Chickenbone

The title pretty much sums up who I am and what I will be to this site. I am a NJ resident that has driven exclusively GM vehicles up to last year. I will put some pics up of my old '78 Malibu at the end of this post. I sold this car a year ago to get a light duty pickup truck for commuting and for working on the house. After I sold the car I thought that was it and closed the book on that chapter of my life, however, as fate would have it, the girl that bought the car needed some advice and a little help working on it. In the past I considered a number of powerplant transplants including a big block. Ironically, this car came with a swapped BBC 427, but the engine was toast so I gave it away and put the original powertrain back in. I digress though; as of late I've been noticing the increasing availability of the LS engines in the junkyards (JY) around here. In NJ, the JYs don't carry vehicles older than ten years. I've been toying with the idea of getting an Escalade engine/auto trans and transplanting that into the Malibu as a replacement for the 305 SBC. I figured that the Caddy engine would get good MPGs because it would reside in a vehicle that weighs far less than the SUV. I can do all of the necessary fab work to get the engine/trans mounted in the chassis, but I know the major problem would be getting the computer to run the engine. Also there are other electronic things that I know I have overlooked. I know very little of these engines except for the fact that they sound really wicked with the right exhaust, offer plenty of power, and have the ability to run clean and efficiently. This is why I am here. One of my dream cars would be building a late 2nd gen Camaro (preferrably '79-'81) and making my version of a Trans-Am racer out of it. I would love to build an LSx engine with a manual 6-speed to power it. Though I have many projects to complete here and that Camaro project would be far into the future. For now, messin' with the Malibu is within my scope. Thanks for reading this drivel and I hope to here from you guys/gals.









Chickenbone

Raptor_WS6

iTrader: (23)

so did you buy it back from her, or are you helping her to build it, (while hittin it)


welcome

Chickenbone

For the time being I am just helping her with advice. Her father is a former GM tech. Her parents don't really care too much for me, so helping her with the car is as far as it goes for now. I will post some questions in the tech section when I get my bearings straight and when I fully read the stickies.


Chickenbone

Chickenbone

Been a long long time. Here's the skinny. The Malibu was junked last year. Somebody thought the 305 was more than it really was and revved the **** out of the engine; shattering the crank gear. At least that's what I got from the last conversation I had with the girl and her father. The younger brother was supposed to tell me where they junked the car (which I actually found out from another person who saw it on a flatbed), but he never got back to me. Undignified end to a good car. So...........

.....the truck that I replaced the Malibu with was a '92 Ford Ranger with a 3.0L/5-speed. Good running truck, needed a bit of body work. On my way to work last year I got T-boned pretty good. It took two months for me to find a similar replacement. So I luckily found a '92 S-10 with a 2.8L V6 and a 5-speed. So far I replaced the IAC, gas tank (O.E. fell off), and I'm now doing a brake upgrade. I researched a LQ9/t-56 swap for that truck and I pretty much know what to do. I beginning to research an electric motor swap into that truck as well. Perhaps I can get my hands on the newer lithium batteries that are powering today's hybrids in liue of the old lead based batteries. So..........

......this leads me to my current situation. My father recently got another truck to use for work. I cleared off his old work truck so he can cruise around with my mom. It's an '82 C-20 with the original 292 I6 and a 3-speed. The 292 has well over 500k on the odometer. Although it runs strong, it has very audible bearing knock. There isn't much aftermarket support for this engine other than simple bolt-ons. When the time comes for a rebuild, I might suggest the aforementioned LQ9 swap, except with a NV4500 tranny. We'll see what happens in the next year or so. I will continue to peruse this site for info. I apologize for this long post and any annoying future nOOb ?????s



Chickenbone