Question
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Well, the car was my Dad's and I want to fix it so that one day he can use it. I want to do it right even if it takes a little time and effort. You seem like you are very knowledgeable and I would appreciate if you can let me know the correct way to do it. Thank you
Followup To
Question -
Hello, I have a 64 Impala SS that belonged to my dad. I has not been started for over 10 years. I need to move it from Connecticut to Illinois. I'm going to fly out there to try to get it started. How do I go about doing this? I've been told all kinds of things have to be done to get it running. Can you advise me on the proper steps?
Answer -
You will get as many answers to this as people you ask.
There is a right way to do it, and then there is what most people do. Which you want to do depends on how much time and money you want to spend, and how much you care about the car.
The right way involves taking the oil pan down to clean it out, then spending probably a week checking all the systems before driving it. This will pretty much assure that you won't do any damage to the engine or car, but it will take a lot of time and effort. If you are really concerned about the car, and want to do right by it, post a follow up question to me and I'll go through the whole procedure - I won't take the time to type it all unless I know you are that dedicated - it's a lot of work for me, but I'm willing to do it if you are, to save a 42 year old car that belonged to a family member!
The easier, faster, cheaper way is to just put in fresh oil and filter, hook up a good battery, and try to crank the engine. If it will crank OK, it will probably start. If it cranks a little ways and then stops with a bang, or makes some scary noises while cranking, you've probably done some serious damage and you might as well assume you will now have to do a complete engine rebuild.
If it hasn't been run at all in 10 years, I'm guessing you have about a 70% chance that it will crank OK and be able to run, and a 30% chance that something is going to be stuck - most likely a valve stuck in a valve guide.
If it cranks OK, with no scary noises, give it a new set of plugs, plug wires, rotor, points and condensor, adjust them all to spec, and dump some fresh gas down the carburetor front throat, and see if it will run - it probably will, if only for a second or two. It will smoke like crazy, and stall in a few seconds, as there will be no fuel coming through, but now you know it can probably be made to run. You will no doubt have to replace the fuel pump, all rubber fuel lines and rebuild the carburetor to get it to run continuously, and will probably have to take the fuel tank to a "TANK RENU" place to get the old gas residue, rust and glop out of it, before you contaminate the new carburetor.
The radiator will have to come out for rodding out, and all belts and hoses will have to be replaced.
The trans is probably OK as is, just check the ATF (if automatic) or grease (if manual shift) and the grease in the differential.
Have it flatbedded to a brake shop for a complete re-do of the brakes, and put a new set of tires on it,. Now try a few short runs with it to see how it runs and handles.
Once you are past that phase, it becomes a question of how brave you are! A long trip is a bad idea - you don't know anything about the wheel bearings, charging system, lights, accessories, wipers, (the whole electrical system) etc - all of this needs to be checked before the car is ready for the road.
The bottom line of my advice is, have it transported by a professional transporter to where you live, and then take your time getting it back ready for the road. You can follow either method - the complete careful de-mothballing procedure such as one would do with a really valuable antique or true classic, or you can do the quick and dirty procedure I described above - it's really up to you.
Please ask a follow-up question if I have left anything out, and good luck with it!
Dick
AnswerWell, I congratulate you - I think you're doing the right thing by the car, and you won't regret it.
This is every car hobbiest's fondest dream - and the '64 Impala is a car that can be driven in modern traffic without any problem.
You do have a factory shop manual, right? If not, get one before you do anything on the mechanical parts.
These are available from one of the literature dealers like Ed Faxon of Riverside CA. They are expensive but you are going to need it for sure!
First and most important, you must not crank the engine, because there will probably be gritty deposits in the oil pan, which must be cleaned out before turning the engine. Failing to do this will pump the grit through the engine, resulting very quick failure of the bearings.
It is important that you proceed carefully with this car - there are some very common mistakes that can cause serious problems in the future if you don't avoid them.
We'll start with the DON'Ts!
Do NOT try to start the engine. Do not even try to turn it with a wrench on the front pulley or a pry bar on the flywheel. You'll very likely break something, and even if it does crank over, you'll circulate the gritty mud in the bottom of the oil pan all through the engine, ruining the bearings in short order.
Do NOT install a battery even for purposes of seeing "what works". Wiring is a favorite food of mice and other rodents - leaving you with bare copper wire in contact with metal surfaces and other wires - a likely cause of fires.
Now the DOOOOS:
Jack it up and take off the wheels and tires. Get the wheels sandblasted and/or painted as required, and mount a decent set of tires on them. You'll have to choose between the correct looking and driving original style bias ply tires, or modern radials. Radials are probably safer for high speed driving, but they don't look right, no matter what others say. The profile (cross section) of the tire is wrong for a '60s car. There are various antique car tire dealers to deal with, Coker is one that many of us use, and they will know what tire is right for your car.
When you get it up and rolling on its own wheels, have it transported (flatbedded, please!) to wherever the mechanical work is to be done. The brakes may be stuck due to rust or the parking brake being left on, so you may have to have the drums removed for inspection and to release whatever is keeping the wheels from turning. After only 10 years, this is probably not going to be a problem, depending on where the car was stored.
When you have the car where you are going to work on it, jack up the front end and put it on sturdy safety stands, then drop the engine oil pan. Clean it out (you'll be astonished at the grit!). Even though you checked the dip stick and thought you had spanking new oil in it, what has happened is that the dirt all fell to the bottom of the pan.
Clean everything you can see from there, including the oil pickup screen and the oil pump. While you have the oil pump apart, check the pressure relief valve and free it up if it is stuck.
Reach through the front of the crankcase into the timing gear area and see if there is excessive slop in the timing parts. If you can wiggle the chain more than 3/8 inch in and out, you are going to have to service this area soon, but this is not an emergency.
