69 Impala SS convertible

[JustJohn]

Found this rattling around my front cross member.

[JustJohn]

Dealing with the curse of my own industry on the steering geometry. I snagged an OE pitman arm on Ebay the other day to see if it was the same as my new one... Close, but not quite and it explains some of the asymmetry I'm seeing in the steering linkage. The new arm is black and the OE one is bare. They are both oriented in the same direction, not 180 degrees apart.

[JustJohn]

Just a footnote as I periodically save a copy of this as "the book" that may never be put together to document building my car.

SC is on a stay home order with all non-essential businesses closed. Since I make car parts, I am still working, though partially from home to help keep my high risk spouse from being exposed to Covid-19.

The sandblaster is closed. The paint store is closed. I have just enough epoxy to do the few small suspension pieces I was going to strip and paint. Everything I need to do next is tied to sandblasting and buying epoxy.

Working from home, I can sit in my clean garage during conference calls and online meetings and look at everything I have zero opportunity to make progress on, in spite of having some extra time.

This truly sucks. I'm going now to vacuum again under the bare frame.

[JustJohn]

Dropped the frame off for sandblasting today. Sooner than I expected so maybe I can get things moving again. Was all going well, the business owner was even a car guy, somewhat older than me, and had a few stories. Then the topic turned to "young people today" and "our nation's being tested with socialism." Sigh. I stayed largely silent since I really don't agree with him and just want my frame stripped. Also don't want my politics to be a litmus test for whether or not my dangling frame gets twisted or not.

Fingers crossed.

[JayinMI]

I've been getting a fair amount done on mine since Michigan is on a stay at home order as well. But I'm not as far along as you are. I'm mainly welding up holes in the firewall, floor, etc and making things fit. The only things I've really needed were spray cans and nuts and bolts, and (luckily) Home Depot and AutoZone/Oreilly's/Advance Auto are still open. My GF and her brother (who I live with) and her dad (who lives behind us, and comes over frequently) are also high risk, so she doesn't like it when I go to any stores. I have to pretty much come home and take a shower and put on clean clothes and immediately wash what ever I was wearing. Seems a little excessive, but better safe than sorry. Funny part is that with the CARES program and unemployment I'm probably coming out further ahead than if I went to work since I am not putting gas in the car (about 2.5 tanks a week), buying fast food (around $600-800/mo) etc. I'm going to take this opportunity to get as much done as possible.

Jay

[droptop73]

I'm sorry to hear about the slow progress. I don't post much here but I really like your project and convertibles in general. Are you planning on Power Tour again this year?

[JustJohn]

I don't think I'll have it together for the next Power Tour. I want to get it in paint first. Definitely going again though, it was a good time.

I'm sorry to hear about the slow progress. I don't post much here but I really like your project and convertibles in general. Are you planning on Power Tour again this year?

[JustJohn]

Progress continues... The sandblaster was fleet service for a trucking company so still open for business. He turned my frame around in 2 days. Now I've got something to keep me busy for a while.
Only one spot that looks like it needs repair. The front right body mount bracket looks like it had some corrosion and is thinner than I'd like to see. Will patch that in and then on to paint.

[JustJohn]

Mundane repair for a lot of you guys but my favorite so far. Right side body mount was too thin for my liking plus somewhat deformed, possible from sandblasting. 1-1/4" washers had the correct ID so I grafted it in place of the old metal. I didn't notice it until after several days worth of frame walk-arounds.

[JustJohn]

Progress continues in spite of the world being on hold. This was the biggest paint job I've ever done by far and my arms were ready to drop on the 3rd coat. I used SPI epoxy for everything I could get a line of sight to but what is conventionally used for inside the frame rails? The only product that seems to be out there is Eastwood internal frame coating.

[JustJohn]

Back inside and waiting for parts to start showing up:

[JustJohn]

Finally got around to fixing a detail that had been bugging me for a while. If you use an aftermarket (solid) panhard bar with a Moser 12 bolt and girdle cover, there are clearance issues. I asked those guys ahead of time but they had never heard of any issues...
Initially I had to do some clearancing on the panhard bar and install spaces on the axle side shaft. Now I have a clean solution:

[JustJohn]

Keeping up a rapid snail's pace on reassembly plus running into minor issues. My new front lower control arms showed up Friday from Summit and they looked like someone had installed them on a car and subsequently ran over something. one was hit so hard the spring pocket was actually bent. Needless to say, that's a return/exchange to a vendor who is notoriously slow. Best case I can see is a May 19 ship date. Also made up some blocks to sit the frame at ride height and noticed my brake line tabs have a chance of hitting the frame on big bump travel. Fortunately I didn't want to grind through the powder coat on the axle and had the tab soft mounted with clamps. Just means new braided brake lines and making sure everything clears. Sure would like to set the pinion angle and tighten those last two big bolts but the waiting game continues. On a high point, I finally solved most of the leak issues on my rear end. After days of wiping and watching I figured out I had overfilled it.

[JustJohn]

The hits just keep on coming. My *new* control arms showed up like this:

No idea how long it's going to take to get another one since they're currently out of stock.

[andrewb70]

Who's control arms are those?

[JustJohn]

They are Global West. I looked at the US made options out there and they seemed like a better fit for a street car that I already have expensive shocks for.

Who's control arms are those?

[WILWAXU]

Found this rattling around my front cross member.

That would be a noise to drive you crazy :D

[FLYNAVY53]

Thats really annoying about the control arms....I've used two different sets on my '64 Corvette build, and both shipped quickly from Summit and arrived with no damage.

[JustJohn]

Front end is starting to come together. Global West was closed so I'm waiting on their lower control arms. Bought my first "mock up" parts to fill in until they get here. Everybody seems to have the GW copies so I picked up a set until the real ones make it out of the factory.
I bought a set of drum brake steering arms to get rid of the additional caliper mount point on the disc brake version - I just didn't want the extra metal stick out there. Found a difference between the saddle clearance on the castings.

For whatever reason, there's more material on the drum brake steering arms and it interfered with the cheap tubular control arms. Ground off some of my paint prep and epoxy to get them to turn. It may not be an issue with the GW version, but this is pre-assembly.
Also found my center link has it's symmetry back. The aftermarket pittman arm is the wrong offset height. Found an NOS replacement and I think it won't take any other tweaks.

Everything is just finger tight at the moment.
I was (and still am) on the fence about the GW strut rods. I get they don't deflect but am waiting to see what ride quality feels like. All of the squish is gone from the steering now.

Pretty much done today. My 1-1/8" socket came in so I can torque those giant nuts on the strut rods. Have a long list of new hardware to order as well.

[JustJohn]

SSlowly but surely.