The Fifteenth Chapter - Backbone (Or Why I Killed a Buick)

As I write this, I'm amazed to realize we're already on the fifteenth installment of my Impala restoration.  I'm coming up on year three of owning this car, and what a ride it's been!  There's still a long way to go before I can even consider the car finished, but I can finally start thinking of it as a car again with a real interior.  When we left off last, I had just finished the windshield rust repair and gone off to school for the start of my Fall semester.  Since then, I've picked away at the car over my breaks.  Not much happened on the mid-semester breaks.  Over Fall break, I picked up some parts, hooked up my dash vents, caught up with the previous owner, and learned the car actually has at least 193,000 miles on it, not the 93,000 I originally thought it had.  Over Thanksgiving break, I finally hooked up my heater core, so now I have heat.  I also installed a factory replacement antenna, since the old JC Whitney unit had long since had its day, despite my repeated attempts to revive it.  My dad also was nice enough to take the Impala to a few shows when I wasn't around, so it got some use regularly until being garaged for its major operation over Winter break.  I took a singular ride around the block, stripped my seats and sent them off for upholstery, and then pulled the car into the garage to put it under the knife once more.  

By this point, you're probably wondering why this issue is called "Backbone" (or have accepted my whacky naming scheme and couldn't care less).  Remember two years ago in the sixth chapter, where I killed a Buick for its filler panel?  Well, I was long overdue to replace my Impala's crumbling panel between the trunk and rear window, so I figured now was as good a time as any to start.  Ignoring the fact that I would be working in my unheated, one-car garage in below-freezing temps, I set to work in the relatively warm spell we had right after Christmas.  

The first thing to come off was the trim.  Given that half the clips had rusted clean off, it wasn't too hard to do.  Unfortunately, I stupidly spent about three hours of my life cleaning the trim that I would later smash up trying to get it back on the car (don't worry, a previous owner had already had a go at it before me).  Once the trim was off, I could get a clear view at the lovely house caulk mess that was barely holding my windshield in.  The caulk was likely used in an attempt to "fix" the leaky windshield , but it ultimately made things worse, speeding up the rusting and letting even more water in.  The next step was to get the windshield out, which wasn't too hard considering very little was actually holding it in.  A few careful cuts with a utility knife later, and the windshield was out.  I took stock of the damage and quickly realized I'd have to do a bit of patching on the side channels as these sections weren't included in the Buick patch.  With colder weather ahead in the forecast, I wasted no time jumping into the repairs.  

Fortunately, I had enough scraps left over from the windshield repair that I was able to fab up replacements for the side channels.  Once I had the driver's side done, I removed the decklid and torsion rods and braced the car with some old pieces of steel shelving I found.  Around this point, the weather started getting colder, so I migrated inside and proceeded to drill out the spotwelds on the Buick panel to prep it for installation.  Once the panel was ready (lots of drilling, hammering, and grinding later), I turned my attention back to the car and began removing the crusty filler panel from it.  

As you can see from the photos, the panel was completely shot.  The rust had eaten into the inner structure and right through the weatherstripping lip.  Again, more cutting, grinding, and drilling ensued, and I was eventually rewarded with a fully-removed panel.  It was pretty cold at this point, so I had to periodically go inside and warm my hands up when I couldn't feel my fingers anymore.  Welding the new panel in went without a hitch, after I'd drilled my plug weld holes.  

Once the panel was in, I filled the factory seams with fiberglass filler and sanded them down.  The factory used lead, but I both lacked the material and wanted to preserve my health, so I elected to use the fiberglass.  Once the fiberglass had been sanded down, I cleaned it off and hit it with some high build primer.  I also used seam sealer on the edges under the decklid.  Once it had dried, I reinstalled the hinge torsion rods, put some new weatherstripping in, and reinstalled the decklid.  The following day, my dad and I urethaned in the rear window.  We had a couple issues with the sealing, so using my phone flashlight to find the holes, I tooled in some extra urethane and (hopefully) sealed them.  

I waited a few days for the urethane to cure, then I reinstalled the trim.  This was a real pain because the sources who repop the trim clips don't make them with as large a retaining tang as the originals, which makes it harder for the trim to stay on.  After lots of cursing and yelling (David can attest to this), I had to salvage one of my original clips to get the trim to stay on.  David also helped install the sound deadener on the inside (thanks, man!), and we were able to prep the interior for carpet.  I put the carpet and kick panels in the following day, and while the fit was pretty poor, it was acceptable.  Oh yeah, I also installed my new package tray right after the window went in.  Below are some photos of the results.  The first photo was taken two years ago in March when I pulled the seats out for the first time.  The second is where we are now.  Sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm making much headway, but wow, I've certainly come a long way from the car I started with.  

And that's about it for now.  A few days later, I was back off to school for the start of yet another semester.  My seats are still out being redone, and they will hopefully be going in when I'm back home in March for break.  My plan is to put the rest of the interior (headliner, door panels, etc.) back in then as well, so stay tuned for more Impala magic.