GMI Virtual Tuner #1: Chevrolet Mad Maxx

[Ming]

GMI Virtual Tuner #1: Chevrolet Mad Maxx
By Ming & GMInsidenews Staff
www.gminsidenews.com

GMI Virtual Tuner List:
1. 2004 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx / Malibu V6
2. 2004 Pontiac GTO
3. 2005 Cobalt SS
4. 2006 Pontiac G6 GT Coupe
5. 2005 Monte Carlo
6. 2005 Saab 9-2x - or your choice here?


In the face of all the recent negative news on GM, I decided a little fun was in order. A series of articles that don't take themselves too seriously, and in fact require a little imagination...that is, unless you get out there and make them a reality.



After a recent trip to a book store's magazine rack, I came to a conclusion. Recently introduced GM cars don't have nearly the Media support for "aftermarket tuning" and modification that new Import brand cars and older Detroit muscle & pony cars have. You can find how-to guides, well-photographed examples of reader's rides with attractive models draped over them in skimpy clothing, for those Imports, F-bodies and Mustangs, but not for many of GM's new and improved (in particular FWD) models on the market. If I see another magazine article on a modified Scion with a paint job heralding it as the "New Breed of Speed" I might just hurl. So I decided something needed to be done to remedy that deficiency. I quickly dumped the idea of me getting in to a bikini and draping myself over shiny new GM cars at the dealership. No one wants to see that. I settled instead on making some "Fantasy" modifications to new-ish GM cars. In the first, I took a fellow Staff Member's Malibu Maxx as my inspiration, came up with a theme, and went with it. The result is a list of what COULD be done to his car with a budget of about $3500.00, and several hours of bolt-on modifications that don't require an extensive amount of expertise or a degree from an a automotive engineering school to accomplish. I've also added a variation of the theme, using a regular Malibu V6, and a Supercharger. The first, Mad Maxx, is about all-around performance and looks, while the second is the "Sleeper" Malibu that looks like a grocery getter but has some goodies under the hood, out of sight. Of course any combination of the two could work. In fact, conjuring Mad Max brings to mind a big supercharger sticking out of the hood, so that would be a worthy, if expensive, add on for the Mad Maxx project car. Regardless, I wanted to keep the price low, in both cases, and under $5000. Spending any more than that would justify trading in your Malibu and going out and buying a 2006 Malibu/Maxx SS.

Anyway, here are the modifications I came up with, and you are free to suggest changes or tell us what you think the performance would be like after putting the time and money into this. Also, we'd love to see YOUR idea of what the ultimate build-up of a Malibu would be, given what is available out there now, and keeping it all under 5000 bucks. And yeah, I know you Camaro guys are going to say "Why would anyone want to sink money into a FWD car?" Well, let's just pretend that there is a huge market for that kind of thing, and there's no reason why GM cars shouldn't be able to get in on the action.

A large percentage of the parts I have listed below are specific to the Malibu / Malibu Maxx. I encourage you to check the links to the sites listed if you hesitate to believe that there are actually performance parts available for the new Malibu....because incredibly enough, there are! There may be a few items I left out, like brackets for the racing seats. There are other things I would have loved to have added, but even with the number of parts available, the 3500 Malibu / Maxx's list of options are not as long or as extensive as, say, a Honda Civic or Ford Mustang. So I worked with what was available, and came up with these:

Project Chevrolet Mad Maxx

Before:

2004 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx
Engine: 3.5L V6
Transmission: 4 Speed Automatic
Horsepower @ RPM 200@5400
Torque @ RPM 220@3200

Modifications:

Engine:

RSM Lightened billet aluminum Crank Pulley - .($180.00) www.rsmracing.com

Air Filter - Fram Air Hog High Performance Air Filter - ($54.97) www.pepboys.com

DIS Ignition System - ($460.00) www.rsmracing.com

AC Delco performance wires - ($59.99) www.rsmracing.com

HyperVoltage System MR-S - ($179.99) www.gravanatuning.com

Braking / Suspension / Tires:

Springs - H&R Sport Lowering Springs - 1.5-inch Drop ($247.99) www.gravanatuning.com

