Matt's '60 Chevy Impala Sport Sedan

[_Matt]

Time for another American car project! Bought this 1960 Impala Sport Sedan/Flattop/4-door Hardtop back in June '22 from Long Beach, California.
After a few months went by, it finally got dropped off to the shippers in October, after getting the upholstery redone over there. Then another few months and it finally arrived in NZ at the start of the year.
It was advertised as running a 283 and powerglide, airbag suspension, a bit of rust, but drove and stopped.
I got it trailered down from Auckland, it got dropped off one morning at 7am, so a quick trip out to check it out before work. We hooked up another battery, turned the key and it started straight up!
Took it for a drive up the road, other than the sloppy steering it went very well! We also noticed it had a 3 speed trans in it. Up on the hoist it went and turns out it has a TH350. That then made us doubt that it even had a 283. Did some googling and ran the casting numbers and turns out that the engine is a 305.
It's definitely had some love from someone recently, a bunch of new bits in places; aluminium radiator, carby, dizzy, alternator, brake hoses and some terrible rust patches.
Current plan is to fix all the rust, replace all the bushes and balljoints etc, disc brakes on the front, new window seals, a general tidy up and get it sitting much lower!

Discuss here:
https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/86880-matts-60-impala-discussion/

 

[_Matt]

First of the rust repairs. Thought the boot was pretty solid apart from one hole in the lower right swage, but went digging and found a few more holes covered up with a thick coating of por15.

Made up some Pullmax dies to stamp in the swages, and then modified them to flatten out the ends.

All cleaned up. Good enough for a boot floor that you'll never see.

Still got to clean the underside up.

Next up is the outer rear panel just above the bumper. I think the boot seal was leaking which caused the above rust and this rust as well.

Two layers rusted through, the third is savable.

[_Matt]

Patched up the above rust underneath the license plate.

Next up was the rust that formed between the rear taillight panel and the boot floor. Made a bog profile of the contour to make some more pullmax dies, so I could form the piece in one go and have a weld seam in the flat spot where the taillight surround bolts to. That way I could easily hammer and dolly the weld.

Bog profile cleaned up. I then scanned it and drew the profile as a DXF and plasma cut some bits to use.

A couple bits of 10mm steel welded together and then filed closer to the right shape.

Rust cut out and lower patch welded in and cleaned up.

Upper piece that was formed on the pullmax welded in.

This side was a bit worse but same process. Make patch fit, mark around it and then cut rusty bits out. Same for the lower patch and then weld them both in.

Now to finally move off the rear panel and go all the way forward to the lower rear quarter and fix those big rust holes.

[_Matt]

Large order of RockAuto parts arrived. New balljoints, front and rear bushes, swaybar links, and tierod ends.

Bought some personalized plates for it. Never really a big fan of personalized plates but these look rather factory being 3 numbers and 3 letters.
They don't fit the rear and the fuel filler is behind them so rather not run bent or cut plates. I hate the thick lettering they have compared to the OG black plates too, so bought some american style ones yet to arrive (not the horrendous kiwiplates ones lol).
"60 4door hardtop" for those that couldn't figure it out haha.

[_Matt]

More rust done. Bother the inner and outer corner replaced on the right rear door. Also the rear quarter seam had rusted through. Replaced the leaded up seam with a steel patch.

On to the worst exterior pieces of rust that I kept putting off, the lower rear quarters.

Replaced the lower half of the inner to start with.

Then made a patch for the outer which I formed in the English wheel.

The right side was quite a bit worse, so I decided to cut the inner right out and make a whole new panel, was easier because it only needed plug welding along the top, not fully welding like the other side.

[_Matt]

The boot had a few little holes, got a bit worse once I pulled off the trim and started poking at it.

The next big job is the footwell floor pans. The previous owner thought it'd be a good idea to sit the panels on top and go crazy with urethane. Must of used a good few tubes of it!

