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MRWEST's 1964 Chevrolet SS Impala Vert


MRWEST

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Discussion therad > viewtopic.php?f=18&t=36383

Suppose its time to post up a project thread on the ol girl.

Acquired a 1964 Chev Impala SS Convertible a few months back.
Needs a bit of love and work to be restored to its former glory!
Shes been a bit of a slut and been through a few hands with little to no work been done on her in the recent years (besides cutting some springs and slapping some paint on).
Good thing is basically everything is there more or less a complete car.

When i got it, sporting its white garage paint job! (Not to bad considering) Cut/No springs and not running.
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Its bright red factory interior complete with SS floor shift. Interior is still MINT condition no rips, fades or anything.
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Got to work on it removing the 283 & powerglide with the country spec engine crane.
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She has seen better days underneath and needs a bit of rust work done, panelbeater wants me to get body sandblasted then will get to work ordering replacement steel work from the states. Can buy brand new EVERYTHING for these from the states which is good, and at reasonable prices with the exchange rate.
Have got to work stripping her down,

This is how she sits currently.
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Plans are get rust and panel work done,
Tidy up and paint engine and fit with shiny bits, 4 barrell carb and the likes.
Sandblast and paint chassis, fit with new suspension and brakes.
Refit everything and get it on the road.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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So its basically all stripped now, got some steel wheels on her for the time being.

Only got to pull the old gas tank out then its ready to pull body off.

Off to get sandblasted in the next couple of weeks then sort a order list for replacement steelwork.

Have bought a small block engine stand off TM to sit the 283 on.

Going to paint it up, new gaskets, water pump, fuel pump, starter, alternator, 4 barrel manifold, HOLLEY 450 and maybe some headers then thatll do for that for now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So scored a sweet as windscreen for it for $151 on trademe, my old one is delaminating and a new one is around $800 by the time you get from states to nz...sooooo very happy about that one.

Progress has kind of halted at present, trying to work out best way forward with rust and engine (contemplating converting to injected such as LS or something?) Open to suggestions on engine or ideas!!

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Engine and box have been split and engine on a stand I got off TM for SB Chev.

Didnt expect the stand to be so minute, its about 2/5 of fall off the ground lol..guess it does the trick though.

Scored a rebuilt Holley 450 carb just got to find the right adaptor to fit the manifold iv got.

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A whole 195 HP wooooo

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  • 2 weeks later...

Discussion therad > viewtopic.php?f=18&t=36383

So turns out the 450 Holley is actually a 600 so too big for what I need. Need to now find a 450 floating around somewhere

Have acquired a few new bits

- Holley Street Dominator Alloy Manifold

-Chrome Rocker covers

-2nd Hand as new mini 2kw starter motor

Have finished stripping the car and its now at the sandblasters. Getting sandblasted and primed while its there.

Got a list of new steelwork to get from the states, once its finished sandblasting ill have a final idea for one big order of steelwork.

Few pics of the final stripped product,

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  • 1 month later...

Been waiting for a couple of weeks to update with pics but cant wait so pictureless update lol

Soooooooo its amazing what bog, underseal and rust can cover up!

Sandblasting found allsorts of amzaing holes, dodgy repairs and sweet pop rivetted patch panels...

There were holes in the floor that just had panels pop rivetted over the hole lol.

Angle iron welded into the boot and heaps of botchy as rust repairs.

Sandblaster was complaing about all the bog that came out of it haha.

Got floor, firewall, boot windscreen frame, chassis & arms/diff etc sandblasted and primed.

Most of its going to get cut out and replaced with new bits enroute from the US of A.

Firewall and windscreen frame came up good but rest of floor aint flash.

Got a new floor, sills and rear quarters coming along with a few other misc bits and pieces.

All going to plan will be off to panel beaters end of Jan to get hacked up, new bits welded in and prepped for some paint.

Will post a couple of pics up in the next few days when its not raining and i find a moment to collect the car.

Discussion therad > viewtopic.php?f=18&t=36383 talk some shit! give me some ideas, pointers or bullshit!!!

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Picked up the car today. Got to have a good look around at all the lovely repairs its had in the past.

Would love to count all the pop rivets in the car there everywhere!!

Holes here, holes there and more over there

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Angle iron and pop rivetted repairs.

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Some more angle iron and pop rivets, can see in top of photo the replacement rear quarter stiching with pop rivets and shitty welding!

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Boot area rust and some more rust!

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Sad state of disrepair!

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Discussion thread > viewtopic.php?f=18&t=36383

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  • 1 month later...

So havent done much lately, but went out to the olds the other day and realised iv got lots to do before it can go to panelbeaters.

