wicked4door_70

So this is the start of my build thread for my 1970 impala sedan that i am swapping a 5.3 and 4l60e into. I bought the car about 3 weeks back from a friend of mine for 300 bucks. it had been sitting for quite a few years in his automotive graveyard and it was missing some parts and the hood had been half ripped off after someone had left it up and a big storm hit.


So we looked around his yard for other 1969-70 b body cars and pulled a hub and drum off a 70 parisienne. we also took a steering wheel out of a 68 grand parisienne. then we threw some random wheels and tires on from around the yard and hauled it home. the first thing i did when i got it home was throw some cheap used tires on that held air.


Then came the task of removing the hazardous waste you would call the interior. The entire headliner was filled to the brim with mouse crap, as well as the c pillar panels. Whoever owned the car prior to my friend liked his **** carpet and crush velvet. The original black carpet was still underneath the nasty blue **** but was in pretty rough shape so it had to go. The seats were a different story. Someone thought it to be a good idea to put tiny buckets out of god knows what up on top of a couple of 2x4's bolted to the floor as well as have the back seat recovered in that god-awful crush velvet that had what looked like mold all over the lower halves of the seats. I also ripped out all the old sound deadening.











Then i took a nylon wire wheel to the floor to get all the leftover fluff off. (after vacuuming first of course) and it seems i don't have a picture of the "clean" floor.

Advanced Design

This will be a cool project and the floors look really solid. It is amazing how "yucky" some of the old interiors are...worthy of an environmental suit.

wicked4door_70

The floors are super solid but someone had a b&m shifter in it and there was a gaping hole in the floor. I had to cut out the tunnel anyway for my transmission to fit and i'm going to make a new one. and also the way they mounted the seats left the floor full of holes to fill.

wicked4door_70

So i've done so much to the car already previous to this thread that i may be jumping around a bit. The next thing i did was make my motor mount plates and i just used a basic template for 1 inch setback plates and had the welding shop cut them out.


I went to the auto parts store and picked up some new motor side motor mounts since the car never had any.


Then i mounted them to my plates. I set the motor in and found out it looked like i needed to notch the frame for the oil pan to clear.



look at all that dirt







After i notched it i found out it still hit and with the plates the motor mount stands didn't line up with the holes anymore so i figured i would wait to figure that out. i dropped it down approximately where it needed to be and moved on to the transmission crossmember. I used a stock style polyurethane turbo 350 transmission mount because they bolt directly onto a 4l60e. I flipped the crossmember upside down and backwards and the mount landed square in the center of it. so i cut off the original mounting tab and cut the top and bottom of the crossmember to accept 2x4 box steel and made a plate for the top with two elongated holes like the stock mount for the bolts.




I had to cut half of the humps off of the ends of the crossmember so it would mount to the frame properly. I don't have a picture of them. After i had the transmission bolted down and the floor cut out


I decided to make 1" tall spacers for the frame side motor mounts to raise the motor up for oil pan clearance. I just used 1" schedule 40 round tubing and welded them to the bottom of the mounts and then to the frame once i had the motor set where i wanted it.








By the way if any of you are trying to figure out how to lift your ls engine wonder no more. I made this lift plate out of i believe an 18" piece of 6" wide 1/4" plate with a 4" wide 12" long piece of 1/4" plate with three holes in it. the way i have it the rearmost hole balances the engine almost perfectly. you can buy them but it was cheaper to make.








Next i focused on cleaning and modifying the intake to work with my car. Because the fuel line is on the passenger side in the car and the drivers side on the intake, i had to flip the fuel rail around.


When you flip the fuel rail you need to trim some plastic off of the top of the intake for the crossover to fit. Be careful not to cut into the intake. and because the vacuum port for the fuel pressure regulator is on the drivers side i had to make a line to extend over to the passenger side. I used 3/16" brake line and put a small flare at either end to help hold it into the rubber ends.


Here are the quick disconnects i picked up for 5 bucks a piece





Then i made plugs to delete the egr crap out of some pipe, a bolt, some steel plate, and a couple o rings.









i plug welded the bolt on so there was no weld to push the plug away from the intake








i welded the inside so there was no weld to push the plug away from the intake




Here is what the motor looks like in the car with the truck intake and an ls1 intake.





So after mock up was done i pulled the motor back out and cleaned it up, changed some gaskets, threw a set of newer 862 heads i picked up for 100 bucks off a 2008 silverado on with new head gaskets and bolts. (yes i realize the 862 heads are probably not different but it beats all 6 exhaust manifold bolts being sheared off on both sides.)






all clean(ish)

And back in she goes.


And also if i haven't mentioned it already the motor, transmission, wiring harness, computer, air box, fuse box, and coolant tank, pretty much the full swap cost me 600 bucks.

So after i put the motor in i started tearing into the wiring harness and it was easier than you think to convert it to standalone. I went through and removed everything for egr, a/c, oil level, coolant level, and the after cat o2 sensors.



here is the wiring harness somewhat in the car. oh and also i will be removing the clutch fan and running dual electric fans from a 2005 impala.





there is no radiator yet.

Next i dealt with the air box and fuse box. for the air box i had to cut away some of the fender to clear it and cut open the inner fender for it to clear the rad support. and here is the box in the car and the fantastic mounting system i made.