Cut out the b-pillar braces to gain access underneath of them and to tidy them a bit. I found 3 of the 4 patch panels locally and imported the missing one with the car when I brought it in.

Got sick of rust repairs a little bit a go, so got stuck into some of the other bits on the car. Removed the dent in the right rear door trim and gave it a bit of a polish.

Needs a bit more work, didn't have the right sandpaper grits and polishing bits, but will revisit more of the trim later.

Made a start on tidying up the mess of wiring and the numerous things that didn't work.
It had no indicators to start with. The column switch must of seized at some point, so instead of fixing them, they pulled out the flasher unit and used the terminal to power up some gauges. Gave the switch a good clean and put a flasher back in and it works as normal. 
Next up they had installed a push button start, all because the inhibitor switch stopped it from starting as the shifter linkage wasn't set up properly. A quick adjustment to that so that the selecting between the column and trans lined up. Plugged the inhibitor back up and it started off the key. I have also replaced all the locks in the car, as they were all mismatched with multiple keys.
Moved into the engine bay, had a look at the dizzy and its got a Pertronix unit in it, but still had the original coil that was wired up weirdly. Had a wire going to the alternator dash light output. Put the suited coil in for the Pertronix and simplified the wiring. Found the cut wire that went to the alternator (gen) dash light that used to go to the old voltage regulator and hooked them up together, so the dash light works as it should now.
The window wipers didn't work, had no power going to them, the power had been used for the electric choke instead. Put power to the wipers but still didn't work, the switch is a bit dodgy too, so might replace them both later.
The excessive use of earth straps all over the engine and elsewhere is quite hilarious too!
Now most of the dash lights work after replacing a bunch of blown bulbs and actually having things plugged up. Even managed to disassemble the clock and get that going again.

Got an Accuair system to replace the airbag valves and controller. Also gonna ditch the early 2000's audio haha.

[_Matt]

Back into more rust repairs. Other than the 4 big cuts down each corner, it was surprising how good these patches actually fitted.

Right rear footwell done, with b-pillar support welded back in.

Left hand side b-pillar support was a bit worse for wear, so had to patch up the bottom flange.

A nice change making something out of 2mm thick steel, rather than 0.9mm, much more forgiving. This side footwell is also patched up and done, but don't seem to have any pics of that.

The front seat mounts were a bit rusty.

Made a wooden die to get that pressed in shape into the patch.

Left side was worse again.

There was a few more little patches in this area as well, but no pics.

[_Matt]

Drivers footwell had another lovely American patch, think this one was held in with liquid cement or something, as it was very hard.

Patch panel trimmed to fit.

All welded and cleaned up.

The passengers side wasn't as bad, was just covered up with thick paint, looked like Hammerite to me. It was quite pitted and had a few small holes all over so thought I may as well cut it right out and use most of the patch panel I had anyway.

Didn't look like there was rust under the rear seat, until I looked closely and started poking at it. Another lot of thick paint had been used to cover up the few small holes.

This patch was wrecking my brain on how to go about making it, was simple once I had a plan to go about it.

The other side is a bit worse, just will be a bit more time making some extra shapes. 
This will hopefully be the last bit of rust on the floor to do!

[_Matt]

Pic of the passengers side rear floor pan that I forgot to take pics of earlier.

Last bit of rust under the rear seat.

Last patch to do on the floor, but I'm going to c-notch the chassis to go lower, so not 100% sure how big of a tunnel I need to do over the driveshaft. Rather not go too small or too much bigger than what it needs to be. Job for another day.
Also LOL Merica, that wasn't covered up, the seat was pretty much sitting on the driveshaft!

Had a mates wedding and it was just up the road, so thought it'd be cool to throw it back together and take it for a drive.

Once the wedding was past, I could now strip out the air bag setup and make the car immobile.

The air compressors were glued and the airtank velcro'd to the floor! They're the bigger 444c compressors which is a good find, but will eventually run an engine driven air pump to fill the tank.

