70 Malibu Drastic Restomod - 14 SS Camaro Donor

66108 Views 319 Replies 48 Participants Last post by pcguy, Mar 18, 2022

pcguy

Discussion Starter · Aug 13, 2015 (Edited)

3

Well, it's a good thing I didn't find a 69 Camaro for my restomod project, the 69 is a bit small and the 70 Malibu dimensions are almost identical to the 14 Camaro donor.

About to cut the sunroof from the SS and install it in the 70 as the first step. All the real body work will be left for who ever paints it. No finger pointing here. Ordered new front clip, tail panel and trunk lid.

Very next step is to remove the dash and then to remove the top of the Camaro from just above the floor. Both cars will then go to a chassis and suspension specialist who will merge the driveline/suspension, including the trunk floor and strut towers, into the 70.

Here are a couple of pics - the wiring on the wall represents the harness from the footwell back to the taillights, including the curtain airbags and the upper and lower console. As you can tell, just getting started was a lot of work.

Nick

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pcguy

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 29, 2015

Dash Pad Mockup

Here's a pic of the Camaro dash pad mocked up. Lots of messing around yet.

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Andy's Auto Repair

· #3 · Aug 30, 2015

Very cool. Those SS Camaros run pretty well and a 69 Chevelle is a CRAPTON lighter than that Camaro (my ZL1 is 4340 without me) so once you get past the 14,876 hurdles and you realize your budget is 2/3rds light and the one year project will take 3, you will love it!

Seriously, if you are good at wiring and can fab some fuel lines, it shouldn't be terribly hard to get it done.

pcguy

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 30, 2015

There are a couple of major hurdles with the project. The main one is the relationship of the firewall to the leading edge of the windshield. Getting the much deeper dash to line up at those two points is going to be a trick - still working that out.

The use of the Camaro dash requires that the firewall from the Camaro be transferred so that the protrusions from the dash can be properly extended into the engine bay - unlike the old days, the dash is a self contained unit that includes the brake master cylinder. The dash weighs in at a whopping 250 lb.

The good news is that the width of the dash leaves 1/2" clearance on both sides.

Nick

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zombie1969

· #5 · Aug 31, 2015

Have a video camera ready for when you tell whoever you find to do the suspension what you want done. I want to see the look on there face when you say you want the Camero suspension in the chevelle. Then if they accept the job I want to see your face when you get the bill. . Good luck if you pull this off my hats off to you.

pcguy

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 31, 2015

zombie1969 said:
Have a video camera ready for when you tell whoever you find to do the suspension what you want done. I want to see the look on there face when you say you want the Camero suspension in the chevelle. Then if they accept the job I want to see your face when you get the bill. . Good luck if you pull this off my hats off to you.

Have already found the right guy and the bill is probably just under 50K?

Bcool

· #7 · Aug 31, 2015

probably??? I hate that word.

pcguy

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 31, 2015

Probably, because it's T&M - no contract. Ballpark is about a 3 month job. The guy is a frame, chassis and suspension specialist.

Alwhite00

· #9 · Aug 31, 2015

Can't wait to see this completed.

pcguy

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 31, 2015

Alwhite00 said:
Can't wait to see this completed.

You and me both...

Need to get the dash mockup finished, installed and removed before I bring both cars to him in 6 weeks. He was here and looked at the job, put the Camaro up on the lift, and he wasn't a bit intimidated.

After I get it back, I need to take it to paint for the body removal/restoration and metal work in the interior, or I may do the interior metal work myself. Depends on what the suspension ends up costing.

All new front clip, DII and new bumpers. Hopefully I can transfer the sunroof before the suspension.

Lots to do...

Nick

zombie1969

· #11 · Sep 1, 2015

Just to put this into perspective from the sounds of it when your done you could get a new dodge hellcat chalanger. Just saying been there it's not fun when you think about it after.

pcguy

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 1, 2015

zombie1969 said:
Just to put this into perspective from the sounds of it when your done you could get a new dodge hellcat chalanger. Just saying been there it's not fun when you think about it after.

If you get to be old and have some time and some $ and a desire to create something, fun can be a simple matter of perspective. More than that, how many "7014" Malibu's have you seen, anywhere?

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Andy's Auto Repair

· #13 · Sep 1, 2015

I can't wait to see the progress. I looked at my ZL1 on a rack the other day and both the front and rear suspension are very modular and both are on thier own subframes, Get the match right and it should be very straight forward.

