78 Malibu Build: "The Alibu"

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

NIIIICE! Glad to hear brother! And thanks for checking the vids out. Im trying to get more content up. Its been pretty hectic lately due to my finace having a hip replacement surgery. Whew! Poor baby. But i stepped in and took care of her. Man you dont realize how important your independence is until you need someone to do everything for you. Im super worn out. Some days 1 maybe two hours of sleep yikes!


I managed to get a little work done. I re-mocked up my Holly Hi ram intake in a glossy paint scheme. I really dig it and will have it professionally polisjed and powdercoated.. I also cleaned up my rockers and prepped em for the Straub Technologies trunion kit, pulled the 862 heads off, cleaned the pistons up and mocked up the ARP head stud kit. I'll be ordering the LJMS Stage 2 twin turbo cam kit and springs/rods and all the gaskets to finish this off. Ready to button it all up... Parts are slowly rolling in..

The respray. I used Eastwood "EXTREME CHASSIS BLACK" Primer and gloss paint. I think it looks amazing. I loved the satin pro tour look as well, but I wan the motor to pop out. The bay walls and firewall will have that powdery satin protour look. All the UMI suspension is high gloss and will tie in with the motor. The frame will be color matched to te car(silver)













Rockers after a nice soak and scrub. They came out really clean. Prepping em up for the trunioun upgrade..





AND THENNNNN. I wemt OCD and blasted em at work along with the pedestals





Installed/mock up with a set of ARP rocker studs..





ARP head stud kit. My block is an early 2004 block and has the 3 different size studs...





The Comp cams trunioun kit and tool. I passed these over to my club bro and will install em in a set of rockers i blasted for him. Hes doing the wiring in my Bu so i wanted to take care of him. The tool makes it SUPER EASY to do. It has a serious little magnet that holds it onto your vise, and the rocker sets down in the machined groove..







Ive hit you guys with enough HTML for a week lol so ill stop here. Ill post some pics/vid of he trunion install later this week.

Thanks for checking back!!

Roc

[Poltergeist]

Motor is looking good. Hope the fiance gets better soon.

[melloelky]

dang,hip replacement surgery?that's no runny nose.take it easy.

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Originally Posted by Poltergeist

Motor is looking good. Hope the fiance gets better soon.

Thanks and THANKS bro. She is doing well. It was super tough on both of us at first, but shes healing well and getting stronger by the day...

Originally Posted by melloelky

dang,hip replacement surgery?that's no runny nose.take it easy.

Yeah. Poor baby. She elected to have it done. I hope that I never have to be in a situation where I need total help for everything. Shes doing well tho. Thanks!!

Well in between playing nurse, working, helpng my dad (hes 85) and just bunch of other things, I still managed to get a few things done on the LQ4 block. I purchased a Comp cams Trunnion kit, took all my rockers to work and hot tanked em, then sand blasted them. They came out really nice. I then passed the Comp kit over to my club bro after installing em for him, and picked up a Straub Technologies Trunnioun upgrade kit. The Straub kit doent use the needle bearings. It has a brass fitting that is pressed in. really nice setup..





Assembly line...



Brass baring setup. No needle bearings to worry about. The trunnion has a oiling groove in it to allow oil in to keep things lubricated



Trunnion



Used a little Permatex "Ultra Slick" on the rockers as well as assebly lube on the trunion



Pressed in...



Snap ring in place...





I also stripped the block down to bare metal for a fresh coat of Eastwood 2K primer and 2K Extreme black high temp paint. Going glossy..

Breaking it down...Cleaned all the mating surfaces up with WD40 and acetone










And thats pretty much it. Waiting for the "go fast" goodies, Katech timing chain, oil pump and gaskets ect ect to show up. I had to get a new rear main seal cover because I damaged the original one knocking the old seal out. Up next will be the Holley lo pro oil pan dressed in black.

Thanks for checking back!

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Got really detailed on the block. Broke out some small picks and brushes. Got it pretty clean. I couldnt find the color I wanted for the block in a 2K formulation, so I decided to get super detailed and clean?high temp clear over the bare block. Once cleaned, its the perfect match with the cars finish. I also got a few parts in:

rear main seal, gasket and new cover, ARP bolts
Trick Timing chain dampener bracket, GM timing chain dampener. Early blocks didnt have the provisions for that part
Front seal, Two Piece timing cover which I'm modding for the -10an return lines off the turbos...Holley Low profile oil pan and a few other small things. Still waiting on the Go fast parts

Some pics..













Trickflow dampener bracket and GM dampener mock up





Pretty spiffy....



Cleaned the rear of the block and painted it. New cover, gasket, rear main seal. Not installed yet. Waiting for the billet oil "dumbell" from SacCity Corvette to arrive. I may hold off on installing it-save it for the rebuild later...





A lot of tedious work getting the block to bare metal. Ill be cleaning, cleaning and cleaning a few more times before painting...



Thanks for checking back!!

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Finally went ahead and clear coated the block. I used some acetoce, Rusto wax degreaser and Eastwood pre, let that all flash off and then sprayed with High temp clear from VHT.









Vid link below. Clicky...

Clear coated bare block by bumpin1ohm, on Flickr

Thanks for checking back. I ordered the LS6 ported/blueprinted oil pump from TickPerformance, an ATI crankshaft pinning kit and will be purchasing a new TCI beefier flexplate from Motion. Soon as everything Dries up, I'll get a mock up photo to see how shes looking...

Roc...

[Poltergeist]

Like the look. I don't think I've seen anyone do that. Almost everyone paints them.

[Bumpin1ohmSS]

Originally Posted by Poltergeist

Like the look. I don't think I've seen anyone do that. Almost everyone paints them.

Thanks bruh!! I was just about to order the same color 2k paint from Eastwood, and then I looked at the block and said MAN! Thats the exact color of the car!. So I decided to high temp clear it. You wont even see it after the headers and all that are in place. Really appreciate the input bruh!

Still waiting on "go fast" parts to arrive. I picked up a Brian Tooley Racing Stage 2 twin turbo cam kit with springs, keepers, retainers and pushrods. The cam was on back order but I got the refreshed 317 heads springs out and installed thew BTooley kit. I used my Trickflow spring compressor and had the old one out and new ones in in less than 30 minutes...











Looking really official all cleaned up and with the Straub Technologies trunnion kit and ARP studs installed... installed






Just got word the cam was shipped. Hoping to have it all buttoned up soon. Ready to hear her running.. In the mean time, Ive been working on my wheel wells-filling al the factiry holes and will spray em a nice satin black-Eastwood 2K.. Ill post up the updates as I get em. Thanks for checking back!!!