[_Matt]

Pulled the front clip off in preparation to lift the body off the chassis.

Body off! Wasn't too much that needed to disconnect once the front was all off. 

Rebuilt th350 trans? with Gonners CC sticker attached.

Hmm pretty sure that crossmember in front of the diff should be straight!

Also don't think that this little gusset is supposed to be there from the factory.

From what I can figure, the wheel fell off at some stage (which would explain the scrapped up lower control arm and drum backing plate), which ripped the diff back and broke the welds on the crossmember.

Must of forced it pretty far back, as the upper control arm bent this brace behind the diff!

If you look closely you can see where the weld is on the chassis and how far back the crossmember is now. Measured it to be about 22mm back from the other side.

It's not bent if I cut it off along with every other bracket! Makes c-notching the chassis rails a lot easier anyway.
Decided I'll make a new crossmember to mount the upper arm off, while changing to a y-bone top arm. That way I can ditch the panhard bar and keep the diff central throughout it's travel. Going to make new airbag mounts too, something less universal and bolt-in like the common Impala airbag mounts.

[_Matt]

Plasma cut some c-notch plates

Top of c-notch filled in and made a start on the new crossmember up front.

Upper link brackets welded on to the crossmember.

Cut off the old spring perch's from the lower arms and made some pedestals for the airbags to mount to.

Before I cut off the old mounts, I made a jig out of angle and box section to locate the body mount holes so I knew where it went when I made the new mounts.

All tacked together with the airbags in place.

Much better height now, front still doesn't have the drop spindles in it, so that'll bring it down a touch more.

Body back on for test fit. Some tiny clearance issues but nothing major!

[_Matt]

The rear chassis crossmember was a bit beat up, so made up a new one and welded it in.

Bought some shorter shocks to suit and remounted the original shock mounts.

Made some handbrake cable and brake hose mounts since the original ones were removed with that old crossmember.

Pulled out the engine and front suspension/steering so I could flip the chassis up side down to finish the underside of the c-notch.

Absolutely no idea what happened here. Seemed like it was hacked out for the driveshaft to hang lower through, but it went no where near there at full droop. Grinding marks look like the lost control of a 9" grinder haha.

Cut the old bit right out and made a nice new replacement piece.

Underside of the c-notch plated.

All welded up.

Made some notches for clearance around the shock on either side.

Changed my mind about the top arm and having the y-bone style arm after reading lots of people having issues with them breaking caused by the diff twist. Didn't seem like the best way to keep the diff central either. Maybe okay for a bolt in job, but everything else has been cut up and modified, so I thought I may as well make something decent.
Decided to go with a watts linkage on the back of the diff and keep the single, two point arm on the top. Seems like the best way to keep it all central with no binding throughout all the travel.

[_Matt]

To make the pivot point for the Watts linkage I started with a piece of 38mm round bar and a twin row bearing. Milled a slot in it for the bearing to slip inside and bolt through.

Then I drew up an arm in Solidworks, 3d printed and then got Dad to make a pattern to get it cast from aluminium. We had it heat treated to add some strength to it too.

Bent and welded some 38mm rollcage tube on to the ends of the pivot boss.

Made up some arms from some pipe, threaded bosses and rod ends. The whole process would of been a bit easier if I hadn't welded that crossmember so close to the back of the diff!
This pic is fully laid out.

And at ride height.

Decided to strengthen up the lower rear arms.

Tried pressing in the original style bushes, but gave up very quickly after they kept crushing the c-channel arms. Stupid design really! Welded in some bits of pipe and got some tophat style polyurethane bushes. Way nicer to use and same size as what I used on the Watts linkage. Also replaced the one in the upper arm with same bush.

[_Matt]

If it hadn't already spiraled out of control, this is probably the point where it did.
Bought a 01 VX Commodore 5.7L LS1.

