Solar_Runner wrote:You are going to have such a wonderful ride when done. After seeing and reading about so many horror stories where folks get ripped off by rotten shops, it is refreshing to see that your Impala is in such good hands. I enjoy these updates and look forward to the finished product!

Look what showed up in Albuquerque for sale:
http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/2024826609.html

Yes she is in good hands, as all have seen. That is why I wanted Rick for this job, I knew what he was able to do, and the care and love he puts out and in to the cars that he has a hand in rebirthing, and I say that because each job that he has done is a new life from what he started with. Go and look back at the “T” or my car at the start of this trip and you will see that it is a love of the job and the machine that lets someone do this and keep doing it for this long.

Not too bad a car. Just small trim problems from the pictures. But no one has the trim for the wagons as I just bought NOS from National Impala and all they had at the time was 6 of the 8 that I needed so I am still one front door and the other back door short of NOS (new old stock). And all the car places do not do trim for wagons as they are not the HOT idem to have as a two door.

Looks good, Pop. I got your other e-mail but didn't have a chance to read it yet.

G.O.B. wrote:Greetings, NICO!

Well, I have an update and some more pictures for you.


Mark,
I will kill the rust and treat the area before covering it with new steel. This area will be treated with POR-15 after completion to stop continuing rust.

+12 for the use of POR-15

I just learned of this thread yesterday. Already dreamed about driving a car just like it last night. Awesome.

Looks good. I wish all people were this dedicated to their work..

Howdy, howdy NICO. Got some updates for you today.

Today's updates come in the form of a double post as I was kinda busy the last couple days doing a whole lot of nothing and just couldn't bring myself to do the work. But, it's Saturday night, and I have nothing else to do.

So, today, you get the last two e-mails/photo groups that Rockin Rick has sent me in the past week. I apologize for being so lazy, but hey, I am the G.O.B., and I have a reputation to live up to. So, to start it off, here is Ricks e-mail from the first set of pictures, plus a post script at the end...ENJOY!!!


Mark;

Sorry I’m so late getting these pics to you. I just finished ALL body work on the rest of the Impala's doors and front end. Just need to block down a couple of times, and prep for paint. Got the bed liner material in so I hope to get the underneath done, hopefully, by mid next week depending on what I need to do for additional prep. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks, my friend!!!!!

Rick

P.S.

I just wanted to say THANKS MARK for all the good publicity you have been giving me.

I really try to do my best on every dream I rebirth for someone, no matter what it may be. I owe this gift to my late father. Dad (Paul) always taught me to take the time to do it right. Then, you have the right to be proud of what you've accomplished. Dad taught me everything he knew, from the time I was old enough to crawl in the door, ha ha!!!! So as this build is a tribute to your father, it is to mine also.

To all the good folks following this build, hats off to ya'll for all of the positive input.
Getting to DO THINGS RIGHT is also very refreshing for me.

SHE WILL BE a very smooth ride!!!!!!

Ole Man in MO.

And, as promised, here is part two.


Mark:

Here are some more pics of the completion of all the bodywork on your Impala.

The dark brownish material on the door bottoms is DynaGlass; a short strand chopped fiberglass which is waterproof and strong. I use this before applying regular body filler.

The tan stuff around door edges is new seam sealer. It is smoother to the eye than it looks in pictures.

ALL PARTS are now ready for paint!!!!! I will paint firewall Mon- Tuesday of this coming week and bedliner the underneath following that.


Hope you have a great weekend....


Talk to you soon,
Ole Man in MO.

Looks great! Thanks again. I look forward to these updates.

Hey, Nico. How's it going?

Well, I have an update for you all today.



Mark:

Here are some more progress pics for you. The first ones are a brace on drivers side. That was torn loose from the body on one side. I repositioned it and rewelded it in place.

Picture 4and 5 are where I drilled out the spot welds inside the floor pan, and re-welded from the inside. The rest of the pics are your freshly painted firewall and cowl section.

I have not done underside of body as I didn't get the spray gun for bed liner until yesterday. I had to go over the underbody and fine tune (clean better), degrease and sand the complete underbody with 80 grit sandpaper to insure good adhesion of the bedliner material. I will spray it Monday. I'll keep you posted.

Some of the firewall pics look a little funny due to reflection from camera flash. Paint came out excellent. Great gloss. NO RUNS!! Had shop temp at 85 degrees when I sprayed. I really liked the way the PPG paint applied.

Thanks,
Rick

Looking great!

Love the documentation! Keep it coming!

Gives me hope for my future Chevy II project...

I REALLY want to see that when it happens. I love me some Chevy Soapboxes!

Your bodywork is incredible. I really dig this project because my mom's first car was a 1963 Impala SS that she bought from my great-grandmother for $1 back in the late 60's. I'm going to forward this thread to her. I think she'll like it. She traded it for a '71 Celica later on...

Hey, everyone. Got some new pictures of the S.S. Going Broke, so I figured you all would want to see them.

Anyway, here's the usual e-mail from Rick.

Mark,

Got some more pics for you to look at.

Bed liner came out nice. I sprayed it with just a little heavier texture than a truck bed to aid in sound deadening. I think that this was the messiest part of the whole job! If you brushed up against this stuff, I think you would become part of what you sprayed. Ha Ha!!!

You have approx 20 min. to apply after catalyzing the mixture or it will set up and ruin your spray gun. You have to clean (flush well) after applying each quart of mixture. Try doing this 7 times before completing the process. The clean up after the last application has to be done quickly and very thoroughly or else your spray gun is lost. The guys who do this for a living earn their money!!! Thank god for Tyvek throw away paint suits!!

