95 Impala SS Barn Find Project
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You Ain't Foolin' Any Of The Married Among Us...
Hahaha yourself:
@@##ace- at midnite with 8lber snapping lugs lying to wife about pretty new brakes
The short brace bolt in back is just a course thread 13mm head.
Hahaha yourself:
@@##ace- at midnite with 8lber snapping lugs lying to wife about pretty new brakes
The short brace bolt in back is just a course thread 13mm head.
...Anyone know what size/thread the alternator support bracket bolt is? It slipped out of my hand is now somewhere in the subframe...
Haha
.....but this is what I found when I got to work. 3 snapped studs on the drives side and one on the left! Good thing I had already bought replacement parts!!
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Stock rotors and pads were in great shape, looks like they maybe only had 10k miles or less on them, but in with the new!
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I love how in some lighting the DCM paint turns to Kool-Aid goofy grape color
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573 Posts
http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=1299698
I believe this to be the one..
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
I believe this to be the one..
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Very good progress so far
I have been very pleased with the progress made fixing things on my 95 SS. This will end up being my youngest sons first car, and whether or not he keeps it or gets something else later on is another story. The more I wotk on this thing, I wonder what on earth happened with the previous owner... While it wasn't 'wrecked', he did go off the road at some point as can be seen by the dented rear fenders, scratched up front and rear bumpers, and the hidden front end damage. What I mean there is when I first had the car up on jack stands to change the oil and get a socket on the crank bolt to make sure I could rotate the crank with a breaker bar, I discovered the following;
Dented lower radiator support. Not a minor one, but about 4" that blocked the passenger radiator fan from spinning.
Cracked upper radiator support, now only being secured by 2 of the 4 bolts
Both driver and pass headlight housings are cracked, and should be replaced (pix later)
Main priority now is to get the mechanical issues sorted out, and worry about the cosmetics later. Now that the transmission has been rebuilt, I need to fix my stumble/rough idle issue, and ABS light coming on intermittently. I have read hundreds of posts here on the engine issues, and having gradually been fixing one issue after another. Resolved 2 misfiring wires, replaced OEM coil and ICM, fuel pump (bad gauge). After too many miles driving with misfires, I decided to replace the cats and O2s as well. Might not have been needed, but I don't mind replacing parts that are suspect if the cost isn't too high. My Grand Marquis runs great after replacing the cats, so I got the job done last weekend myself. Also found a nasty vacuum leak on a small elbow on the pass side of the throttle body. Now to figure out the stumble issue.
As the previous owner was very good about regular maintenance, I am thinking the things I should look for are issues related to it sitting for a few years, possibly not running. I have no way of knowing if he kept the battery charged and would run the car up to temp once a month, but the new owner that bought the property didn't, so it did sit untouched inside for quite a while. So we have a 22 y/o car that sat a long time not running that had a pretty hard smack under the front end. While far from perfect, once I get the engine running right and the body work done, this should be a fun car for my son to enjoy for many years.
I will post my stumble issue in the maintenance section.
I can't say enough how much I love the HD-12 brakes!! Expensive upgrade? Yes. Worth it? Yes!! Just need to get the stealth bolt mod installed. You thought it had nose dive before... hah!
I have been very pleased with the progress made fixing things on my 95 SS. This will end up being my youngest sons first car, and whether or not he keeps it or gets something else later on is another story. The more I wotk on this thing, I wonder what on earth happened with the previous owner... While it wasn't 'wrecked', he did go off the road at some point as can be seen by the dented rear fenders, scratched up front and rear bumpers, and the hidden front end damage. What I mean there is when I first had the car up on jack stands to change the oil and get a socket on the crank bolt to make sure I could rotate the crank with a breaker bar, I discovered the following;
Dented lower radiator support. Not a minor one, but about 4" that blocked the passenger radiator fan from spinning.
Cracked upper radiator support, now only being secured by 2 of the 4 bolts
Both driver and pass headlight housings are cracked, and should be replaced (pix later)
Main priority now is to get the mechanical issues sorted out, and worry about the cosmetics later. Now that the transmission has been rebuilt, I need to fix my stumble/rough idle issue, and ABS light coming on intermittently. I have read hundreds of posts here on the engine issues, and having gradually been fixing one issue after another. Resolved 2 misfiring wires, replaced OEM coil and ICM, fuel pump (bad gauge). After too many miles driving with misfires, I decided to replace the cats and O2s as well. Might not have been needed, but I don't mind replacing parts that are suspect if the cost isn't too high. My Grand Marquis runs great after replacing the cats, so I got the job done last weekend myself. Also found a nasty vacuum leak on a small elbow on the pass side of the throttle body. Now to figure out the stumble issue.
