FFDawson's 1962 Impala Build

[Motown 454]

Looks good to me! Let us know how you do.

[David Sloan]

Yes sir! Looks good to me too!

[Ffdawson]

Some pics from an the latest Autocross event at Sonoma Raceway. Hosted by SFSpeed, a few friends and I signed up with our American iron to show the import boys how it’s done

[mlsully]

Some pics from an the latest Autocross event at Sonoma Raceway. Hosted by SFSpeed, a few friends and I signed up with our American iron to show the import boys how it’s done

Death grip on the body line to keep from sliding off the bench seat lol. Looks like a lot of fun!

[Ffdawson]

Lol yup... big ok slippery bench seat... I had my left foot wedged in the door jamb and my arm out the window most of the way just to hang on definitely could benefit from some harnesses.

[Ffdawson]

Added this fluid volume reducing valve from Turn One performance. Flushed and refilled the PS pump. Properly cycled the steering to make sure all the air was out of the system. Got her refilled and ready to go, but haven’t driven yet. Hopefully this will add some “road feel” to the steering... it’s so light right now it could be steered with one finger. Great for cruising, sucks for Autocross.

[Ffdawson]

Well... a slight change in the road feel, but I do mean slight. Barely perceptible. Oh well. On to digging through my brakes. Popped open the MC and saw that there’s a bunch of gunk in the fluid. Looks a bit like metal shavings in the bottom... not sure what that’s about. Time to flush it all out and start fresh.

[Ffdawson]

Cleaned out the MC and flushed the brakes, new fluid added and bled... everything's much better now. One of the bleeder screws on the RF caliper was cracked open a hair... On to the steering issues. Saginaw 605 box started leaking from the pittman arm seal again... So tired of leaky PS crap that I said F it I'm going manual! I bought a 16:1 manual box from Saginaw that has the same mounting bolts as the box that was in there. Yanked the old leaky one out and am working on pulling the PS pump now... It'll be an arm workout, but the steering always felt so twitchy and extra light after the LS swap I'll be glad to get some road feel back in the wheel!

[Ffdawson]

old vs new

[Jeff70]

Cool car! I’ve done 2 SpeedSF autocross events this summer at Sears Point in my Fastback.


Ever look into https://leepowersteering.com/ I’ve had a couple and they are the very close to a rack and pinion feel.

[Austin609]

How do you like the manual steering? Have you done a autox event with the manual steering? I’m building my 62 now, I haven’t decided what I’m doing with the steering yet, it’s currently manual but the car wasn’t setup for handling either. Nice build, its pretty much been the inspiration for mine.

[Ffdawson]

Cool car! I’ve done 2 SpeedSF autocross events this summer at Sears Point in my Fastback.


Ever look into https://leepowersteering.com/ I’ve had a couple and they are the very close to a rack and pinion feel.

awesome! I’m signed up for the next one on Feb 6th. I ran across Lee’s during my search, but didn’t end up going with them. I’ll keep it in mind if I ever need to change.

[Ffdawson]

How do you like the manual steering? Have you done a autox event with the manual steering? I’m building my 62 now, I haven’t decided what I’m doing with the steering yet, it’s currently manual but the car wasn’t setup for handling either. Nice build, its pretty much been the inspiration for mine.

so far I like it. Haven’t done an autoX with it yet, but I have one coming up in a week or two. I’ll let you know. For sure harder to muscle it in and out of parking spots, but the on-road feel is much better.

glad to hear about your ‘62 build! Got a thread started or any pics? One thing you might want to be aware of is the factory manual boxes have a super high ratio (24:1 I think) to help with the effort of steering, that equates to a LOT of shuffling the wheel to get lock to lock. This one I bought is a 16:1, which is the same ratio as the power boxes.

[Ffdawson]

Maintenance day… changed the oil and put a wrench to all the bolts. Found 4 very loose bolts on the front splined swaybar… loc-tite and torqued to spec…

[Jeff70]

You signed up for Sunday Feb 6 only? I’m pretty sure I’m working Sunday but would be willing to go Saturday.

[CurtiSS 69]

The Autocross sounds like fun. It would be good to get the car out especially if this usually good weather holds out!

Regards

CurtiSS 69

[Ffdawson]

Yeah unfortunately Sunday’s the only day we could swing it. My buddy is bringing his 68 GMC shortbed too. It’d be great to see some more old iron out there!

[Jeff70]

Make Saturday work…… I believe 3 of us are going and I got one on the fence.

[Willy62]

Car looks awesome.. nicely done. Engine fits in bay real nice. Following 👍

[Ffdawson]

Make Saturday work…… I believe 3 of us are going and I got one on the fence.

How’d it go out there today?