Impala Tech - Blogs

waiting..waiting

Jacksons65 — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 04:04:48 GMT

Ordered the front and rear glass trim a few days ago...waiting on delivery to take to the shop for glass man to do his thing. Also ordered the full new lock set to put on after the paint is finished...should happen by the 10th...geeeeze finally. Can't wait much longer goin nuts watching everyone else cruisin the local shows...wifey's crackin up at me chompin the bit for my 65 to come home....lol.:hurray:

Arrrrrrgh! (so much for new sheet-metal)

medisalle — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:17:50 GMT

Well, it was pretty while it lasted.

That new hood that I pined about, and finally had shipped after paying hundreds of dollars for ? It succumbed to hail damage last thursday, in the worst storm my county had ever seen.

I'm so mad, I could SPIT! Arrgh!

Update for: June 2010

medisalle — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:21:05 GMT

Howdy, all.

Haven't done all that much to the old girl in a month or two, since my '67 Plymouth convertible came out of storage for the summer... but I thought I'd post this link at least, so you can see a walk-around of where it is so far:

YouTube- DSCN0281.avi

I'm hoping to have the body work done by July, and have this beast painted. I'm sick of the brown primer already!

Quick Update

BA. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:10:40 GMT

Just thought I'd finally take a few min. to put some pics into the blog.

My last few posts were actually Threads I created in the forums.
http://www.impalas.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2651
http://www.impalas.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3153
http://www.impalas.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3489

For the past 3 months, I've been basically learning ALL about body work. Duraglass filler, regular bondo (Rage Gold) and lightweight bondo, glazing putty,...using hammer, pick and dolly.
I've learned that a body-mans worst nightmare is a bad welder! Unfortunately, I'm both of those.

After the black Epoxy Primer in the previous blog,... I went with the above fillers based upon the depth of the body flaw.
Then, on went the Grey Filler Primer.
That helped fill the imperfections from the previous owners grinder marks and provided a uniform color and base over the various filler areas.

Here's some pics from the next stage,......more filler primer! :D
All they had in stock was yellow, so I went with it. The car is being blocked now.
180 grit to start,...next will be either 240 or 320, then final with 400. After that is the Sealer, then Color, then Clear.

After stripping...prepping for paint.

Jacksons65 — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:28:08 GMT

Jacksons "Big Blue"

Jacksons65 — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:16:13 GMT

Here is the start of my Blog of my 65.

1962 Impala Restoration

twotough4you — Mon, 24 May 2010 03:54:57 GMT

I just purchased a 1962 Impala and need a restoration company. Does anyone know of a good restoration company in the North West Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois? Also, any bad ones I should stay clear from? Thanks

Shes is ALIVE....

Beetle — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:50:25 GMT

Oh yea...lives to run again...

YouTube- VID 00002-20100419-1528.3GP

Almost ready to give her life again....

Beetle — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:27:38 GMT

Motors in..tranny in, just hooking up all the misc stuff and going to fire her up...stay tuned

Attached Thumbnails

Another step: gaskets !

medisalle — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:31:45 GMT

Last night, my buddy Ralph and I stayed late at his shop, and he surprised me with a set of crankcase gaskets (for the side of the 6cyl motor) to replace the ones I had that were leaking like a seive. Apparently, the more I drive this thing, the crakier she's getting. I notice she'd been consuming a ton of oil - but my buddy showed me that it's been leaking out - not burning up as I'd originally thought.

Got a whole lot of new information and experience just trying to get the distributor out - which was a chore. I don't think it's ever been out before, in it's total of (now) 70,003 miles. But we got it out.

I was surprised that i had to take the distributor out to get the covers off, but at least now the darned thing is cleaned up and when I get the electronic ignition kit, I know I can get the distributor back out without a sledgehammer.

I did also notice: the carb is pretty sad looking.. i'm kinda shocked it still works enough to motivate the car.. I'm thinking a re-build is in order right quickly.

Cheers ~ Mitch.

Nice day in Phoenix and '67 Caprice to cut up!!

68impalacustom396 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:28:40 GMT

So today it was overcast here in Phoenix. I took advantage and started cutting up the '67 Caprice I have. I cut the "A" pillar about 2" below the roof and in a little bit here i will be going to the cut the rear section of the roof including deck panel and trunk tension assembly underneath deck panel off as one unit.

I will have 3/4 of a entire floor pan. Just to clear confusion this is including both sides of the floor pans and rear floor under back seat. Also, it includes floor braces. Does NOT include drivers front pan which i need. It will be cut out and leaning against wall of my house.

Trunk floor will be cut off with braces for gas tank and body mount braces are included as a unit.

Sucks to do this as i am a lover of '65-'70 B-Bodies mainly, but I will not throw it away. I know someone can use these pieces rather than the Taiwan stuff. But to each their own.

pleasantly surprised. and relieved.

medisalle — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:17:34 GMT

Well, the hood came yesterday (apparently from the west coast) - and DANG! That carton was HUGE! (60" x 12" x 60") - no wonder the shipping was $150 bucks.

