68 Impala Wagon modifications begin

Discussion in 'Cosmetic & Restoration' started by Colossal68, May 19, 2021.

  1. Colossal68

    Colossal68 Member

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    That makes more sense. And I agree - it looks better all one color.
     
  2. Colossal68

    Colossal68 Member

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    Step 12: Weeks of Wiring
    I’ve spent the last few weeks spending a lot of time figuring out how to wire the new air conditioning, stereo, dash gauges, and the overall engine compartment. Thanks to American Auto Wire and their incredibly helpful techs, the engine compartment was the easy part by comparison. I color coded a photocopy of the wiring diagram from a 1968 Chevy Repair Manual that my dad had laying around, and dreamed about it…a lot. I’ve looked at it so many times, that my wiring decisions have to be right. The have to. Right? We’ll see when the battery gets hooked up. Meanwhile….

    Step 13: Test Fit the Motor and Transmission
    We needed to test fit the transmission in order to a) measure for the length of the driveshaft and b) figure out exactly where we needed to cut the hole in the floor for the shifter. We made the (wrong) assumption that big block motor mounts would fit over the stock frame mounts that once held my 307. We tried several different types of big block motor mounts, and they were all too narrow for the stock frame mounts. We spent several weeks hunting online and graveyards for big block motor mounts and only found one. The optimist in me said “half way there!” But the pessimist in us said “I wonder if small block motor mounts would work?” So, we hitched the small block mounts onto a different big block my dad’s been working on (so we could put my motor on the test stand in the meantime - see next post) and put it in the car, hooked up the transmission and measured for the hole in the floor, removed the transmission, cut the hole, put it back on, increased the size of the hole, fit it in place, measured for the driveshaft, and removed the transmission once again. That took 2 weeks. The driveshaft has been ordered. And the small block mounts appear to work fine. If we can’t find another frame mount before my motor goes in, we may just use them unless we learn why we shouldn’t.

    Test fitting a 427 twin - and learning how happy I am about the accessory drive purchase
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    I’ve never been so excited to see a hole in a car
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  3. 60Mercman

    60Mercman Well-Known Member

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    It’s coming along beautifully!
     
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  4. Colossal68

    Colossal68 Member

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    Step 14: Restore the Gas Tank
    Installing the rear end a few weeks ago involved spending a lot of time looking under the car, and the unpainted gas tank just stared back at me feeling unloved and neglected - unrestored while nestled between the rest of the freshly painted underbody. My OCD couldn’t take it anymore, so we removed the gas tank (just a couple of braces holding it in place), and while it was getting hot tanked to remove any corrosion, I cleaned and painted the gas tank cavity with rubber coated underbody paint, along with the equally neglected rear wheel wells. Then I used some of my leftover Eastwood Alumablast paint and gave the gas tank a new coat of armor.

    Gas tank removed and resting before his bath
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    The empty gas tank cavity pre-restoration. (I still need to take a post-photo)
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    Gas tank post-restoration
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  5. Colossal68

    Colossal68 Member

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    Step 15: Test Run the New Motor
    We bought a new motor run stand, which may just be my dad’s new favorite thing in the garage besides the cars. Designed to make it as easy as possible to test run a motor and perform the first break in, the stand wasn’t cheap but proved a good purchase. We ran into some of the typical issues like leaky gas lines and oil leaks, but the stand worked very well. It also reinforced just how important a good water pump is in keeping the engine cool and that a hot exhaust system can in fact burn wood. The good news: The motor ran great! Next step is putting in the second valve springs and getting ready for a second run before putting it in the car. Getting closer!

    Setting up the run stand
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    Preparing for the motor’s inaugural run complete with the “water heater” mufflers
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  6. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Watch it peel out and drive away on you....
     
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  7. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    :rofl2::lolup:
     
  8. Colossal68

    Colossal68 Member

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    Step 16: Reinstall the Gas Tank
    There are many aspects of restoring an older car that are nerve-wracking, frustrating and try your patience, and then there are other aspects, that just go swimmingly. Reinstalling the gas tank was the latter. After spraying the wheel wells and gas tank chamber with undercoating, reinstalling the newly refurbished gas tank was a general walk in the park. The freshly-powder coated braces worked in tandem to push the gas tank tightly in place, and the powder-coated gas tank cover added the perfect finishing touch. The only thing we chose to replace was the rather brittle 53-y/o rubber gas line that connects to the fuel sensing unit. Now we just need to run the new black braided fuel line to the engine compartment.

    Gas tank chamber cleaned and freshly protected with some spray-on undercoating - ready to be reunited with the tank
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    Gas tank post-installation being lovingly embraced - side view
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    View from below
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    Powder-coated wheel well tank cover ready to protect the sending unit from too much road debris
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  9. Colossal68

    Colossal68 Member

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    Step 17: Install the Drivetrain
    I find it interesting that in the course of just three hours on a Thursday evening, we installed the entire drivetrain: new motor (427 big block), attached the bell housing, installed the new Tremec TKX 5-speed and attached the driveshaft to the transmission and rear end. With the exception of the transmission crossmember, which didn’t fit perfectly and required us to fashion a couple of steel spacers, everything went in so easily. Granted, we test fit the transmission to the motor outside of the car, but that’s often a whole different ball of wax when you’re under the car on a creeper trying to lift the transmission into place. It was a very satisfying evening and exciting to see things coming together.

