81 malibu with camaro driveline

[88irocZ]

i dont know if this is the right place to post this but i own an 88 iroc and i just bought a 81 malibu wagon for < cheap. i want to make a bad ass street car out of it or basically make it a sleeper. i have been looking at putting a newer camaro or corvette driveline in it. but im not big on fuel injection. im used to working with carbed motors with far less wiring. but i know i want to put a t-56 in it in place of the old automatic. im thinking an ltl would be the best option for me b/c you can get them pretty reasonable. But i was wondering how hard all this would be to install. i have never done anything this extensive. i will probably need get a donar car for this project. The biggest thing im worried about is changing it from an auto to a 6-speed. i have never worked with a manual anything. what all will i need make the change? i know i will need the trans but can i use the pedals out of a newer camaro? and i know you have to change the master sylinder and clutch too can i get these out of the newer camaro? or will i have to find an old malibu that was a manual and get all that stuff from it and then just use the new trans? it would be excellent if i could talk to someone who has done something like this so i know what im getting myself into. but let me know what you guys think.

[MagicRat]

A Malibu wagon would be cool, but you would end up with a car you could never sell for what you put into it.
Someone might correct me, but the SBC chevy motor changed in '88, so I believe the older, carb intake manifolds will not fit. You would need to use an aftermarket aluminum carburetor -type intake specifically designed for '88 to 96(?) small blocks and use a non-computer controlled distributor.

IMHO keep the original fuel injection system, ECM and all the sensors that comes with the new engine. They are not that difficult to work on, especially if you use a pre OBDII (on board diagnostics II) system, and they save a lot of tuning. Retaining the original electronics would be required if you use a later engine with the crank trigger type ignition. I believe '96 was the first year for OBDII, but some one might want to correct me.

As for the manaul trans, try to find a complete manual trans engine and transmission. Avoid mixing an engine intended for an auto trans with a standard trans.
Most auto transmission V8's do not have a hole for the pilot bushing drilled into the back of the crankshaft. A machine shop can install one (you can NOT do this successfully at home!) but you, or the machine shop) would have to remove the cank to do so.
If you do this, it would be an excellent time to throw in new bearing, oil pump, polish and measure the bearing journals, etc.

The clutch pedal would be tougher to do. Standard Malibus had a linkage for the clutch and I believe your trans uses a hydraulic clutch, so using the Malibu set up is out. You can use Camaro pedals and clutch master cyl, but you would need to fabricate a mount and pivit point for it. Its not too difficult to do, the malibu is pretty roomy under the dash, but it would take some time.

You would need to fabricate a trans mount (easy to do) and get a custom made driveshaft, to adapt the new trans to the old rear end. A good driveline shop can fabricate one.
As for the shifter, cut a hole in the floor! Likely you will need to toss the wagon's old bench seats.

[curtis73]

ditt0^^^

[88irocZ]

hey man thanks alot that info really helped i think i can pull that stuff off but if i did away with the efi on the lt1 and just ran intake and carb would that do away with having to use the computer? also im not really worried about not getting my money back this will be just a fun project for me that i will probably keep for a while. plus for the $50 i payed for the malibu body its kind of hard to loose too much money. i have to say i havent bought an ltl donar car i just know of one i can get that will suit my needs. i was thinking it would probably be much cheaper and easier to run a 350 and t-5 out of a mid 80's camaro. then i wouldnt have to do the clutch thing thats what im worried about the most is the clutch. but those arent near as fast as an lt1

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by 88irocZ

hey man thanks alot that info really helped i think i can pull that stuff off but if i did away with the efi on the lt1 and just ran intake and carb would that do away with having to use the computer? also im not really worried about not getting my money back this will be just a fun project for me that i will probably keep for a while. plus for the $50 i payed for the malibu body its kind of hard to loose too much money. i have to say i havent bought an ltl donar car i just know of one i can get that will suit my needs. i was thinking it would probably be much cheaper and easier to run a 350 and t-5 out of a mid 80's camaro. then i wouldnt have to do the clutch thing thats what im worried about the most is the clutch. but those arent near as fast as an lt1

First of all, you can lose many thousands on this project, even if you got the wagon for free. .
I would say if you use an LT1 and a 6 speed and set everything up properly, including interior work, susrension work to compensate for the extra load, etc, this project will suck up $10k, including labour, but likely would sell for 5k. Thats a lot of money to lose.
I do not want to discourage you.....if a hot wagon floats your boat, more power to you.....but likely no one else will want it, so be prepared to lose $$$ on this project.
But that is okay if you want to do this.

350's from the '80's can really be made to go very fast, for less than an LT1. There is nothing wrong with building one, instead of a 350.
Running an LT1 without a computer may take quite a lot of time and money, depending on the year, anyways.
The t-5 is a bad choice for a decent 350. It will break (trust me, I know). How about a Muncie 4 spd or a Doug Nash 4+3 (out of an '80's Vette).
I know you want a manual trans, but running an auto would cut the costs and work required for this project considerably.

[88irocZ]

"this project will suck up $10k, including labour, but likely would sell for 5k"

i seriously doubt i will have $10k in this wagon. i mean i have the wagon and most of the interior and so far i have $50 in all of that. i figure i can find a camaro from a junkyard with the driveline in tact for about 3 grand then i will put them together . i will be doing most of the labor myself so that is not a problem. i figure i would probably have about $5k in this car when its all said and done. but i will not be doing it all at once so it will be a long project.