'77 Impala

[Impala Matt]

Hi all,

My first attempt at posting anything about my car so here goes.

I picked this '77 Impala up a couple years back. It had less than 50,000 miles and had pretty much never seen a winter. It was and is a clean car. The great thing about these cars is they are generally inexpensive and the parts available are also inexpensive.

I had another '78 Caprice (also a 2 door) that was my test project. It got my first attempt at the hydraulic clutch set up and ran fairly well with a 4 speed. It was not a clean example but it started my interest in this platform. It was also a test bed for a lot of the suspension/brakes you see here.

Here is a list of what I have done:

Intrax 94-96 Impala lowering springs
SPC adjustable upper arms (2nd gen Camaro with longer adjuster sleeves) with tall ball joints (thanks to Mark at SC & C)
'82 F body steering box
Hydraboost (the diesel Caprice Classics came factory with this)
'91 9C1 (police package) Rearend and brakes (11" X 2.5" drums)
4.11 rear gears w/ posi
'91 stock drive shaft
Police car 12" front brakes
'91 sway bar and steering components
ZZ4 crate motor
Hedman hedders
T56 with Hurst shifter
Weir Hot Rod Products bellhousing and throw out bearing
15 x 8 inch rally wheels (I have 15 x 10's with 295/50s for the rear but the back spacing is off. I have to order some with about a 1/2" more offset. There is plenty of space to the inside but they touch the fender as is)
Heater delete with a carbon fiber block off.
Trunk mounted optima battery
APC bucket seats

Here are some pictures.
Overall


Interior with bucket seat mounts welded in


Pedal assembly as put together on the bench


Stock Hydraboost set up


Engine bay with SPC arms and suspension in


Close up of the tall ball joint


Hydraboost and clutch master cylinder in final location





Here are the pedals in the car and the shifter location





Going through my pictures I realize I don't have any of the carbon fiber heater plate in the engine bay. I will get some when I get a chance and add them.

[1971CHEVELLE]

damn that’s really nice car looks awesome

[jaybee]

Nice car. These were nicely styled for their era with good, crisp lines. I especially like the early years with the wraparound rear window.

[maldo]

Nice I like it keep posting updates

[Impala Matt]

The nice thing about these cars is thaat the chassis carries through '96 and much of the front steering and suspension shares components with '70-'81 f bodies. I have also pushed the bumpers in 3" and sectioned them 1 and 1/2 on each side. Really makes the car look smaller.

[Impala Matt]

One last thing:
this body style never came with a manual trans option (GM's mistake) I made the pedals to work with the factory style hydo-boost and mounted the clutch master on a bracket that piggy-backs on the hydro-boost mount.

[1360]

Nice, especially w/ the manual....

[chaz75]

i absolutely love this year impala, nice job, chaz

[icebird84]

looks good , keep updating us and keep up the good work

[The Stickman]

I would love to hear more about the Hydraboost and how it works. I have considered making my Custom Cruiser manual. I have both a New Venture Gear 5spd and a Muncie M20. The New Venture Gear would reguire modifying the bellhousing to mate to my Olds engine but thta's no biggie. It's kinda cool seeing anothe B-Body on here. It's a great build. Keep us updated.

[ProdigyCustoms]

I like that body style. Always thought one of those could be cool. Looks like your headed in that direction

[Vegas69]

Man that is clean! I had a 78 (I think) caprice in high school. Someone had laid sheetmetal inserts in the floor boards. It was great for dropping beer cans. haha

[TPI Monte SS]

Very cool!!! Keep us updated with the pics, that looks friggin' cool!!!

[biscayne_hunter]

Matt:

Are those new floors? If so, where did you get them?

Thanks!

[mikem]

These are the stock floors we just cut out the bucket seat mounts from a donor car in a junk yard. That way we could just weld the factory style mounts in on the original floor. We positioned the seats to determine where to put them and the seats dropped right in.

The floors are pristine. Not a spot of rust and solid.

[Impala Matt]

Biscayne hunter,
the floors are original and really that clean. Its one of the reasons
I decided to build this car. I'm not sure where to get replacements but any B-body floor through '96 should work. My bucket set studs came out of a '93 and the floor pans look the same.

[BossaNova]

Great project!
Those cars have a very clean body style......and you do great work!
Pls keep us posted.

[DaviRotten]

Very diff and cool.. ;)

[73supreme455]

Awesome!!! I recently sold one similar to it. One of my favorite body styles. Would love to see the narrowed bumpers. More pics please?

[wellholy]

Were did you get the pedal set from? i used a set from a 90 camaro for mine. I also have a spare a/c delete heater box.