Jim Williams’ Eight-Second ProCharged Malibu Brawler

I’ve always had a soft spot for the 80’s Malibu’s and other GM cars built on that platform and now racers are seeing the worth of these “smog era” cars, as there are still many decent and cheap bodies available to build without going down the me-too Mustang road. This fine example belongs to Jim Williams out of House Springs, Missouri and is fresh out of Dan Saitz’ Hyperformance Motorsports in nearby Fenton.

Evans based the build on a Dart Big M block and then filled it with a Callies 4.25-inch stroke crank and Oliver +.250 rods swinging Ross custom slugs for about 11:1 compression. The short block is topped with a set of Dart 325 CNC ported heads and a cast intake manifold sporting Moran Motorsports 550 lb/hr injectors and a Wilson elbow. Steve Morris, who has specialized in Procharged engines since 2003, spec’d the camshaft and provided the springs and other valve train parts.

These days even if you don’t want to go “fast” you still want to be safe and many racers are opting to overbuild for future plans as well as resale value. For this, Jim took the Malibu to Sutton McGee’s Linear Custom Fabrication for the full 25.5 treatment. Note the fire system nozzle in the lower right of the above photo; you can’t be too careful and on board fire suppressant systems are required depending on elapsed time.

The fuel system is an Aeromotive black belt-driven pump and accompanying regulator fed by a front mounted cell filled with M1 alcohol. The supercharger tubing was fabbed up at Hyperformance Motorsports and Dan will also tune the F.A.S.T. XFI engine management. The pair of 60 mm BOV’s are from JGS Precision based in Coos Bay, Oregon.