For the fuse box i cut some protrusions off around where the washer tank would have gone (i still need to relocate it.) and then mounted the lower half of the box to the fender. i still need to make a support for the outer part because it bounces around.






i cut off the part of the box and cover that sticks out to the side.

Now i'm in the process of figuring out where to mount the computer and i think i've found a good spot.






beauty

wicked4door_70

Now i'm sort of fiddling with wiring and seats. My seats came out of a 2008 malibu and they are light grey power heated leather buckets with the matching back seat. which by the way fits perfectly in between the wheel tubs. i'm going to make some cupholder things to fill in the space between the door and seat. and the seats are just sitting in there they are not mounted.


















And on the subject of interior i picked up some recovered 69 camaro armrests for 50 bucks because mine are shot.





So that's pretty much where i'm at right now i just have a couple ideas to throw your way any feedback would be helpful. I am thinking of going with these wheels. 18x9 at all four corners because they don't make 18x10.


And also i got badges off of a 2005 impala and was thinking of putting them on my car. Thoughts?

zman1969

iTrader: (91)

neat project, will be different and have the big car ride!

wicked4door_70

I'm going to be doing full suspension for pro touring so i hope it is still somewhat comfortable once its done.

alocker

iTrader: (10)

I like the Impala logo, not the script though. What offset are the 18x9's?

wicked4door_70

not sure on the offset of those and sorry it took so long to reply. i actually decided to go a different route with the wheels. i will be running wheel vintiques 66 series steel wheels in the 16x10 size at all 4 corners. 4.75" bolt pattern and 5" of backspacing. i will be using beauty rings and some decent looking center caps as well.

Russ.W.

Nice choice. I'm running them in 17x8 on my '67. They look right at home on these big cars.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

I like the Impala logo...and am neutral towards the script. Cool build!

Andrew

wicked4door_70

So i started working on my impala again after it sitting for a few months while i built my shortbed chevy.


I pulled the body off the frame and now they are sitting in my garage ready to be stripped down and worked on. I am going to strip the components off the frame and have is sandblasted and powdercoated then i'll worry about suspension. For the body i am in the process of making a temporary body cart until i can make a simple cheap rotisserie to get the body up in the air and upside down.








Unloading the body from the trailer was a bit interesting when the trunk was full of s**t and the trunk and doors were on. oh and i had to do it by myself.
So i backed the trailer into my garage and used 2" tie down straps over the rafters to lift the front of the body off the trailer. then i put a jack and a block under the gas tank and drove the trailer out from underneath the body slowly while the jack rolled on the trailer deck. i put my old toolbox under the wheel well above where the diff would sit and set the car down on top of it. Then i lifted the rear of the car with my engine crane once i pulled the trailer all the way out. I pulled the toolbox out and set the rear end down on a tire. i slowly undid the straps a bit at a time alternating sides till the front was on the ground. then i moved the car over to one side of the garage and put it up on jackstands.















Then i did a bit of work on the truck oil pan because it was hella too far below the crossmember as you may have seen. I cut it down a couple inches. I made the cut at the part where it starts to angle back near the bottom of the pan and cut it as straight as possible with a grinder. i kept the stock oil drain plug and cut into the pan to make it work. Also when i pulled the motor at the junkyard i punctured the pan so i cut that out. I cut 2" out of the pickup tube as well. Then i took the pan and modified pickup to a friend who has a tig. I also drilled and tapped the oil cooler block off plate for a stock idiot light oil pressure sender. ill be putting something different in down the line this is just temporary as i'm poor af.

wicked4door_70

The pictures are a bit out of order it seems. oh and also on the oil pan i got rid of the low oil sensor as i will not be using it and just put a plug with an o ring in the hole. Also sorry for the crappy blurry close ups i have an unsteady hand lol

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

Good job being creative when working alone!

Andrew

Motown 454

iTrader: (15)

Agreed.

wicked4door_70

Thanks!

wicked4door_70

So i built this bitchin temporary body cart out of some 4x6's and 300 lb pneumatic tire casters. bad idea. guess the car weighed a bit more than i thought with the doors on. when i set the body down on the cart one of the casters rims blew apart and damn near sent the body *** over tea kettle. Oh well, guess its time for plan b. solid wheel casters. with the shape my garage floor is in that cart is gonna be fun to roll around.





Broke out the ratchet straps again



surprisingly didnt wreck the bumper or even bend it.

Advanced Design

Well, somehow I've been missing the updates...and have enjoyed catching up. Nice work, wow, the welds on the oil pan are impressive.

wicked4door_70

Thanks. and that was a friend of mine who did the welding. i wish i could weld that good. hell i dont even have a tig.

wicked4door_70

I've been doing some research because i want to build up the 12 bolt that came in the car a bit. Its ticking me off cause i want to go with moser axles and c clip eliminators but moser makes axles for stock replacement that have bearing seats way too big for the eliminators so you would need to machine them down anyway. Why the hell would they not make proper axles for the 12 bolt that work with their own c clip eliminators? I was also looking at wilwood for a rear disc kit to work with eliminators and they only make it for one type of 12 bolt flange and its not mine. i have the impala/truck flange and its huge and nothing frickin fits it. if there's anybody out there who could help me out with my situation that'd be great.