Just after I had gotten it.
My plan in 2016 after being laid off was to fly to BC and buy an older car, and drive it home. I had a few I’d liked, but by the time I had gotten out there, they were sold. As an alternative, a Crown Vic was bought, and it served well to get across the country. But having had classic cars before (a ’70 Chev truck and a IH Scout) I wanted something older to tinker with.
I did not want to spend a pile of money on something – just get an older car in good shape I could work on and make better. Not being overly fussy, I spotted this car on Kijiji for $1900. It looked good, but was 300 KM away. A phone call to the owner clarified a few things – he was a retired gent that had bought the car from the original owner in New Brunswick. It’d had a repaint, and the rear frame welded, but was otherwise original. Henry – the seller – didn’t like it at all – he wanted a truck. It sounded on the up and up so we went up to look at it.
That rad shroud kills me. It was an extension stapled on.
It was a base Malibu – no extra trim, chrome, anything. It had a 200 V6 – a two-year wonder, a 6-cylinder version of the not-terribly-powerful 267. Options were few, but it had a passenger-side mirror, 4-speaker stereo, automatic transmission, and the gauge package, minus a tachometer. It started up and ran well enough, and a quick drive up the road showed no major issues other than a dead speedo. $18oo was exchanged, and the car was mine.
The original gauges. The speedo had issues.
The drive home was uneventful. Some of the drive was fairly hilly, and a kick down to second was necessary to make it up some grades. The car lacked power, but the transmission shifted well, and once in second, the car would pull itself back up to the speed limit. It did show its age, though, in the way it felt and sounded. It was kind of loose on the road, with lots of body noise when bumps were hit, and even more wind noise from around the doors and windows. Did I care? Not really. It brought me back to when I was young, and my father having cars like this Malibu. The thing that struck me the most was the smells – it smelled just like the old GM cars we had.
I don’t think these cars had a bad angle.
Shortly after putting some miles on it, I noticed a pretty big problem. I couldn’t keep coolant in it – it was a blown head gasket, or something similar. It was an excuse to put a larger engine in it. I was fortunate enough to find a good donor car, a 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix. It lived its life about a mile away, and my next-door neighbour had bought it and parked it. It sat over ten years. I gave my neighbor a hundred bucks, and drug the car home.
305 in, and waiting to be completed.
It had a rebuilt 305, and a perfect dash pad. Given that mine was all cracked and ugly, I figured I’d swap the dash from one to the other. It was also a F41 car, so the sway bars, stabilizers and braces all made it onto the Malibu. The engine proved to be a good one, too. The transmission, however was a Metric 200 – good for scrap. Luckily, the Malibu had already had a transmission swap, and had a good THM 350 in it. While the car was down, I also figured I’d do some other upgrades. I put a set of Monte Carlo SS-equivalent springs in it, a new set of shocks all around, and a new set of Energy body bushings for good measure.
The ’85 Grand Prix dash.
Once the swap was done, there was a big difference in the way the car drove and felt. It was a lot tighter and solid on the road. The 305 combined with the 2.73 rear end gave it good acceleration, too, with reasonable fuel economy. I could get 21 MPG on the highway with it so long as I stayed out of the secondary barrels. Brakes were always good, so I didn’t have to do anything to them. Because the harnesses had to be changed to accomodate the newer dash, it allowed me to install the intermittent wipers. The result was so good, I decided to use it as much as I could. I drove it most days to work, and back and forth a lot of weekends to our camper, an hour each way away. Not wanting it to rust, the car gets put away for the winters. But once the weather gets nice enough, it gets driven again.
On the way to the camper.
It’s been a good car, giving very little trouble in the two “driving seasons” I have used it – from late April to November each year. The heater works acceptably – if a bit feeble by today’s standards, but the wipers work fine and the car is pretty good on the road. It does wander a bit – but I suspect it is down to the lousy Douglas 185/75R14 tires that are on it. There’s too much Scot in me to get rid of them until they wear out, then it will get some 60-series tires. It’s pretty easy to drive, and I wouldn’t hesitate going anywhere in it – with proven mechanicals the car has reliable. Funny how the right options would make or break these things – with the handling package and a V8, it’s a fun car to drive. Parts are easy to get, still, and the car’s simple to work on. People have good memories of these – I’ve had more comments on it than any other car I have owned – people or their parents owned one, and so-and-such.
At our company’s quarry.