Pirelli P6000 Sport Veloce 215/60VR16 Tires x4 - ($392.00) www.tirerack.com

Slotted / Crossdrilled Rotors - ($60.00/set) - Front + Rear = ($120.00) www.rsmracing.com

Front Strut Tower Brace - ($300.00) www.rsmracing.com

Interior / Exterior:

Seats - Recaro Speed 4-Point Seat - Black Suede W/ Black Vinyl Bolsters ($649.99) www.gravanatuning.com

Schroth ASM Rallye 4-point Harness (For Recaro Racing Seat) - ($156.95) www.soloperformance.com



4-Piece Body Kit - ($850.00, free shipping) www.razzi.com

+ Paint to Match Factory color at local paint & body shop - ($400.00 approx., and more for a "classic Mad Max" yellow, red and blue custom paint scheme)

After (excluding wheels):


Total:
$3594.93

-------------------------

Malibu V6 Sleeper

Engine:

RSM Supercharger Kit - 80+ HP gain. Includes Vortech supercharger, all brackets and oil lines, belts and pulleys, ECU programming, adjustable blow-off valve, FMU, induction piping, and K&N cone filter. Gain is 80 HP and 75 ft/lbs of torque with 8 PSI boost. ($3900.00) www.rsmracing.com

RSM Lightened billet aluminum Crank Pulley - .($180.00) www.rsmracing.com

Air Filter- Fram Air Hog High Performance Air Filter - ($54.97) www.pepboys.com

Suspension / Tires / Brakes:

Polyurethane Bushing Kit - Includes front control arm bushings and rear trailing arm bushings. Total 16 bushings for
reduced suspension movement. ($500.00) www.rsmracing.com

Continental ContiExtremeContact: 215/60VR16 X4 ($324.00) www.tirerack.com

Slotted / Crossdrilled Rotors - Front Only ($60.00/set) www.rsmracing.com[/quote]

Total:
$5018.97

[Sparta]

I started with my 97 Malibu LS, well because...I have one and not a maxx, so I thought this would be fun!




Performance: (all RSM)
RSM Supercharger Kit at 12psi - 100+ hp - $4,500
62mm Throttle Body - 10+ hp - $240 Ported Upper and Lower Intake Manifolds - Provides 18% more airflow - $320
Ported Heads - Provides up to 25% more air flow - $900 (pair)
Polyurethane & Aluminum Engine/Transmission Mount - $150
DIS Ignition System - $460
RSM Crank Pulley - $180

Looks:
Dealership Designs body kit with color matched paint: $1175.



Braking/suspension/tires: (same as mings)

Springs - H&R Sport Lowering Springs - 1.5-inch Drop ($247.99) www.gravanatuning.com
Slotted / Crossdrilled Rotors - ($60.00/set) - Front + Rear = ($120.00) www.rsmracing.com
Front Strut Tower Brace - ($300.00) www.rsmracing.com


325+ hp Malibu for ~$6750 worth of performance mods.

Total price including mods looks and suspension (not including rims and before installation) = ~$7718.

[SVT2888]

Wow, its hard finding stuff for the current gen Malibu. I just spent several ours searching and couldn't find anything better.

[Snafu_SS]

maybe it jsut takes time, i had a 2001 alero and the amount of performance parts for that car are amazing, theres an entire site filled with links called aleromod.com. anything from body kits and dash kits to turbo chargers and cam shafts. but who knows maybe someday the malibu will gain popularity, its not a bad car, i bet the G6 will really get a lotta performance parts offered with a coupe and 6 speed manual tranny on the way!

[Snafu_SS]

what the heck ill give it a try, i am one of those camaro guys but i do appreciate the new malibu's and other FWD cars as being decent vehicles. i think the malibu, specially the ss is quite hot lookin too!

i like the maxx the most so but all this is for the ecotec only so i guess i can only use the sedan then...oh well still cool for me.

