Experienced masters, please provide restoration guidance

[Ricko1966]

There you go teasing me again...

I was thinking of you today. I spotted a Malibu wagon sitting,doesn't look too rough. And I thought man that would be good place to put my other 454. When I have some time I'm going to back see if I can talk to whoever owns it,it doesn't look bad from the road,but it's been sitting a while.

 

[Turbo4whl]

and a Sony am/fm 2 Knob

I might know what this is....

I wanna see the car!! That’s one of my dream cars.

I want to see that radio install!

 

[Ricko1966]

I was thinking of you today. I spotted a Malibu wagon sitting,doesn't look too rough. And I thought man that would be good place to put my other 454. When I have some time I'm going to back see if I can talk to whoever owns it,it doesn't look bad from the road,but it's been sitting a while.

@bucket Funny about this post,look at what I ran across today.

The Story Behind The Rare 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Wagon And Its Massive 7.4-Liter V8

In 1973, Chevrolet made the 454 V8 available for the Chevelle SS Malibu Wagon, creating a rare muscle wagon with just around 71 examples produced.

www.hotcars.com

 

[bucket]

@bucket Funny about this post,look at what I ran across today.

The Story Behind The Rare 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Wagon And Its Massive 7.4-Liter V8

In 1973, Chevrolet made the 454 V8 available for the Chevelle SS Malibu Wagon, creating a rare muscle wagon with just around 71 examples produced.

www.hotcars.com

I wonder where they came up with the "71" figure. Everything I've read in the past, the figures were unknown, but guesses were as many as 200 big blocks and around 1200 SS wagons overall.

They must have been built at several factories too. That one in the article has the "chevelle" badge on the grille and tailgate, but mine does not. Mine also does not have a rear sway bar, but that was supposed to be included with the SS option. Iirc, that one in the article has the rear sway bar.

 

[mtbadbob]

Ok, I am basically fully redoing my 77 K25, I am upgrading things along the way including a new transmission, I am currently at almost $18K and I am doing 99% of this by myself. Still gotta finish metal work and then move to body & paint, plus engine, interior, driveshafts, then all the other odds and ends that it needs along the way. Check out my build thread to see the depth of how I am doing my truck but I fully intend this to be somewhere around $40k when I am said and done... If I paid someone to do this, it would likely be close to $100k to do this truck. I have been trying to keep my costs tracked on a spreadsheet so I might be off a few hundred of where I am so far, but you can see how much it costs to do one.

Unless you're wanting to get the self-accomplishment feeling out of doing a resto, it is way more financially wise to buy a well done truck/Blazer that is completed, that's for sure!

 

[gilby959798]

Unless you're wanting to get the self-accomplishment feeling out of doing a resto, it is way more financially wise to buy a well done truck/Blazer that is completed, that's for sure!

Yep, this was a family truck and I wanted to learn how to do it, so here we are.

 

[Scruffy49]

Our truck is a straight up hodge podge static dropped restomod/lowrider. On the “as inexpensive as possible while keeping it safe” track. Braided stainless soft lines, real ones, not cheap slip on Pep Boys grade junk. All stainless hard lines. All metal brake master cylinder, no rotten plastic reservoir. All poly bushings/mounts, squeaks happen, it’s an old Chebby. Bolt in C notch and flip kit from Ebay. . Drop spindles and cut to suit front coils, f/r shock relocators. Do the upholstery and ChooChoo Customs style wood pieces at home. Do all the body and paint (custom colors, factory 85 only style) at home.

Late father-in-law’s last truck. Building for my wife. I’d have knocked out the glass and put it in a demolition derby… 1985 C10 swb Silverado with a 4.3 V6… bleah.. NOT a fan of 2wd, 1/2 tons or short beds. NOT adding up the costs, not keeping track, don’t actually want to know. Probably safer that way.

My 99 K3500 on the other hand? No expenses spared to turn a base LS c&c into the equivalent of a Centurion package.