Prepairing to lift the body

I am getting closer to lifting the body so that I can add new body bushings run new stainless steel fuel lines for the 409 and break lines, and add a second control arm for the rear end. I have been going around on how to do all of this and maintain space in my garage. I do not have room to have the frame and body side by side. I have been debating on building a custom body cart s that I can role the body out of the garage and work on the frame, but the longer I worked on this the more I realized that was not a feasible idea. So what is a guy on a budget to do and limited space to do?

Well I think I have stumbled on my solution. I found a web site called accessible systems that has what I need. I have these in my garage and I think that it will allow me the space to work on the car and maintain my garage space. I ordered a part called a frame standoff to separate my body from my frame and when I am done I will install the new body bushings. Second I ordered a set of frame dolly's wheels to mount to the frame so that I can role the body and frame around and in and out of the shop. I think that this system will work for me and my restoration. I will post pictures as I move into this next phase.

62 Impala work

Well I have gotten some work done over the last few weeks. Not the progress that I would like to see, but any progress is good. Since the shop space that I have is tight, I have to find ways to make sure that I have room to do my projects.

So once I got my 409 on the engine stand I wanted to be able to be able to store it over the frame when not working on the car. To accomplish this I needed to remove the power steering, steering box, control arms. All of these items were going to be removed and replaced at some point, so I have removed them and am able to store the 409 and maintain my shop space.

I continue to remove the trim and am almost done with that. After that I will finish removing the exhaust, transmission, drive line, glass, and rear bumper. with that done I will be ready to remove the car from the frame and start the restoration and customization process. I am hoping to have the frame off at the end of January.

62 Impala Evaluation

Spent some time with the car and have been finishing removing trim and noting the areas that will need some attention and the extent of repair that need to take place.

The Drivers side will require the most attention as there was some interesting fixes done to the car from the previous owner. I do not have a picture of it but there is the typical rust damage at the front quarter panel that will have to be repaired, but unknown to me the bigger issue presented its self when I removed the rocker panel trim from the drivers side. I discovered a rather large piece of metal house siding stuck in this hole with about 1/2" of bondo holding it all in place I have just started to sand the area to figure out how much rust damage there is. right now I am going to have to do some rocker panel repair from the wheel well to mid point on the drivers door. Just above this hole there is a 8" dent that will need some attention, there is also something on the sail lid that I need to sand the car down and see what is going on I discovered a couple of pop rivets and a funny little piece of metal on the trunk side. I will know more when I get the car sand blasted. I think that there is more rust to be found.

So far on the passengers side there has not been discovery of anything that is not typical rust areas. The front quarter behind the wheel, along the rocker panel behind the trim, and this little blister at the rear wheel well. However I think that there is more as well as I found a odd piece of metal welded to the bottom of the rocker panel with some rust blisters and on the rear wheel well I am seeing some evidence of rust and bondo.

The interior, well I have already talked about the floor repair, this is a picture of the roof there is a moldy headliner foam (form years of leaking seals) and there is a little surface rust which I think will be taken care of with some media blasting. Nothing surprising here.

So with all this in mind I am developing my plan of attack on the body. But that is another post.