Iowegian
 

Hello,

Been visiting the site for a while trying to get ideas for my basket case of a 1964 Impala SS. This site has been a big help! Don't have a complete plan on how far to take it yet but lots of things are floating around in my head. I need to start with a full floor pan, trunk, and rear inner fenders... Then I would like to tackle repairing/upgrading the frame and suspension and replacing the 283/powerglide for something a little more exciting. The exterior paint and body work is about 12 years old and is "ok". Someday that'll get redone as well.

In the meantime we recently purchased my wife her dream car. It's a 1969 Camaro with some decent upgrades. Aftermarket subframe, 4 Link, mildly built 454, and some cosmetic updates... It will be arriving in the next couple weeks. Can't wait to start enjoying it this Spring! :thumbsup: I'll post pictures when it arrives.

You have to be a good guy coming from Iowa. Can't say I miss the place to much. :D

Welcome! :cheers:

Indeed Todd! :D

As for not missing IA, I don't blame you right now. We got over 20" of snow last week and the high temp for today is a tropical -2... But this area has been good for our family business so I don't have too many complaints.

Welcome, I'm sure with this forum if you run into any problems with your build you'll get all the help you need & then some. :lateral:



Randy(D&Z Customs LLC.)
[email protected]
1-262-347-9741

Yeah -- they're probably not missing you either..... :rofl: :rofl: :woot:

That goes without saying.....:D

Pokey --

I got so busy dissing Todd that I forgot to say that I love these big Impalas...
You should have fun working on that one! Looks to be in pretty decent shape.

I think Todd has a 454 block for you... It takes some big torque to get this babies moving in a hurry.

No problem Greg, who can pass up a good ribbing.

I agree that I'm gonna need some big torque to move this thing! Too bad my engine purchase has to come after I get the floors and frame repaired. Thanks for the heads up. :thumbsup:

Welcome, Ed. :thumbsup: Where in IA are your from?



Todd, I had no idea you were from IA. Where did you live?

I grew up in a few towns in South to Central Iowa. Started out life in Lakewood just South of Des Moines, then on to Mt. Ayr which is way South next to Missouri. We then moved over to Guthrie Center which is West Central and ended up in Indianola when I was 10 which is about 12 miles South of Des Moines. I moved out here when I was 22 and have been here just over 10 years. I miss the family, green, hunting, and fishing. I really miss the room to roam. I spent most of my young life in the country so being a city dweller is still hard to swallow. I spent 22 years doing it that way, and hope to get back to some room to roam at least part of the year someday. What part of Iowa you from Pokey?

Rock Valley up in NW Iowa. It's a town of around 3000 people that's about an hour North of Sioux City and 45 min SE of Sioux Falls, SD. Not a real exciting place to live but the town has had a pretty good economy over the years supported by a lot of industry and agriculture. There are laser cutting and powder coating businesses in town that may come in handy down the road. :unibrow:

Todd,
I have a cousin who's a pharmacist in Osceola. But other than a few trips to Des Moines I haven't explored that part of the state much. Good thing you moved cause Indianola69 just doesn't have the same panache. :D

Welcome Ed. Cool Impala you got there. I'll chime in on Iowa also. I moved to Nashville after college, about 10 years ago. Miss some things about Iowa, but not the snow.

Welcome Ed. Looks like you have a nice project started. I like the older Impala's. My Dad had one back in the day along with many other Chevy's. Can't wait to see your wife's '69 Camaro. Is it manual?

Yep, snow sucks! I'm itching to get out and drive! We got a little over 20" around Christmas and another 6" a week later. Their forecasting a ton more next week... Ahhhhhhh :willy:

That means you're only 30+ minutes from Huset's. :D Been there many times.

Thanks Ron. This Impala was my first car so I've always been connected to it. I'm working on a mild build list for the car. I hope to pick it off piece by piece.

Yep, my wife's car is a 4 speed. She's pretty proud of being able to drive a stick. Car salesman always annoy her when we're shopping... We can't wait until Spring so we can start enjoying it. We hope to drive it to some of the car events here in the Midwest this summer.
Well hopefully I can use "we" and "drive" in the same sentance. :_paranoid I'm just happy "HERS" was taken when we went to go order plates. :rofl: :rofl:

About a month ago I picked up a new (used) frame for my 64 Impala. My original frame has a lot of holes in it. The new frame is solid and only had surface rust with some minor pitting in a couple places. It got blasted today and is now off to the powder coater. I hope to tear back into the car this winter. I need to replace some floor boards and I'd like to add air ride.

When I first picked it up

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_4923.jpg
http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_4921.jpg


After balsting. It looks so nice now. :D

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_5272.jpg
http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_5269.jpg
http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_5273.jpg


I'll post more pics when it's back from the coater.

Picked up my Impala frame from the coater today. We're lovin the color!

Beth's Fab9 housing for her Camaro is gonna be done the same color when it arrives.

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_5384.jpg
http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_5388.jpg
http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_5390.jpg
http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...a/IMG_5385.jpg

lookin' good. any idea what that gray is called? i'm wanting to get mine done in a gray as well just going through different color options at this stage.

Thanks! I really like the way it turned out. The finished product has a slight metallic in it. The sample showed a lot more metallic but I'm glad it came out less glittery.

The gray is from PPG's Envirocron line. I did not write down the name but I think the code was PCT 75103 from my notes. My coater doesn't normally go through PPG but it was the only color that came close to matching some of the paint on our Camaro for the housing. Since it wasn't from their normal vendor we had to buy the whole box so I decided to do my frame the same color. They called it a heavy duty coating and the powder was almost 3x the cost of their normal stuff. My business gets steel parts for the ag industry coated about once a month and this stuff does feel a lot tougher than what we normally do. I haven't got the invoice yet but they said it'd be about $300 to do the frame. I'm not sure how that stacks up to other places. These guys are 2 blocks from my office so they're convenient.

awesome! thanks for the info. that bill doesn't sound all that bad to me. looking forward to your build. i might be picking your brain or hoping to share some notes along the way as well. thanks again.