I was so eager to see it, that I offered my buddy/mechanic a beer or 3 to re-open the shop for me at 8pm. Knowing I'd be eager - he'd already had it out of the box and ready to install. (which he did.. God love my friends!)

I have to say: for $269.00 bucks I was pleased. It isn't 100% perfect - it had a small ding on the one lip (which will be covered by the trim piece) and a weird extra metal 'blip' on the one corner which required a tap or 2 from a hammer to smooth it out - but all in all, the quality of this hood is pretty decent.

I can tell you - my worst fear was that it would be flimsy-gauged metal from some of the posts I've read from other guys - but this sucker was just as heavy as the bondo-laden original hood I took off. And it was SO wrapped in padding, there wasn't much chance of it getting damaged in transit.

Pictures to come later - but I thought I'd report back. All in all - I'm glad I bought it instead of working and re-working the rusty hood I had. It was well worth the $269.00 and now I can't wait to get this thing painted!

(i'm even tempted to buy a new deck-lid... but I'll be frugal.)

Welding body parts

68impalacustom396 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:57:30 GMT

Waiting for a buddy to get back in town and should be good for welding. I have plenty to weld and some experience but will practice for many days and weeks before i start my '68. I still have some double checking and then some triple checking to do before i make decisions. :beers:

one more step forward, and another $400 bucks..

medisalle — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:38:44 GMT

.. and a leap of faith. We'll see how THIS turns out.

I (finally) ordered an after-market hood for the old girl yesterday, after waiting and waiting, and doing lots of research.

Seems that there's a ton of banter back and forth on the other ChevyII / Chevelle sites regarding the suppliers of these after-market panels and how good (or not) the quality is vs/the price.

I'm curious to see how this turns out. I was a bit wary, seeing as opinions run about 50/50 on the suppliers and the products for this sheetmetal - but I guess I'll report back after I receive my hood. I've read blogs where guys had no trouble at all with some of the after-market sheet metal, and others who said it was crap, and had to use a sledge-hammer to make it fit. Hmm...

Apparently this stuff is all made in Taiwan, and may come in a "Goodmark", "Golden Lion", or "Dynacorn" box depending on what middle-man it comes from. I wait on bated breath.

I put it off in hopes of finding a good used American replacement - alas, everything else I've found was JUST as rusty, or twice as expensive. Eckler's sent me a "10% off your next order" e-mail (finally) so i decided to buy the hood.

This will pretty much get me near to where the car will be ready for paint - and I cannot wait!

The hood was $269 on sale - and (yikes!) $150.00 to ship from God-knows-where. I'll report back on the condition, and the quality once I get it, and install it on the car.

FYI: the hood on my '63 was SO full of putty and rust after i'd stripped it to the bare metal (of which there wasn't much left - it was more bondo!) - i decided that it wasn't worth trying to fix and opted for a new one.

One more step ..

Awakening sleeping beauty...

medisalle — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:12:02 GMT

Typical old Chevy. That's all I could say.

This wasn't the first "heap" (his words - not mine) that I'd dragged via: a flatbed to my buddy Karl's shop for possible restoration. He's seen all kinds of hulks. Some good, some tragically unworthy parts cars - but this '63 Chevy was a bit of a (good) surprise!

I bought this car pretty much as-is. I didn't know if it ran, when it last ran, or what it might need again to be road-worthy. Hence: I offered $700 for it, thinking that the orig. fender skirts were worth at least a hundred bucks (sold 1st week on ebay for $150!) - and if nothing else, I could part it out. I was fair when telling the previous owner this - who wanted $2K for it. I said: unless that things got a famous history, or a 409 under the hood - you're dreaming.

Turns out - it DOES have a sort of interesting history, but no 409 sadly.

Still, when I got it up on the lift, my face lit up like a kid in a candy store! NO RUST! None. The floor pans, trunk pan, and the dog legs were all unbeleiveably solid. What a shame 90% of the cars we find on the East Coast aren't this nice. Turns out: "Madame" spent most of her life in California, before coming East in 1989 (from documents I found in the car). She also came with a 'reconstructed' title from California (i found a copy) - which I later found out was because she was stolen at some point in her past, and then recovered.

A quick oil change, trans fluid change, and a new battery later this old _itch fired RIGHT up. 7 cranks, and a tiny puff of blue smoke and she started. My mechanic couldn't beleive it, either! What luck. I haven't even tweaked the carb yet!

A full tune-up, new brakes all around, front wheel bearings (just for the sake of it, since she was sitting for 3+ years in one spot) and 4 slightly-used tires from the local scrap yard (from a Buick that had been t-boned) that looked brand new, and she went right through PA's tough safety inspection!

Rarely does one get this lucky. She's ugly at this point, but basically a good solid running car that I can scoot around town in.

I always like to bring my old cars 'back from the dead' slowly... This one couldn't WAIT to get back on the road, apparently! A week after towing her out of an alley, she was road-worthy! :hurray:

Attached Thumbnails