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This 67 Malibu has been in the family since 1978. My dad bought it to replace the '66 Malibu that was the family car at the time. It was a wreck, and needed a front clip and a tail light. A local guy had bought it new, and hit a bridge and spun it around. My aunt had a '66 with a blown motor, and my dad put the front clip from that car on this one. So for years it had 67 tail lights and a 66 front end, and was the source of many arguments at gas stations as to what year it actually was. Anyway, once he had it on the road he sold the '66, and this '67 that I now own became the family car. I was born in 1980, and this car brought me home from the hospital. I have many childhood memories of the car.
In 1990, my dad bought a low-milage '71 Cutlass, and sold the '67 to my older brother (65 L79 here at FJ). He put power steering, a radio, and a 327 in it. He and his wife drove it a lot, but he had a higher aspiration: the '66 that my dad bought new and sold to a neighbor in 1978. In 2000, he convinced the neighbor to sell that '66 to him, and in turn sold the '67 to me. I drove it for a year or two, but pulled it apart when the floors were rusted too bad to pass the state safety inspection.
Originally the plan was to weld in new floors and just drive it. I got put on a waiting list with a shop for the floor replacement, and over that winter decided to swap the powerglide for a 700R-4. I pulled the engine and trans together, and decided to pull the oil pan "just for a look-see." What I thought was a solid 327 turned out to have badly worn bearings, broken rings and ring lands, and missing skirts. The victim of my 7800 rpm abuse. So, it became an engine rebuild and a trans swap. During that process, I mentioned to my brother that I really ought to put a posi in it. He gave me a 12-bolt Chevelle housing, and it got new axles, carrier, and 3.55 gears. And the body work had not yet begun.
The following summer I did some garage door work for a customer who had a '69 Camaro with awesome paint. We got to talking, and it turned out that he was the guy responsible for that awesome paint. He wound up agreeing to do the floors in the '67 for me. That turned into a 2.5 year/300 hour process that ulitmately saw the car come home with equally awesome paint. The car was "finished" in the spring of 2005, and a buddy and I took it on Power Tour. It had something like 200 miles on the drivetrain when we left. We finished PT with only a few minor hiccups. My now-wife and I got engaged in the car later that summer, and took it on our honeymoon the following summer.
Here's a pic of me and my dad washing the car somewhere around 1982.
And here is what it looks like now.
Right now I have the wheels off and the diff cover off. The plan is to swap disc brakes onto the rear, which is something I have been wanting to do for about 6 years now, and just never got done.
And here is the list of the rest of the things I want to get done by the time the roads are clean in the spring.
1. new fuel line (done)
2. new brake lines (done)
3. fix the temp gauge
4. replace the wing window seals
5. replace the speedometer bezel (done)
6. finally get the Malibu emblem on the dash above the glove box
7. replace the front shocks with softer ones
8. adjust the lash in the steering box-- its a little sloppy
9. there is some slop in the front steering assembly-- track it down and eliminate
10. build a new throttle linkage with heims (done)
11. fix the engine drain plug leak
12. get the heater controls working-- the cables are bound up
13. install the electric fan setup I've been sitting on for 5 years
14. install fuel pressure regulator (done)
15. clean up the rat's nest wiring
16. install roll control (done)
17. install long wheel studs (done)
In 1990, my dad bought a low-milage '71 Cutlass, and sold the '67 to my older brother (65 L79 here at FJ). He put power steering, a radio, and a 327 in it. He and his wife drove it a lot, but he had a higher aspiration: the '66 that my dad bought new and sold to a neighbor in 1978. In 2000, he convinced the neighbor to sell that '66 to him, and in turn sold the '67 to me. I drove it for a year or two, but pulled it apart when the floors were rusted too bad to pass the state safety inspection.
Originally the plan was to weld in new floors and just drive it. I got put on a waiting list with a shop for the floor replacement, and over that winter decided to swap the powerglide for a 700R-4. I pulled the engine and trans together, and decided to pull the oil pan "just for a look-see." What I thought was a solid 327 turned out to have badly worn bearings, broken rings and ring lands, and missing skirts. The victim of my 7800 rpm abuse. So, it became an engine rebuild and a trans swap. During that process, I mentioned to my brother that I really ought to put a posi in it. He gave me a 12-bolt Chevelle housing, and it got new axles, carrier, and 3.55 gears. And the body work had not yet begun.
The following summer I did some garage door work for a customer who had a '69 Camaro with awesome paint. We got to talking, and it turned out that he was the guy responsible for that awesome paint. He wound up agreeing to do the floors in the '67 for me. That turned into a 2.5 year/300 hour process that ulitmately saw the car come home with equally awesome paint. The car was "finished" in the spring of 2005, and a buddy and I took it on Power Tour. It had something like 200 miles on the drivetrain when we left. We finished PT with only a few minor hiccups. My now-wife and I got engaged in the car later that summer, and took it on our honeymoon the following summer.
Here's a pic of me and my dad washing the car somewhere around 1982.
And here is what it looks like now.
Right now I have the wheels off and the diff cover off. The plan is to swap disc brakes onto the rear, which is something I have been wanting to do for about 6 years now, and just never got done.
And here is the list of the rest of the things I want to get done by the time the roads are clean in the spring.
1. new fuel line (done)
2. new brake lines (done)
3. fix the temp gauge
4. replace the wing window seals
5. replace the speedometer bezel (done)
6. finally get the Malibu emblem on the dash above the glove box
7. replace the front shocks with softer ones
8. adjust the lash in the steering box-- its a little sloppy
9. there is some slop in the front steering assembly-- track it down and eliminate
10. build a new throttle linkage with heims (done)
11. fix the engine drain plug leak
12. get the heater controls working-- the cables are bound up
13. install the electric fan setup I've been sitting on for 5 years
14. install fuel pressure regulator (done)
15. clean up the rat's nest wiring
16. install roll control (done)
17. install long wheel studs (done)
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