1983 Malibu Wagon (Swaggin Wagon)

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Well I was told to start a build thread for my wagon so here it is. Right now it's just sitting though. Unfortunately the hacking probably won't start until after the holidays since I have real estate classes in the next couple weekends and the car is at my buddies due to lack of space at my house.

What I'm looking at doing is making this a fun streetable track car on a budget. The car itself was $1100.

The main thing is that the mechanical fuel pump has a leak which will be replaced with a stock unit which is about $25.

As mentioned in the other thread is has a 350 already but with the stupid little GM Quadrajet carb since he was going to run it in stock eliminator at first which that plan changed. Right now my buddy said I can have his Holley 650 for nothing since it's just sitting around. He also has a rebuild kit for it. So there's the start to the budget build. Now it's a 350 but the 906 Vortec heads are going to be put on there which means a different manifold will be needed. Also to note the Vortec heads don't allow for much lift for the cam, so I'm kind of limited with that. Looking at Edelbrock manifold as long as it's an 8 bolt hole manifold compared to the typical 12 on the older 350s. The car has open headers right now, so I will look for cheap Flowmaster mufflers probably to do the job along with turndowns on it. It doesn't have a heater or power steering right now which will be eventually put back on. The 10 bolt rear has 2.73 gears which will be changed out to a Monte Carlo SS rear that has posi and 3.73s. That will be no more than $200.

Current goal with this car is to put the car into the 13s at least for now and maybe push for 12s down the road. Hoping to do all of this under $2000 and that's including the price of the car too. I will have to get interior pics when I can.

 

DropTopPony

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We had a 73 Plymouth Wagon with a big block, but also had fake wood paneling and the stickiest vinyl seats.


Excited to see this build.
 

TanTop94

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A friend of mine has a volvo wagon he swapped a built 383 in, thing was alot of fun but he went to make it a daily and sold the 383 for a 305. Have fun!
 

the5.ohh

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Nicee dude. You got an exhaust clip of that 350 with open headers? I bet that wagon is faster than a bunch of cars on here haha
 

SLOW95GTS

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Nice, I'd love to get my hands on a fairmont like my dad and I built and slap a coyote motor in it.
 

jwhisl

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Nice!!!! I've always liked station wagons. I want to eventually build on as a sleeper drag car lol
 

bonestock3.8DTH

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I love those cars! One of my good friends has a super clean 79 Malibu 2 door, its such a badass looking car except its got the original 263ci v8 so you could imagine how slow the car is, I thought my car was super slow until I drove it! I really want to build a fairmont, but I don't recall whether or not they came in a wagon, which sucks because I ****ing love wagons!
 
OP
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I love those cars! One of my good friends has a super clean 79 Malibu 2 door, its such a badass looking car except its got the original 263ci v8 so you could imagine how slow the car is, I thought my car was super slow until I drove it! I really want to build a fairmont, but I don't recall whether or not they came in a wagon, which sucks because I ****ing love wagons!
LTD wagon is what you'd be looking for.
 
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My buddy was nice enough to wash the car before it rained. The cars paint looks half decent now after the wash. He was also test fitting hubcaps for it too haha.

Right now the current plan is to get some custom exhaust done exiting behind the tires. That's going to cost $300 and then another $80-90 for the mufflers I'm supplying.
 
OP
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Well the car is actually running now thanks to a $20 fuel pump. My buddy and I also started cleaning up the car the day after Christmas and the interior is pretty good looking for how old the car is. The next thing we need is a windshield wiper motor and exhaust set up to tag it and we should be good to go. Down below is a video of my buddy having a little fun with it.

 
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Well my buddy found a great deal on exhaust that is from the headers on back including high flow cats, h pipe, flowmaster 40s mufflers and it exits behind the rear tires for $150. Unfortunately this guy is horrible at contacting me back. I texted him at 1 saying I'd leave my place at 3-4 to pick it up and he said that would work since he was a cop and got called into work. Well I haven't heard from him since then. I have a feeling he didn't take it off the car yet.

Other than that, I got a couple gauges for the car and some wiper arms since that was all missing. I just need a few things to put it on the street.
 

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