- first off, i'm a strong believer in a good exhaust system. so i'd go for a magnaflow (like them best for smaller motors, but flowmaster is king for v-8's) cat back system with universal muffler # 14803 muffler
cost is proly around 450 or so im guessing totally!! the muffler itself costs 239.90

- headers for a 2.2 ecotec in black paint for 259.95

-k&n drop in air filter for 54.14

- for tires would use bridgestone Potenza since i liked the ones i had before, and would have them mounted 17" rims to save some bucks and less chance of losing a hunk of my rim if i hit a curb too. The tires would be Bridgestone Potenza G 009 All Season performance tires. I've had these tires on a small car before and really liked em a lot!! heres some info on em potenza G009 the cost for the ones i want would be around 119 to 130 each... i dont know which i need since im not too good with metric tire sizing. But they have a 100$ rebate when you guy four so the price would work out to be (if they were 119) 476 - 500 minus 100 rebate= 376 - 400

- rims would be these- rims
they would cost 569.00 for a set of 4

- would use a H&R Sport Spring Set which would only lower 1.4" in the front and 1.3" in rear cost is 219.00

TOTAL: 1928.09 after tax and labor costs it'll proly be a thousand more or so. but this isnt even all either, i would gladly ge the supercharger and performance pulley as well. if i really wanted to get crafty i could make a cold air intake outta pvc like i saw one person do on the magnaflow website with an old lincoln!!

so far after about an hour or so of looking and research this is all the stuff i could find that hasn't already been put on this page. now if i was great with photo chopping i'd spend another hour or so putting together a pic but uh...im not that good so imagination is key!! this is my silly idea, but i put a lotta effort into it

[SVT2888]

yeah I found stuff only for the ecotec but not for the 3.5

[Snafu_SS]

seems like if your car has an ecotec your guranteed some performance parts since lotsa ppl mess with cavaliers and now cobalts too, this is great n all, it thought the 2.4 in my alero was quite great but what about the v-6??!! it gets more power standard and has quite a bit of potential as well...maybe more attention will be given to the 3.9 and then spread to the 3.5 as well. i really wish we could back to cubic inches stead-o litres!

OH and how about a..... equinox? or maybe even a vibe for #6? jsut a thought, since mosta what i really wanna put up here like a new impala or monte or even hhr havent been realeased yet or for too long at least.

[Ming]

I love the 325+ hp Malibu, Tookie, and those wheels look pretty sweet, Snafu SS. Thanks for the effort, I was thinking about a small SUV like you mention here. Yeah, we discussed adding a muffler, but it just never made it to the list. Magnaflow is good, I've used one before - a straight-through muffler on my Express Van. Man, that thing delivered some punch, but was noisy and the endless burble got tiresome on long trips.

This one was hard since there isn't a lot of stuff out for the 3500 yet, but it goes to show with enough digging around the web you can find a good amount of parts for GM's new FWD cars (aside from the J-bodies which have a pretty strong following). I also find a challenge more interesting than going the path everyone else has, as long as there is a decent amount of aftermarket stuff availabe, and I think the new Malibu qualifies as "decent" considering it hasn't been out long.

[dawtcalm]

More pics:
LINK




also last gen Malibu:

[Sparta]

I love those Malibu's

[GMfan2381]

Pretty cool idea Ming, I love the Mad MAXX name more than my "Vlad the Impala" idea lol . I had no idea there was performance anything for the Malibu. Pretty cool mods everyone.

[mbukukanyau]

This is UGLY

This is more like it



But the first is a good try... And people in the tuner world would probably like it better

[johnd89]

nothing beats a remote mount turbo system (in place of the muffler).
http://www.ststurbo.com/
- no need to open up the engine;
- no custom header welding;
- no need for intercooler;
- stock looking under the hood... etc!
- dirt cheap for DIY

[gacSTclass]

Originally Posted by johnd89

nothing beats a remote mount turbo system (in place of the muffler).
http://www.ststurbo.com/
- no need to open up the engine;
- no custom header welding;
- no need for intercooler;
- stock looking under the hood... etc!
- dirt cheap for DIY

That looks nice, but would it bolt up to one of these Malibus? I only see V8 applications for GM stuff.

[johnd89]

Originally Posted by gacSTclass

That looks nice, but would it bolt up to one of these Malibus? I only see V8 applications for GM stuff.

Those kits were just an example. There is one guy on thirdgen.org which pretty much did it from scratch on a cavalier (older gen, the v6 ones). For under 2k it should be feasable.