond gear with new Eaton posi blasted and painted black, summit cover, new drum brakes...

[Wraith]

First thing this morning



So, from the point of laying on it's side, all sanded and prepped with 180 grit sandpaper and wiped with lacquer thinner it still took 1.25 hours to mask it all off to when that photo was taken. At that point I started mixing the raws using a 250ml graduated cylinder, because I use them for work, then got to spraying at about 60psi to keep the pattern as tight as possible.

After 1.5 coats



Then after all four liters of material and masking pulled



Surprisingly it all went well with no problems or snafu's, I expected problems, none arose, little to no overspray on the floor, and I managed to keep any overspray/mixing off myself although I do recommend a respirator made for organics, this stuff is stout.

[Streetbu]

Lookin good!

[SSLance]

Love the look of a fully finished out bottom side of a body... Does that make me strange?

Nice work...

[Wraith]

So I started welding last night then spent the better part of 5 hours finishing the welding today along with installing my JTraceshop control arm braces then coating with some Napa chassis black. I'm whupped and my hands hurt but I'm ready to drop the body back on the frame hopefully for the last time.

[Wraith]

Back at it again after a brief hiatus working on one of the two project Jeeps for 1.5 days. This morning I decided I wanted to get the body close to back on but I needed to finish the brake line install and that meant flaring one spot of stainless for the prop valve plus re-tapping the holes for the distribution valve but it's done.

Broke out all the recoated hardware





Back in the corner and I got my parking space back

[SSLance]

Nice progress!!!

[Wraith]

Finally finished the side project and back at the Malibu again




Today's scrapin's

[Wraith]

Back in the garage and today I repurposed the tip-tissorie into a body cart so I can move this around easier while I get it in primer and start bodywork.

[Wraith]

Last panel to scrape

[focused313]

beautiful progression. keep it up.

[Wraith]

Even more scraping and all door and trunk seam sealer removed.



Driver's door, must have had grass growing up there.




Passenger side is much better



Both doors cracked like this at the front tops





That is the end of the paint stripping and with a little sanding this is ready to go in primer and start bodywork.

[Wraith]

The Bu made it's first trip outside in a few years. I took everything out of the garage to clean up the mess from removing all the seam sealer then blew the car, doors, and trunk all out with air, something I should have done a long time ago to the doors, there was a lot of dirt and crud in the nooks and crannies. Also welded up the stress cracks at the front of the doors.

[Wraith]

I finally tackled the project I have been dreading for a while. Both corners of the quarter windows were rotted back at the pointy part, right were normal tools really don't fit or are in the wrong position even if you get them in there. Out came the dremel, 90* die grinder, die grinder, and files.

Cut out the bad




Fabbed up a couple pieces




And Voila!


That sequence took hours of grinding, fitting, grinding, fitting, etc, I am usually all about metal work but this was not fun. Luckily the passenger side isn't quite as bad but I hope to knock it out tomorrow.

[Streetbu]

Wow, great job! I had the same issue but not as bad luckily.