Impala 2 door LS Swapped 5.3 on air ride!! Frame off build.
1966 Chevrolet Impala
You are looking at a 1966 Chevrolet Impala 2 door hardtop. This car has been fully restored and a late model GM engine and drive train installed, along with air ride suspension and all types of other items. It drives like a new car.
So, originally, this car came from the factory with a 283 engine and a 3 speed manual shift on the column. It is not an SS car. I bought the car in boxes 4 years ago as an unfinished project, typical of something you would see on CL. My shop worked on it in between other jobs over the past 4 years.
We started bycompletely disassembling the car, including removing the body from the frame. The exterior body panels on the car were all in very good condition, with only minor repairs needed. I repaired the lower rear corners on both front fenders and behind the wheels on both rear quarter panels. The doors were in good shape, as was the truck lid, roof and hood.
The frame was sandblasted, epoxy sealed and painted a satin black. All the bolt on components for the frame were also cleaned and painted this same way. The frame was reassembled and an air ride suspension kit was installed. The car sits on its original front spindles and original rear axle. We converted the front brakes from drum to disc and replaced the master cylinder and proportioning valve to match. The rear brakes are all stock, but completely new. All the brake and fuel lines are completely new, front to back. All new balljoints and all new steering components installed.
The body floors were rusty. The carpet underlayment was allowed to get wet over the years and it simply rusted the floors out. I replaced the passenger compartment floor pan, the pan under the rear seat bottom and the complete trunk floor. There was also a brace or two wechanged while there.The rest of the body was sandblasted, sealed with epoxy sealer and undercoated on the underside. The rest was painted. The car has foil backed, thermal sound deadening material from front to back under the carpet. The car retains all the original glass. All new body mounting cushions and bolts installed.
The original engine and transmission were shot and certainly not any good for a car I intended for someone to cruise, so I purchased a 2005 Chevy 2WD truck with body damage to use the engine out of. This truck had a replacement engine and transmission done byaGM dealership a few years ago. It has about 65,000 miles on the drivetrain. I left the engine and transmission all bone stock. In order to fit this drive train in this vintage car, we modified the front crossmember slightly, changed the oil pan and pickup on the engine to a Holley LS Swap oil pan for muscle cars and installed a set of Hooker high performance manifolds, which are ceramic coated. These were built for aCamaro. The original transmission crossmember was modified to fit the 4L60E overdrive transmission and I purchased a custom built driveshaft to fit. The engine retains its original intake and front drive setup.We changed it to a cable type throttle body, due to wiring harness constraints when using a fly-by-wire throttle body. The engine and transmission are wiredusing a custom built LS Stand Alone Wire Harness from BP Automotive, one of the industry leaders in LS Swap harnesses. I sent them the truck computer, which they reflashed and modified. The computer is now running a stock Z28 Camaro tune and by using the cable driven throttle body, the systemactually controls the cooling fans properly when the A/C is running, etc, just as it would have stock. The engine uses stock engine mounts, adapted to the engine with billet adapter plates. It fits very well. The radiator and fuel tank are both brand new LS swap compatible components. The radiator is a 3 row aluminum with the proper steam port. Thegas tank is a 66 Impala tank, but it came with the proper fuel pump for an LS engine. There is a standard ALDL connector to be able to plug a scan tool into, or for your mechanic or dealership to be able to use to perform service work, just as if the engine was still in the 2005 truck. There is a functional check engine light on the dash.
I had clearance issues with the steering box, but it was a manual steering car anyway. I tried a rack and pinion, unsuccessfully and then found a performance power steering box from CPP Automotive that fit well. It uses the stock 2005 power steering pump on the LS engine, but I had customhoses made. This now gave the car power steering it did not have before.
The A/C compressor on the LS engine would not fit in it's stock location, so when I purchased the aftermarket A/C and heat system from Classic Auto Air, they also supplied the relocation brackets and idler necessary to mount the Sanden compressor in a location that works in this car. The HVAC system in this car works extremely well. It uses the original factory control panel. It does heat, air conditioning and defrost.
The car originally had a front bench seat, so I located the correct bucketframes and a console. All the interiorupholstery is brand new from TMI. The car was originally black outside with red interior, so I stayed with it. So, new headliner, new dash, new seat covers, new carpet and underlayment, new package tray, new sail panels, new door trim panels, new arms rests, new window cranks, new door handles and new sill plates.
