78 Malibu Build: "The Alibu"

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Wassup yall! 80z back at it again with a 78 Mali. Picked it up last year from a club member and quickly began cleaning up parts and stocking up goodies for the build. Few pics of her as she sits. In need of some serious tlc and 80z is ready to handle the job...











She already has a few cosmetic mods done-tucked bumpers, updated front clip and I believe the rear tails are the newer style. Ive already started stacking parts up, cleaning and painting up stuff as I get em. A few parts I have so far are:
Front suspension setup:

Front upper and lower arms have been cleaned up, powder coated and new Spohn bushings, super travel ball joints and lower heavy duty ball joints.All new mounting hardware-nuts and bolts all from Spohn, SC&C front triangular jounce bar setup, Spohn front steering and UMI front swaybar and aluminum swaybar mounts. OPG 1" drop springs and Belltech nitro drop shocks, rebuilt steering box and jeep sfaft setup.

Rear Suspension:

OPG 1" drop springs and Airlift coil spring bags. Belltech nitro drop shocks, Speedway rear upper/lower trailing arm kit, Edelbrock antihop bars and a UMI rear drag bar(Pre order-waiting on shipment)

Rear end setup

Built Posi/373 7.5 rear with Maro SS rear disc swap, LPW rear cover and brace kit, Moser 26 spline axles

Brake setup for the front and rear:

Camaro SS caliper swap with blazer spindles, new hubs, Kore3 big brake kit and z51 PAB setup for 13.39" front rotors(black cross drilled) Rear setup is from a 2002 Camaro (LS1 rear brake swap mod) 12" black rotors, shock relocater brackets fabbed up and Im in the process of making some brackets for the e brake.

Motor will be a "357" rebuild. I have a new hydraulic flat tappet cam/lifter set, 670 CFM Street avenger carb, airgap style intake, new dizzy, fuel pump, Crane 1.5 roller rockers, GM serpentine(fresh powder coat done), new alt, new water pump(GMPP), new 4 core radiator and fan assy and all the needed stuff to get the motor goin.. Trans is a 200r4 that was built by the previous owner but will be torn apart and rebuilt-new 200 deep pan from hughs.

Whew! Nuff talk..Pic time!!!!

UPDATED 4-3-15

Looks like all my pics were lost somehow on flickr. Updating old photos each day each day.

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

7.5 posi rear end clean up... Picked it up for dirt cheap and it already had the swap done. Just needed that "EKCO" Warren treatment





Started knocking off a lot of the grime and stuff with a small chisel. Drained the fluid and broke out the wire wheel





Got it pretty clean



Continued...

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Used some Eastwood "Xtreme Chassis Black" primer here..



I welded up the LPW brace kit and picked up some black drilled 12" rotors-Shout out to big Josh!!! Lowproelco





Fabbed up some shock relocation brackets





Decided to add a lil flare to the brackets...







Lil red to add some detail





Continued...

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

With the rear clean up pretty much done,(just waiting on moeser axles) I turned my attention to my front suspesion cleanup(parts). I degreased and took the parts to work and sandblasted before taking to have the bushings pressed out. Its my thought that clean parts make the guys working on your shiz want to do a better job at installing and handling your parts...









Spohn bushings, steering, super travel upper ball joints and heavy duty lowers





powder Coated and bushings pressed in




SC&c bar. Prob will powder coat it red



new hardware



UMI front sway, aluminum mounts and QA1's




I had all the parts re powder coated and added a "Smoke" effect. They basically took some burning rubber and let the smoke from it set in while the powder coat dried. then Cleared over it. Cool effect.



With the front suspension pretty much done, i started in on the LS1 front brake swap: cleaned up the calipers, powder coated the blazer spindles, Kore 3 z51 pabs, new rotors ect

Continued

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

cleaned up the front calipers and had the blazer spindles powder coated



After i blasted em.




VHT Primer and caliper paint



rear




kore3 pab's and powder coating the blazer spindles



Waiting on hubs and black x drilled rotors 13.39", turned my attention to the wheel wells (which i passed over to Saint for project Tummy Tuck) Since I wont be using the factory bottles and mounting locations on the wells, i filed down and filled in any holes not needed for a cleaner look (wellz by Warren stylez)

















dry sanded to 800 grit. sprayed some sandable primer and wet sanded to 1500 grit



painted em with rusto engine block paint



Sprayed underneath with 3m rubber undercoat



With that done I did some cleanup on my dash out my Monte SS that been moved over to this project...

