1962 Impala Build

[bburginger]

I'm looking for some advice on a couple Items. I'm in the process of doing an LS1 Swap on my 62 Impala and want to do some other upgrades as well. It is air bagged but I want to try to make it handle real good.
So a couple questions
1. What would be a good shock setup?
2. What should I do with the Rear Diff? Should I even look at building the stock one or just put a 9" in it.
3. What is the best driveline setup to go with?
4. What should I do for swaybars
5. Is there any steering upgrades that I should do
Here is a pic of the car now.

[Bill Howell]

First, welcome to Protouring.
Second, wow, a lot of questions with not so simple answers.
It is hard to come on here and recommend one particular vendor, since many of the top vendors do sponsor this site. I will give you my opinion, based on what I know about 58ish-64ish GM full size cars.
ridetech makes a complete kit for these cars, suspension wise that works well, I have seen their 62 in action more than once.
Art Morrison builds a complete frame for the car if you want to go another step.
There may be other vendors here that offer suspension options, these two are just the ones I have seen personally.

I know these cars have issues with the original frame as far as drive shaft clearance, so be sure you know fitment before going to a 9 inch. Hopefully someone else with more personal experience can chime in.

[Steve Chryssos]

That is a nice ride. Best of luck with it.

[bret]

Well, I have a couple of shock and swaybar suggestions :

http://ridetechshocks.com/ridetech-shocks.html

http://www.ridetech.com/store/musclebar-swaybar/

They're even on sale right now for Christmas!

These cars respond very nicely to simple modifications. The frontend geometry is not ideal but it's not completely terrible either...perfectly workable for all but the most hardcore autocross or road race guy. The chassis flex is also acceptable with anything short of a full race tire. The airsprings work incredibly well on this chassis [at least ours do] The progressive nature of the airsprings allows a comfy ride down the road and gets progressively stiffer as they are compressed [cornering]. Make sure you have a 4 way control system so the compressed airspring cannot transer air to the uncompressed spring...that really hurts the cornering performance.
We've done a fair amount of autocross in these cars. I can get your attention in one http://www.ridetech.com/garage/1962-impala-updated

[bburginger]

Thanks for the help guys any suggestions help.

[renegade6]

Nice car.

Depending on how old your front end components are, a good rebuild of that will make a big difference. Depending on how you are doing for funds, there are some deals to be had.

[71RS/SS396]

I'd vote for Brett's (ridetech ) suspension package for these cars. I have it on a couple of cars and they handle well considering the mass of these cars. There's no problem running a 9" in these cars, I wouldn't bother with the stock rear, the parts are hard to find and expensive and they aren't all that strong.

[Low]

Beautiful color car. What is the paint code info. Or make and model that the color came from. If like to color my car similar color. Thanks Brian






QUOTE=bburginger;957395]I'm looking for some advice on a couple Items. I'm in the process of doing an LS1 Swap on my 62 Impala and want to do some other upgrades as well. It is air bagged but I want to try to make it handle real good.
So a couple questions
1. What would be a good shock setup?
2. What should I do with the Rear Diff? Should I even look at building the stock one or just put a 9" in it.
3. What is the best driveline setup to go with?
4. What should I do for swaybars
5. Is there any steering upgrades that I should do
Here is a pic of the car now.
[/QUOTE]