81 Impala buget build

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Projects' started by luvtobuild, Dec 3, 2011.

  1. luvtobuild

    luvtobuild New Member

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    Hi when I joined this site people wanted pics of the build in progress. As I said in a previous post this car was bought to partout as the body was ruffff. but the car drove so well I changed my mind and decided to do a buget build and make it a decent looking 2nd car .

    Keep in mind the body was so bad I did'nt take any before pics at all. really I just put the car in my garage and started work on in to hide the way it looked.. :pub:Ooops I did find 2 before the work started pics..

    This was the good side of the car.:rofl2:

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    The tailgate sad

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    Sanding and bodywork stages keep in mind these are the starting pics none will show finished work just rough stages so dont laugh to hard lol.
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  2. luvtobuild

    luvtobuild New Member

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    As of now the body work is mostly done and the car sits in primer but the weather is not letting me take any pics of it. Everytime I try to it seems to be snowing ....:mad:

    Just getting well enough to work in the garage a little bit so I went out the other day and built a low wind deflector for the back window, as I had taken off the roof rack when doing the bodywork. I will get pics of that also.
     
  3. 1tireman

    1tireman Well-Known Member

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    Progress looking good, I am doing a budget build myself on a '83 cappy. I hit a snag a while back so it has taken a back seat.March will be a year I have had it and she is just sitting waiting.I had a target date of October but that came and went so I have decided I will eventually get it together.Bad thing is I have a motor that needs very little work to finish to put in but I work on cars 6 days a week and have 2 young kids so it is hard to have time...or money :rofl2:
     
  4. luvtobuild

    luvtobuild New Member

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    Well the weather cleared up and I was able to get one pic of the wagon outside , was only able to get one pic as it was raining as did'nt feel like getting wet for a few more pics ...In this pic the car is sitting in primer
    with the body work just roughed in, it still needs the door jams cleaned up and primered before I can move on to other work.

    I'm driving the car while this work is being done as the better half needs other car for work. That being said the progress is slow. In the pic I've taken you can kinda see the lowrider wind deflector on the rear of the car. I can take more pics of it if anyone wishs as it was built with parts from the roof rack I removed ( Like title said its a buget build so anything to save money )

    [​IMG]

    As of now I've got roughly $ 850 into this project of course that includes what I paid for it,, Thats not counting my time of course as I mostly do this as a hobbie. To get it to this stage has taken 2 weeks short days tho, If I do decide to sell my projects I mostly get a decent wage for my hours plus the pleasure of owning and driving a nice car ( always a plus in my eyes )

    I will try to keep posting pics throughout the project, but I have to warn you I tend to jump around from body work to sewing interior to making custom pieces. To much time in one area for me gets to much like work
    and not a hobbie :)............
     
  5. gray07

    gray07 New Member

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    Looks real nice, by the way whats all that white stuff on the ground.
     
  6. 73super

    73super Well-Known Member

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    Wow.. that's great! No.. I never count my time either as it's what I want to do with my free time.. but $850.. Hmmmmmm I might have to start looking for one of these. I love the clean lines and the fact it's a Chevy (easy to get parts for).. Keep up the fantastic work! :tiphat:
     
  7. lowlow37

    lowlow37 Well-Known Member

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    Looks great!! I always get so inspired when i see these build threads, and always wish that i could find a decent car to start with..
     
  8. luvtobuild

    luvtobuild New Member

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    Hi all again its been a while since last post, I'm getting much better but havnt been able to get back to work on the wagon. Have to get the shop cleaned up before I can really get back to work ... as you've seen the body work is kinda roughed in so I've decided to get the car running like new again, after that I'll have to see where I want to go with the car. Here is a pic of the work I'm going to do next....

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    The car runs fine now its just after 92000 miles it seems like a good time to freshen up the motor , Im sure you've all seen a cam, lifters, timing chain and gears installed so I'm not going to run though the stages of doing this .....
     
  9. MotoMike

    MotoMike Well-Known Member

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    Looking good, thanks for the report.
     
  10. luvtobuild

    luvtobuild New Member

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    Hi again after a long dirty week the cam lifters timing chain and gear are installed. Now I can hear it already a week to put a cam and lifters in ? Heres the reason it took so long to install, picture a 30 year old chevy motor with the valve covers leaking for 20 of those years, and no way to steam clean it as the weather here has been around 20* f or colder. That being said everything had to be cleaned by hand with purple cleaner.
    before it came off, and cleaned and painted again before install. Its going to be a daily driver so I didnt do a top notch detail job, I'll do a better job when the weather warms up right now the ( queens car ) has to go in the garage. I hate to leave it outside when the weather gets really cold just to much wear and tear on the motor.

    Buget build = whatever paint I had laying around the garage ran outta red so intake and valve covers are an ugly silver. Not my 1st choices but total cost zero.
    [​IMG]

    Below is one of the before pic's I took just for hose placement reference. I took many of these and still tagged a lot of the hoses I removed for correct installation. I highly recommend this step to anyone doing a job like this, as once you take it apart life happens and you might not be able to get back to it for a few weeks..As you can see in the above pic I did leave all emissions stuff in order, its not needed here but they can pass the law anytime so better safe than sorry.
    [​IMG]

    Total cost for this job was $ 200 , the engine runs like a top.....(y)

    The engine and compartment will get a proper cleaning and detail when weather warms up just not possible now. In the mean time my next project is to install a decent sound system . I have a Sony CD player and a 6 disc pioneer Cd player with power booster and speakers from a car I sold a while back. :cheers:
     
  11. occupant

    occupant Occupantius

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    Awesome progress and the engine looks much better. You'll have more time to tackle the PS pump, brake booster, exhaust manifolds, and firewall details when you get back in there again. Don't cut the dash for a CD player if you don't have to. Any plans for a stealth install in the glovebox or something?
     
  12. luvtobuild

    luvtobuild New Member

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    Thanks on the motor looking cleaner, I really hate taking short cuts on projects like that, its just that the weather gave me no choice. On the dash to late I already cut it and installed the CD player. My dash pad is in really bad shape heat cracks everywhere so its going to get a custom pad made, if I can't find a replacement. As with everything else its just a money thing, if I keep plugging away it will turn into a nice car again:pub:
     
  13. MotoMike

    MotoMike Well-Known Member

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    That looks really good....makes me feel bad for dodging the new starter job on the Trooper blaming bad weather here,lol.
     
  14. ModelT1

    ModelT1 Still Lost in the 50's

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    Now this is realistic! The way us shade tree mechanics have to do it. A great job and still at a really good price:wave:.
    I finally got a pressure washer and realize how great they can be. Don't buy a whimpy electric model.Nice project.
     

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