It’s been mistaken for a Iraqi Taxi multiple times – but it’s two years older. The roofline’s all wrong, too, but they do all look the same if you aren’t familiar with Malibus. I bought the car liking it, but I have grown to love it. The smell, the sound of the way the direct-drive Delco starter winds over, the bench seat – reminds me of years gone by – of my youth, my parents, road trips and vacations with friends. People seem to get it…it isn’t a sports car, but it is a time machine of sorts. I have more plans for it too – new tires, re-covered seats, fresh paint as there’s some issues…but nothing to spoil its character – what it is. I use it as much as I can – and is about as much a daily driver as I can reasonably do it.
The car with the current project in the background, Spring 2018.
Well, we’re getting close to the end now. I’ve got one more car to go, and there’s a few tractors if you’d like. Thanks for reading!
Nice car ! Keep in mind, if you put low profile tires on the original wheels, it will have some adverse effects. When changing tire sizes, it’s best to go with something having the same diameter, or slightly larger. A larger diameter will spin slower at a given speed, which is good. My car originlly had 185/80-13’s which are hard to find, so l installed 195/65-15’s on Neon wheels. The new tires are only 4/10th’s of an inch larger diameter.
The only reason I want to stay with the 14’s is I like the hubcaps – they suit the car. I do have the rims off of the Grand Prix, though.
A later day Acadian Beaumont?
Good story! I like how you upgraded it while keeping it theoretically how it could have come from the factory, with a stock appearance. I wasn’t aware of that particular original engine. It would look good with black rallye wheels from a Regal and maybe some white-letter Radial T/As, in a slightly wider size with the same height. But it is sharp as it is, and I agree it doesn’t have a bad angle.
This has been a great COAL series Marc. The ’79 Malibu speaks to me. And yes…bring on the tractors I say.
Great story about a really nice ’79 Malibu. I like how you referenced the “old GM car smell” – there is nothing like it, and that’s one of the things I loved about driving my ’76 Malibu Classic.
I know it’s a base car, but given how nice you’ve made it, I cries out for whitewalls!
It’s hard to get them nowadays!
These are good-looking cars. Your upgrades are appropriate, too. Bring on the TOALs, too!
Great car – I always liked the Malibu of this generation. Sometimes I wish my dad had bought one of these back in ‘78 instead of our awful ‘78 Gutless Cutlass. I drove an ‘81 Malibu for my Driver’s Education class, and while it was slow with the V6/automatic, it was still a good car to drive. A V8 and suspension upgrades like you have done (with stock GM parts, no less) can really wake them up. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with that old Advanced Design truck in the last shot.
The truck’s turned into a major project. We had it sandblasted, and it was full of fill. Hope to have it done next summer though!
Excellent read! My sister in law had one of these, perhaps a ’79 or ’80. It was not a bad car at all, pretty solid on the road when I had a chance to drive it. The proportions seemed off to me when compared to the big Impalas of the day. These Malibus appeared visually to be comparable in length (but not heft) with the full size Chevys. I think the wheelbases were 108 inches to 116, so there was a difference. Perhaps the downsizing of the full size was more visually dramatic. As I recall she liked this car and kept it a number of years.
Great mod’s you have performed on this car. I hope it continues to serve you well for a number of years.
Do the rear windows roll down?
…Opening the rear windows is about the same as landing an Airbus A330 at the local grass airstrip. You can do it only once, and it’s not pretty.
That’s a good looking Malibu, and your strategic and intelligent upgrades transform it into something truly better than new.
No, but they’re transparent!
Nice old Chevy and easy to get parts for. Nice older and simple car to be used as as a daily driver. I remember that the back seat windows in these didn’t go down. The 305 was a good motor for these. The 200 Six was 94 Horsepower and 154 ft-lbs of torque. The 305 was 130Hp and 245 Ft-lbs of torque. Love the upgrades from the Grand Prix! A fun car! :)!
That’s not a fan shroud, it’s a wind tunnel!
I had no idea there was a V6 version of the 267. Having experience with the V8 I’d say it was a good move to spring for the hundred dollar 305. A fun driver for not much money.
One of my friends had an ’82 Cutlass with the 267 years ago. It didn’t seem any more powerful than this V6 did. I wonder if his camshaft was worn out…
One of my favourite cars of the era. The way the driver sits behind the wheel is the best of any American car of the period, for some reason. The seat is high off the floor, making for a really comfortable ride, as your legs aren’t splayed out like in a base B Body.
The 200 V-6 was a total dog. It used the same crankshaft as the V-8, meaning it was odd fire. It was rough, noisy and gutless. The 229 that replaced it wasn’t any better.
