74 Chevy Malibu Classic from Portland, OR

JB2wheeler wrote:Welcome Anthony. You have some great plans for your car, it ought to be great when you get it finished with it. I like that color. There are some things I do not like about your plans, but its your car. You have to please yourself, thats what the game is all about. I hate it when people do crazy things to their car just because everybody else does it. All right, I'm an a$$, I'll tell you my ideas. Its not worth it to flush mount the glass, not worth the effort. I have only been west of the Mississippi river twice and then it was just by a few miles, but I thought your area was rainy. You know they put those drip rails there for a reason. I love all your other ideas except ONLY set back the engine if it is a normal part of the installation of the LS engine. Okay, kick my butt, I could not resist. JB2wheeler http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/19847223

Thanks for not holding back. I would rather people come out and state their dislikes. Heck, it may actually change my mind... not in this case however. I thought about the rain issue before I posted, when I was sketching out my ideas. The car sat in a field, so I got to check the "effectiveness" of GM's design. The rust spots I have are telling me which trim holds water against the body, and the drip rails are not innocent. They aren't horrible, but not great either. In spite of that info, I am doing it 100% for looks. I like the new style glass, and don't like chrome very much. I want to ditch the trim and change to a glue-in mount (with the blacked out edges).

On the set-back... it's purely to get that coveted 50/50 weight distribution.I will just buy the set back ls motor mounts from a fab shop online (welders series), and if necessary notch the firewall (Although, I hope I don't have to). I want to run at least one auto cross (like 74Malibu383's video on youtube) For me to see what one of these can truly do, I want to optimize the set up of the car.

One decision you may like... I no longer plan to use a truck arm or a 3 link to locate the rear axle... I will stick to bolt on suspension from the aftermarket. Gotta save a buck somewhere!

anthonyalessi74 wrote:

chevy76monteman wrote:Welcome Anthony. I'm here in SE Portland.

Nice to meet you! Is there a "NW chapter" in the works here? I was told by my neighbor that I could go to a VW rally when I brough my car home... and although I have friends in that circle, I am a V8 guy.

No NW chapter that I am aware of. Only club I'm apart of within the Portland area is PDXCGP (Portland Club Grand Prix). Our next "Mod Day" is in Hillsboro on October 2, but I will be unable to attend due to other plans. I don't know if anybody will be attending the Pizza Baron car show over here on SE 122nd and Division, but that's the next planned car show to attend.

JiMi_DRiX wrote:Hows the interior? The car actually looks like its in great shape as it is now! Keep us updated!

Not great, but nothing some seat covers, just dashes, and some creativity can't solve! EC Parts has tons of stuff, so hopefully that works. I found them on Doc & Spiral's page. I used to love that page, now it makes me sad...what a shame.

Yep. D&S really took a hit when Google tried charging them & everything was lost. I contacted Jackie & showed her where everything was at on the Wayback machine, but last time I talked to her she was working out issues with copyrights or something. Eh, this is the era of G3GM.com & for kids these days to be talking about us like we did them years ago. D&S kept me busy during my high school years reading & looking at pics.

Can't blame you for wanting to go wider, 7" rims look lost under our cars.

You might want to do some serious research before going to the trouble of moving the engine back a few inches. Everything I've read leads me to believe it's more trouble than it's worth.

Read this post.
http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61057&highlight=Moving+engine

With reference to link:
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186119&highlight=moving+engine+back+battery

You would obviously need to weigh your car on a nice set of scales, but I think this should give you a pretty good idea what moving a motor will do for you regarding weight distribution.

If you read through everything, you'll see that moving the motor back an inch didn't even produce a 1% movement, but moving the battery to the trunk yielded a 2% swing.

Definitely something to think about before getting too deep into it.

As for leaving the rear suspension stock, you can, but you'll at least want to box the upper and lower trailing arms. Oh... and a nice set of coil-overs will go a long way for you. That autocross video was before I installed any of the coil-overs. I can't wait to do it again.

Moving the battery to the bed is another one of my future plans, if I live long enough. JB

chevy76monteman wrote:

anthonyalessi74 wrote:

chevy76monteman wrote:Welcome Anthony. I'm here in SE Portland.

Nice to meet you! Is there a "NW chapter" in the works here? I was told by my neighbor that I could go to a VW rally when I brough my car home... and although I have friends in that circle, I am a V8 guy.

No NW chapter that I am aware of.

First ... WELCOME, Anthony!

Second ... You guys should start a NW chapter! And, hope to see you both when I'm out your area in June 2011....



Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |* Rt 66+northwestUS, 2011?
MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Things get complicated when you get past 18" ... Statler Brothers ... 'Class of '57'

Hey another Oregonian. Awesome glad to see i am not the only one in the NW.
Nice ride.

Hey Anthony! Welcome! I have a '74 Malibu also Currently it has a built 408 small block
Yours looks great by the way!!

BILL

Jedediah wrote:Hey another Oregonian. Awesome glad to see i am not the only one in the NW.
Nice ride.

lol lucky, im pretty sure its safe to say im the only one on here from florida. hell the whole south eastern u.s. . but i have met a bunch of g3ers around here that dont use this site and each one i reccommended that they come here and none did.