Ok, here's a full day's work.

I started the day with 2 doors and the trunk lid with the first coat of blocking primer. Primer was sprayed late yesterday and cured overnight.

Door block sanded after first primer coat:


Trunk lid ditto;


Door with second primer coat at the end of the day after block sanding, filler application to fix imperfections, blocking the body filler, spraying with guide coat and sanding again.


Ditto for this panel.


The trunk lid has some crazy contours and took more patience than I normally have.

Skipping dinner and going straight to the Crown!!

Just wait untill you are finished. I am sure centerpole can agree, there is nothing like driving around town, getting asked about it and saying "I built it" and then busting out your phone to show them that you mean that YOU took 10,000 pieces of metal, plastic and rubber and made a car out of them. You didn't bolt on some aftermarket parts, you didn't have a shop do it. You ****ing BUILT it.

No doubt!
Reinforced by the fact that, IMHO, the 1970 chevelle body is the best of the muscle car era.
I'll get there, if the $$$ and patience hold out.

Ok, so what is it?
Wrapped in protective plastic it's the freshly machined and assembled big block 396 which will eventually live under the hood of my Chevelle.

Engine highpoints:
Bored .060 (block was .030 over when I found it)
Roller cam
Forged pistons
Competition 3 angle valve job
Ported heads
Balanced and trued
High volume oil pump
Fuel Injection.

Ok, it won't have a big honkin 750 carb but I opted for the dependability of FI. The big block air cleaner sits perfectly on the FI so it looks original

For the guys who suggested going back stock Malibu; this car will look SS. Stripes, cowl induction hood, badging.

However, paying homage to the original Malibu, I'm thinking about keeping the bench seats and backing the 396 with a Muncie 4 speed.

Bench seats and floor shift 4 speed was an SS option in 70. Actually, bench seats and column shift auto was also an option.

Guy doing the metal work on my car has a 70 SS 454 which was originally a 454 column shift auto with bench seats. Lady who bought it new in Killeen wanted a big motor to pull her boat but didn't want it to look like a hot rod. Not bucket seats and no stripes.

An SS 454 pulling a boat. Hmmm.

Opinions welcome on my idea about bench seats and 4 speed.

FAST was recommended by the owner of the performance machine shop I used for the engine work. He showed me several high dollar muscle cars he'd converted from carb to FAST FI.
Owners were happy with it.
FI is a major plus over carb for cars that are occasional drivers, as this one will be.

Fender ready for primer



Primed



Trunk repair complete; welds ground and smoothed with filler. It will get a coat of bed liner, lightly textured, then splatter paint.



New cowl induction hood scuffed and prepped for primer



Made the Conroe swap meet and picked up some stuff; samples below:





After much thought and cost comparison, decided to go with a 700r4 auto transmission. Picked up a rebuildable one in Conroe. Cost of a 4 speed conversion was way high so I dropped that idea.

The TH400 was GM's factory ****** for big blocks but has no overdrive. The 700 is lighter duty than the 400 but has overdrive.

I found a semi-retired transmission guy who's built 700s for big block application. This car will be a Sunday afternoon cruiser, never punched very hard. The beefed up 700 should be fine.

Next: Get the engine, ******, exhaust, fuel tank, brakes and lines set on the frame.

Then body back on the frame and start fitting doors, fenders, hood and trunk lid.

Note: * * * * * * = t r a n n y. Guess texags is sensitive to sexual identity .

Top of floor pan and trunk coated with bedliner.

Coated underside of trunk pan as well.

No more rust on this baby!!

And some good sound deadening as well.

Amazing how fast you're going. Thanks for sharing the journey with us