So went back tonight and have finished striping the remaining bits in the car. Pulled out glovebox, heaterbox (FULL of sandblasting sand), gauge cluster, dash trim etc. Got wiring loom, windscreen wiper and brake booster to go then the bodys ready. Also need to take glass out of doors, trim off doors, bonnet and boot and get that ready to go to panelbeaters.

Have got a heap of panelwork/steel work coming via the slow boat from USA to get the rust repaired, can buy replacement panels & sections luckily relatively cheap.

Have also ordered bits to rebuild my chassis, new balljoints, arm bushes, wheel bearings, brakes, shocks, springs, diff gaskets etc etc. So can tidy that up and paint it as well.

More pics when I remember to take the camera out!

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  • 1 month later...

Havent done too much but a bit more strippping.

Pretty much stripped the inside/dash/glove box etc. Have taken glass and trim out of doors.

Taken the brake booster/master cylinder and heater box out (heater box was FULLLL of sand from blasting, should of taken out first)

Have recieved some new parts

Front end bush & steering rebuild kit, rear arm bushing kit.

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Have a heap of other bits on the way that should be here next week

-Wheel bearings, rear axle seals

-Shocks

-Need to sort springs

Going to rebuild and paint the chassis in the coming month or so.

Couple of pics of how it sits

Not much left.

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Was meant to work on it today, got bored so slammed it on its arse lol

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest MRWEST

Like a kid at xmas today got a heappppppp of parts turned up from the US of A.

Will post some pics when I collect on Friday but the car will be off to the panelbeaters probably in a fortnight to get hacked up!

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Guest MRWEST

Huurraahhh! Christmas has come, boxes and boxes and boxes of parts (more in the ute) all turned up from the states today. Exciting times. Things are about to get serious ha

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  • 1 month later...

Well have been pretty busy with the old girl, got a deadline to meet so need to get things moving.

 

Have been building up a chassis fresh paint, new ball joints, wheel bearings, suspension bushs, sway bars, springs, shocks, new fuel hard lines & hard brake lines. Getting close so will get some pics when im done.

 

New steel is here from the states and thats all underway.

 

Have got all my SB chev bits and pieces for sale because, iv bought a written off VT HSV Clubsport complete with LS1 power! 255kw factory edition.

Can buy mounts to bolt straight into 64 as has been done plenty in the states. Plan to sell the 4L60E box as too expensive to convert to mechanical speedo drive ($500+), and buy a 700R4 or TH400 that can easily be made mechanical drive.

Will be purchasing a new fuel tank setup for EFI with baffling and intank pump setup already fitted to save time/money fucking round with the brand new one I have with no baffling etc in.

Aside from that will drop in, give a clean and a paint, remove power steering and aircon pump, paint up and tidy up, get ECU retuned minus AFM and VAT to make things easier and should be allgo! 

Engine comes with headers and full exhaust so will mod t hat to fit the car.

 

So lots of work to do if im going to meet the deadline of getting the car done!

 

Discussion therad > viewtopic.php?f=18&t=36383

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  • 1 month later...

Right so have been busy as and slack at updating the build thread.

 

Have built up the chassis has been sandblasted, etch primed, and then finally i painted it.

Have fitted new 2 inch lowering springs, new KYB shocks, suspension bushes, balljoints, wheel bearings, rack ends and made up new hard brake & fuel lines.

 

The cars been at the panelbeaters getting the rust dealt too and prepped for paint.Theyve been plowing into that.

 

As mentioned above have bought a LS1 so have bought a heap of bits from the states for that including engine mounts, fuel injected tank & intank pump, trans mount to suit 700R4, inline fuel filter/reg (that can be mounted by tank with return out of reg to avoid having to run 2 hard lines forward).

Am going to set up the engine at home once my sheds up and get it all running and painted up so when cars home from panel/paint it can be dropped in good to go. 

 

Have bought a disk brake conversion set up from USA. The generic conversion kits mess the offset of the hub up by 1inch either side which pushes the wheels out too far from what im told . Found a place that makes a bracket that attaches to the factory drum spindle, mounts a 1990 Chev Celebrity caliper, 1978 Monte Carlo rotors & 1970 camaro brake lines, all this bolts to the stock spindle and doesnt mess the offset up and works apparently so we will see when it turns up.

 

Now got to decide on a colour for paint, roof and interior. Decisions decisions!

 

Discussion therad > viewtopic.php?f=18&t=36383

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So had a heap of packages turn up fiiinnnalllyyy from the states...Was a long slow trip but got here eventually.

 

SOME of the packages!

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New BOSCH leads for the LS1

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TANKS INC replacement fuel tank set up for a intank electric pump. Bolts into stock location even!

