Thanks, Greg, for all your help. I'm still waiting for the car, but as of Monday or Tuesday, it should be here. Now comes the fun part...to see how much money I can spend before the wife blows a gasket.

The car will be a street rod, I hope, when done...something to cruise the U.S.A. in.

EDIT:To tide some of you over...a few pics from the car while still in Arizona.





LT1 from a 1995 Z28 Camaro



Interior






That's it for now. Got more to come shortly.

nice to hear, welcome to the club.

You got it Mark.

Folks, meet Mark - His son is Neal (Gold Digger), our esteemed Skyline Moderator!

Hey, Pop! Welcome to NICO. Glad to have you aboard.

I know you aren't to into the whole message board thing, but if you browse around, I am sure you'll enjoy what we have here on NICO.

If you have any questions, just let me know.

G.O.B. wrote:The car will be a street rod, I hope, when done...something to cruise the U.S.A. in.

Driving a streed rod is the only way to cruise in the USA. Welcome!

AZhitman wrote: His son is Neal (Gold Digger), our esteemed Skyline Moderator!

LOL...I got you guys so snowballed! HE HE HE.

Welcome to NICO!

Please keep us updated on the project.

Just in case some of you were wondering, or were curious to know.

This thread is in reference to the foot work that Hitman put in, helping my dad score this...

zer...we-do

I'll make sure he (Pop) and/or I will keep this project updated.

Kinda a father/son project, but my side is the internet stuffs...lol. (That means Laugh Out Loud, Pop. )

haha

this thread rocks.

Mr1der wrote:haha

this thread rocks.

Yes.

It does certainly rock.

This is an update to the "Cruise Ship SS Go For Broke", a 1963 Impala Station Wagon. As far we know the transmission is a 4L60E, not a 700R4 like I thought.

I have 14" wheels in the front with 17" in the back, but not to worry. The car will get a nice set of Chevrolet Ralley at all 4 corners. 15"X7" in front and 15"X8" in the back.

The rear differential seems to be a built Ford 9”.

There are a few problems with the car.

As of now I have a major fuel leak back by the fuel pump. The transmission will not go in to park, but Monday I’m taking it in for that and the fuel leak.

Nothing in or on my dash works but I have to say I’m not surprised after the motor swap, as there now lives an LT1 under the hood. And they say it is from a 1996 Impala SS (Edit: Actually found out it's from a 1995 Z28!).

And, now for your viewing pleasure.

Pics of arrival day, March 5th, 2009...


Duck!




Here she comes.











There she is. Welcome to the cold a** midwest.



Now, time to put you in the garage...This garage used to be the home of a 1990 Toyota Corolla that my mother-in-law owned. There was lots of room in there for that car. Sadly, she passed away in 2007 and the Corolla was sold. Now, the Impala will call it home.

Driver side...check.



Notice the wheel chock?


Passenger side...wowzers!! That's close.


Room in the back, too.


I'll be back in a bit to include some more photos. Take care.

Love the name of the car pop. That's very fitting...lol.

Like the pics, too. Did you figure that out all on your own, or did you have help...hint, hint.

Yeah for old man Hartman!!!

Mark is the coolest! Thanks for having us for the cookout two summers ago. Hopefully we'll get a chance to do it again someday soon.

either you have a small garage, or it's massive.

I'm betting on the latter

I assume there's hardly any rust since it came from AZ, just a lot of dust

Gold Digger wrote:Love the name of the car pop. That's very fitting...lol.

The name was all mine as the “Money Pit” was used and just look at the size of this old lady. Thanks to Big E’s service and all the people down at E’s for all the help so far...and in the future. They and “E” are good people to know.

Unfortunatly, I needed to find the source of the fuel leak, so I took it my and Neal's friend's shop, Big E's Auto, and put it up on the lift. Neal even called me while I was there, and had a few minutes to talk to his friend.

Got the car up on the lift and found some interesting things.

One being, that when they ran the new fuel line, they used steel braided instead of hard line. It's zip-tied to parts of the frame rails and also parts of the body, which has some sharp edges on it...not a smart thing. It also doesn't have a fuel return line like most fuel injected engines have/need.





Pics of braided line from the fuel tank.








This is also where we found it was a Ford 9" in the back end as well. Notice the angled drain plug on it, too.
Ford 9"? Yes, please.






Another interesting tid-bit. This car has had power disk brake converstion done to it as well.



In this one, you can see the lines for the rear disk brakes.




Underbelly shot. You can see the exhaust running down the unique X-chassis.





Ok. That's all for now. Will update at a later day when problems are sorted.

Thanks for lookin.

Mr1der wrote:either you have a small garage, or it's massive.

