Doing your Dad proud!

No adjusting holes on the drums Mitch - just the backing plates. Not sure I've ever seen that before.

The correct backing plates showed up last week and the rear seat is uncovered so I will drop both off at the blasters today to get cleaned up. Dropped off the drums this morning on my way in to get cut.

While not a lot of physical progress was made - today was a big day. I brought the 409 to my house to be able to dedicate more time on the balance of the work as we are getting close to having the exterior trim done and the interior work will happen the last week of October fingers crossed. I left the Regal down at Mom's on the lift and will take the Chevelle down soon to have more room at my place to work on the 409 this winter.

I installed the NOS Stewart Warner temp gauge before I left as I wanted to monitor engine temps since this would be the longest trip in it (50 miles) since we installed the new engine. I was able to complete the install without drilling any holes and using existing fasteners to mount the gauge under the glove box door.

Outside temps were high 70's and at 60 MPH it ran at 200 degrees. In town it would quickly get to 210-215-220 when waiting at a stoplight but then come right back down to 200 when we got going along.

Dad was with me from the start on this one as I needed a special 5/8" wrench to tighten the new temp sender fitting and by golly he had just what I needed in a custom bent 5/8" open end wrench in his stash.

No real issues on the ride. Was able to get a proper Dykstra Motorsports sticker installed when I got home - for some reason this car never got one. since I now have the car with me I will be able to take my time and fine tune some things that have been bugging me in addition to the De-SS'ing project this winter.

“De-SS’ing” is my new favorite word . . . .

----My all time favorite 409, either SS or not (prefer not though)!....Bill S

Nice work! Gauge looks right at home there!

What a great story to go along with a great car. I would love to have a family heirloom car to pass on for generations, much less a spectacular car such as this one. You are blessed my friend.

Some progress today.

Picked up the rear seat frame Friday at the blaster and painted it Friday night. Dropped it off this morning at the upholstery shop and they said "your ears must've been burning". They had started work on the front seat and wanted to get on the rear seat too. I'm really happy I spent the time and money to clean up the seat frames. Like Dad always said, you'll never regret doing it right...:scholar:

Still planning on bringing the car to them the last week in October to put it all together on the inside. Little by little....but moving forward.

Like Dad always said, you'll never regret doing it right...

AMEN!!!

Seat covers are done - except the trim which I am still waiting on.

Wow! Nice. What seats did it have previously?

When they did the SS conversion they put vinyl buckets in.

Nice!!

----Jake,,,Did you have to find a 62 bench seat or did it come with the car?....Bill S

Had to find another bench seat.

Spent some time in the garage last night prepping for the upholstery guy next week. I wanted to remove the wiring harness for the console light properly and also found the old abandoned power wire for the electric fuel pump and was able to remove that as well. Found some hidden Bubba Engineering on a few things I am hoping to correct. Removed the carpet completely along with the passenger seat to make the job easier for the upholstery guy. Also hoping to make a run into the suburbs tonight to pick up the hubcaps and interior bench seat trim which are done and needed for the seats next week. Little by little.......

As a side note I am soon going to have for sale ALL of the parts as a package to convert a 1962 Impala to an SS if anyone knows someone who needs this.

Looking great! Can’t wait to see the finished product!!

Picked up the bench seat trim and hub caps today. I also ordered a set of correct reproduction front and rear floor mats for the new carpet.

Only difference on the hub caps from SS to standard Impala are the center caps (spinner on SS). The set on the car is OK/driver quality. We had an extra set of less than driver quality standard caps that came with the car so I dropped them off at the guy who is doing the anodizing (he also restores the trim and related pieces) and asked if he could make them look any better. I don't have a "before" pic of the hubcap but what I got back was a piece of absolute jewelry that is better than I imagined they could look - the pictures don't do them justice. I will need to repaint the silver in between the ribs and install new caps. I about fainted when he told me what the bill was to do them but they are perfect - I am now afraid of denting or scratching them when I eventually put them on the car. The seat trim was cleaned up a bit more and re-anodized. Those pieces look NOS. Anxious to get the body trim back in a few more weeks. I drop the car off at the interior shop tomorrow.

Very nice console,rare item!

I will need it to be in order to recoup some of these costs LOL.

Stopped by the upholstery shop today and the headliner is out along with the "Bubba Engineering" bucket seat brackets. The original bench seat mounting stud locations were still intact under the bucket seat brackets - so got lucky there. He just put some dynomat type tape over the bucket seat bracket holes for now until I decide how far to take that repair.....

New headliner installation starts tomorrow. Everything should be wrapped up later next week. Little by little.....

----Good progress, Jake!!!....Bill S

Man, color me just a sentimental guy but I hope you kept that old electric fuel pump wire! It sounds like a tiny piece of the car’s drag strip heritage with your family somehow escaped detection despite the multiple owners & restorations in the last 60 years. Coil it up, label it & hang it on a hook in the garage!

Mark - that electric fuel pump was not a part of the car's original or even Day 2 history. It was added when (or after) the car was restored in the early 2000's and converted to an SS.

Headliner mostly complete today. Found some more "Bubba Engineering" on the old headliner attachment methods that was cleaned up nicely. Main reason for replacing the headliner was the sail panels had what I assumed was mouse urine damage and were stained and coming apart. No mouse damage or remnants were found.

Damn that turned out nice!!:beers:

If we are putting this car to “back in the day” and de “SSing”, we should put the 4:56’s back in!:biggthumpup::3gears:

Tim S - do you still have that center section Dad sold you?

Sorry guys.......I don't

More progress pictures from this morning. Headliner and visors are 100% done. Carpet is in and only needs some trimming for seat install. Rear seat is in. The reproduction seat trim brackets I bought are not cooperating and will require additional time to make work - that is today's effort. Hopefully that gets done and the front seat can be installed tomorrow and be ready for me to take home. He has also been diligent about replacing incorrect fasteners where he can so that is appreciated. Lighting in his shop is not the best so it looks way better in person than the pictures show.......

Looks great!!!!

Wow,nice and tight.You could bounce a silver dollar off of it!!

Picked up the car Friday afternoon from the upholstery shop. He was not able to make the seat trim brackets work - so we agreed to put the seat in without them and I would track down a solution. This allows me to get it back home and keep working on things. Scope creep is in full force as I bought new floor mats and sill plates - can't do all that work and stop short. They really finish things off nicely.

Overall pretty happy - turned out way better than I could have done myself. Next phase (other than the seat trim bracket issue) is to get the exterior trim back and start swapping out all those pieces. Little by little.......

Looking awesome Jake!

----So cool. Cousin Eddy would love it!!!....Bill S

Thank you for all the kind compliments and support!

I had some time this morning so I went out and knocked out a couple of things - swapped out the rear SS badges for the standard Impala ones and I took off the passenger grab bar and swapped out the correct dash panel and emblem. Will need to patch up the right side lower dash where the grab bar attached. Not sure if this piece is available to replace?

Moving along.......

Had some time after dinner last night so I was able to make some progress on the rear tail panel replacement......

I relocated the Brigance sticker to temporarily cover the SS trunk emblem holes that are unique to the Super Sport.

Oh yeah!!!!

----Good progress , Jake! Did the Brigance decal move itself?....Bill S