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Intank fuel pump and cradle to fit inside the fuel tank. Also a sender to connect to the factory fuel gauge so that works all properly!

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New driveshaft hanger bearing 

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New waterpump and thermostat for LS1. About 1/3 of the cost of NZ at discounted price 2!

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Bolt in engine mounts for LS1 into Impala, flexplaet spacer & bolts to run older 700R4 trans on LS1 & Inline fuel pressure reg/filter from Corvette to assist in fuelling conversion

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Bolt in gearbox xmember to allow 700R4 from Commodore to bolt in (in theory) hopefully this will work with little to no mods with the ls1

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1990 Chev celebrity repro calipers, 1978 Chev something rotors, and 1972 Camaro brake lines along with a aftermarket bracket makes the front end disk braked without messing up the offset like the aftermarket kits do. Hopefully it all works!

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New panhard bar

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Polished Alloy coil covers for LS1

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Some of the rubbish after unpacking, half the shits still in boxes 2. Americans pack in a crazy way!

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Have also been working away stripping the bumpers from the irons. Was most difficult with god knows how many years of rust holding the bolts together. Nothing about 8 cutting disks and a grinder cant fix tho!

Irons are going to get dipped nad powder coated, bumpers will get rechromed

Have also been stripping the front grill/xmember thing to do the same

 

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Remains of a shit load of disks and rusty bolts!

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Discuss away and talk some shit! http://oldschool.co....la/?hl=westpala

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  • 5 weeks later...

So finally got my A Into G and got the LS1 and 4L60E Trans out of the HSV.

 

Bye bye LS1

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Hello LS1 on the floor ready for some work.

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First job is to split the trans and engine. Sell trans and then mount engine on stand.

Going to get all the excess wiring stripped out of the loom, gearbox, A/C, Powersteering, ABS, blah blah shit loads of stuff i dont need. Factory ECU gets the VATS (Imobiliser) switched off as well as all the stuff im not using to stop it throwing codes. Then I  can wire up and get started on teh stand to make sure all is good with the engine.

 

Excuse the shitty cellphone pics!

 

Discuss away and talk some shit! http://oldschool.co....la/?hl=westpala

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  • 4 weeks later...

So today was a bit of a fail all round!

 

Test fit the LS into my spare chassis. The sump is a front sump so no way that was going to clear. Whipped it off to test the mounts iv got anyways.

Turns out my headers wont fit either....

 

So need to get a rear sump of some sort from the states and get some headers made unless I can find some decent ones that will def fit for not $$$$$$$x110000

 

In better news the panelbeater is back and ripping into it by the sounds so a months time should see some big changes on the body!

 

Piks for fred

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Yarn over here http://oldschool.co....la/?hl=westpala

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  • 3 weeks later...

Fair bit been done in the last little while...

 

Panelbeaters returned from the land of Jagermeister and has got into the panelbeating...new sills are in, floor is out and hes handmade a heap of pieces around  where the floor  ties in and on the firewall to fit the new floor pan in. Firewall has had all the rust fixed. The guy is a fukn perfectionist/artist so stoked with his work going to come up so sweet when its done.

 

Have split the ls1, cleaned up a heap of it and removed all the excess shit i dont need! Loom has been stripped of all the excess factory shit ready to come back with 5 wires for me to make the engine run! Power. earth, ignition, fuel and fan relay and it should be all go. Test fit the coil covers should look sweet with some paint etc!

 

Scored a 232/234 Kelford cam for $200 done 2000km happy with that purchase apparently had a decent lump in the idle so should sound good, purchased some kelford springs to go with it as well

 

Also have a "F body" LS1 sump enroute from the USofA to allow the engine to clear the xmember as well as a few other parts i needed!

 

Have moved all my shit into the new workshop and have found iv got mountains and mountains of parts new and old when they are all stored in one space!

 

Hopefully have the car back from panel and paint prior to christmas for assembly and vinning, certing etc prior to beach hop 2014...Thats the aim, iv got a shiteload of work to get done if thats going to be possible!!

 

Yarn over here --URL::38e45be72099c6d6e6ce7af936453d8a-- http://oldschool.co....la/?hl=westpala

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Been in the shed tonight after a bit of landscaping!

 

Got a heap of little bits and pieces to do,

 

Tonight fitted fuel pump (Walbro) and sender into the Tanks Inc injected setup fuel tank . This has been setup for intank pump unlike the factory tank, perfect for my injected conversion. Tank was real cheap in comparision to some of the other "injected" impala tanks on the market, but real good quality!

 

Have mounted up, need a few fittings before i can connect up to engine for the first start up.

 

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How the engine sits at the moment!

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talking stuff http://oldschool.co....la/?hl=westpala

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