That's all I got for now. Hope you have a great day!

Ole man in MO

P.S. The pics of Gold Diggers ride are Awesome!!! Love the color.

Really enjoyed the backdrop scenery (Mt Fuji) in his pictures. Looks like his buddies have some pretty nice rides also.

Thanks to all following this thread,
Rick

Looks very nice.

i have been away from this thread for far to long, gets me motivated to work on both of my cars, just have to get moved into the house first.

Keep rolling with the updates Mark, can't wait for this thing to be on wheels.

Why oh why didn't you box the frame when it was separated from the body?? (I believe Street Rodder or Rodders Journal had a cover story about a year ago on doing this. ) It is a common modification for 1847s and other 1600 & 1800 based 'X-Frames'.

Rick appears to be doing a pretty good job with the restoration. I am quite envious of the lift.

Was Rick able to extend the harness to mount the ECM inside the interior? What about the PCM, or is it integrated? (I'm not very fluent in newer GM)

Are you still needing a fuel tank that is setup for EFI (with return)?

If you are still having issues with the shifter not lining up, contact ShiftWorks, they can probably help to get you 'in gear'.
(yes, pun intended).

Isn’t it obvious when someone has a passion for their job? If I could go to work each day looking forward to what I do!!!

Thanks for the updates – again.

Ladies and Gentlemen of NICO,
At this time I would like to let you all know that the Cruise Ship “S.S. Going Broke” is. At this time we are going to have to let the grand old lady sit in dry dock for a little while, as the board of directors (me) saves some more coin of the realm to pay for my follies. I over spent on the garage and house projects, then the rains came and I found I needed a roof on the back of the house. And of course the flood in the back yard twice and the new drain pipe did not help at all. So a little time to build the funds back up as I can, and then I will put Rick back in the saddle again. Please rest assured that Rick will stay busy as his talents are in demand by many people. If you are close to the Macon, MO area and would like to meet Rick or have him do some work for you, let me know and I will put you in touch with him. And NO he is not the reason I am out of coin, as I said things at home came up and LIFE just happens to all of us. So just grab you attitude and put your shoes on and get going, because life is not going to wait on us!
I hope each and every one of you fine “NICOites” the best holidays you can have with family and friends and “May God Bless” as Mr. Red Skelton was so fond of saying.

All my best to you,
Mark “G.O.B.” Hartman

This is going to be awesome....
This thread will dissappear now... and then one day, when an update is done, it will return to the front page of Gen Chat.

Then it's gonna get hit harder than snookie!

Looking forward to the next update (whenever that will be!)

Understood completely.When you get to be our age you have a lot more responsibilities than just the fun stuff.Keep up the good work when you can!!

Well, kiddies, it's been a while since I posted anything, and while I don't have any new updates, I just wanted to address a few things from l0nestar.

l0nestar wrote:Why oh why didn't you box the frame when it was separated from the body?? (I believe Street Rodder or Rodders Journal had a cover story about a year ago on doing this. ) It is a common modification for 1847s and other 1600 & 1800 based 'X-Frames'.

Well, unless I don't know as much as I thought I did about boxed frames, I am pretty sure that mine is already boxed. If you look at the pictures you will see that the frame is boxed except at the front frame horns for the bumpers and the rear brace at the very rear. But it depends on your definition of boxed. Can you give me a bit more insight as to what you may be talking about?

l0nestar wrote:Rick appears to be doing a pretty good job with the restoration. I am quite envious of the lift.

Was Rick able to extend the harness to mount the ECM inside the interior? What about the PCM, or is it integrated? (I'm not very fluent in newer GM)

Not as of yet. Please see my previous post.

l0nestar wrote:Are you still needing a fuel tank that is setup for EFI (with return)?

Not at the moment...again...see previous post.

l0nestar wrote:If you are still having issues with the shifter not lining up, contact ShiftWorks, they can probably help to get you 'in gear'.
(yes, pun intended).

I was able to get it adjusted a long time ago. But thank you for the idea and I will keep the name in my favorites.


If I don't get back in here before the holiday, you all take care and be safe.

Got some good news for the fans of the S.S. Going Broke.

She will be coming out of Dry Dock soon. Rockin Rick will be gettin busy once again on the old girl and hopefully she'll be done by the Spring.

I'll keep ya updated as the updates come in!

Awesome! Can't wait to see finished pics/video of it running!

Now that the holidays are over, and Rick has been able to take care of a few other projects, it's time to get back to business.

As promised the S.S. Going Broke has come out of dry dock and Rockin Rick has picked up where he left off on the old girl. And, as usual, Rick has included a little e-mail to let me know how things are going. He's left you all a message as well.


Mark,

Here are some progress pics for you.

As you can see, the interior pieces both light blue and dark blue are now done. All I have left to paint are the steering column and seat brackets, which I will do today. They are black.

Hope the cruise control that goes in the steering column comes in soon since I had to completely disassemble it to paint. I also have the steering wheel to refinish and will do that soon, too!

To everyone on NICO who is following the thread: I hope you had a great holiday!!!


Rick

What color is that on the dash, dark blue metallic?

Tell Rick thanks

Ya! updates! Glad to see you got caught up and are back at it again.

audtatious wrote:What color is that on the dash, dark blue metallic?

Tell Rick thanks

Yes, you are correct, a dark blue metallic with light blue metallic as the offset. And they are the factory colors. As is the white for the outside of the car.



And I passed along your thanks, but you should know that Rick is enjoying reading this thread also, so you can all say hello to him as he is reading this when he has the time.

He should join and post

Glad to see things back in action! Lookin good as always