455 in a Malibu… Ok.. should scoot along pretty good.
I played with one years ago for a friend. right out of the box the stock engine works great for a performer. His was in a 72 cutlass. The engine was out of something that looked like a whale.
The one thing I suggested to him was little tweaks at a time. being that he was a first time hot-rodder the first thing to put on is headers and a well designed exhaust system. You really need to have a nice sounding car. Otherwise its not a hot-rod.
Next the intake manifold the stock intake weights huge, I think I hurt my back that day. After a month of thrashing, burn outs, street races light to light. The stock timing chain looked like a wet noodle flopping in the breeze. Just swapping the timing chain put a grin on his face all over again.
Then we put my nitrous system on it for the night. Now that was fun!!
After that he drove it as is for over 3 years happy as could be.
One day he phones me up and says you want to help me put my new engine together?
He had spent three years talking to people who knew a boat load about those engines, purchased the appropriate parts, machine work. A few of those articles that Tech Inspector posted were on top of receipts, hot rod mags, and everything olds. That was over 27 years ago. Now …you can get all that information in minutes.
Building the engine that’s minor.
Just swapping that motor into that Malibu you are going to run into some problems. what off the shelf motor mounts, what headers are going to fit, probably a shorter drive shaft, the right springs for front suspension?