CIA Impala Rebuild Project

I am not sure why but the last few days working on the car always seem to be the most satisfying.  The trunk only needed a false panel to tie everything together along with some cleanup.  Using some thin plywood, I cut holes to view the insides of the speaker boxes as well as the amps.  I installed some staples to hold the center Plexiglas in place similar to how picture frames are designed.  It ended up working out great!.. Once satisfied with the fit and finish, I covered the assembly with matching carpet and installed the  Plexiglas. The final task was to wire up the LED's to the trunk latch.  This way they would turn on when the trunk was opened.  Of course if Dan wants them turned off, he can always use the remote to do that! In the light this is what it looks like. But I prefer to look at it in the dark!! I had a lot of fun with this project but as with everything else, eventually it is time to move on to something new.  I really appreciate you following me alo

With the width of the two speaker, I has BARELY enough room for the amp.  At nearly 2 feet wide, that left about 1/2 inch clearance on each side.  I also had to find room for a second amp and the two MB Quart passive crossovers.  The Stinger capacitor was an after thought that I figured I would fit in where I could. Starting from scratch, I start cutting panels.  Eventually I came up with a 2 tier design where the crossovers would mount to a vertical section in the back.   Everything was glued and screwed together.  The holes for the wiring were drilled and then the whole assembly was covered with matching carpet. Finally the amps and crossovers could get mounted to the rack for the very last time. To make it easier to install and somewhat modular, I wired the amps using the amp rack in a manner to make installation easier.  All wires were routed and connected via distribution blocks.  To keep the wires in place, hold downs were used. One final test fit was d

When we initially went over the terms of the project, I stated that I did not want to do a full custom stereo installation.  As time progressed, I had spent so much time working on it, I didn't want to do a half-ass job finishing the trunk.  We went back and forth on ideas but in the end, I decided to just finish the car so Dan could enjoy it rather than get it back and continue to work on it. The first task was to build the speaker boxes that would house two Infinity Perfect 12 inch subs.  He wanted a good punch but not a booming sound.  After looking over the specs, that meant a sealed box of 1 cubic foot for each sub.  The trunk floor is not flat in a B-body so templates had to be built to accommodate the odd shape.  I decided to built 2 separate boxes - one for each side of the trunk. Here is the outline of the speaker box faces.  I had just barely enough room to mount a 12 inch subwoofer into the panel.  My goal was to be able to mount the amps and crossovers between the b

I had several small projects that I needed to finish before I could consider the interior DONE.  The first was the door panel inserts and door pulls.  I grabbed some out of a junkyard for the time being from Fleetwood to install in the rear.  With a little modification, they fit just fine but will get replaced eventually. The rear door panel inserts were in horrible shape.  The outer surface had deteriorated to the point it was gummy and sticky.  I tried several different things to clean them but ended up using brake cleaner.  I would just spray some on a paper towel and wipe the bad layer off.  After an hour or so worth of work, they looked decent enough to paint!  All installed now, I think they turned out great. The front doors needed to be finished up as well.  I installed the original door pulls after cleaning them and had to touch up a few paint imperfections. I cut out some arm rest savers out of aluminum and painted the new screws black to better blend in with the do

The center console needed to get modified so it would work with the new B&M shifter.  If we had a '96 console, things would have been much easier.  Unfortunately they are very expensive so the '95 console was used.  The two cup holders were situated exactly where the shifter needed to be so out comes the power tools. After the console area was cut, I purchased a piece of ABS plastic and formed it using a heat gun to match the contours.  It then got cut to make room for the modified shifter bezel. The panel was then glued to the console using ABS adhesive.  Because the colors didn't quite match, the console was washed and prepared for some SEM plastic paint. I am really happy with the end result.  Not sure if I'd want to do it again because as simple as it seems, I had 12+ hours into the console.

Dan purchased some 9" Pheonix Gold mid base drivers.  The original thought is that they would get mounted in the doors but looking at what it was going to take, we quickly changed our minds.  His fear in mounting them into the rear deck was that they could get damaged or somehow distort due to the subs being in the same airspace.  The solution was to build two small boxes and mount them in the same locations as the original 6X9's. The first step was to build a pair of small boxes.  The speakers are just sitting in their enclosures for the the picture and fitment. Next was to devise a way to actually mount them to the rear deck.  I decided some angle aluminum, screws and clips would work best.  Each box was sealed using silicone and foam tape was used to seal the speaker to the box face before the 8 mounting screws were installed. Parts of the rear deck were removed to make room for the larger speakers.  The entire deck was then covered with RAMMAT to stop rattles and inc

This car is really starting to come together.  I think it looks great and my list of things to finish is getting shorter and shorter. I finished painting the various dash pieces that didn't get done previously as well as the armrests.  Everything was installed and I took some pictures to savior the moment! Nearly finished doors. Completed dash.

I have to be honest about this part of the project.  It sucked!!  Nothing went as expected and it has been taking forever to get to done.  Dan chose a B&M ratchet shifter over the stock column shifter.  It was agreed upon that it would be installed and at the time, it looked easy enough.... I was wrong!! To start with, the shifter came with an installation kit for a late 80's Camaro.  I drilled a couple holes, installed the brackets and mounted the shifter.  Unfortunately the cable ended up going right through the front bracket used to mount the console.  I got around the issue by creatively cutting sheet metal and removing some of the bracket.  The cable was then routed under the car and attached to the transmission.  Everything was great until I tried to mount the console after cutting out the cup holders... The shifter handle was not high enough to clear the console.  In fact, there was no way it would ever work using a stock console in its current form.  It had to get r

A car with no interior is just a shell.  The interior seems to make it "a car" so when the day came that I could finally install the carpet and seats, it was a great day!  I was also going to gain back some valuable garage space that I really needed. Passengers side door panels installed along with the carpet. Drivers side installed showing seats. Stereo head unit installed. Power supply for the head unit was installed under the passengers seat.