Start of 73 SS malibu restoration project

by rogal_tx Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:20 pm

Welcome everyone,

I'm finally to the point to start restoring my 73 SS malibu. I'm debating where to start since I do have financial limits. Any suggestions what would be most beneficial to restore or replace: breaks, suspension, body work, interior, got 12 bolt posi to install? (not interested in motor or trany upgrades as of right now.)

Thanks

by JB2wheeler Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:38 pm

Improvements to the basic car are fine, but the first thing to do is get the car in perfect stock condition. That means take care of rust and dents on body and change the oil in engine/trans, etc. Once that is done you can improve the car by upgrading the exhaust and other things. JB

by The Dude Fri Mar 16, 2012 1:40 pm

Brakes are fine in these cars, but if you want to upgrade, later models (76-77?) had larger rear drums.

Suspension is a good place to start. Our cars are already far better than older A Bodies & the suspension design was so well that it lasted until 1996 when they killed the Impala SS. I suggest a larger front sway bar, rear sway bar, good monotube shocks, & the rest depends on your driving style.

If the body has areas that need serious attention, tackle this first before anything else. The longer you hold off, the more expensive it will be to repair down the road.

Interior is fun, but leave it for last. This is the area of the car that will affect you the most & your tastes might change between now & when you finish your project.

The 12 bolt will be a waste of time since our cars came with an 8.5 10 bolt that is nearly as strong. A few members on here are pushing big HP numbers running the stock rearend. Not to mention the fab work needed to fit one since they never came in 73-77 A Bodies.

Might consider a free upgrade, tuck your front bumper. Look in the tech section for several ideas on how to accomplish this.

by rogal_tx Fri Mar 16, 2012 1:59 pm

Yeah, body work does need some attanchion but overall it isn't so bad. I had car for 5 yrs and it's been a good project. One think thats really affecting driving is play in steering. I had gear box rebuild and helped some but still.

by pila Fri Mar 16, 2012 5:38 pm

Not too many parts left to do, in your steering. The idler arm is usually worn, and when it moves up & down, the steering wanders. Shop around for 4 new tie-rod ends, and a center link, along with the idler arm. Most local auto parts stores have that stuff, like the Moog brand etc.....

by 77mali Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:44 pm

I'm doing it all at once...LOL. I started w/ "major" body work which in my case was repairing the roof under the vinyl top. I'm currently back & forth between interior, dash & engine work. Pulling the engine & trans for painting & will tackle the engine bay & front of the part of the frame for paint as well & rustproofing. My suspension upgrades will have to wait until next year as they tend to be expensive at that time will be doing the undercarriage, brakes upgrade, shocks, rustproofing....etc. If you're not careful you can create quite the laundry list.

by 1973montec Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:02 pm

good luck

by rogal_tx Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:06 pm

thanks everyone for suggestions and tips.

by Psychlonic Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:01 am

If you're hard on the car I'd have to say the 12 bolt is not a waste of time at all. My 77 is only pushing 450HP and I blew up the rear gears accelerating up a hill. Granted, the car had also seen its share of burnouts, drag races, and various other tests in closed off settings and also has a 700r4 swap. While strong, they ARE old parts and who knows if the gear oil has ever even been changed in your car? It could have been overheated and cooled over and over in its lifetime making it weak and just waiting for the wrong moment to bust the differential to pieces.

That said, in order of importance I'd put that on the bottom of everything else especially if your motor isn't too far from stock which is what it sounds like. In fact, until you do decide to upgrade the motor and tranny I wouldn't worry about it, but it's always a nice touch.

by Joe73 Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:13 am

If I remember correctly the 10 bolt 8.5 rears have a bigger front pinion bearing than the old 12 bolts. I believe when GM made that upgrade in
1970 1/2, along with going to the 8.5" ring gear, it made the 10 bolt a much stronger rear. But if you have the 12 bolt and its a posi, I'd throw it in.

