Hello from Nebraska

So I guess I married into this group a few years ago when I married my wife.  She still has her '74 Malibu Classic 2 door from her high school days.  It was a low mileage survivor in 1996 when her dad bought it for her but 4 years of high school and a couple of years of college did age it a little.  After developing a major oil usage issue it was parked in the shed on the farm and sits there today hopefully to be rescued and repaired/improved as soon as I can get a shop finally build.  Nothing too exciting just a 2bbl 350/th350 and what I am guessing is a set of 2.73 gears.

I have always been a camaro guy not has a choice but more because of economics.  In high school I bought a 81 z28 camaro and spent most of my time and money for the next 4+ years attempting to make it quick.  Life slowed me down a bit and when deciding how to bring it back to like new condition I took the easy way out and bought a low mileage 80 z28 and swapped most of my good parts from my HS car into it.  It was a 350/st10/3.42 car but that has all changed now and it has a .060 over 427 with ported Brodix heads, 10 to 1 compression, solid roller, with a Dominator topped Victor 4500 oval port intake with a 2 stage plate system adding 350 or so HP.  The transmission is a transbraked th400 with a 4500 nitrous converter and it has a 69 camaro 12 bolt with 4.10 gears.  In 2011 I got 3rd in the big block power adder class at Hotrod's Drag week.  It recently went 6.20 in the 1/8th at a local track in dire need of suspension work.  

I tend to do things just a bit different and so at age 36 I decided my life wasn't complicated enough and I needed to return to school after a 17 year hiatus.  In less than a month I will graduate with my degree in mechanical engineering.  Then to add to the fun a little over 7 months ago my first child was born, a little girl.

So in the past 6 months I have been looking for something that will fit all the needs of a dad but also be fun to DD.  It can't be as wild as my camaro but must be cool and have reasonable power.  Knowing the less I spent on a car the more I could spend on the drivetrain.  Recently one of my buddies was given a '74 malibu 4 door with 18k original miles. His wife hates it and for some reason she thinks 5 cars are too many for one family, that is just silly talk.  I have arranged to buy it once I have a income coming in again.  It has the same drivetrain as my wifes car.  Really very clean but since it is a 4 door I am hoping you guys won't hate me for a few simple mods.  The plan is to build what i would call a "Dad Hot Rod".  You know what you would have ordered from GM when your wife finally convinced you the '70 Chevelle ss 454 wasn't cutting it as the family car any longer.  Knowing with a kid in a car seat if you come home with another 2 door you won't have to worry about having another kid, so you look at the 4 doors.  Even so you just can't live without the power of that big block and you sure can't keep any of your dignity with a slush-o-matic handling the gear changes.  This forces you to order a 454 4 speed 4 door.   Ok in reality I plan on first getting it tuned up, adding a radio, getting the suspension tuned up and adding the 3.08 posi I have from my first camaro.  The long term is to build a 489-505 big block with a hydraulic roller, 265 AFR heads, 10 to 1 compression, a performer rpm qjet and a 800 cfm Q jet.  I want to make this engine look as close to a stock 454 by grinding off the identification marks and painting the heads and intake, adding a stock air cleaner and doing anything I reasonably can to make it look gm fresh with all the PCV plumbing and emission vac plumbing.  I have a pretty hard time using the stock pancake intake and exhaust manifolds because they limit power so much but that is still up in the air.  The ultimate goal is 600-650 lb-ft of torque and 580-600hp all done at 5500 rpm.  To handle the power the plan is to follow it with a TKO600.  I plan on keeping the 10 bolt but the gears will end up in the 3.23 to 3.42 range.  I am hoping that even with it weighing close to 4400lbs I can get it to the 12.00s and using the overdrive and qjet get into the low to mid 20s with mpg.  This may be overly optimistic but I have to have a goal and why not aim high.  I want the engine to have enough low speed tq that it will be possible to gear it to turn 1500 or so rpm at 65 and not struggle.

I hope you guys and help me with the 4 door as well as my wifes car.  
Thanks for listening



This is my beater camaro on drag week

Welcome neighbor! I'm in Rapid City SD

Welcome! Happy to help in whatever way we can!

Welcome . . . .

Welcome (we like Camaros too...well most of us but don't tell anyone).

Welcome to the board. Sounds like that would be pretty much the coolest 4 door build I would ever see. lol I'm from Omaha and have a green and white 76 laguna and an all silver 76 laguna. Looking forward to seeing your progress. Maybe I'll see ya around town.

WELCOME!


Cort > www.oldcarsstronghearts.com
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