Remove one or two bearing caps from the rods and one or two from the mains (don't mix them up) and visually inspect each bearing for scratches or bare copper showing. If all looks well, check the clearances with Plasti-Gauge. If the clearances are 0.0025 inches or less, it is safe to proceed.
If the clearances are larger than that, you are going to have to rebuild the engine anyway, so you might as well stop here and prepare to remove the engine. You didn't say how many miles are on the car, but if it was driven from 1964 to 1996, it may have many miles on it. If not, this should not be needed, unless the car has been run with dirty oil. If the bearings and clearances check out, coat everything with engine oil and reassemble the bearings and torque them to spec.
Don't reinstall the oil pan yet. Shoot oil all over everything you can see from under there, and really soak the area of the camshaft bearings and lobes, plus the timing gears. Shoot oil up into the pistons and cylinder walls too.
Now, let the car down and remove the valve covers. Oil everything you can see from there also. Remove the spark plugs and put 4 or 5 ounces of oil in each cylinder. I'd use just plain SAE30W oil at this point (NOT 5W30 or 10W30 - that is too thin for an old car) - buy good stuff at NAPA or other parts place. Do NOT reinstall the spark plugs yet.
NOW, get back under the car with a long large screw driver, or a tire iron, or some other beefy lever, and try to move the flywheel a little bit by prying between a flywheel tooth and the block surface. If you can rotate the crankshaft this way, you're in very good luck. If you cannot, again, the engine will have to come out to be disassembled, so you might as well quit here and get ready to pull the engine.
If you can rotate the crank this way, turn it in the clockwise direction (as viewed from the front), slowly, a little bit at a time, feeling for any abrupt increase in resistance. If it seems to stick at any point, STOP! You can easily bend a part if you put a lot of force on it. If it seems to turn all the way around, go through at least 2 complete rotations. If you 've gotten this far, its time to see if the car will run. Oil will spill back out of the spark plug holes, so be prepared for the mess, but this is the only way to get the cylinder walls lubricated above the piston rings.
Put the oil pan back up, replace the oil filter, and fill the crankcase to spec, plus 1 QT for the filter. Still leave the spark plugs out for now.
Now we have to backtrack to the electrical system. By now, you need to have carefully inspected all the wiring you can see, including up under the dashboard. If you see any evidence of frayed or bare wires, repair what you can get at, and if it appears to be mostly OK, you can avoid having to get a new wiring harness.
Also, pay special attention to the headliner of the car. If there are any bulges that don't belong, investigate. These are a favorite place for critters to build nests, and if they've built nests up there, they've probably chewed through the wires too. You'll have to remove the headliner and clean out the mess and dead critters (wear a mask!) and check that wiring too.
Once you are comfortable with the wiring, install a new battery and try the starter to see if it will crank the engine. Just crank it for a second or two to see. If it will, install a temporary mechanical oil pressure gauge where the dash oil pressure gauge sender is normally installed on the engine block. Now, have a helper crank the engine to see if oil pressure builds. If you see 30 PSI while cranking with no spark plugs installed, you are in great shape! Leave the valve covers off, we
still need to verify that there is oil circulation upstairs - these engines can develope a blockage in the oil feed to the rocker area that you need to check for.
Now you can reinstall the spark plugs, and move on to the next item - the Fuel System.
The order doesn't matter, but after that many years, you are probably going to have to remove the gas tank and send it out for complete cleaning and perhaps sealing. There are commercial places that specialize in this - do a Google seach on "Gas Tank Renewal" and you'll find them. Also, replace all the rubber parts in the fuel system with modern rubber parts - this includes all the hoses and the fuel pump. Inspect the steel fuel lines for rust, and blow them clear with compressed air or replace them as
needed. Rebuild the carburetor, or send it to a reputable carburetor
shop - don't let the teenager down the block do it!
Attend to the ignition system also, do a complete ignition system tune-up: Points, condenser, rotor, cap, wires, and set everything to spec.
Now, you can try to start the engine. Yes, I know we haven't looked at the cooling system or brakes yet, but lets hear that wonderful engine run for a few minutes anyway. You don't need to do anything to the
transmission at this point other than verify that it has fluid in it.
Take a quick look at the rocker shaft area to verify that oil is getting pumped up there. If the engine sounds smooth and normal, and seems to run OK, it is time to put the valve covers back on.
Now is the time to get after the cooling system and the brakes. Pull the radiator and get it cleaned out (rodded).
Replace all the belts and hoses, and rebuild the water pump. Try filling the radiator to see what the leak situation is. If it doesn't leak, it is OK to start 'er up and let it run for a while. It will smoke like crazy for a while, but it should settle down after a half hour or so.
Keep checking the temperature and oil pressure. If the dash temp gauge isn't working, get a candy thermometer from your local housewares department and stick it down into the radiator top. Watch the water to see that it is circulating OK. If not, you may have a stuck thermostat. Feel the upper radiator hose to see if it is getting warm after a few minutes, if it is this is a good sign. If not, pull the thermostat out and run the engine without it for a few hours. If it will do that and not overheat, you've passed another milestone. If it does overheat, you are going to have to pop out all the core plugs ("Freeze out plugs") and clean out the water jackets.
The braking system is going to need to be completely rebuilt before you can drive the car, but leave that until all the other items are in good shape - then have the car flatbedded to a brake and muffler shop and get all that taken care of. While this is going on is the time to lubricate the chassis and the differential, and all the body lubrication points (check that shop manual!).
Now, finally, you have a driveable car - and you're ready to tackle the cosmetics.
I'll stop here, my fingers are getting sore!
These are great cars, and well worth your bother to do them right - I envy you!
Be sure to let me know how this all works out, please!
Dick Benjamin
