1999 Chevrolet Refrigerator...I mean Malibu

If you want a fourth hub cap I've got one in my garage I can send you.

Thanks for the offer but i think i'll pass unless you feel you just absolutely must get rid of it.

Less weight = more power, ditch the hub caps!

60degreev6.com is the go-to resource for everything about the engine in that car. It's relatively easy to make decent power out of them, if you so desire. Parts are plentiful and inexpensive. Echoing the top end rebuild almost being required, just to eliminate the possibility of the dreaded lower intake manifold gasket failure.

The Malibu only had the V6 from 2000-2003, after which it was a fleet-only car and renamed the Classic, with the 2.2 Ecotec. Your upper intake indicates that it is a 2000-2003, rather than a '99. Yours would look like this if it were a '99:

The title says '99. The owners manual says '99. I didn't look for the manufacturer date in the door jamb yet. It does appear to possibly be a California car based on a sticker I found on the passenger side strut tower. Not sure if that changes anything.

Also it looks like that site might be down at the moment.

I'm far from an expert on the N platform...

Try this link for 60v6: Link

Looks like the URL I found from my brief search. Also I apologize if I came across as a bit of a smartass with that post. It seemed a bit like it after I read it back to myself. The only feature I can find that would ID it as a '99 is that it looks like they added a crossbar to the grille in 2000.

Also while I'm here, does anybody have an idea on how to deal with the gummy bear shifter handle? I don't know if this is normal but mine feels like it's a very soft rubber with zero internal structure. It's one of the more annoying things I've ever dealt with in a car, and my standard for interior quality is an '89 Dodge with most of it missing.

You could probably swap the shifter from a Grand Am or Alero, since they're the same car as the Malibu underneath the badge. I think they're a little more substantial.

And yeah, it appears the 60v6 site is not operational right now. You could always try their Facebook group. Search for 60degreev6.

It began it's career as the beater today. Nothing further of interest to report. Bumper and exhaust parts might be acquired tomorrow.

I remembered the 15" trim rings I had leftover from my '86 Firebird.

They don't fit.

I'm sad.

300 miles down. Unlike most of my things, this apparently works. So I'm going to do my best not to mess with it.

In reply to Chadeux:

I have said that about most of the cars I've ever bought.

So far, I've never been able to stick to my word.

The Malibu got new tires today, and then I ratchet strapped an old tire to its back bumper to shove my D350 around the yard when it decided it wouldn't start.

Free-99 burgundy bumper covering the still rusty beam, held on with most of the brackets. Also look closely and observe that there is a tail pipe poking out from under said bumper now. https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ba6mhWAr_vQ Walker Quiet Flow SS muffler from rock auto and a very leaky flange. More attention is still required but now I can't hear anything but intake noise inside the car with the windows up. Everyone else can deal with it's leaky flange fart for a while.

A friend of mine (the same on who bought my black Sentra, in fact) had one just like it, except the badges said "Oldsmobile" instead of Chevy. He told me he wanted to buy a windshield banner for it that said "CAR". The 3.1 finally gave up the ghost at about 150K.

Bought a 1999 Lumina 3.1 brand new in "Auburn Night Mist Metallic" (poop brown).Back lot dealer end of model, inch of bird droppings special, $16422 out the door, doors dented in parking lot door bumps like tin foil, nice riding car, rich Corinthian velour.... reasonably fast until...71,000 miles = dreaded lower intake vanishing act.

For the historical record: what did you pay for this fine specimen, and what is the 0-60 time (cell phone, sun dial, thousand-mississippi...?)

0-60 on this car is probably in the 8-9 second range. Fast enough to get out of its own way and not lose too many on-ramp drags, but hardly a neck snapper. A 3500 (later Malibu's 3.5 V6) and F40 (G6 6 speed manual) swap would cure a lot of what ails the lowly N-body in the performance department, and is a well-trod path. Suspension components specified for the Grand Am will bolt on and shape up the ride and handling, and Grand Am brake parts, including an F-body upgrade, clean up the stopping power.

If the OP were so inclined, of course. If this is just gonna be a beater, I say keep an eye out for the "milkshake" under the oil cap and top up/change fluids as needed.

I paid $600 for it. 0-60 time is, in my opinion, "adequate". Upgrades might happen on a "replace broken parts with better ones" plan. Currently my biggest issues with it are an air injection related CEL and the lack of an AUX input on the radio.

Fiddling with the shifter in the parking lot before work and found the problem with it. Previous owner knew and gave me the handle from the parts car the bumper came off of. So that promptly went on.

Updates on the Malibu. It sat for a while with multiple gas leaks, all of which got fixed. I refuse to show you the hackery that went down to make that happen but it's sealed. I got excited with the sawzall and fixed the exhaust leak at the tail pipe flange so now it sounds like a rental car. I recorded a video of it idling but it's so quiet all you can here is wind noise.

In less good news, it now has a heat related stalling and not restarting issue that I haven't been able to track down, and the fans won't kick on unless the AC is on. I'm starting to suspect temp sensor but I haven't found my spare to swap out and try yet.

During the course of trying to diagnose this, I found out that according to the temp gauge, running with the hood off has little to no effect on temps. It actually may have ran slightly hotter.

but have you put louvers in the hood to see if that works yet? Louvers fix everything, I read it on the internet.

Chadeux wrote: Updates on the Malibu. It sat for a while with multiple gas leaks, all of which got fixed. I refuse to show you the hackery that went down to make that happen but it's sealed. I got excited with the sawzall and fixed the exhaust leak at the tail pipe flange so now it sounds like a rental car. I recorded a video of it idling but it's so quiet all you can here is wind noise. In less good news, it now has a heat related stalling and not restarting issue that I haven't been able to track down, and the fans won't kick on unless the AC is on. I'm starting to suspect temp sensor but I haven't found my spare to swap out and try yet. During the course of trying to diagnose this, I found out that according to the temp gauge, running with the hood off has little to no effect on temps. It actually may have ran slightly hotter.

Our 98 cutlass has the heat stalling issue, if you let it sit for a couple of minutes it cranks right back up, almost like a vapor lock. It recently developed a hard start issue which was remedied when I replaced the 200K+ mile fuel filter.

Mine has a new fuel filter in it, replaced it while I was up in there messing with all of the leaky fuel lines. Same as yours, mine will also restart after it cools a bit.

The hot restart problem could be the ignition module. My Century did that a number of times a couple years ago during the summer. Driving all over the city with the AC on, stop somewhere, it won't start when I come back out. 20 minutes later with the hood up, it starts like nothing happened. It's possible the ignition module could be overheating. It's easily accessible. Maybe just a bit of thermal paste on the metal part will help.

Or I could be completely wrong. Who knows!

In reply to Left Ventricle:

This isn't a restart issue, it will actually start chugging then die out and won't restart until it cools off for 5-10 minutes. It normally does it if I'm sitting on a hot day with the air blasting. I was kinda thinking it could be the ignition module or coils since I'm sure neither has ever been done.