Jake Dykstra's 1962 409/409 Impala!

[napa68]

Originally Posted by 67since67

Double WOW!! That is spectacular!!

Jake, this car must, no HAS to be at MCACN 2025!!

I'm with Bill^^^^^^

[scuncio]

Nice work! Engine bay looks flawless.

[BJCHEV396]

Wow,you're doing really well! Keep the pics coming!!

[Tenney]

Diggin' the details, Jake - that's one lucky car!

[olredalert]

----Your Dad is looking down right now and knows that every last thing is done to perfection, Jake. Can't wait to see cousin Eddie's masterpiece with the Dykstra's touch at MCACN!!!....Bill S

[RPOLS3]

Made some more progress today.......

My wife helped me final bleed the brakes first thing (remembering when my Mom helped my Dad do this when I was too young to help). I also installed the upper ball joint rivet bolts. The first set I ordered the rivet top wasn't wide enough to seat properly with enough contact area on the ball joint so I bought some from the Corvette vendors and I think they are much better. Not sure why this is a big deal to me other than I like the more correct look of the rivet top. Also final adjusted the front drums and installed the anti-vibration springs around the drums - they come off much easier then they go back on. Thoroughly washed and dried both sides of the wheels and tires prior to re-installing. I left the hubcaps off in case I needed to take the wheels off again for some reason - plus I'm scared to death to put them on and risk damaging them.

I had about an hour left before I needed to call it quits for the day and figured oh what the hell let's get it on the ground and go for a test drive. So I started it up and burped the radiator and topped off the anti-freeze and once it was warmed up I backed it out of the garage and tested the brakes on the way down the driveway......so far so good. Our roads are still heavily salted from some winter weather last week so I kept the drive short and just ran around the block in our subdivision. Never got out of second gear and made a few hard stops to make sure I didn't have any major issues. Luckily all went well and other than a few minor things (oil filter canister gasket leak and lower radiator hose leak at the clamp) I think we're good. It doesn't pull or make any odd noises when braking at the relatively low speeds I tested at, it has a rock solid pedal, and I was actually surprised how well it stopped. (It will never be confused with a modern Corvette........) When the roads get cleaned off better I will extend the trip to outside my subdivision and test at higher speeds.

Getting close now............

https://youtu.be/-4DujKMXeZ8]
https://youtu.be/5SSpEuwc8LU

[BJCHEV396]

Saweeet! Looks great!

[RPOLS3]

Got some more work done today...

I was able to install the rear hubcaps on both sides, I was able to install them without using any tools or rubber mallets, so that was a relief. I still need to do the final install and set the front wheel bearing dust covers before I install the front hubcaps - hopefully this week. I fixed the oil leak - when I changed the oil and filter last week I must have fubar'd the gasket as it was mangled. I relocated and tightened the radiator hose clamps and those leaks seem to have gone away. The VIN tag on the door jamb was painted over when the car was restored so today I used some paint stripper and got that cleaned up correctly.

Big project today was getting after the windshield wiper motor/washer pump. In order to remove the motor/pump you have to remove the wiper/cowl cover which takes some time to do. The pump was not working so I bought a rebuild kit from Corvette Central (these motors/pumps are the same as mid-year Corvettes) but when I removed the motor and pump assembly I could tell Bubba had been in there as the whole thing was rattle canned silver, and the flat copper ground strap was broken (I may have done that on the removal ) so I will get it sent out for a complete rebuild/restoration next week. Good opportunity to polish up the area under the cowl cover as it was pretty dingy. I'll keep plugging away on these smaller detail items until the list is knocked out. I'm going to keep it at my place this summer and put some miles on it so I can get things dialed in.

[RPOLS3]

No pictures since the last update but been working behind the scenes to round up some more correct bits. Washer motor/pump is at Steve Hackel's for him to work his magic on it, expect to get that back by the end of the month. I have a set of correct restored front and rear bumper bolts, trans crossmember bolts, sway bar links, upper and lower control arm bushing bolts, Lower control arm bolts, fender to cowl washers, and some others that I can't think of at the moment coming my way - so that should go a long ways towards cleaning up that issue. Through Jody Anderson I was given a somewhat geographically close contact who is off the grid (e-mail, cell phone, internet) that has what I hope are the balance of the things (all original parts, not repro) I need to convert the car back to manual steering, an original voltage regulator, original radiator tanks, and an NOS set of standard 62 Impala hubcaps (after I spent a small fortune restoring the ones I had). Looking forward to getting confirmation from him in the coming weeks after he rounds up things from his stash. Still have my appointment for 4/7 to get the seat trim installed. Will post pictures once I have more to show.

Oh....and the car is officially registered for the Fine 09's display at MCACN 2025. Thank you to Bob and Jody and especially everyone here for your support and encouragement. This has been a vision of mine since we got the car back in 2009 so I am overjoyed to be able to do this.

[RPOLS3]

Not a whole lot new to report but thought I'd share an update. As is the case with these types of projects there are always ups and downs that are a part of the process. I took the car back to the upholstery shop to install the restored Impala only seat trim. Previously it was thought that the reproduction trim brackets I sourced were incorrect, so I tracked down some originals and restored them. Turns out the brackets don't appear to be the issue........I am starting to believe the Impala seat frame hinge bracket (that connects the back to the bottom) may have a different bend to it than the Biscayne seats. The trim bracket should be on the outside of the hinge bracket. The bench seat frame I used is from a Biscayne and not an Impala - as everyone said they are the same other than the trim brackets - and there aren't exactly a surplus of any of these in usable condition out there.
Doesn't make sense to me that GM would make two different seat frame hinge brackets, but maybe.....? Anyways, the trim is still not installed as I search for a solution. If anyone here knows please feel free to reach out and let me know.

While the car was there they were able to remove some wrinkles in the carpet around the trans tunnel that I did not notice until I got the car in better lighting - it looks perfect now.

Good news is that I am putting some miles on the car ............with the cool spring air the car runs significantly cooler than it does in the summer heat. I've got a 160 thermostat installed and with 40 degree outside air today it runs just about 170 in traffic.

I ran up to the local gas station tonight to top off the tank with some ethanol free fuel and while on the way back took advantage of some golden hour lighting to snap a few pictures at the local community airport. I still need to get the wiper motor back and installed, but for the most part the car is pretty close to where I hoped it would be when I started this journey 11 months ago. Still details to sort out, but it is to the point that I can drive it and work out the remaining bugs as we go.