Posted on 01/13/2007 3:06:28 PM PST by djf
OK I drove by it three days in a row. Finally, the snow stopped an I was able to read the 4sale sign.
It was a freakin steal. So now it's in my driveway. No pics (yet)
But my question is this: What could/should a fellow do when he's restoring a car? This one is in VERY good shape, I could easily put in on ebay and sell it in hours for much more than I paid.
Is there anything in particular that a guy SHOULDN'T do during a restoration?
The car is:
1966 Chev Impala 327 four door.
Any and all experience/tips with restorations appreciated!!
New lock in driver side yesterday. New brakes last Friday (I'm still getting use to manual brakes, you really gotta put the pedal to it! I may install power brakes).
Went to Lowes. They had .025 24X24 sheets of aluminum. Cut them to 20X20. Added a piece of bracing steel strip below them, then fit them into the floor pan one on top of the other.
Worked about as perfect as you can imagine.
New Alternator came out. Some sort of incompatibility between it and the voltage regulator or something. Cleaned up and re greased the bearings on the old unit and back in she went. Generator light works as expected now, comes on for about a second during startup and shutdown.
I am starting to realize that even though this car is in very nice shape for a forty year old rig, I got one heck of alot of work to do!
Keep me outa trouble, I guess.
Sounds good!....Don't forget to seal out the water and slush around those patches!....No power Brakes? Bummer....Power Steering?.........In The Old Days, voltage regulators were EXTERNAL to the alternator (small black box about 3"x4" usually located on firewall), and the new one may have had one built in. They may have conflicted with one another.....How about tires? Modern steel belted radials sometimes have a bit of steering and handling effect on old cars that were made for plain old tires.........
Rotors? I would have thought that old of a car would have had drums all around........
It does. That's why I said I didn't have much confidence...
I talked to the guy who did the work. He was an oldster 60s 70s type ride dude, so he knew what he was doing.
After I backed it out a couple times, the self adjusters got everything right. But you still gotta lean on them alot harder than power brakes.
New carpet supposed to show up today. Not sure if I'll put it in until I get alot more interior stuff done.
If you adjust the parking brake cable for just the right amount of tension on the brakes, it might help some...........
Never thought I'd say this...
I'm gettin tired of puttin screws in!
Found out what the wonder stuff is they used. There are some interior trim parts that are basically a material bonded to a baseboard carrier.
The two pieces I'm working on, one is pretty much decaying on the baseboard, but the fabric is good. On the other, which is in quite good shape, I peeled the material away from the board, gonna use the board as a template to cut two new ones.
It says:
us NAUGAHYDE 64
New door lock on passenger side installed today, also both high/low headlight adjustments, they were way outa line!
You know how many Naugas had to die to make the interior of that car? That's why they are on the Endangered Species List, now...........3M Super 77 Spray adhesive is the preferred choice (around here) for bonding new or old upholstery to base materials............I think they get it at Home Depot.....
WOW, my first car was a '67 4 door impala with a 327! Cool ride! I got it for $180 and I had to mow the guys lawn for the rest of the summer for free.
My bro had a nauga ranch. Those nauga's are nasty little suckers.
Blame the Corinthians, they killed all the fine leather.
But they were rich!
Nowadays you gotta be careful. There's a lotta fake naugahyde bein' pimped on the streets!.......
Try to find virgin vinyl sometime.
I think Impala was one of the largest selling cars in history. Second only to Escort? Not sure.
It is a cool car. Thirsty sucker, though...
I know where to find a virgin, Ester Resin!
3M Super 77. They got it at Home Depot.
I have a can on my workbench. Been using it for the last few years.
That's my plan. Use a non-permanent (but sturdy) type of adhesive. Put them skanky little hydes of Naugas back onto a new baseboard, wiegh them down to make them nice and smooth, then bond the outer rims.
Brown fiberboard?.........
Brown on one side. But it's a flat ceramic type white on the other. About 3/16th in thick. Remnants of the stuff I and a friend used to build a shower.
After a year of it being in and out of the Chevy dealer's shop every few days I finally gave up trying to get GM to fix it so I could depend on it and traded it in on a '66 Cadillac DeVille 2-door hardtop. Which BTW was a really great car that I drove for 8 years with practically no serious mechanical problems. That's in contrast to the shop queens that Cadillac puts out nowadays.
Same stuff...oughta work really well. Kinda tough to make bends, though.....I assume the engine still has points and condenser ignition. An electronic ignition kit, Accel HV Coil, and silicone wires and platinum plugs would make life a bit easier.........
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