Bought an 81 Chevy Malibu!!!!!

[speedingpenguin]

Well, I sold my Mustang Cobra on Monday, and picked up my new 81 Malibu today :-) Because of rain (And going to dinner with my girlfriend and her family), I wasn't able to start detailing it today, but I'm waking up REAL early tomorrow to get as much done as possible before going with Silvester to look at a car he might be buying :-P

Just thought I'd share pics.... its a 229 v6 with 71,000 origional miles, painted a year or so ago, body is SOLID, no rot or any real rust ANYWHERE, and the thing runs and drives like a champ!

Plans for now are to freshen up the interior, clean up the engine bay, and pretty much leave it stock until a year or two from now when I'd love to drop a turbo buick (Grand National) engine into it.... just to be different than all the other Malibus out there.

[regfootball]

i so badly wanted one when i was in HS. i like that style.

[Sixty8panther]

Once again Z-Lock, congratulations!

That Pontiac Bench seat out of a 70s LeMans should look

much better than these blue buckets... blue & burgundy

do not mix well.

[knightfan26917]

Wow! Nice find ... and CONGRATULATIONS .

Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 32swm/pig valve/pacemaker

MC:family.IL.guide.future = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/

Models.HO = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/trainroom.html

"What I really need is an open road" ... Montgomery Gentry ... 'Speed'

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Nice find. Get the right seats. Your engine idea sounds cool also. You dont have to do everything like everybody else and a turbo V6 sounds like a nice way to be different.

[ocnblu]

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!

I mean, I'm not jealous or anything, I've just been wanting to find a car like that in like 40 forevers. You make me sick! Just playing. Seriously though, I love the '78-'88 GM G bodies, and your powerplant plans sound awesome. Best of luck with it.

[Paolino]

We had an `82 Malibu Classic Sedan when I was a lad. Biggest piece of $h! EVER.

I don't even remember if the car hit 100,000 miles?

But that's not to say anything about your car... tons of luck! And, you've posted a picture that I can ask people questions about, because this is what I remember an engine looking like when you opened up the hood. Now, cars don't look anything like that to me. I always wanted to ask specific questions about certain things show in the above pic... so thanks!

Again, best of luck!

[Croc]

Nice! Good luck...just don't get rear ended!

[mightymouse]

Nice!  Good luck...just don't get rear ended!

Any car with a metal gas tank that gets rearended by a drunk going 60+

is gonna have some trouble.

S.Penguin: A fine choice! I've had lots of them, and they are great!~

Lightest Body-on-Frame car by GM ever! Easy to upgrade, interchangability

with almost everything GM! I like them, because of the irony... that they were

intended for economy, and they make badass sleepers. Excellent street car,

and for racing. Y'all done goood.

Check the frame rails right behind the rear wheels before you spend too much.

That's the worst thing to worry about on these.

[Croc]

Any car with a metal gas tank that gets rearended by a drunk going 60+

is gonna have some trouble.

Who said anything about 60? The tank is in the crush zone 11" from the rear. It is not protected by the rear axel. It's no Pinto, but it is something to be aware of.

[mute]

the body looks to be in beautiful condition and the wheels are hot but that interior needs better matching lol

and the engine plan = awesome

[mightymouse]

Who said anything about 60?  The tank is in the crush zone 11" from the rear.  It is not protected by the rear axel.  It's no Pinto, but it is something to be aware of.

I mistakingly thought you were refering to an incident a few years back....

In which a family in a Malibu was toasted...General perception was then changed

to all Malibus are death traps etc, etc. Most cars from the 60s and 70s had

similar designs... whatever, if my number comes up, it was meant to be.

[deftonesfan867]

Awesome find!! Keep us posted.

[the_yellow_dart]

Nice. Enjoy your project.

Not sure if you've ever seen the "CarPool" I posted here that my engineering department made.... 81 Malibu sedan made into a portable hot tub. Entire interior was plastic sealed, doors welded shut. Throttle / brake hooked up to a boat throttle mounted on driver door. Removable steering wheel. Heater block heated the water.

It was so cool to have your own hot tub to watch football games from!

[Sixty8panther]

Yup.... that was a neat car, bizzare but neat.

It was made from an Impala though.

[the_yellow_dart]

Yup.... that was a neat car, bizzare but neat.

