My 1964 Impala Restoration - Page 10

August 23th 2011 - Over the weekend I installed a proper tube for the vacuum advance. The National Impala Association came through for this hard to find part (and many others). It is the slender tube coming from the front center of the carburetor and bending around to go back to the T fitting and then to the vacuum advance can at the distributer.

It even came with the clip that mounts on one of the intake manifold bolts to hold the tube up.

I also put in the engine coolant, primed the carb and gave a try at starting the engine. The result was a rather nasty grinding sound from the starter. After some investigation, I could see the starter pinion gear was not retracting and the nose of the starter had a big crack in it. 99% of the time you don't have to worry about checking the clearance between the starter gear and flexplate, but this was the 1% time. This was the first time this engine and starter were together, so even though this starter worked fine in the old engine, it would have been wise to check clearances. Lesson learned and a new starter ordered, and more waiting to get the engine running.

August 27th 2011 - Replaced the starter with a new Remy starter. This one matched up just fine and started the engine without issue. Meanwhile the old insulation material on the roof is scraped away, making room for Dynamat. It makes a noticable difference in the tone when you thump on the roof.

August 29th 2011 - The divider panel under the grill is installed and the bumpers are getting put together.

August 30th 2011 - Back bumper installed along with the chrome trim on the tail lights.

September 6th 2011 - More trim installed on the back end

Speakers installed in the rear deck. Yeah, I know, not stock, but I gotta have good quality tunes :-)

I did my best to camouflage them with some splatter paint so they would blend in.

September 8th 2011 - Front and back windshields were installed today. The front glass is new with proper date coding on it. A replacement rear glass was hard to find, as 4 door sedans tend to be overlooked by the reproduction industry. I finally found a company who had one and bought it. However, it would not fit, it was too thick (being laminated for some reason) and the shape was not correct either. So I am stuck with my old rear glass, complete with it's scratch. So if you are in the market for 64 4-door sedan back glass, don't get it from classic-new.com aka JR Distributer. It does not fit.

September 22nd 2011 - New headliner and carpet installed.

September 26nd 2011 - Installed my rear view mirror and the original "GPS" system, a compass. An option offered back in '64

The doors are getting repainted due to some scratches.

October 1st 2011 - Installed the parcel shelf, dog leg panel and back seat. Things are finally starting to look close to finished. Good thing, as there is only one week left before the Orange County VCCA show where it will be judged.

I also had some time to install the license plates, tires and hubcaps.

October 5th 2011 - Installed the glove box and glove box door. The "to-do" list is getting shorter.

October 7th 2011 - Brought it out into the sun light and see what it looks like! I like the way it looks fairly white under the sun, but in shadow it shows a bit of cream color. I installed the front seat and Carlos and Gabriel installed the rest of the tirm around the doors. With those items out of the way it was time to take it home and finish the interior for the cars show in two days.

October 9th 2011 - The big day is here. I didn't get to detail the underside much, hopefully nobody looks at the body shop dust down there ;-) .

There were 3 nice '63s along side my '64 at the Orange County VCCA annual show.

I got first place in the 1958-64 Junior (first timers) passenger car catagory with a score of 980 out of 1000 points.