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Mel snatched me a floor shift steering column from a monte ss. I cleaned it and SEM painted it up. (landau black) Steadfast column cover to be installed soon..

Paint was still wet in these pics. It dried up to a nice oem sheen. Pretty happy with the outcome..





ss dash clean up



radio flip





reinforcing the rear radio section with epoxy to srengthen it up and drill out the mounts for the "flip" cage






adhesion promoter and then paint





this has my SS triple gauge setup from GSI interiors. i have a dual setup with digi gauges (trans temp motor oil temp) for this dash now..The radio flip is a good look



Massaged it for a nice fit. A lot of time went into this. cut chop and rebuilding the bezel/trim piece





Dakota digi panel also









I had the dash re wrapped. Its just a $300 wrap but gets the job done. Black with silver double stitch





With some of the goodies installed/mocked up..



continued...

[daveybtv]

Originally Posted by Bumpin1ohmSS

7.5 posi rear end clean up... Picked it up for dirt cheap and it already had the swap done. Just needed that "EKCO" Warren treatment





Started knocking off a lot of the grime and stuff with a small chisel. Drained the fluid and broke out the wire wheel





Got it pretty clean



Continued...

I have the same cover and support bars looking @ yours makes me want to pull it and clean up... nice work man, im doing rear disc soon ant tips?

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Thanks fellas!!!!

@ daveybtv.. Lookup GTSDESIGNS on youtube. I followed his intruction and it was super ez to do. He sets the tripod up, hits record and does the entire mod from start to finish. Ill find a couple links of his on doin the swap. This will be no prob for your skill level trust me! LOL! thanks for checking the lil build out...

His youtube channel----> http://www.youtube.com/user/gtsdesigns

Did a lil more mock up on the block. painted the header wrap black. I used some DEI silicone. I hope it works cuz I'd hate to waste all that wrap I did from before. Painted the valve covers up also. Looks decent. I will have the covers coated, and the fins color matched to the car




mocking the pipe up. After all the needed cuts are made, im flarinig the ends and doin it a anodized black. Should flow well...




I'm heading back in two weeks to drop her off for the bodywork and spray. I should be ordering the 202 heads by the weekend also. Time to grind and get this old girl on the road... I will be bringing her home most likely after shes painted so i can start dropping in all the parts ive been cleaning up.. Thanks for checkin back...

Warren "G" body
80z

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Got a lil further on the project. I hit Arizona up last weekend and finished up the welding on the seat brackets, degreased the frame and did some other lil cleanup. LA Xrated hooked me up with some serpentine pulleys and I sent those out to be powder coatedGot a few goodies in. Mel said my Harwood 4" cowl came in. This is their "elite" line and has this black gel covering over it. looks killer!








Ill have a set of freshly rebuilt heads this friday. They are a set of 305 heads tho. This will raise the compression a bit and i may have to run a higher octane race fuel. All good. I was gonna run some Pro comp aluminum heads, but I wont drive the car enough to justify the cash for em. Also, Im working on the 5.3 LS for the Bu. So these heads will work out cool. Im curious to see how it runs. Ive done some research and decided to give it a try. they are free with all new parts so what the heck. i have a set of Crane 1.5 rollers to run on em. Just need push rods, gaskets and Im ready to fire it....

Pics of the heads...I stripped em and painted em up



Some Crane gold series 1.5 rollers





QA1 coilovers comin next week! Cant wait. 3" drop here i come!

Thanks for checking back....

Elco Warren
80z UP!!!

[Poltergeist]

Wow you've been busy! Very build!

[montecarloss]

As always looking good!!!

[80ELCAMINOFLAKE]

HELL YA!!!! Thats what im talking about all the detail and getting it done right!! Keep it going big bro... That bu will be the sick out here in the streets 80z stand up

[oldtinsmith]

Awesome thread, lov'n it!!

Doug

[kuruption109]

Bout time you shred some light on project "alibu" lol

[melman109]

Nothing but goodies in this thread!!! Coming together nicely, looks even better in person. Can't wait to do some more wrenching on her,