I've installed quite a few Auburn posi units in 4x4's and cars. They've been beat on pretty good with no problems.

by rogal_tx Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:18 am

You are right, motor is stock for most part but its not original. I run the numberes a while back and it looked like it came out of 86 chevy truck (code referenced Canada which I found strainged)
My 12 bolt posi got 4.73 gears in it. Got it from my friend, he had it on his 74 monte so I probably wouldn't worry so much about overheating because I know he takes care of his toy. From what I've seen and hear him do with 12 bolt in his car sounds like it would be a nice upgrade.

by bagpipe71 Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:00 am

stated with floor pans here ,then body work ,interior,dash,engine just befor paint,will do suspension last senes it doesn't effect the body work,then wheels

by rogal_tx Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:19 pm

My fuel gauge went crazy last night cruising down the road. The needle is stock of F but I got half a tank, know that before got gas couple hr. before and needle showed it like it should. Any idea what can be wrong with it? Ground problem maybe? Fuel gauge inside the tank? I got new printed circle board so I know that’s not the problem.

by 77mali Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:37 pm

Check the grounds but could be the sending unit...not a fun job. What gauges do you have the sweep or the round?

by rogal_tx Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:03 pm

its an original round fuel gauge

by 77mali Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:24 pm

The sending unit is a common problem if it's the original one but look at the wires coming out of the tank & follow them to check for any fraying. I don't know what can go wrong w/ the gauge itself but you might want to check that it's getting juice. I'd check anything electrically related to the gauge before dropping the tank but if the gauge was working good with the new C-board before this started I can't imagine the issue is there.

by rogal_tx Thu Mar 22, 2012 3:47 pm

I will start with checking wires from sending unit to the front. One other think I recall, right before it happened I had hard time starting the car and before it started every time. but this might not have anything to do with gauge not working. Will try to start the car first when I get home to see if got same starting issue.

by 77mali Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:24 pm

That could be the unit not sending gas up front to the carb...do you have a fuel filter on the car? Check that too and look at the gas line from the fuel pump to the carb to see if you have any gas in there.

by rogal_tx Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:32 pm

I do have clear fuel filter by the carb, that would be the first thing I will check when I get home. I will post tomorrow on what I found.
Thanks for all replies.

by rogal_tx Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:40 am

Ok, here is what I found.
Fuel filter is full of gas and car starts every time.
Since I got fuel pump switch (on/off) I traced wires from battery to switch and fuel pump that is located in front of fuel tank and wires are good.
I did found ground wire going into fuel sending unit and it appears good, but there should be another wire from fuel sending unit that will run to the cluster and read fuel level correct? I can't find that wire anywhere. Even pulled off the cluster to look at the printed board and it is good.

Since fuel tank is so close to the body I couldn't get to the fuel sending unit with my hand so looks like only option will be to take it down.

Any other options?

by 77mali Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:01 pm

Ugh...that sucks. At this point I would speak to a mechanic. I'll look in my Haynes manual to see if there is anything else to check. I've pulled a tank before, it is a time consuming job. Would hate to see you do that needlessly. They might be able to tell if it's the gauge itself. The other thing too is the C-board do you still have your old one to compare the two? I have two and they are both off the car, one is a 77 sweep gauge set up & the other is an idiot light round gauge set up from a 73 Monte with the large speedo & gas gauges.

by rogal_tx Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:11 pm

What about another wire from the fuel sending unit? its has to be somewhere. I don't think its the gague or the printed board. Ive carefully compared new board with old one when installed. Plus it worked fine till couple days a go.

I do have another tank with sanding unit so I might have to do dirty work and pull it down, what sucks is fact that the tank is half full.

I will keep you posted on the status!! thanks for help

by 77mali Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:54 pm

The wire from the sending unit are pink or tan to the gauges and Black & White or black in the back. There is a diagram in my manual for the instrument panel, if you want I can try & take a pic (if I can find my camera) LOL.

by Biomedtech Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:29 am

There are a bunch of places that wire can get crimped or cut along the way to to the gauge.

Just pulled out a complete harness from a 76 yesterday and the routing is as follows:

From sender the wire goes through a single conductor plug behind the license plate.

It then ties into the rear lighting wiring harness. This harness runs along the drivers side of the trunk where it connects into a multi-conductor plug in the upper drivers side corner of the bulkhead between the trunk and passenger compartment just below the package shelf.

From the connector it travels down to the floorboard in a brown shielded multi-strand cable into a black plastic conduit that runs beneath the carpet.

From there it connected into the main fuse block where the cable ties into the main wiring harness.

From the Main harness it connects into the cluster circuit board.

I'll be over there later today dismantling some more and I'll take some pictures and edit this as I go.

by 77mali Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:38 pm

I forgot about the plug by the plate! If that's loose you might have an intermittent signal to the gauge.

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