Jake Dykstra's 1962 409/409 Impala!

[RPOLS3]

Interesting photo surfaced last week in this cars history.........if you read back to the beginning of this thread and recall the original owner "Cousin Eddie". His son John reached out to our Mom and forwarded this picture. It is a picture of Eddie after being pulled over by a Chicago Police Officer for driving on the sidewalk along North Avenue Beach (one of the many stories we remember Dad telling about Eddie's exploits back in the day). John found this photo in some sort of online archive for Chicago history. Not sure why they are looking under the hood - maybe the officer was curious what was making all the noise? The chain remained after several years for security reasons.

[RPOLS3]

Took advantage of a cold winter day and headed down to Mom's place for a work day today on the 409 to correct a few things -

First up was replacing the generic starter that was on the car. I was able to source a correctly dated and rebuilt unit and made the swap. After spending some some time investigating I decided it was easier to tackle this by removing the RH exhaust manifold rather than fight the wiring blindly and wrestle the starter out - was much easier this way. No rust issues to contend with so removing the 7 bolts and sliding the manifold out of the way didn't take too long. Found a loose lower control arm cross shaft bolt while looking around so took care of that too.

[RPOLS3]

Second on the list was removing an old electric fuel pump that was installed when the car was restored for the 2nd time and a monster W motor was in between the frame rails. Since the electric pump is no longer necessary and had been bypassed since we got the car back a long time ago, I wanted to clean things up a bit and removed it.

[RPOLS3]

Lastly - when I bought the correct starter for it I also bought a correctly (or more correctly) dated water pump. We've been having issues with rusty anti-freeze/water mix even after draining and refilling the radiator 2x yearly since we installed the new motor 4 years ago. While I had the radiator drained to install the new water pump I thought it a good time to replace the thermostat (I should have known that Dad had a spare AC Delco one in his stash) and drain the block (easy to do on the starter side when the exhaust manifold and starter are removed - not so much on the driver's side) to try and get most of the rusty stuff out of the system. Last summer I also installed a new fan clutch on a correct fan sourced from Verne Frantz a few years back (I miss Verne). Ran out of time this afternoon and didn't get the belts adjusted or the system re-filled or tested today but will get to that in couple weeks - all the hard stuff is done.

[olredalert]

----How is Mom doing, Jake?....Bill S

[RPOLS3]

Originally Posted by olredalert

----How is Mom doing, Jake?....Bill S

Real good Bill - thanks for asking. She is getting used to her new routine.

[RPOLS3]

Yesterday I was able to finish things up and take it for an 8 mile test drive - happy to report that all is good and no issues. Successful project completed - on to the next.....

[RPOLS3]

I spent some time earlier this week down at Mom's to assist with driving to routine medical appointments. It also allowed me to tackle some tasks on the 409.

First up was to clean up and organize all of the misc. information and paperwork Dad had collected over the years and piled up in the trunk. Many of it was duplicate information and got tossed but the rest was organized in a couple of 3 ring binders we started when we re-acquired the car in 2009. Dad had spares for lots of things, more cleaning supplies than we will ever need for car shows, and tools for dealing with almost any roadside emergency.

[RPOLS3]

Next up was to remove the Gabriel Hi Jacker air shocks he installed and re-install the shocks he took off - I know they are not correct/accurate - but they are much better than the air shocks and will do just fine for now.

[RPOLS3]

Lastly I touched up the engine paint on the water pump bolts and gaskets from the water pump install a few weeks ago and installed a new rubber fuel line and more correct clamps from when we removed the electric pump. No pics of those things.

Once that was all done I scrubbed the whitewalls and took it for another test run and to get some fresh gas in it. Enjoyed the 20 mile drive - radio works, clock works, heater/defroster works. Slowly getting it even more sorted out than it was. Next project is to tackle the windshield washer pump. The wipers work but not the pump. Since the car is never driven in the rain it's not really a big deal - but want it right, just like Dad would of.