Test fitted it in. Since the trans was swapped to a TH350 the driveshaft yoke and length worked perfectly. Also the aircon pump and alternator just have enough room to make work.

Made some engine mounts. Used the same polyurethane bushes as what I used in the rear suspension to make it easy. Will add some more gussets to strengthen them up a little.

Transmission mount the same bushes as well.

[_Matt]

Fitted the body back on, the whole transmission tunnel needed to be raised up, so cut it right up and made a start by making the floor brace higher up.

Made it in two sections, was pretty simple and easy enough to make.

Since the diff was set up now I knew where the driveshaft sat in relation to the floor and could make the larger driveshaft tunnel (not that it had one to start with haha)

For some reason someone hacked the inner rear fenders out. I guess it had some wide wheels on it at some point in it's life. This was the most dreaded job of the repairs I think.

Made a patch and welded it it. Shouldn't really be able to tell once it's all undersealed.

Now all the repairs were done and I heard the rumour that the local repair cert guy was retiring at the end of the year, I thought I had better get it off to VTNZ and get the vin number assigned to it and get the repairs signed off sooner rather than later. He came and had a check over it was was very happy.

Bought a VE Commodore MRA fuel pump assembly. Seemed like the best, easiest and cheapest way about converting the tank to EFI. Has the correct pressure regulator, swirl pot and return all built in, so just the once hose coming out of it.
Welded one steel ring into the fuel tank that incorporated an o-ring to seal against the housing and then a stainless steel ring to sandwich the pump down.
It sits through the boot a little, so will have to make some sort of cover for it.

[_Matt]

The front drop spindles and disk brakes finally arrived after about 9 months of waiting. So chucked them on, the calipers didn't clear the 14" wheels, but we had a 14" HQ Holden rim sitting around to test fit and they just had clearance. So got a pair of them to run on the front.

Went to America for a couple weeks a month ago and brought back a bunch of goodies in my suitcase. Twin antennas, body mounts, tail lights lenses, steering column rebuild bits, driveshaft centre bearing, accelerator pedal, fender ornaments etc.

New port wiper motor aswell, since the original one never worked and I couldn't get it working.

and a CPP power steering box. Had the power steering pump and reservoir on the LS so thought it'd be nice to have it. 

The CPP drop spindles pushed the steering arms out 19mm each side, so that made the Ackerman angle pretty much zero. I asked them if they made any steering arms to rectify it, but nope. I guess Americans can just heat them up and bend them to suit. Drew some new ones up and had my brother 3d print the prototype. All looked good, so had them laser cut out of 20mm mild steel. Also shortened them up for quicker steering too.

On to the front airbag mounts now. The lower arms aren't quite flat, so welded another piece of 3mm on top once the had shaped the main piece of 5mm to suit.

Made a compressed size dummy bag for the RE7 air bags. That way I could get the upper and lower mounts the correct height and in line.

Used some wooden discs to build up the height on top of the dummy bag and then packed the rest with some resin. This allowed me to push the lower arm right up and get the resin to form the shape of the top spring pocket. Once set overnight I cut it to the diameter of the steel pipe the upper cup will be made out of. That then gave me the cut pattern after wrapping some paper around it to make the template.

Steel cup all made the perfect shape to fit inside the spring cup at the top.

All fitted with 3/8" threaded rod holding the top mount in place. Still need to countersink the lower plate holes and figure out a bump stop for it.
Also new shock mounts made up, basically a copy of the Ridetech ones as that was easy to do.

Test drove a truck with the single pot GM brake calipers on it, which are what came with my disc brake kit, and didn't like how they barely stopped it. Dad said he had the same issue with the ones on his too. So decided to make some adapters for some WIlwood Dynapro 4 pot calipers. Made a wooden mock up first, then drew them up in Solidworks and then 3d printed to make sure they were all good. Got them laser cut as well, out of some 16mm and 10mm mild steel. Still got to machine them up to fit.

[_Matt]

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