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80 Malibu 6.0/TH400/JFR 218 CAM/VS Racing 78/75 675HP at 18lbs
I have been making some pretty good progress on my 80 Malibu project so it's a good time to start a build thread. It is still going to be a few months before I finish due this being my first LSX trubo build.
I bought the car off Craigslist back in January 2016 as a roller. It came with Auto-meter Cobalt gauges, aluminum radiator, 17" Summit Legions and like new 245/50/17 Kumho's. It also had a th350, full dual exhaust, SBC headers that I immediately sold to lower my cost to $1900.
Overall the car is in pretty decent shape with OK paint and nice interior/seats. On the bad side, there is a poor patch in place for the rear floor pan, sagging doors, and a 7.5" 10 bolt rear. More stuff to replace.
I got a JY 6.0 with 110,000 miles, added ebay studs, LS9 head gaskets, and a JFR 218 cam. I went with a VS Racing 78/75, 80lb injectors, and a MS3 gold box plug and play version from EFI Source. My goal for the Malibu is to have a 100% street car with close to 700 RWP.
Here is a pic where there is no motor or trans and some retarded lift springs that were in the car when I bought it. They must have been planing to roll with some 24" wheels.
Interior pics and engine bay with my AC/Heater delete plate installed.
Last edited by 35spline; 06-11-2018 at 07:09 PM.
Reason: This
I went back and forth for too long on whether to buy a KB racing style log or make my own. Then the guy I got the engine from asked me if I wanted a set of truck exhaust manifolds for free. Now I had two sets to play around with and ended up using two driver's side manifolds to make it work. I basically scalped the bottom off one and transferred the markings to some 2.5" 14ga steel exhaust pipe. The rest is 2.5" schedule 40 going to the turbo flange. I used a 2" 45deg schedule 40 weld-el to go to the v-band on both sides. My cross over pipe is 2 inch diameter stainless with some weld-el 90's and a Vibrant Performance Stainless Steel Double Slip Joint Fitting 13286.
surprised i dont see more home made manifolds like that
I got the idea from a YouTube video. Same concept only I used a left side manifold and they used a right side. The hardest part was cutting thru the thick steel truck manifold.
So I relocated the battery to the trunk using a hold down tray from AZ and a starter solenoid from Napa. There is a 2ga welding cable going to the starter that only goes live when cranking. I really like these 34/78dual terminal batteries for hotrod projects but several big name part stores no longer carry the no maintenance versions. I will use the second set of terminals to wire in the fuel pump relay and direct connect the MS3 ecu.
The thing I like most about this G-body is it's huge engine compartment with all kinds of room for turbos and intercoolers. A VS Racing 4" intercooler easily fits in front of the radiator with a 3/4" piece of angle for the top bracket.
i'm copying your log style manifold idea. Great looking car! I also like your idea of the dual post battery. subcribed to this thread for other great ideas
There was not much for me to work on until I order some parts, so today I decided to pop the gauge cover off of the dash and almost ruined my weekend. The wiring debauchery was worse than I could have ever imagined. Almost all of the wire splices are made with those plastic crimp things and they are everywhere. Gauges wired to light up with the key on not light switch on. Yep, that is electrical tape around each gauge and all that there is to hold them in place.
I Put a test meter on the gauges and found 12v on the sensor terminals of the fuel gauge, and temp gauge. I also found 12v on the speedo sensor ground and pickup so I decided to send them in to Autometer for testing/repair. What a bummer.
This Malibu came with an aluminum radiator and electric fan. There was one pretty big ding on the frontside so I had it tested at my local radiator shop and it passed, so it is going in. I am not sure what Ford fan I have but after hooking it up to 12V I was really impressed with the airflow. This thing might make more noise than the 78/75 turbo.
I picked up a Derale 13313 trans cooler because it is going to clear the intercooler and be positioned to catch the most fresh air from the grill opening.
Pretty much my setup. Problem I had was manifolds dumped out right into frame rails. I'm also running a 5.3/88mm. VSRacing intercooler in front of radiator. Turbo piping outlet was a nightmare. You can see mine under Boosted Malibu. I need to find tires as I blew one on Dyno yesterday b
Awesome project. On the cooler mounted to the rad, be sure to use some foam pads to keep them from being metal on metal (you may have, just couldn't see them in the pic above).
07-11-2016, 02:58 PM
80 Malibu 6.0/TH400/JFR 218 CAM/VS Racing 78/75 675HP at 18lbs 