Any consideration to adding the ZL1/1LE magnetic ride control? Besides the look, the power, and the sound, the ride control is the coolest things on a ZL1. Instant change in ride characteristics.

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pcguy

Discussion Starter · #14 · Sep 1, 2015

Andy's Auto Repair said:
I can't wait to see the progress. I looked at my ZL1 on a rack the other day and both the front and rear suspension are very modular and both are on thier own subframes, Get the match right and it should be very straight forward.

Any consideration to adding the ZL1/1LE magnetic ride control? Besides the look, the power, and the sound, the ride control is the coolest things on a ZL1. Instant change in ride characteristics.

There is a video on the Camaro 5 forum of the Camaro being assembled and you are correct about the front and rear suspensions. They are set on a jig and the body is dropped onto them. That's the good and the bad news.

The difficulty in the transition lies in melding the struts to a non-unibody, but I think my guy has it figured out.

In any case, there is the issue of the gas tank (wiring and pump, etc), if I don't incorporated it I have to use modify the existing tank and plum/rewire it. Since the area that is affected is the section under and behind the back seat and since all the audio stuff is there behind the back seat, going to try to use the part of the Camaro body that makes the tank work, including the gas filler door/pipe on the passenger side.

The good news is that the wheelbase on both vehicles is within a 1/4" of each other and the cabin space is also very close.

pcguy

Discussion Starter · #15 · Sep 1, 2015

Forgot, not impressed with the magnetic ride control shocks - have that on my ZR1 and they are leaking and not a warranted item and I don't notice any difference between tour and sport.

pcguy

Discussion Starter · #16 · Sep 4, 2015

3

Struggling with the differences between the windshield angle and the relative position of the firewall where it concerns the final landing spot of the dash.

Found that I needed to wire up the dashpad mockup and take some more photos.

The good news is that the Malibu has more room behind the front seats than the Camaro does. That allows for moving the seat mounts back aby as much as 3".

As you can see from the photos, the dash will extend into the cabin a bit more than the stock Malibu dash, however the steering column in the Camaro is shorter which limits the effect of the dash extension.

The pad in the pics is the damaged (airbag) pad that I will cut as needed to finally fit it correctly - pad will be replaced with a new one. The end result appears to be that the position shown in the pics will be lower at the very front edge by about an inch+ and in the rear by about 2". Also, the whole thing will shift forward about 1-1/2" further reducing the extension into the cabin.

That's my plan and I'm sticking to it...:yes:

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pcguy

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 20, 2015

5

Here are the latest pics - Camaro is cleaned out and mounts have been set on a jig and cut out.

Dash is prepped for mockup and still looking at the modifications needed for the windshield wiper valley.

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BB_Mike

· #18 · Sep 20, 2015

I hope this does come together for you. The heads up display will be sweet. That dash does stick into the cab quit a bit! Are you going to use the shifter? If not i would be interested in it for my project.

I am wanting to use the new camaro door sill carpet covers. The body by fisher pieces. They are a little too short so you have to add the camaro piece on top of the original chevelle piece. If yours look new, and you are not going to use tbem i would like to experiment with them.

Are you going to do the tuning on your own?

When your frame guy comes back with kptions and you are unsure, please do ask us and we'll let you k ow what is too much versus a nice compromise.

Owe, and there is an All wheel drive turbo chevelle running around, and also a chevelle with a c5 vette chassis ans emtior, so if they can do that you can do this. It will take time and it will take money.

Since the car will be OBD2, consider using torque pro and an android tablet for more car vitals. Integrate tbat into the console below the dash. I am on my way to doing this now...

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pcguy

Discussion Starter · #19 · Sep 20, 2015

Cut off the leading 5" of the dash pad/cover and so will be losing the HUD. This gains 5" on the extension into the cabin. Compare the cover on the frame in the photos on the floor to the original mockup in the earlier post.

Will try my hand at programming the end result - been programming computers for almost 50 years. There are some deletes from the BCM, like air bags and energized seat belts and what ever else I encounter along the way. Not really interested in improving the HP/torque of the L99, at least not early on.

My guess is that this will be at least another two years - into it at almost a year since I got the donor and 6 months since the Malibu, which was complete and running, as was the Camaro sans the wrecked front end.

pcguy

Discussion Starter · #20 · Sep 20, 2015

Oh, and the first test of the full dash mockup comes this Saturday. Hopefully the 9" extension of the dash from the A-pillar will work.

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