My First Love

**Tony71502** · 02-04-2010, 11:30 AM

It's been on the back burner for a while... but this was my first project, my 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu.

When I was in high school and for as long as I can remember my dad had a '71 Chevelle. It was a rust bucket that he got off some Mexican in the late 80's. He gutted it, welded in a roll cage, put in a 454 assembled by Brougher's. That's about all he did, the brakes were shot, suspension shot, interior non existent, trim and paint terrible, etc.

I got it off of him and started the "restoration". I completely dissassembled the entire car, in between high school and working 40 hours a week on nights/weekends. I began by blasting and painting the frame. I found some not so nice signs of abuse... I also had to start the monumental task of repairing the rust on the body. The quarters where a patchwork of rivets, tiger hair, and other garbage. The trunk was swiss cheese, the rockers were toast, body mounts rusted through. You name it was rusted. I welded in new floor pans, new rear seat pan, firewall patches, wheel well replacements and the entire trunk pan. Only to find more and more and more places in need of serious work.

Long story short, the body and frame were not in nice enough condition... there were no electrical/brake/other necessary systems to even pick at to learn how to assemble this car. (I was a high schooler with minimal knowledge of originality in these vehicles.)

I got rid of the car and saved my HUGE trove of performance parts, including a full hotchkis/global west suspension, hooker super comp headers, a GM ZZ502/502 crate engine, and the Strange engineering rear end. I had over 15,000 in aftermarket premium parts waiting for a suitable host.

I found this very solid gem on a website. The car was located in Washington state. The suspension/rear was shot and the engine was semi fresh. I had the owner pull up the carpet and take pictures of the floor pans. I liked what I saw. It had about 105,XXX miles on it.

$7500 for the car and $1000 to have it shipped cross country on a trailer and this is what I ended up with. Some pictures may reveal things I did to the car after purchasing it, like the rear end and suspension. Don't let the paint scheme fool you, this car was originally Mulsanne blue with a black vinyl top. I believe the interior is original, though.

Pinch Welds are Beautiful.

**somethingclever** · 02-04-2010, 12:06 PM

Great car Tony!!...nothing turns heads like a classic....

**jaa55** · 02-04-2010, 12:51 PM

its a chevy......

haha
nice car, its always cool to see a survivor, looks really clean

**bgblockelcamino** · 02-04-2010, 01:30 PM

nice car. looks like in great shape

**Tony71502** · 02-04-2010, 01:33 PM

Thanks for the compliments. It's very clean. It has some grease/oil on the front frame but nothing major. Rust is barely existent on this car. There are a FEW surface spots, like in the trunk pic i posted, but nothing that even causes a worry.

I have too many pictures to post, but they are all at home on my external hard drive. I will post all of my mods that I've done when I have access to my pictures.

Here's an example of the original Mulsanne Blue paint job that this car was covered in. They didn't get into the wheel wells when repainting. After a lot of love with Nev-R-Dull... you can see how clean this car actually is. Those are the spot welds that are so clearly defined. Also you get a glimpse of the aftermarket suspension.

Here's another picture of the rust free frame rails, pinch weld, and floor pan of the body.

**Wolfpack Speed** · 02-04-2010, 01:42 PM

Sweet!

**coralcoupe1993** · 02-04-2010, 07:27 PM

Cool. Roll em old baby!

**PaxtonShelby** · 02-04-2010, 07:37 PM

Congrats! Really nice and solid.

So how does she handle with the suspension goodies??

**Silverhatch** · 02-04-2010, 08:03 PM

Very nice. Looks great! I have a '70 Malibu i've been sitting on for about 3 years, owned it 4 years. Its about 40% done. ViperEd and I drove 26hrs nonstop to Boston and back to get it.

**laz2447** · 02-04-2010, 09:59 PM

Looks like a solid car! Congrats...looks good...

**jaa55** · 02-04-2010, 10:11 PM

i like the color in the wheel well

**AdamantiumSilvr** · 02-05-2010, 12:52 AM

Niiicce, nothin like classic muscle!! My buddy's got a burnt orange 68'.

**Viper_ed** · 02-05-2010, 01:05 AM

Originally Posted by luxurysportscar

Very nice. Looks great! I have a '70 Malibu i've been sitting on for about 3 years, owned it 4 years. Its about 40% done. ViperEd and I drove 26hrs nonstop to Boston and back to get it.

23hrs, but it was a blast!

**Tony71502** · 02-05-2010, 08:23 AM

Definitely a 70. Are you going to make an SS clone?

**Tony71502** · 02-05-2010, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by PaxtonShelby

Congrats! Really nice and solid.

So how does she handle with the suspension goodies??

So much better. The car had air shocks, no rear sway bar, a broken front sway bar end link, crappy control arm bushings, malibu control arms, and sagging springs. It was all over the road.

Now the front sway bar is a monster hollow piece, it's got KYB gas-a-just shocks all around(soon getting replaced), new 1" lowering springs, a rear sway bar, adjustable upper rear control arms, and tubular lower control arms. It handles almost as good as the stang.

**Tony71502** · 02-05-2010, 08:33 AM

Here is the monster that Strange Engineering built for me. It's a Plymouth Dana-60 rear end fitted with mounts for a GM A-body. The carrier is a Detroit Locker with 4.11:1 gears and 35 Spline Racing Axles. It's got floating axles. No C-clips.

Before Paint.

Here's a good view of the rear suspension hardware.

Man, that exhaust has got to go.

**map351** · 02-05-2010, 01:09 PM

A friend has a 1969 SS 396/375Hp untouched original with 11,000 miles, he's the 3rd owner he bought it in 1971.

Mike

**Tony71502** · 02-05-2010, 01:26 PM

I love the 68-69 front clip.

**Silverhatch** · 02-05-2010, 04:02 PM

No clones just a really nice Malibu. I already pulled the body, refinished another frame, fuel lines and brake lines, upgraded to discs, 12 bolt rear, and reinstalled the body. Replaced part of the trunk floor and the entire passenger floor with a one piecer. Have a used 454 waiting to be rebuilt on a stand. As far as sheetmetal, she needed new fenders.

**Tony71502** · 02-08-2010, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by luxurysportscar

No clones just a really nice Malibu. I already pulled the body, refinished another frame, fuel lines and brake lines, upgraded to discs, 12 bolt rear, and reinstalled the body. Replaced part of the trunk floor and the entire passenger floor with a one piecer. Have a used 454 waiting to be rebuilt on a stand. As far as sheetmetal, she needed new fenders.

What engine did it come with stock? If it was a small block the fuel lines will be too small to feed enough fuel for that 454. Gotta go with OEM big block or aftermarket fuel lines. I'm going aftermarket.

I'm also sticking with the Malibu trim. There are a few things that will have SS roots, though. I plan on a cowl hood with functional flapper. I think that would look awesome on a Malibu. I may put buckets in...only for safety's sake... but I sure do love that bench seat.