1966 Impala

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My 1966 Chevy info:

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1st motor (bad)

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Wouldn't this car look good in Crazy Purple paint? Originally 327 threw a rod so a 350 was put in which also threw a rod through the block! So a 3rd 350cid high compression motor was put in. Well guess what?! The rod bearings went out and took the crank with it. So a 4th and final motor is getting put in. 383 cid 550+ horsepower. If that blows up can we say big block? Update: The 387 cid stroker is running strong!

June '1999': I am just starting this page because I am restoring a '66' Impala 4 door, 350 cid, camed, carbed, and high compression, and I didn't find any sites out there for the good ol' Impala. I really like my car. I just finished rebuilding the engine that threw a rod, and I went all high performance parts with the engine. I only have 22 miles on this new engine and it sounds great, Smooth too. It was my first time attempting to rebuild an engine, and I did it nearly all by myself with few asked questions mostly acquired by calling up Checker's (parts dealer) and a good friend.

NEWS:

August 22nd '2007': Amazing its been 3 years since I made a post. Alot has happened in the last 3 years and very little to the impala. In my personal life I have moved several times and finally this year bought my house. Durring most of that time the Impala sat in a storage unit with furniture stacked apon it and I was unable to work on or drive it for way too long. Also during that time I noticed alot of rust building back up on spots I have fixed previously! One entire section I worked on is completely ruined and I must cut the metal out and weld in a patch panel. This is something I will have to teach myself. I did end up breaking my new Corvette engine mounts again. Even with metal stopper plates this engine still rips up engine mounts I'm not sure what todo. I had a steel plate welded to the frame and bolted to the driver side engine head but when those bolts vibrated out thats when I broke the vette mounts again. Is it bad to bolt the heads to the frame with a peice of steel? I don't want to warp those aluminum heads. Email me what you think. Anyways now I have a house and a garage in which to work on my car though its a very small garage I will make due. I'm also going back to college for a Doctoral degree in applied science so progress on the car will be slow as well as limited funds, but if I land a good career in the future the impala will see a makeover like never before.

June 27th '2004': Time Slips!! I did make it to the track on the 25th and got 8 passes down the strip. I had to buy a new carb so I picked up a speed demon 750 machanical secondaries carburator. $489 with tax and I didn't have enough time to even turn an idle screw on it before I was at the track. So the 8 passes I made was on a bone stock untuned carb. Here are the time slips of the 8 passes I scanned, Scanned timeslips. Also check out the videos of these same runs at, Drag videos.

June 21st '2004': Things are going good with the car. Its been a while since I updated been pretty busy and barely have time to work on the car but check out the updates on the left navigation bar for pictures and more details. I have got the 387 cid stroker motor installed and for the most part its tuned in. I still have a bit more tweaking with the timing and carb to go. Trying to find the right balance between max timing and carburation to prevent detonation. Its pretty sensitive and I don't plan to run race gas in it on the street, but at the track I can fill it with a mix of 110 octane and pump gas and bump the timing up. After the breakin of the motor and getting used to all the power I finally got around to doing a full throttle launch. I did have to feather it out of the hole but once the tires hooked I mashed the pedal to the floor and slamd it to second gear only to have 2nd gear blow out under the extream power. This is my new TH400 that I blew up. I did do some work to fix the tranny but it still needs a shift kit but I am planning to install a strong T56 transmission once I get all the details worked out and find one strong enough to handle the 550+ ft lbs this motor is pushing. Other details include removing the damage done late last year when I jack knifed the trailer while hauling it to get some exhaust run and also a little more rust removal that I have neglected. Have worked on detailing the engine bay and adding some electrical enhancements like relays for lights, ignition box, and other high current draw accessories. This friday I plan to take the car to the drag strip for the first time. If all goes well I should have a time slip to add to the news. I'd also like to thank everyone for the complements and suggestions I have been getting about my project. Please keep them coming and let me know what I should do next of if you all would like more details about any of my projects. Thanks as well to all the people sending me info about your own projects and please if you have a web site or pictures send them as well.