As the previous owner was very good about regular maintenance, I am thinking the things I should look for are issues related to it sitting for a few years, possibly not running. I have no way of knowing if he kept the battery charged and would run the car up to temp once a month, but the new owner that bought the property didn't, so it did sit untouched inside for quite a while. So we have a 22 y/o car that sat a long time not running that had a pretty hard smack under the front end. While far from perfect, once I get the engine running right and the body work done, this should be a fun car for my son to enjoy for many years.
I will post my stumble issue in the maintenance section.
I can't say enough how much I love the HD-12 brakes!! Expensive upgrade? Yes. Worth it? Yes!! Just need to get the stealth bolt mod installed. You thought it had nose dive before... hah!
You're right. He must have hit some really rough terrain to cause all that damage. This car has gobs of ground clearance. Even with lowering springs.
HD12 brakes are a great addition. Stealth bolt wasn't immediately noticeable but it does so what it's supposed to.
Can't say if it helps with nose dive. I installed the bolt after I did shocks/springs. The springs took away like 90% of the nose dive anyway.
It is nice to have confidence in being able to stop a car this large. Changed the whole was I drive. The stock brakes are horrible.
HD12 brakes are a great addition. Stealth bolt wasn't immediately noticeable but it does so what it's supposed to.
Can't say if it helps with nose dive. I installed the bolt after I did shocks/springs. The springs took away like 90% of the nose dive anyway.
It is nice to have confidence in being able to stop a car this large. Changed the whole was I drive. The stock brakes are horrible.
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573 Posts
I had to reread your previous post to remember why I asked.
The car sat. It sat for a long time, when I got my car, the coolant was BAD. It was watery, but it had a lot of solids and paritculates. Which I could NEVER get out. I eventually added a full time coolant filter. I backflushed my system probably 20+ times and every time I did, it came out loaded with particles and bits of my super valuable LT1 2-bolt-main cast iron block.
Anyway, to this day it still dirties my coolant, but I figure with enough miles and filters, it will be clean for good.
The car sat. It sat for a long time, when I got my car, the coolant was BAD. It was watery, but it had a lot of solids and paritculates. Which I could NEVER get out. I eventually added a full time coolant filter. I backflushed my system probably 20+ times and every time I did, it came out loaded with particles and bits of my super valuable LT1 2-bolt-main cast iron block.
Anyway, to this day it still dirties my coolant, but I figure with enough miles and filters, it will be clean for good.
Joined
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45 Posts
Any updates? I'm doing the same stuff to my 94 9c1, makes for good reading.
Latest update
It's been a challenging road to say the least... I've discovered more hidden damage from the previous owner's off road adventure that dented the rear quarters, and bent the lower radiator support into the passenger side electric fan. Now that I've done the big brake kit swap, I had the ABS warning light on the dash come on each and every time the car is driven, which goes away on ignition restart. At first the light would only seem to come on after driving around 65mph on the highway, but with no observable symptoms or degradation in braking performance. That finally changed when on the highway and hitting the brakes it felt like only half the brakes were working and the car wanted to change lanes when stepping on the brakes!
That ended my driving on the highway with the ABS light on... I took it to a local shop, as I had ordered replacement sensors for the front and rear. The shop told me front had 2 sensors and that one of the existing ones was cracked. After replacing all the sensors, the ABS light comes on at normal around town speeds at 35-45mph, and it now feels like a 'grindy' feeling with dramatically reduced performance. I am trying to find a shop that can properly diagnose and fix the current problem, as you just don't mess around with bad brakes.
Will have a look at the brakes section of the forum and see what knowledge I can find there on what to check or look out for.
I am wondering if my big brake kit install is possibly causing me any issues? I am shooting Bill an email to ask his advice as well. You don't spend over a grand on a big brake upgrade and end up with WORSE braking performance!
Will also be getting the seat bottoms for both front seats bolstered as they feel like sitting on a 30 year old mattress, and are quite a contrast from my newer vehicles. Also spending money on a refurbished seat belt retractor is totally worth it as now I sit in the passenger seat as my 17yo son learns to drive it (before the brake issue) and now I hate using the passenger belt since the drivers side is silky smooth.
It's been a challenging road to say the least... I've discovered more hidden damage from the previous owner's off road adventure that dented the rear quarters, and bent the lower radiator support into the passenger side electric fan. Now that I've done the big brake kit swap, I had the ABS warning light on the dash come on each and every time the car is driven, which goes away on ignition restart. At first the light would only seem to come on after driving around 65mph on the highway, but with no observable symptoms or degradation in braking performance. That finally changed when on the highway and hitting the brakes it felt like only half the brakes were working and the car wanted to change lanes when stepping on the brakes!