It was made from an Impala though.

Right... I remember now, we had this discussion before. The original was an '81 Malibu (not pictured) but the jerk took it with him when he graduated (OK, I don't blame him). So they built another one out of a Caprice.

This is a Caprice and not an Impala though?

[bobo]

The taillights indicate that it's a '77 or '79 Impala.

[trinacriabob]

It's missing the dash vent all the way to the right...telling me there's no A/C. But then it looks like you're way up north so you may have a short A/C season.

[knightfan26917]

This is a Caprice and not an Impala though?

Hmm...not sure.

I don't see any Caprice emblems on the rear of that, so I'd say it is an Impala. BUT, I also can't tell what the emblem is on the hubcap ... whether it is the Chevy bowtie ... or the Caprice emblem.

Have any frontal pics?

Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 32swm/pig valve/pacemaker

MC:family.IL.guide.future = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/

Models.HO = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/trainroom.html

"I'm not the only person with these things in mind" ... Linkin Park ... 'Somewhere I Belong'

[Chazman]

Well, I sold my Mustang Cobra on Monday, and picked up my new 81 Malibu today :-) Because of rain (And going to dinner with my girlfriend and her family), I wasn't able to start detailing it today, but I'm waking up REAL early tomorrow to get as much done as possible before going with Silvester to look at a car he might be buying :-P

Just thought I'd share pics.... its a 229 v6 with 71,000 origional miles, painted a year or so ago, body is SOLID, no rot or any real rust ANYWHERE, and the thing runs and drives like a champ!

Plans for now are to freshen up the interior, clean up the engine bay, and pretty much leave it stock until a year or two from now when I'd love to drop a turbo buick (Grand National) engine into it.... just to be different than all the other Malibus out there.

I'm jealous.

[speedingpenguin]

thanks for all the compliments, guys! I really love the car, its been great so far! The car came with no A/C which is fine by me, the windows do a good enough job IMO. My only complaint is that I've got nasty burns all over my fingers and arms from all the metal $h! in the interior (Door handles, seatbelts, window crank arms, etc.) that get freaking HOT after sitting in the sun at work for a few hours, haha

[Sixty8panther]

Sure did great all day Sunday when we drove around

all over Gods creation and to the Tewksbury carshow.

Then I got us lost in Billerica looking for the Buffalo.

Pretty funny caravan... a 2000-ish Mustang GT,

1981 Chevrolet Malibu 2dr & a 1984 Datsun Maxima,

all silver metallic.

[bowtie_dude]

Guy I work with turned a 78 Malibu into a dragster.

[speedingpenguin]

yeah dude, that buffalo was friggin funny! so random, too!

but yeah, we definatly need to get some road trips in with the Malibu....

[speedingpenguin]

Gotta get some pics with the engine bay cleaned out, but heres one from the other day at Silvesters house after just washing the car....

Silvester and I were DEFINATLY the highlight of the car show......

Edited May 31, 2006 by speedingpenguin

[76ChevyTrucker]

That's a nice looking mo-chine there SP. I've always had an affinity towards the big cars like the Malibu, Impala, and Caprice.

[mightymouse]

That's a nice looking mo-chine there SP.  I've always had an affinity towards the big cars like the Malibu, Impala, and Caprice.

In 1978, the Malibu dropped almost 900 lbs..and about 13" -22" on the wagon.

It's brothers were big... This Malibu also has a 108"wheelbase FYI

Check out MalibuRacing.com for lots more examples or ideas

[Sixty8panther]

Yeah... between "showing off" my 1984 Datsun at the local

disorganized car show & seeing that Buffalo again that

was a weird day.

MM: I've never asked but I'm dying to know: who's Malibu

is that in your sig. popping a nasty wheelstand?

[mightymouse]

Yeah... between "showing off" my 1984 Datsun at the local

disorganized car show & seeing that Buffalo again that

was a weird day.

MM: I've never asked but I'm dying to know: who's Malibu

is that in your sig. popping a nasty wheelstand?

Rick Watson.

[speedingpenguin]

yep, i'm on maliburacing.com

misfitmalibu63 is a good friend of mine, i've helped him a lot with his car (I found him the Cutlass he grabbed the vortec 355 out of last year, lol)

I bought my car from KillerMalibu on the forum....