markstl67
New Member
Good afternoon,
I wanted to introduce myself to everyone. My name is Mark and I live in the St. Louis area. I have a 1964 Impala station wagon 283/3sp o.d. that is our family cruiser/power tour car. Last year I acquired 2 -1963 impalas. Both are fairly solid (for Missouri standards). 1 is a true SS and the other is a plane Jane 2 door hardtop. I also have a 1967 Malibu that I've owned for close to twenty years that I completely rebuilt and painted as a project when I was in college. The 67 and 64 are both driver quality (not original, dings,etc) and that is fine with me. The 2 -63's I plan on making into very nice, well put together respectable drivers. Neither car was originally a 409. When I purchased them they came with numerous 409 parts including 2 already built engines- the previous owner planned to clone both into 409 cars. The plan is to make the SS a factory appearing car and the non-ss is going to look like a 60's/70's street car that I plan on building a fairly healthy stroker for. My dad has a nice original 35,xxx mi 4 door impala he has owned since 1977. He also bought a 64 2 door project that I sold him when I bought the 2- 63's. I plan on making his 64 a 409 car if a third block I have (its cracked pretty good) is usable. His first car was a 2 door 64 he completely rebuilt when he was in college- it was a 6cyl/powerglide car because that is what he could afford at the time. He's always wanted a 409, so I'm going to try to make that happen. I'm sure I'll have numerous questions during the projects which is why I joined this site. I'm not sure which project will get started first, but I'm leaning towards my dad's 64. This leads me to a question maybe a few of you can answer ( I can also post this in a different section if needed)- I have the 2 engines that came with my cars that are good to go- I'll pull them apart to inspect before I do anything to be sure, I'm extremely confident they are done right. I also have 2 blocks which are both cracked. One is cracked on both sides so I am thinking that will probably sit on a shelf. The other block is only cracked on one side, but the previous repair looks to possibly be jb weld and it's a mess. Regardless it's far from quality workmanship. I'd like to have the block checked out to see if its usable and am looking for a reliable machine shop in the St. Louis area to do so. Any recommendations, preferably within 75-100 miles? I used AMT racing engines before, but that was 20 years ago and I'm not sure they do 348/409. I've heard they concentrate a lot on mopars these days. Thanks in advance! I'll get a picture of the wagon posted when I get a chance. I can't get any good pics of the 63's or my dads 64 because they are in storage right now.
I wanted to introduce myself to everyone. My name is Mark and I live in the St. Louis area. I have a 1964 Impala station wagon 283/3sp o.d. that is our family cruiser/power tour car. Last year I acquired 2 -1963 impalas. Both are fairly solid (for Missouri standards). 1 is a true SS and the other is a plane Jane 2 door hardtop. I also have a 1967 Malibu that I've owned for close to twenty years that I completely rebuilt and painted as a project when I was in college. The 67 and 64 are both driver quality (not original, dings,etc) and that is fine with me. The 2 -63's I plan on making into very nice, well put together respectable drivers. Neither car was originally a 409. When I purchased them they came with numerous 409 parts including 2 already built engines- the previous owner planned to clone both into 409 cars. The plan is to make the SS a factory appearing car and the non-ss is going to look like a 60's/70's street car that I plan on building a fairly healthy stroker for. My dad has a nice original 35,xxx mi 4 door impala he has owned since 1977. He also bought a 64 2 door project that I sold him when I bought the 2- 63's. I plan on making his 64 a 409 car if a third block I have (its cracked pretty good) is usable. His first car was a 2 door 64 he completely rebuilt when he was in college- it was a 6cyl/powerglide car because that is what he could afford at the time. He's always wanted a 409, so I'm going to try to make that happen. I'm sure I'll have numerous questions during the projects which is why I joined this site. I'm not sure which project will get started first, but I'm leaning towards my dad's 64. This leads me to a question maybe a few of you can answer ( I can also post this in a different section if needed)- I have the 2 engines that came with my cars that are good to go- I'll pull them apart to inspect before I do anything to be sure, I'm extremely confident they are done right. I also have 2 blocks which are both cracked. One is cracked on both sides so I am thinking that will probably sit on a shelf. The other block is only cracked on one side, but the previous repair looks to possibly be jb weld and it's a mess. Regardless it's far from quality workmanship. I'd like to have the block checked out to see if its usable and am looking for a reliable machine shop in the St. Louis area to do so. Any recommendations, preferably within 75-100 miles? I used AMT racing engines before, but that was 20 years ago and I'm not sure they do 348/409. I've heard they concentrate a lot on mopars these days. Thanks in advance! I'll get a picture of the wagon posted when I get a chance. I can't get any good pics of the 63's or my dads 64 because they are in storage right now.