May 26th '2003': Lots of the site is now more user friendly. I have condensed pages together and organized the look or pictures pages. As far as my Impala goes. I had taken a little break from working on it while I setup my new shop. It needed electricity, concret floor, and shelving built. After that was complete I began working my my car. At first I didn't do much as the weather was really cold and there was not enough electricity in the world to keep that un-insulated shop warm or money to pay for the bill if I tried. It warmed up and so did I. At last news update I mentioned the dual exhaust was getting put in. The trip was a disaster. I was gonna tow the car on trialer since it just had headers but halfway though the 80 miles to the nearest mandrel bending shop a tire blew out on the trailer and I slid off the road almost rolled my truck. There was damage to the hitch, bed, and lights of the truck. There was also damage to the rented trailer ($1200), and the car slid into the tire rails of the trailer damaging both doors on the impala not to bad though. So with the tire gone on the trailer I parked the truck and loaded the tire into the Impala and drive 50 miles with open headers and got the exhaust done and tire fixed. Drove back 50 miles to the trailer put the tire on, and tied rope around my nearly ripped off hitch to hold it up tight against my bumper for added support since I didn't have a welder. Believe it or not that rope was strong enough to tow the 6000 lbs and the bumper didn't even buckle. This trip destroyed the Impalas motor. By the time I got back to the trailer the motor was making a faint knocking sound. Turns out after tear down the pistons where standard pistons in a .030 over bore causing excess heat and detonation which knocked the rod bearings out and digging deep enough into the crank to allow the piston to tap the head while it was running. The motor still ran pretty good considering what was going on inside the motor. I am now about to receive my 383 stroker from the machine shop. The engine bay has been completely restored and modified. Head lights and break lights rewired though relays. Rear sway bar installed. Boxed in rear control arms. Rear wheel well body work finished. And some 15x8 inch rally wheels with P235/60R15 radial tires put on. Now where ready to cook with the 550-600+hp motor.

September 10th '2002': Wow it has been a long time since I have updated this web page but to tell you the truth I haven't done much to my car since last update. I finally got out of row housing apartments and now have my own house with garage and 18x25 shop to work on my car. With a new 1150CCA battery and the mini starter, this car starts in less then one revolution. Finally got the timing dialed in and oil is still at the full mark when its time to change the fully synthetic. Last week I got my Dynomax Ceramic coated headers installed and its going to the muffler shop the 16th for Mandrel duals. And lastly, I just buffed the car with cutting and buffing waxes, WOW is all I have to say, I have never seen this impala shine like it does now. Looks almost like new with all the oxidation off and waxed. Should have done this a few years ago.

July 4th '2000' Independence Day!: Well with around 4400 Miles on not much has been put on since last update, but that's because it has been waiting for more time and money to fix some problems it has faced. (Check latest entry in my portfolio) OK, the update: An edlebrock high volume street pump, and just a week ago an Accel Billet proof electronic distributor, and ordered just a few days ago a Summit Protorque mini-starter and heat shield to solve my still occurring hot not-starting problem. New valve seals helped the burning oil thing.

January 20th, '2000': Now with 3456 miles on the rebuilt engine, reassures me that I am capable of building my custom street rod. Now with Edlebrock performer RPM intake and 750 CFM carb its a lot more powerful.

September 28th, '99': My car now has over 100 miles on it and its still running. I have a question that I need answered. Is this engine still supposed to burn a little oil? its not burring much as I have only put about 3/4 quart oil to bring it up to level this last 100 miles. I leaned out the fuel mixture because it was burning lots of gas but I think I have it set right now..

Please send me pictures of your Impalas, and descriptions of engine, interior, history, and any other relevant information and it will be posted in the readers rides section on this site for others to enjoy. I plan to improve the quality if this web to be an awesome resource for everyone, Including help with restoring and rebuilding the Impalas themselves.
For E-Mail click on contact info on the left nav bar.