Alright boys, official build thread for a terrible idea, a Malaga 72 Bavaria 4spd. I don't know much about these cars at all, and I have no idea what I'm doing with it yet. It's old, it's cool, and I love malaga, so.... yeah. Impulse buy. Honestly I have too many cars but friggin Jason sent me this and years ago I sent him an e30 convertible that he's spent a ton of money on without it being roadworthy yet, so maybe he's trying to get me back. idfk. Anyway, knew the seller already (Ralph is legit) and he got this as a package deal with another car, out in Kansas. Wanted to move it before winter, and since the windshield is all smashed out, it was taking up space in his garage, had to go, left with me:
TLDW, Kansas car, last registered in 81, car is solid and complete, interior is nice(ish), exterior is shot, trim is all there, no major corrosion other than 2 small holes in front footwells, lower door skins, and spare tire trunk area. Oh yeah, front valance is smashed, hood and grill are smushed, and both front and rear bumpers are tweaked, so that's fun.
Dragged it home, girlfriend is pretty stoked about it:
Had to get it inside ASAP because of rain
Mechanically, car is all there, hasn't been touched with the exception of an electric fuel pump on the firewall, but nothing works. Brakes don't do anything, tried bleeding them, can't get any fluid to come out of the calipers, guessing all the lines are clogged. Clutch pedal doesn't feel connected to anything/dry/full of air, so no idea on that, e-brake worked once but then froze up and still drags.
Key is hilarious:
Pulled the plugs and was going to soak the rings to see if it would turn over:
, hoping I could revive the engine, I was bummed to find corrosion on spark plug #3.
Confirmed my worst fears with an endoscope, cyl #3 is full of coolant, and has probably been that way for 40+ years. Super bummed.... however....
I happened to find an M30B35 w ECU + Harness for sale about an hour from my house. Went to check it out, checked oil, scoped cylinders and things looked okay, and the guy who sold it to me had done a headgasket/valves on this thing about 4k before the car was smashed...so:
Degreased, pressured washed:
Pulled plugs, sprayed fogging oil and a bit of marvel mystery oil down each cylinder, reinstalled plugs and spun it over a few times, and shoved in the garage for now.
I typically document my builds on youtube, so here's the first video of the series:
I have no idea where this is going yet, but I think it's rad.
️Jason
