Projects 1959 Impala Hardtop

Looking great, I lost track of the thread for a while and come back to find out you're a painter. That finish looks great, can't wait to see it all together.

Forget about those indoor show cars, I think you'll be much happier rollin' down the road being seen everywhere in your car instead of just standing by it at a show.

 

loudbang when I got it it was green with yellow stripe, and yea at first sight people were like whoa, what are you doing with that get it away from me =b after I painted it now looks like I welded up a replica, but when you see what its going to look like in a few weeks youll see why I did it its only half done

wet sanded and buffed my door jambs so I could mount the doors but got dark. also managed to get the windshield in using the rope method on the gasket. managed to do it by myself actually I had help before putting pressure on the outside of the glass while I put the rope but saw if I line up the glass right and pull the rope it pops into place on its own.

talk about murphys law, not even 5 min after I put the windshield on I was kneeling down wiping off my door jambs when I hear a loud bag, neighbors kids threw a rock and bounced off the windshield. ooo I was mad I immediately got up and checked the glass. nothing happened thank god so I calmed down a bit but was still angry because there was a guy there, an adult I could see through the wood fence. what got me very angry was he saw because he was looking through the fence to see if I noticed but he didn't tell them anything or not to throw rocks so i looked for a rock or bolt to throw at his house hard enough to get his attention but my brother saw me looking on the floor and stopped me. I love kids, but if you don't correct them they will do it again they wont know they did something wrong. I was more angry at the adult than the kid only because of that and in this case I will take it out on the adult by returning the favor on his house, or car. I put aside a corona bottle to toss at his house if it happens again if he wants to take it further we can I'm not going to live worrying about my cars getting damaged by irresponsible parenting itll cost him more trust me. if the glass had broken and he tried to get out of paying me for it or damaged my paint and didn't want to cover the repair cost itll be worse on his house or car. not mad at the kid mad at him for not correcting the kid

 

Hi Reyes,
Greetings from down under! Car is looking good, nice to see your progress; by the way since your neighbors don't have the same respect of things maybe you can install some type of plastic sheet barrier along the car to protect it.
On another note, I took my family to the US back in December and started in Disneyland, LA, then up to San Francisco, over to Vegas and then Yosemite, Brice canyon, Monument Valley and the Grand canyon; you guys sure have a beautiful country. Rented a Jeep, and apart from the white knuckle ride in the LA freeways, (remember we drive on the other side of the road), it was fantastic seeing the snow in December (never had white Christmas until monument valley) and seeing the sights.
Too much to see, have to get back someday.
Cheers, John

(Had to fix a small problem with my ;59; it wouldn't shift out of first gear mainly because it has been sitting around for a few years getting restored, but fixed now and starting to cruise around locally to make sure it is reliable.

I'll post some photos soon.)

 

good idea aussie =) glad you enjoyed your trip out here, you went to all the cool places. and yea LA traffic is horrible, besides my old cars I have my truck and a low budget driver. the low budget car is the only one ill drive into downtown LA the drivers are as bad as the ones in Tijuana. but glad you had an awesome trip, the east coast is awesome too if you ever get the chance go youll love it out there too. I'm planning a trip to Europe, going to do the backpacking thing for about 3 weeks, and in November to japan for a car show. now that my car is almost done and my wallet wont be so empty i plan to do alot of traveling. id consider Australia but hear every single animal out there is out to kill you =b

what did they say was wrong with your transmission?

 

They said that from sitting around for a long time without driving it while I was rebuilding it was the reason as well as dirt in the valve body, so they dropped it and cleaned it out, some New seals and cruising at last.
Australia has truly unique animals, no rattlesnakes but plenty of kangaroos, koalas, friendly people, and a safe place to travel around. Funny thing is that I saw fewer old American cars driving arounds than back in oz! New Zealand is also full of great scenery, and Te occasional earthquake.
Cheers, John

 

Was washing some OT disc brake brackets and wave springs in my kitchen sink today and though of you guys. All nice and clean drying in the dish rack next to the knives and forks LOL. I can do it at my leisure now that I don't have just one permanent woman in my life once again. The ones that come and go at my house don't care what is in the sink.