I'm betting on the latter

I assume there's hardly any rust since it came from AZ, just a lot of dust

The garage is small and the car is massive, just a foot short of my wife's 99 Chvey Suburban. I'm told the car was from CA (built in LA) then spent the last 3 years in AZ.

Wow, looks like a really fun project.

It is very strange seeing no rust on the underbody. I see cars every day that are 40 years newer in worse shape than that.

Good luck.

YES!!!!!!!!!!! This thread rocks.

OOO...even more pictures. Nice work, Pop!

Hey, Pop. You should talk to E and see if he would mind if we put those pics from Asakusa up on the net.

Great car! Do you post on The HAMB?

EW wrote:Great car! Do you post on The HAMB?

Please elaborate on what the HAMB is.

And no, he doesn't post there. This is the only message board he posts on.

Mmmmmmm nice project. Better keep with the updates.

Awesome project! I'm glad this worked out well for you guys. I was hoping to have Greg's s30 on that truck with you, but it all worked out well in the end. This is a solid foundation for a great project and the fact that the car is not rusted is a huge motivator.

Good luck, keep us posted, and stick around!

I actually have a few things to post up tomorrow. I would do it tonight, but it's Sunday here, I am tired as hell from practice and getting ready to crack a beer and be lazy.

You all can wait till tomorrow anyway.

Well, I am going to beat Neal to the punch and post up what I think he was going to do.

Little bit of background story first.

I mentioned the shop that let me put the GFB (Go For Broke) up on the lift, so thought I would elaborate more on it.

Erv Beckner is a guy that Neal met long ago when he worked at the McDonald's our local shopping mall used to have several years ago. There is a Sears store there as well, and Erv used to work in the auto department and would use McD's regularly on his breaks.

He and Neal both had an interest in cars and became friends. Erv also put a set of air shocks on Neal's first car...1985 Caprice Classic 4 door.

Anyway, Erv left Sears and proceeded to a tire shop that has since gone out of business. It was there that I got to know him as one of the shop managers was a guy I had done business with for many years.

After leaving that shop before it went under, Erv opened his own shop, "Big E's Auto". It started in a small corner building, then he eventually was able to re-locate to a larger area.






And, when I went to visit Neal and his family in Japan, Erv asked me to get some pictures for his shop. He gave me two t-shirts for Neal and his wife, and asked for picture with the t-shirts to be taken at various locations in Japan. Well, we got one location. Would have had two, but the live show Neal played at, to many people kept getting in the way and I couldn't get a good photo.

Here are Neal and his wife at a temple in Asakusa.






I apologize for my beautiful daughter-in-law's hair for cover up the emblem on the shirt.





I think Erv liked his photos.



So, if you are ever in Galesburg, Illinois and need some work done to a car, he's the guy to go to.

Now, on to some other bits and pieces.

Some basic facts about the 1963 Chevrolet Impala:

Length: 209.3 inches

Wheelbase: 119.0 inches

Width: 76.0 inches

Height: 56.0 inches (Station Wagons and Convertibles); 55.5 inches (All other models)

Weight: From 3,390 pounds (2-dr Sport Coupe) to 3,835 pounds (station wagon)

Engine sizes: From a 230 cu. in. inline 6 cylinder to a 409 cu. in. V8

Horsepower range: 140@4400 RPM (230 cu. in.) to 425@6000 RPM (409 cu. in.)

Carburetion: single, 2- or 4-barrel Rochester, 4-barrel Carter AFB, dual 4-barrel Rochester or Carter AFB

Transmissions available: 3- and 4-speed manual and a Powerglide automatic (2-speed automatic).

Rear gear ratios: 3.08:1 to 3.70:1

Price (1963): From $2,615 to $3,186

Models: Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala, Impala SS

Styles: 2- and 4-door sedan, 2-door sport sedan, 6- and 9-passenger station wagon, 2-door convertible.

Now, as mentioned before, I am looking to get a full set of Chevy Ralley wheels for the GFB, and here is a photo of what it could look like.

The car in the photo is a 1964, but it won't be too different.

That's all I got for now. The wagon goes in this week for some work on the transmission and fuel leak. More to follow once that's done.

And as I have mentioned, I plan on a set of Chevrolet Rally wheels for it. This is what it could look like. (The photo is actually a 1964, but it's close enough.)

"We Put the ERV in sERVice."

Lol I like that.

Pop, good call. Yeah, I was gonna put something up about the shop, but you went and did it and even put a picture of me on the intarwebs.

That photo of my wife is nice, too. You should see her now in all her pregnant beauty. Baby is starting to kick now and then.

Gold Digger wrote:Please elaborate on what the HAMB is

Forum dedicated to spreading the gospel of traditional hot rods and customs to hoodlums worldwide.

God bless classic American automobiles . I will own one. This thread brings joy to my soul