That ended my driving on the highway with the ABS light on... I took it to a local shop, as I had ordered replacement sensors for the front and rear. The shop told me front had 2 sensors and that one of the existing ones was cracked. After replacing all the sensors, the ABS light comes on at normal around town speeds at 35-45mph, and it now feels like a 'grindy' feeling with dramatically reduced performance. I am trying to find a shop that can properly diagnose and fix the current problem, as you just don't mess around with bad brakes.
Will have a look at the brakes section of the forum and see what knowledge I can find there on what to check or look out for.
I am wondering if my big brake kit install is possibly causing me any issues? I am shooting Bill an email to ask his advice as well. You don't spend over a grand on a big brake upgrade and end up with WORSE braking performance!
Will also be getting the seat bottoms for both front seats bolstered as they feel like sitting on a 30 year old mattress, and are quite a contrast from my newer vehicles. Also spending money on a refurbished seat belt retractor is totally worth it as now I sit in the passenger seat as my 17yo son learns to drive it (before the brake issue) and now I hate using the passenger belt since the drivers side is silky smooth.
Joined
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573 Posts
Glad to hear the update... sucks about the ABS. It's always so much fun dealing with ABS. Seems as though entire replacement is usually the answer. I would check the wire harnesses for continuity, seems unlikely though.
The tone ring on the new rotors comparable to the old ones? You used ACDelco sensors, yes?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
The tone ring on the new rotors comparable to the old ones? You used ACDelco sensors, yes?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
No substitute for experience
So while I may be "SEMI" competent when it comes to turning a wrench, I haven't done it for years and years or had the privilege of an older brother, uncle or dad to teach me. God knows I've tried to get my kids to start working on their own vehicles, but it's like pulling teeth. What I'm getting at is that I got a reply from Bill Harper about my ABS issue and right away I saw the problem. As the tone rings are not included as a replacement part, I didn't swap them out. I must have not fully read the instructions, missed it, or skipped over it completely. When I called my mechanic this morning to setup an appointment after describing my problem yesterday, he told me to hold on and hazard a guess when I said I figured it out. I had told him about the big brake swap and that I was concerned that something about the upgrade caused the problem. As all the sensors had been replaced, he wanted to know if the other component that the sensor is trying to read was part of the new upgrade kit.
Now I know the root cause and will have working brakes!
Next up will be the sagging seat bottoms and the passenger side seatbelt retractor.
So while I may be "SEMI" competent when it comes to turning a wrench, I haven't done it for years and years or had the privilege of an older brother, uncle or dad to teach me. God knows I've tried to get my kids to start working on their own vehicles, but it's like pulling teeth. What I'm getting at is that I got a reply from Bill Harper about my ABS issue and right away I saw the problem. As the tone rings are not included as a replacement part, I didn't swap them out. I must have not fully read the instructions, missed it, or skipped over it completely. When I called my mechanic this morning to setup an appointment after describing my problem yesterday, he told me to hold on and hazard a guess when I said I figured it out. I had told him about the big brake swap and that I was concerned that something about the upgrade caused the problem. As all the sensors had been replaced, he wanted to know if the other component that the sensor is trying to read was part of the new upgrade kit.
Now I know the root cause and will have working brakes!
Next up will be the sagging seat bottoms and the passenger side seatbelt retractor.
Car is at garage getting the CEL issues addressed. I really wish I had the time, tools and patience to just do all the work myself, but I don't.
I really appreciate all the sage advice for the people that contribute to this forum.
So after PRINTING OUT all the info regarding the fans staying on all the time, it was 'you have a bad ECU'.
ONE NEW ECU LATER...
Same f'n issue. Now I have a spare.
They continue to fumble about with the problem, and I again told them to READ the info I printed out from this forum to address the issue. [Edit the have additional ODB1 codes that point to the OPTI]
For anyone that wants to say 'I told you so', feel free. But I don't have the time to work on this. I'm thinking I may have to go down the rebuilt OPI route and DO IT MYSELF, but we haven't reached that point yet.
My son just graduated and is going to need a reliable car, so there will be some resolution to this issue within the next few weeks/months.
I really appreciate all the sage advice for the people that contribute to this forum.
So after PRINTING OUT all the info regarding the fans staying on all the time, it was 'you have a bad ECU'.
ONE NEW ECU LATER...
Same f'n issue. Now I have a spare.
They continue to fumble about with the problem, and I again told them to READ the info I printed out from this forum to address the issue. [Edit the have additional ODB1 codes that point to the OPTI]
For anyone that wants to say 'I told you so', feel free. But I don't have the time to work on this. I'm thinking I may have to go down the rebuilt OPI route and DO IT MYSELF, but we haven't reached that point yet.
