Malibu Monday: Pulling More Dents and Creating a Transmission Hump

Because the 1965 Malibu had an unfortunate run-in with a brick wall, it suffered a bit more than body damage. That’s because during the accident, the engine and transmission were shifted over, tweaking some components like the transmission shifter hump. Not a big deal you say? Well, the crew of The Build decided to fix it anyway. Check out the process in this week’s episode of The Build above.

Not only was the transmission shifter hump for the floor shifter tweaked during the Malibu’s last accident, it was also put in as sort of a chop-job installation. As it turns out, the Malibu was originally a column-shifted car with a bench seat, so modifications were made to convert the car to use a floor shifter. Unfortunately, the conversion was done using a transmission shifter hump that didn’t quite fit the car.

So there’s two good reasons to tear out the old one and fit the Malibu with a new metal piece.

To do this, the crew of The Build must cut the old hump out, tap out any remaining dents and then weld in the new piece.

In addition to replacing the transmission shifter hump, the crew of The Build also pulled more dents from the car’s body.

Because these dents were in a difficult spot under the rear windshield, a stud gun was used to weld studs into the dented areas before a slide hammer was utilized to pull the dents out.

The American Modern crew is certainly hard at work restoring their Malibu’s body. Be sure to check back next week as they dive even further into the Malibu’s bodywork.