 

THAT would get me KILLED at my house !!! but I think its cool you can do that. LOL

 

A friend had an old dishwasher hooked up in his shop building, hot water and cascade dish soap does a great job on car parts. Dont recommend it in the kitchen.

 

thats actually what I was thinking when I saw that pic lol steaming parts to clean them lol. I never got any issues with parts in the house as long as they didn't get in her way, she knew its a part of being with a car guy. she just questioned once why there was a tub of fast orange next to the soap and shampoo. I told her its because they haven't bottled it into a bodywash yet which I wish they would. she has yet to use any of it even though I'm sure it "exfoliates" great, I mean we look like we could be on the cover of magazines right?


still working on my car, a bunch of minor stuff this being one of them, I wanted to post it came out nice. before and after pics, missing chunks not just cracks I had to fill and shape with epoxy. now matches the dash and body, white metal flake matches the roof and trunk

 

Man, you do some awesome work.

 

Man up.... use the kitchen dishwasher. Just don't let the old lady catch you... I've actually washed some fairly clean parts in it, my wife (RIP) saw it and was okay with it.

 

The one in the kitchen is expensive, the ones hooked up in the garage were curb or craigslist finds, nothing over $20. I don't have plumbing in my garage, so I'll stick with a bucket and brush.

 

Great save on that steering wheel, it was pretty far gone and now it looks great. What epoxy did you use?

 

thanks guys, it looks really nice in person because the pictures don't really pick up the pop on the metal flake or the sparkle of the clear. shit i think the steering wheel i going to be the nicest thing on the car =b I'm getting a better camera soon so itll take better pictures. that steering wheel was pretty much a throw away already, but besides me trying to see if I could restore it I did it more because certain things I wanted to keep together with the car and not replace and those things are the steering wheel and seats. reason is because that steering wheel is original to the car when it was made, so it spent its whole life with it meaning the history on the car goes just a bit deeper. if the original owner got in the car she would be sitting in the same seat and gripping the same steering wheel from when she first got in it to test drive it back in 1959, get what I'm saying. others wont really care or know, but I will. I'm the second owner, original owner passed away about 2 years ago but would have been nice when its done for her to see what her car turned out to be I'm sure she loved it since she kept It since and barely let it go. I will get in contact with her family so they can see it when its done, they live about 4 hours away in Arizona so when its done and I go to a show in Arizona ill make a stop there

redoing the steering wheel wasn't hard but was a process. you HAVE to use epoxy and not body filler to reinforce especially if your car doesn't have power steering. from regular use the body filler will give out and crack from all the twisting and pulling when you make sharp turns. epoxy wont give out. I used regular six dollar jb weld epoxy putty that comes in a tube, had it left over from when I resurfaced the shaft on my 48 yoke that had knicks. I used the general purpose one not the plumbing or the waterproof one. used a metal file to do a lot of the shaving/sanding and the tight corners and curves 120 to 150 did it but was mostly used as a base to reinforce and fill the gaps but being that its putty I came pretty close. mix a bit and do a crack/gap at a time if you rush doing more than one at a time youll have limited time for each and will harden before you can mold it just right. being reinforced then you can fill the low spots with body filler its fine to use then trust me now the steering wheel gaps/cracks are solid. shape it into the crack or chunk missing and try to sculpt and mold it. if you go alittle high youll have to sand flat, if you go low then you can use a bit of body filler. you will be able to feel with your hand by sliding it across the wheel and curves when you got it just right. when you have it all even then seal or primer and spray. generally vintage steering wheels are some kind of hard rubber encasing a metal ring so you have to be sure you lay a good amount of primer or seal good, I can imagine rubber bleeding through to the paint if the reducer in the basecoat hits it kind of like when the rubber bleeds through whitewall paint on tires. takes patience but isn't hard, I did it while I was in my living room watching the simpsons

 

oh, and use a popsicle stick or tounge depressor to help. the flat part of the stick will help mold the flat parts and the round top will help with the round corners and finger grooves. tap into shape don't drag. low spots will be fine you can fill them with body filler. you don't have to get the finger grooves perfect, you cant tell if they are perfect or off a bit you cant see them unless you stick your head behind the steering wheel. focus more on the flat parts going on to the ring and the groove along the face of the wheel ring

 

Wheel looks AWESOME.

