2005 Chevrolet Malibu V6

Yes you read that right, a Malibu....

It was my wifes old car and I kept it around after buying her a new suv to tow my oversized bathtub toy to the lake.

I was looking up races at VIR and stumbled onto some HPDE companies and went ahead and signed up for one.

I'm a bit addicted now. Will probably get a better track car at some point but right now I'm learning the basics and making the most of what I have.

Made a spreadsheet of what I've had done to the car as well as my lap times.

Google Doc

Having a blast in green/novice group but know I'd probably get eaten alive if I went up to blue/intermediate.

Won't be too many updates to this thread but I will update my spreadsheet after each event.

interesting choice. I work on those guys daily and i dont think i would want a stock one but your running what ya got so i gotta give you credit.

Have fun

Maybe put the SS stuff on it?

So the question is, can you make it handle?

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: So the question is, can you make it handle?

A front camber kit and carbotech brake pads helped a lot with that.

Did these things come with a manual?

Kudos to you for making do with what you have, I suck at that concept!

CLynn85 wrote: Did these things come with a manual? Kudos to you for making do with what you have, I suck at that concept!

No, manual was not an option on the Malibu.

At least it has a push button gear select though. So long as I keep it over 3k rpm's it won't downshift when floored. Helps being able to shift before the corner rather then it shifting on it's own 1/2 way through.

Suprisingly I can also turn traction control off which helps a bit as well.

Please post action shots.

I had one as a sales car that I drove like a race car, lol. Nice use of what you have!

I love these cars. Simple, bulletproof, and reliable.

Guy I work with has a Maxx (not an SS) and reports low-mid 30s mpg with cruise set to 80 and A/C set to "stun". Not bad for a car that you can play tennis in.

Hoop wrote: Please post action shots.

Just got back from VIR running the full course all weekend.

Passing two 944 in a single lap. http://youtu.be/8jhcWTchp2A

Best lap of the weekend 00:02:38.167 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nXJElYKQ78&feature=youtu.be

ABS went out during first run on Sunday. Honestly I think losing abs helped, though I will need to get it fixed. Hopefully it's just a fuse or dirty sensor or corrosion on the connector.

Nice!

Got to get a better place to mount that camera though.

I'm liking this thread! DD on the racetrack.Those Bridgestones are good rain tires, no? Someone here put me onto them for my old Accord and they've been great.

Ha! I DD an 06 LT and like the car quite a bit, but I never would have considered it for a track day car. I admire your 'run what you have' attitude!

This is neat!

I actually had a great time running one of those around as a rental. The V6 has nice pickup and the throttle was very predictable.

Abs fixed, front left, where the sensor connector joins the main return wire it clips right behind the rotor but the clip broke and the wire was just dangling. It was still connected but loose enough to cause an error in the system.

Unplugged and replugged and error went away. Epoxied the broken clip back together and no problems In the past few trips around town.

Yay for taking a stab at it yourself even if you don't exactly know what you are doing. I would rather spend two hours under the car then $500+ at the stealership.

Rest assured, you are doing it right!

I kinda have a soft spot for these:

Wow. I am impressed...

Update!

Went to a Trackdaze HPDE at VIR August 26 - 27. Broke both my Miata and my Malibu. At least I bettered my fastest Malibu lap time by -0:00:3.372 in the process. Since this thread is for the Malibu I'll leave talk about the Miata to a minimum.

Long story short, second half of brake pads wear a lot faster then the first half, had to limp the Miata home Monday night with the e-brake and it will be needing at least new pads and rotors. Malibu came home in only slightly better shape and has had it's rotors turned and is waiting on new pads from Carbotech.

Picked up the Malibu for day two and here is the Good, Bad, and Ugly.

Here is a 5 lap run in the Malibu from Tuesday.

Second lap is the quickest but I'm not happy with my driving lines. Was pushing the car too hard in a few spots. Lap 5 has much cleaner driving lines and is only 0.73 seconds slower.

Lap1 2:35.503

Lap2 2:34.795

Lap3 2:35.900

Lap4 2:35.998

Lap5 2:35.523

5 lap average was 2:35.5

https://www.youtube.com/embed/z-dcKjFXzNc

Was off line coming through Hogs Pen and left front tire dropped onto the grass then nailed the curbing coming back onto the track at 75+ mph. Yay for soft suspension and high sidewall tires, should only be an alignment. https://www.youtube.com/embed/zjKtOfY4u7E

This is brake dust from just one day. These wheels were clean before heading to the track.

Tire chunking, this is 4,000 street miles and 600 miles on the track. Don't know if this is good or bad considering it's a 400 treadwear all season.

Running low on brakes on the Malibu made it harder for them to get rid of heat, so it just kept building up. I boiled my ATE Super Blue for the first time. I also did this lovely number on my front left brake caliper. Now it's just a dust jacket and shouldn't cause any problems but still.

When heat builds up the brakes become less effective (past a certain point) so what do I do, I push the brakes harder to finish out my lap as I'm doing well (lap 5 of my 5 lap video). So everything is so frigging hot now that I push my brake calipers piston into my brake pad backing and it sinks into the metal and deforms the whole damned thing.

May add some more pics if I find anything interesting while working on the car but this should be all for now.

Almost forgot, and I'll need to take a pic of my new "mods". I added a baby on board sticker for the rear window and had my daughters old carseat straped in the back with a teddy bear in it. Guys at tech sure got a kick out of it.

depending on how brave you are, its not too hard to rig up some simple brake cooling ducts by punching out any fog blanks or even just popping 2 holes into the front air dam.

But either way, its pretty friggin cool what youre doing...making what you have work. I am 4cylndrfury and I approve of this thread

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

Brakes only overheated cause I ran the pads too low. Usualy my tires will start to grease long before my pads start to overheat.

If I ever get a case of the stupids and buy a better wheel/tire combo I may just need to do that though, thanks.

I have one of these with the 2.2, I am glad to see one being abused... and taking it.

aussiesmg wrote: I have one of these with the 2.2, I am glad to see one being abused... and taking it.

Yea, it's done somewhere between 750 - 800 miles at VIR with no engine or trans problems and is coming up on 160k miles.

It's done alot better then a certain GRM Toyota thats blown a few engines.

Looks like you've taken quite a bit off of the sidewalls on your tires, too. I'd be weary of running them again.