My son just graduated and is going to need a reliable car, so there will be some resolution to this issue within the next few weeks/months.
Sorry to hear you haven't got everything wrestled to the ground yet, but at least you have a valuable added symptom to combine in a diagnostic chart. As in, get it away from those mechanics! Fumbling around, can't or won't read, and don't want to learn. If they're incapable or unwilling to read and insist on higher profit parts slinging, then do something different if desiring different results. Ipso facto with the son needing/wanting/lusting for a car then best turn that into motivation for him to take that FSM (which you're gonna get him for graduation present) and tell him to dig in. Kids pick $ihY up quick when there's something in it for them, and you can take what you know and combine it with his energy, time and hands to make positive progress - for the cost of parts only. Do what I do with my son and mention that between the two of us we make one good man lol. Just show him a real desktop and show him how to search.
I recall you've redone susp., brakes and fuel stuff (body stuff too?. JIMHO considering the wrenchin' you done on this rig in the past couple years there ain't nuthin' I've read that you two can't blow through in a few weeks if it's just electrics remaining. JIMHO
EDIT: Fans on all the time is ECT, its wires or connector, maybe a short maybe not, something about the A/C could be involved, Smart guys on here will know better, and a FSM likely has a diag. tree on it. Best luck.
I recall you've redone susp., brakes and fuel stuff (body stuff too?. JIMHO considering the wrenchin' you done on this rig in the past couple years there ain't nuthin' I've read that you two can't blow through in a few weeks if it's just electrics remaining. JIMHO
EDIT: Fans on all the time is ECT, its wires or connector, maybe a short maybe not, something about the A/C could be involved, Smart guys on here will know better, and a FSM likely has a diag. tree on it. Best luck.
Smash cut to the COVID-19 era. Luckily myself and family are doing OK, hope the Impala SS community is doing the best they can given the current health crisis unemployment rate...
My soon to be 20 year old son has proven to be a worthy and responsible owner of this fine automobile.
We are still planning on replacing the Opti and water pump but now that he's driven more miles, we are seeing what looks like oil/coolant sludge. I have looked for threads about this topic but haven't found the right keyword search. It's probably already in the stickies, but my son is really worried about it (bless his heart) and wants to figure out how to fix it ASAP. Attached are the lovely images, so if someone can point me in the right direction (check X, Y, Z, refer to this thread) I'd be grateful.
Have also told my son he needs to just join the forum himself and take care of his own automotive issues - so later on this car will be a subject of a new forum member. Thanks again for the forum stalwarts that keep the site going with knowledgeable and insightful feedback. You really can't keep these great cars alive without an active and engaged community. I just got an email from a vendor that reconditioned the drivers side seat belt in my Impala and thought it might be good to give them some props now;
I hope this copy/paste doesn't violate forum etiquette, but wanted to give props to a quality, local business owner.
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My soon to be 20 year old son has proven to be a worthy and responsible owner of this fine automobile.
We are still planning on replacing the Opti and water pump but now that he's driven more miles, we are seeing what looks like oil/coolant sludge. I have looked for threads about this topic but haven't found the right keyword search. It's probably already in the stickies, but my son is really worried about it (bless his heart) and wants to figure out how to fix it ASAP. Attached are the lovely images, so if someone can point me in the right direction (check X, Y, Z, refer to this thread) I'd be grateful.
Have also told my son he needs to just join the forum himself and take care of his own automotive issues - so later on this car will be a subject of a new forum member. Thanks again for the forum stalwarts that keep the site going with knowledgeable and insightful feedback. You really can't keep these great cars alive without an active and engaged community. I just got an email from a vendor that reconditioned the drivers side seat belt in my Impala and thought it might be good to give them some props now;
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I hope this copy/paste doesn't violate forum etiquette, but wanted to give props to a quality, local business owner.
You'll want to eliminate any possibility that if there's such a thing as the oil cooler using the radiator that the tube simply hasn't rotted inside it. Urban legend developed over a 1/4 century shows these motors pretty dam tough to blow a HG. In any case would not even crank it until uncovering cause.
If lucky enough not to be HG then would definitely still pop the intake and use a drill primer after fresh oil.
If lucky enough not to be HG then would definitely still pop the intake and use a drill primer after fresh oil.
We just had the oil pan replaced as the inside nut had cracked loose so the darn oil drain bolt would not come off, just spun round and round. Will have the same guy run the exhaust gas test on the radiator to confirm. It might be better to find out there's something else dumping coolant into the crank case that doesn't involve ripping the heads off after taking apart the top end, AC and all accessories. We were already planning on replacing the Opti and WP, thermostat, and I even have the brass T fitting for the 3 passenger side heater hose junction that is known to fail.
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