I had one, gutless yes , rough no. it was smooth at idle
It was an even fire v6 if I recall correctly
By 40,000 miles the engine made a lot of noise which was either the lifters or the soft camshaft that were making back then
It was a semi-even fire according to Wikipedia, with slightly offset journals on each throw.
This one was not that smooth.
Yikes. The 267 wasn’t exactly a peach and I can’t imagine what lopping off a couple cylinders would do.
That was really a weird time for domestic automakers. It’s almost like they were in panic mode and trying anything they could to squeeze out a fraction of an mpg at the cost of everything else.
Ironically, the company that benefited the most was Chrysler since they simply didn’t have the funds to do any of that bizarre stuff.
As to the downsized Malibu, it was just another case of GM shooting themselves in the foot. The basic car was okay, but they had to do some really cheap-ass stuff like those non-lowering rear windows and most of the sad-sack engines. The fuel mileage penalty of the 305 just wasn’t that bad, particularly when one considers how much better it was in every other way.
My brother had a 1979 El Camino with the 200 CID V6 and a three speed manual transmission. I drove it a couple of times and was not impressed; the engine generated lots of noise but not much power. Apparently my brother wasn’t all that happy with the car either because he only kept it for a couple of years; it was traded for a Ford Ranger (4 cylinder/4 speed) which was also noisy but had the advantage of being a “real” truck. He ended up keeping the Ranger for 7-8 years, only getting rid of it because he needed a bigger tow vehicle for a boat.
Your brother wasn’t alone. The rise of the compact pickup went a long way to the demise of the El Camino/Ranchero, car/truck hybrid. That, and the eventual conversion of most car lines to FWD.
Actually, the 200 six came before the 267. In 1978 it was introduced for the new downsized Malibu. It had 3.5″ bore and a 3.48″ stroke which was what the 267 V8 also used, however, the 267 wasn’t released until 1980. The only thing that was good about the 200 six was that it introduced the 90 degree Chevrolet V6 engine family.
Next the 229 was introduced in 1980, which used the same bore and stroke as a 305 Chevrolet, 3.736″ x 3.48″ and then finally in 1985 the best variant was released, the 262 (4.3L), which shared the 350’s bore and stroke of 4.00″ x 3.48″. The 4.3L V6 was the only engine from this family that was worthwhile IMO.
Nice write up. My Dad had a couple these Malibus in the wagon version. They were pretty roomy and useful but they always struck me as a kind of a “toy” version. The tailgate glass strut mounts were very flimsy, (they broke on both Dad’s wagons) the steering wheel seemed kind of tiny, and the glove box door had a plastic flex hinge. They were body on frame and these will accept a wide variety of motors and transmissions as you detail in your post. The biggest problem in Calif. is that they have to pass the rigorous Star smog test every two years to renew registration and before they can be sold and transferred. It can be a problem with an older carburated car, especially if it has been modified or tampered with. It’s mostly too much trouble or expense and the cars get scrapped. I’ve got three old cars that went through that test successfully in November another due in February. It just makes holding onto an older car a little bit harder.
Marc is 100% correct in that the experience with the a bodies varied significantly depending on options and year. They went all the way from dog slow, vinyl bench seated strippers to right sized Cadillacs depending on options and year. The later 3.8 was much better than the earlier v6s and the later 307 and 305 were much better than the earlier engines. By 82/83ish the Cutlass, regal, and Bonneville we’re commonly equipped with lots of power and comfort options and big plushy seats. These were generally durable, roomy, and comfortable cars and delivered smooth and creamy power even in the slower versions and a great ride and good handling. We had the early malibus as driver’s education cars and they were light years better than the 210s which were the other driver’s education cars.
One of my favorite cars of this period. V8, F41, sleeper rims and tires, very nice … this looks like a keeper!
Great write-up Marc, and very cool car. I always really liked these Malibus and think they are great driving cars – when setup correctly as you said. With the suspension setup you have it would drive well. Is the steering box still stock? If you crave more road feel, a Monte Carlo SS box is one of the best calibrated Saginaw boxes, and have a quick 12.7:1 ratio. You can also get your steering box built to Monte Carlo SS specs, by a company like Cancraft ( A Canadian company I have used in the past).
The engine upgrade is absolutely required for this car, IMO. It’s easy to say keep a car stock, but the 200 V6 was a terrible engine, and so was the TH200 transmission. It would just be terrible to drive with that setup, I wouldn’t even consider keeping it for a second. The LG4 305 was one of the best V8’s of that era. It was a great choice to make this car into nice cruiser.