The car now has a Dakota Digital instrument cluster, built specifically for a 1966 Impala with a late model engine and drivetrain. The speedometer reads the digital output from the transmission and all the gauges function properly because it is built for this combination. It is a nice piece.
The air ride components are all mounted in the trunk. There is a Viair Chrome compressor, holding tank and all the solenoids mounted in the front of the trunk, out of the way. The trunk is all painted with the proper color spatter paint. There are two rocker switches on the dash to control the up and down height for the front and rear. The car has the ability to lay right down on the ground when parked.
The car rolls on brand newRiddler wheels with polished lips and graphite centers. They are 18" in the back and 17" in the front. The tires are also brand new. They fit the car well.
All the exterior chrome is new. New door handles and locks, new window sweeps, new emblems, new taillights, new headlights and new bumpers. All the weatherstrips are new except for the vent windows.
The exterior finish on the car is straight black clear coat. I used all PPG products on this car, so the sealer was their DP epoxy sealer, the paint was DBC base coat and the clear was PPG 2002 high solids. The shine is deep and the finish is mirror like. It has been painted about a year now.
Partial list of parts used:
Classic Auto Air
BP AutomotiveLS wire harnesses
VT Kustoms air ride suspensions
Dakota Digital dashboard
Hooker performance exhaust
CPP Performance
Spectra fuel tanks
PST Driveshafts
Pirate Front Disc Brake Conversions
TMI Interiors
Auto Classic Carpets
Tamraz's for bumpers and chrome
Hubbard's impala Parts
Holley Performance
And on and on. Pretty much everything is new.
Again, the car was not an SS car so I did not "ruin a classic" by doing this work, and I am not the type to do a clone or tribute. I wanted to build a really nice driver that you could take anywhere to shows, meets or to cruise around on the weekends while being comfortable and not sucking up gas like crazy doing it. It was never my intention to keep this car. We restore vintage vehicles over the winter when my real business is slow.
I am not really sure where you would ever find another car like this and done this way. I know what I have in it and how well it has turned out and how well it performs. It is simply slick! Be real about putting a value on this, I mean read through that description a couple times and add all of that up. I don't think you could contract a shop to build you this car for what I will sell it for. There are hundreds of hours of labor we are talking about here, so no stupid lowball offers.
All 79 pictures of the complete job done on this car can be found here on my Photobucket site at this link - http://s65.photobucket.com/user/dhunter21/library/66%20Impala
A walk around HD Video can be found here on my YouTube page. https://youtu.be/zFZrBWEwjW8
TERMS:
AS IS sale with no warranty whatsoever.
$250 deposit due within 24 hours of auction close
Balance due within 7 days and vehicle picked up, cash, cashier's check or call me for other options
Car has a clean and clear KY title in my name
Shipping is buyer's responsibility
We have only driven the car short distances (it's winter with rain, snow and salt here), so plan accordingly.
I am located in southern Kentucky. Jamestown, KY. 42629
No trades
If you need more time to get a shipper here, that is no problem as long as the car is paid in full in the 7 day window. I have indoor space for a little while
Car is advertised for sale locally and in other places, so I reserve the right to cancel this auction at any time before the reserve is met for a local sale. Once the reserve is met or the buy now function is used, you will be the legal buyer and expected to complete the purchase, as outlined here.
You have to have aPayPal account to bid or buy. This weeds outsome scammers. Contact me if you do not have one.
I have sold many vintage vehicles on Ebay in the past and handled several overseas transactions and helped with loading into shipping containers, etc.
If you absolutely need to talk to me in person, call 270 five07 six571. If not, use the ask seller a question feature. I check myemail several times daily.
Good luck bidding. Don't be scared. This one is a sweet ride. I have it licensed and insured, so I planto drive it around some, weather permitting, until sold.
- Condition: Used
- Make: Chevrolet
- Model: Impala
- Type: Fastback
- Year: 1966
- Mileage: 25
- VIN: 99999999999
- Color: Black
- Engine size: 5.3 Liter LS
- Number of cylinders: 8
- Power options: Air Conditioning
- Fuel: Gasoline
- Transmission: Overdrive 4L60E
- Drive type: RWD
- Interior color: Red
- Vehicle Title: Clear Want to buy? Contact seller!