 

thanks loudbang, i really like doing steering wheels especially when you add a little touch of custom to it. its the second one i done with a custom touch. here was the first one my steering wheel on my 48 chevy











normally its a solid brown center and light brown ring. no others ive done for friends were just scuff and spray stock. if the steering wheel didn't have those 4 little metal trims on the wheel ring i would have done a 1/8 inch gold leaf stripe along the front to accent the factory gold emblems on the body. didn't do it the 4 little trims would have broken the line and just looked odd. but I might just start buying steering wheels do redo on my free time and put up for sale, not just chevy but a lot of different make and model wheels i like to do them its fun. if i do ill keep them tasteful and not overdo them, subtle if you know what i mean but a touch different that way they'll appeal to a lot of different people not just a special buyer if you know what i mean. ive seen cars with beautiful work done but wayyy too personally customized and then it becomes a car for a "special buyer"

 

oh and when i mean way too personally customized i don't mean the general customization that we all like and appeals to all of us like nice rims and some lowering or suicide doors but like if you airbrush your wife on the hood with machine guns riding and eagle or your name stitched into the seats or purple paint and all gold interior. then yea it takes a special buyer. kind of like if you marry a girl with her ex husbands name tattooed and just blasted on the side of her neck, yea she might look good and you ride the hell out of it but in reality does it really look like its yours?

 

Wow did you do that woodgraining using paint BY HAND and EYE only?

 

loudbang I wish =b by hand now that would be true talent. steering wheel had no cracks was in good condition from the start so I sealed it, basecoat, then I used a woodgrain kit. its a metal plate with the design etched into the metal. then you squeegee on some special ink, then you use a rubber roller that feels like a breast implant. it literally squeezes through your fingers if you compress it but bounces back into a cylindrical shape. it picks up the ink from the etched areas and then you roll and transfer the pattern on anything you roll it on. one day later you apply toner to darken or change the tone on the woodgrain then you clear and finish like any other paint job. it sounds easy but many I tried to guide through just couldn't get it and ended up returning the kit. its not hard but you have to do it just right and in the right order to make sure it doesnt fail. I'm currently doing my whole f150 dash in woodgrain ill post pictures when I'm done. but that kit will woodgrain anything, anything that has primer on it I did my outside windows on my 48, my dash and column, and other little knick knacks

 

the kit pays for itself 3x over on the first job, kit is only like 350 bucks but to do your dash, windshield and window frames it costs 1200 bucks. guys have quoted up to 1600 bucks for the same woodgrain job on my 48 without the outside windows and people do pay it

 

Good find but I still count that as done by hand.

 

Any updates? Love this build.

 

where can you get the wood grain kit?

 

Grain It Technology has a great kit works good. just practice first.

 

Hey Reyes,
What's happpening? Been hanging out for more progress reports on the Impala!
I've finally got my car on the road and it's turned out to be pretty reliable; even the original tri power set up and 2 speed glide work a treat. Stops traffic wherever it goes!
Cheers, John

 

New
Hi Mate, long time no hear!

How's the car going?

Cheers,

John

 

Well this was a big read.
Very well detailed, and a great result.
Thanks for talking the time to document it, and I'm looking forward to catching the finished product.

 

Hey man! Where are you? One of the more talented builders here and you haven't posted since March 4th?? Hope all is OK. Jim

 

Hey Reyes,
Are you still out there working on your '59 Impala? Long time no see!

Cheers, John