    By contrast, we spent more than three hours later that weekend just trying to get two tiny fittings on the new fuel lines. It’s funny what tasks end up being the time consuming ones.

    New 427 motor nestled neatly in its cradle, along with the lovely Holley accessory drive
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    The 12-bolt, driveshaft and transmission holding hands like the best of friends
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    The crossmember required one of these spacers on both sides in order to fit right. I’m a little disappointed they were necessary as it was supposed to be a custom fit to the car.
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  10. 60Mercman

    60Mercman Well-Known Member

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    That cars gonna be nicer than when it left St. Louis.
     
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  11. Colossal68

    Colossal68 Member

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    Step 18: Reassemble the Cowl
    This may just be one of the most satisfying steps I’ve completed thus far - maybe because the start and finish lines were so dramatically different. The car was repainted (rather inexpensively) 20-some years ago, and that left a ton of overspray on the cowl. Add to that the nearly always poor-fitting factory cowl screen and rusty windshield drip edge, and the cowl was one of the rougher=looking aspects of an otherwise very clean car.

    Some degreasing, rust hole repair (thanks dearest brother!), fresh paint (see earlier post), sanding and polishing of the cowl trim, and an all-new powder-coated stainless steel cowl screen makes for a very nice looking final product if I do say so myself.

    Before:
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    Before: stripped bare - overspray, rusty and a poorly fitting screen
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    After: New cowl screen, courtesy of Car Grills, arrived as a flat 12”x48” sheet. A wire cutter and a little patience let me fashion something that fits better than the factory one did. I also like it better in black than the original steel finish.
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    After: Reassembled. Nice.
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  12. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    That cowl looks very neat and tidy. Good job.
     
  13. Colossal68

    Colossal68 Member

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    Steps: I lost track
    In our rush to get the car ready for the painful necessity of winter storage, I fell short of my posting duties here. My sincerest apologies.

    Some updates:
    • After discovering that the Holley my brother gave me was just not the right fit for the car, I ended purchasing a carburetor from Pro Systems, who by asking a number of very specific questions about the motor and car set up, delivered a perfectly tuned Holley 780 4-bbl with Venom blocks. All we had to do was slightly adjust the idle. I’d recommend them to anyone - as long as you don’t need a choke. They specialize in racing carbs and don’t sell any with a choke. Let’s hope I never plan to drive the car in temps below 50. Time will tell how that plan works out.
    • When we started the car for the first time, it ran really rough and really hot. For three weeks, we played with the distributor and coil and timing to get it running right. Long story short, we found out that my “one-wire” alternator was anything but a one-wire and after wiring up an exciter to the ignition, everything starting coming together much more nicely. Funny how a little thing like not getting enough volts to the distributor will cause so much trouble. :)
    • I repainted the steering column and installed a “new” walnut steering wheel that was an option on this car in ‘68. I can’t express enough how much I love that addition to the interior. Absolutely transformed it. Unfortunately, the mechanism for the horn wasn’t a good fit, but with a few modifications that only I will ever see, we got the horn working.
    • The clutch Z=bar broke at the weld point almost immediately after installing it. Cheap reproduction China crap. My brother’s welding skills came in handy once again, and we got everything hooked up.
    • The custom-made exhaust I purchased was a different story altogether. We welded on removable muffler clamps to make the entire exhaust easy to disassemble only to discover that we made the exhaust too long in the process and nothing fit like it should have. For myriad reasons, we didn’t have time to redo the exhaust before winter, so I purchased some header mufflers as a temporary holdover - just legal enough to take it for a ride but way too loud to live with long term. I’ll deal with a permanent exhaust solution in spring.
    • My goal was to drive the wagon to my favorite local Chevy dealership to get the front end aligned and the air conditioning charged before winter. We took the beast for its maiden drive to the dealership and it ran like a champ. I couldn’t be happier with the transmission, and the motor sang a sweet, if not boisterously loud, song. I’m very happy with the end result.
    • I had to chuckle at the dealership when five mechanics gathered around the car and couldn’t figure out how to align the front end. My dad had to show them how to do it. He doesn’t give himself enough credit for just how very smart he is.
    • They couldn’t charge the air conditioning system because the face plate that connects to the compressor didn’t form a tight seal and thus the refrigerant was leaking. I have to call Classic Auto Air and see if they’ll ship a new one. (With all the problems I’ve had installing this after market air conditioning system, I can’t say I’d recommend them to others and their customer service has a lot of room for improvement).
    So for now, the wagon is tucked away in the garage, up on jack stands, washed, waxed and covered for the winter. I’ll look in on him every few weeks to check on him and make sure no mice have found a way in. Feels good to have accomplished all we did for the year, and for now, it’s nice to have a relaxing weekend. Even though by spring, I’ll be itching to get working on it again. And I’m already itching to drive it.

    Loud but Legal: My temporary header mufflers
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    The beautiful engine bay, clean and big-blocked
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    Almost completed interior - minus some carpet work and a/c ducts. The good news: all my wiring for the new dash worked!
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  14. 60Mercman

    60Mercman Well-Known Member

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    That wheel looks stunning!
     
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  15. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    You have certainly made a ton of progress! Well done. I'm sure you are looking forward to spring already.
     

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