New guy 79 factory 4 speed wagon.

[Mighty]

Also, I’ve still got your shifter in mind. I’ve got some aluminum saved up to try to mimic the brackets you made but if it gets too far out of hand I might be in touch with you. I’m probably still a few weeks out from worrying about that anyways since I only really work on the car for 3-4 hours a night 3-4 times a week. My brother will be doing the trans and I’ll be watching lol. He seems to think he can get it figured out for install but I don’t want to take up too much of his time since he’s got a business to run. He read through your t10 swap thread too.

 

[t5montecarlo]

You've got a lot of support here; you're in good hands.

If you can get your hands on a factory service manual for a 2nd gen Camaro of Firebird, it will have a section of rebuilding the T10.

GearBox Video on youtube is also a good resource for T10 rebuild info, with some tips that the factory service manual won't have, such as parts sources.

 

[Mighty]

This is where I’m at now. I took the brake lines off, e-brake that wasn’t hooked up, and the evap line all off and removed the 9 inch so I could sand as best as I could up inside the spring towers. Then I made a few more passes over the entire frame. I don’t have the first clue about metal prep but I’m going to blow it off with air tomorrow and hopefully get it all painted. I probably spent 5 or so hours between tonight and Thursday night with a wire brush bit on a drill and a little air grinder on the frame. I feel like I could keep going and going but my dad said to knock the big stuff off and just get it nice and rough. The paint I bought for the frame was $75. I’d like to get it all painted tomorrow then Thursday night when I get there start putting the fuel line on, new brake line on, and get the rearend bolted back on. It’d be nice to have the body set back in place but that’s probably just wishful thinking until the weekend of next Monday night.

 

[Mighty]

This is where I’m at now. A guy recommended me some marine grade coating that was $75 so I put the first coat on last night. I’m not going to the shop tonight but he said let it cure then do a second coat so that’s what I’ll do tomorrow I guess. Then rattle can it black. I laid on the concrete doing the bottom of the Frame for a little over a hour and a half probably. The second picture is the bottom side of one of the spring towers. If anyone has any advice on how to do the inside of the frame rails where It’s “boxed” or the very rear end sections where it’s square I’d like to hear them. I did the inside of the C channel sections as best as I could but I bet there’s plenty of bare spots on the upper part of the rail on the inside. Figured the car will only get a couple hundred miles a year on it and no snow/salt so maybe I’ll just stick the oil wand inside the frame rails in the fall and fill them up and call it good. It’s not a pristine show car anyways but I’d like to preserve it as long as possible.

 

[t5montecarlo]

Some spray coatings come with along straw and a nozzle that sprays in several directions. That may be the only solution for inside the boxed parts of the frame.

 

[Mighty]

Frames done and painted black now. Did the best I could. Haven’t made a ton of progress lately. Last night I fought with the last remaining broken body bolt for way too long and finally got it out. My brother ran the tap up through there because at that point my patience was gone with that damn thing. Then around 9:15pm I decided to get the rearend attached back to the frame. The new metal fuel line I got was way different than factory where it ran inside the frame up by the control arms so I took it back along with the original and they straightened it out for me. It’s back on now too. Tonight hopefully I can do the brake line and I’m probably going to wire brush some of the flaking paint and rust off of the bottom of the body and take some primer to it too. I don’t know yet.

 

[t5montecarlo]

Keep at it, even slowly, and eventually it will get done.

I replaced the long brake line that goes to the back of the car. In addition to the bend in the middle (for packaging purposes), the back end of the line was also incorrectly bent, either by the manufacturer or during shipping. Luckily I noticed it when comparing the new vs. old on the ground and adjusted it before trying to install it.

 

[Mighty]

Yep, I’m going to keep plugging away. The brake line that I’m replacing had already been replaced once by the previous owner but when I removed the rearend I just said whatever and cut it. My brother has a fresh spool of copper line anyways.

 

[Mighty]

Got my fuel line run through the frame and got started wire brushing the loose paint and surface rust on the body. It took me way longer than I thought to clean and primer but after I throw some paint on tonight I might finally be able to lower body down.

 

[matty man]

Hello everyone new guy from central ohio. Back around 1998 or so my dad bought a 79 Malibu wagon factory 4 speed car. Bench seat, air, crank windows, power steering, radio delete car. I was probably 12 or 13 and my brother was 15 or 16 and it was just a father son project. Put a run of the mill 350 in it and an after market clutch and ran it for a year or two. Then came a 9inch with 4.56 gears and 31 spline mosers. Tore into the motor for a meatier solid lifter cam, victor junior intake, and Holley 650 carb but never raced it again. As a matter of fact, everyone lost interest in it. My dad moved on to Harley’s, then old mopars which’s he’s still tinkering with today. I was the only one that wanted him to keep the car and about 5 years ago he handed the keys over to me. The tags on it expired in 2003. So here I’m am at 36 tearing back into it. I ditched the 456 right away for a set of 3.89’s. My brother now runs his own shop and I have access to a lift. I’ve got quite a bit of work to do on the car as I’m seeing missing screws all over the place for interior pieces and the bumper just about fell off when I racked it up from a missing body mount bolt that I replaced. I found this sight doing some searching because I bought a cobbled together muncie 4 speed and a super t10 from a friend of my dads a couple of years ago hoping to put one in the car. I’ve read about the saginaw and how weak they are and I’d like to preserve it. I want to use the super t10. I’ve got it all opened up and everything looks good inside but my brother said he would help me rebuild it so I have to find a rebuild kit. Now, im not familiar with these older 4 speeds but i glanced through all 30 or so pages of the transmission section on this forum and if a lot of the members are still around they could probably help me out. I know it’s not a direct bolt in replacement. My dad and brother explained how the shifters were mounted in different places and the differences in levers. Took me a minute to catch on with the “lever” talk due to there being levers on the trans and levers on the shifter. I’ve got one thread on here saved by a member named doober that looks pretty informative. I just want the car back together so I can take it to a car show here in there during the warmer months mostly but I would like to see what it would run in the 1/4 mile. The only reason I’d like to swap the super t10 in is because I bought new wheels and tires for it. 26x9 Mickey Thompson et streets. I was worried about the traction breaking something in the saginaw. I have to get a new driveshaft made already so I know I’ll need a 32 spline yolk for the ST10. Anyways, hopefully there’s some members around that might be able to help clarify some things I’ll need for the swap. Glad to be here

Welcome from central Ohio!!
I am down in Grove City, nice wagon project you have there!. This is a good site and another is G body G garage on FB page, there is a great A/G body show in Medina fairgrounds below Cleveland on July 22, check Classic G body garage on FB. It is for the 78-87 A/G bodies which your wagon is, will be a great day!. Last year we had 240+ G bodies and this year it moved down to Medina county fairgrounds, I am guessing over 300+ G bodies this year. Hope to see you around here this summer 🌞.
Matty man