If you would like to save some weight on the nose of your Malibu, an aluminum core support will help. The steel core supports weigh 22 lbs while an aluminum support weighs 13 lbs. They came in about 5% of the BOP vehicles only 78 and possibly 79. If you attend a Buick Grand National race you can find them going for about $300. I bought mine at a junkyard that was all you could carry out for $25. You have to know what you’re looking for because I got three that day and sold one of them for $250.
They can be identified by the letter A stamped on the passengers side (as shown in the picture above). There are very few that are aluminum without the “A” stamp on it. They are easy to spot in the junk yards because there is no rust when you first look at them.
The only modification required is cutting out a small area where the headlights and turn signals are located because of the different headlight configuration.
Here is a shot of the full length of the core support.
