The Impala Project

I’m getting ready to take my 64 Impala apart soon to begin the restoration. Of course, I’ll need a place to put all the smaller parts as they come off the car.

I took advantage of the old saying, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, and saw the opportunity to setup some shelving for the Impala parts on one wall of my garage. While moving a family friend out of his house in getting it ready to sell, I found there were a lot of old produce crates setup as shelving in the basement. Since I was in charge of the junk disposal process, I decided to keep them and put them to good use.

There was full load of them in my 86 GMC pickup when I brought them home, and they were taking up a lot of room on the second floor of my garage so this was one new years project that couldn’t wait.

I picked up some 3/4″ x 3″ x 8′ boards to strap them together across the back and then used drywall screws to fasten them to the wall. Presto! Now I have an entire wall of shelves to put my smaller 64 Impala parts on.

Things are starting to come together as I gear up for beginning the restoration. Look forward to seeing more information on methods of cataloging your classic car parts as you take your old ride apart. There are numerous ways to organize your classic car parts for your own restoration, and I’ll cover several options. You can decide which one you prefer to use.

After yanking the engine out of the truck, I had to create a stand so I could put the engine in the back of the truck. I had to get the engine out of the garage so I have room to park the 68 VW.

The stand is made out of 4×4 and 3/4″ boards. I cut the 4×4 to 9″ in length and then trimmed a corner off of each one at one end. This is the end that will fasten into the motor mount bracket. I used a 24″ piece of 2×4 as the base.

I used 4″ deck screws to fasten the 4×4 to the 2×4 at the ends, creating a “U” shape. I fastened a 3/4″ board across the bottom and the ends, then filled it full of drywall screws.

I estimated the arc I would need to cut out of the 3/4″ cross piece, drew it on with marker and cut it out with the sawzall. Once I got it to fit comfortably I drilled the holes using my drill press to be sure they were straight. Since the motor mount bracket has holes on either side, I didn’t want a crooked hole.

A couple of 7/16″ x 5 1/2″ bolts held the engine stand in place and it is now strong enough the stand the motor on. I’m not so sure I am going to put it in the back of the truck right away. I can create a lot of how-to chevy engine articles using this engine sitting on the garage floor. I might leave it there for a little while, so you can look forward to more how-to’s.