As for tires, you definitely should upsize those tires. Those tiny little tires wouldn’t have much lateral grip. When my brother had his ’86 Cutlass Supreme 4-door, were ugraded to 215/70R-14s on 14X7″ wheels and they fit the car nicely. They were a bit taller than stock but they filled out the wheel wells better. That said, 14″ tires are getting tougher to find, so a 215/60R-15 might work fine and will be a bit shorter.
Nice updates on that Malibu! I liked the design of them since I saw the first pictures of the new Malibu in the fall of 1977. In fact, I bought my ’79 new and still have it. That’s it in my avatar. Mine has the 267 which is no powerhouse for sure. However, it also has a factory four speed which makes it feel like there is more power there than in reality. It also has the F41 suspension so I know it sure made your car have a much better feel that makes it a lot more fun to drive. I have driven Malibus with and without the F41 and the difference is incredible. When my car was my daily driver I really enjoyed going down curvy roads. Mine is now a summer only car.
That Pontiac dash is a nice upgrade to the interior and looks like it belonged there from the start.
Sweet ride! Keep it forever!
I want to hear more about that dash swap. It’s one I fantasized about doing if I ever bought a Turbo Regal because the ’78-’87 mid-sized Pontiac dash knocked me out when I first saw it (all those dials and air vents that look like dials! It looked like it came from an airplane). It remains one of my all time favorite dashboards. How much work was involved and how long did it take? Any guides to a dash swap online? BTW the Grand Prix also had nicer, longer armrests than the other A/G bodies, including other Pontiacs, although they could only be swaped into other coupes.
I’ve also dreamt about dash swaps in Fox Mustangs transplanted from other Ford Foxes – say, an ’82 Lincoln Continental dash in my ‘Stang. Just to be different…..
It was fairly easy. If I recall, the biggest issue was the electrical system. I’d unbolted the dash, and the fuse box from the firewall. The stuff that stays with the car just unplugs from the fuse box and harness, and I think it was the same between the two cars – inside. The underhood harnesses had to be swapped too, the ’79 used spade type terminals, and the ’85 donor used squarish shaped terminals. I did cheat and splice the headlight harness where it runs over the drivers’ inner fender. There were two issues – the first was that the donor car had AC, and mine didn’t. I didn’t put the AC system in, and the glove box door from the AC car hit the heater box. I had to use the Malibu’s own glovebox door. The other issue was the wiper motor – the pulse wiper motor out of the ’85 didn’t match the ’79’s mounting pattern. A few holes later and it’s fine.
It’s easily doable, and the closer in years the cars are the easier it is. I don’t know how fuel injection or computer control would affect this – in the half-tons I’ve seen, the engine computer harness is seperate from the rest of the harness, only tied in in a few spots.
Hope this helps!
Thanks! It seems the few incompatibilities were a result of ’85 to ’79 rather than Pontiac to Chevy, and even those were easy enough to work around. I wonder if all like-bodied dashboard swaps are that easy – say, a LeSabre dash into a Caprice, or a Toronado dash into a Riviera. It would be cool to mix-and-match my favorite GM division’s exterior styling with my favorite division’s interior styling when the two don’t match up.
I like it. You highlight what is maybe the best thing about a Chevy from almost any time after 1955 – the ability to mix and match mechanical bits from many years and models. Chevy put many horrid powertrains in their cars, but many excellent ones too. You seem to have found one of the better combinations, even if you had to make it yourself.
I am in awe of your willingness to do a dash swap on a “modern” car. Kudos!
The 305/350 combination works well in this one. As far as the dash goes, it was almost plug and play!
That’s a very nice car. I think the Malibus are the nicest looking of the G bodys and the ’79 is my favorite of the run. Luckily someone left a TH350 in there since as you know, the TH200s aren’t worth their weight in scrap. A set of Corvette Rallye wheels on 225 series tires would really wake up the handling with the F41 suspension
Super cool car! Agreed that these do not have a bad angle and yours looks sharp in silver. Thanks for sharing and many happy miles ahead!
When I ordered my Malibu the Rally wheels were a mandatory option with the F41 suspension. The F41 option was a mere $37.00. That was the best money I spent on that car.
Nice car. I owned a ’79 Caballero with 305/350 THM, it had AC as well. Nice driving car/truck, got pretty decent MPG on the highway. Needed a full size truck at the time and sold it after a few months, would love to have it today.