I drove over to Vacaville after work to pickup the Supreme rims and tires. It’s not too far from work but a good distance from the Manetarium.

The wheels were in the condition the previous had disclosed. No unexpected surprises. One rim has a lot of rust that needs to be addressed, I think I’ll be able remove most of it. The rims are in very good shape. All four tires are in new condition tread wise and doesn’t have any compound hardness of being only 3 years old.

These wheels came off an early Ford Falcon build. The previous owner purchased the set thinking it would fit. Even though he was able to get them mounted the wheel wells were rubbing the outer side of the tire.

These uses a -12mm offset so this probably contributed to his issues. Also, if he was running disc brakes that may have pushed the whole wheel too far out. I’m running stock drums all the around so I figured I’d have enough clearance even with the negative offset.

I tested out rear wheel fitment and there is plenty of room at least jacked up in the air. The S10 wheel I removed is larger with a size of 205/75/15. The tire I have now are 205/70/14’s.

One note, the lug nuts I got from the owner will not work. These are for the larger Ford Falcon studs he was using. I have the stock 7/16” fine thread studs. I will need to purchase a set of lug nuts for this application.

I have a line on a set of Old school Supremes. Hopefully I can make the deal work out. One of the wheels are rusted out but I’ll see about finding a replacement.

The low beam headlamps did not work properly. The only time you get any headlamp illumination was by pressing down and engaging the high beams foot button. This of course is all jacked up since it means the high beam circuit had to be tampered with.

After some time for troubleshooting I was able to find out the previous owner(s) had tapped into the high beam circuit. One of the low beam lights was actually bad too.

In any case we have functioning head lamps when “La Bamba” goes on the night cruising action.

I know somewhere down the road I’ll be asking myself what headlamp did I purchase before that worked with the Impala. This is a reference photo.

One note, the three spades had to filed down on both edges. This allowed less pressure in the existing female connector. I also grabbed a couple universal connectors and these had a wider receptacle opening. The bad thing about these spades they are not weather resistant like the originals. The negative with the newer headlamp are the spade length. These do not sit down flush like the older headlamps. There is a gap that will need to be addressed with by weather resistant tape or applying some sort of RTV to prevent metal to ground contact.

The rear passenger side antenna seemed loose and not very sturdy. After checking it out I discovered that part of the base was missing. This is the piece that would normally be located inside the trunk area supporting the upper angled base.

The “fix” was a glob of electrical tape acting as a base and spacer underneath the sheet metal.

One of the first thing I noticed about the Impala backside was this freakin’ tow hitch. I had thought who would put something like this on a classic ride.

After looking at the setup from below I can tell this wasn’t a hack job. By the amount of surface discoloration and rusting this rig has been on for a good long time. That’s when it dawned on me that folks back then would probably use whatever vehicles they had. Most families probably didn’t have multiple vehicles like a truck and at that time it wasn’t considered a classic car at all.

Photo taken before I got the shop vac action going. You can see the tow hitch electrical wiring set just below towards the bottom of the picture.

I went over to my neighbors up the hill, I call it the “compound”. He has the proper tire equipment to remove the funky ass worn rubber tires from the rims. It took about 20 minutes or less to remove the old rubber.

The Compound Commander has every freakin’ tool you need to work on cars, truck or motorcycles. He’s a former car racer so he knows his shit very well.

Found out that one of the rims was not the same size as the other three. The single widest rim is 14×6″ which means the others are less wide and must look hell of skinny when mounted.

All this effort because of the goofy looking 1994-1997 S10 truck wheels that are on the La Bamba now. sometimes I look at it and it doesn’t bother me, other times it looks ridiculous.

I think the safe bet is to go with either traditional steelies or the era correct street rod look.

I received the replacement emergency brake assembly from Classic Industries. This particular online seller had the part in stock and able to ship it immediately.

The replacement emergency brake assembly didn’t come with a parking brake switch so I removed the original part, sanded it down and sprayed a coat of gloss black paint to match the new assembly.

Once I figured out the proper orientation the parking brake switch lever needed to be for re-installation it was much easier connecting the cable back into the slotted carrier position.

Checking out more of the work that will need to be completed before taking off on longer rides.

Lots of rust in the radiator. I’ll see if flushing the coolant system helps. If not I’ll probably replace the entire radiator as starters.

The parking brake assembly foot pedal doesn’t stay in engaged when in use. The rear brakes and cabling are functioning correctly as it is able to lock the rear drums brakes from rotating. Removing the complete assembly is simple. Three nuts and removing the parking brake cable is all it takes.

It turns out there is a small spring shown in the picture that connects one side to a “hole” and the other side of the spring to a locking lever. The part of the spring that is secured to the locking lever has disengaged.

So far, I can’t see any hole or area that the spring can be attached to the lever. I’m hoping no metal has worn or broken off. The lever does work if you manually position the angle to lock into the gear teeth. The brake release is working properly.

While under the dash I had a clear view of the fuse box. I discovered one of those ghetto fixes you wish you never see any car or truck. The previous owner wrapped a blown 2.5 amp fuse with either a bubble gum wrapper or a piece of aluminum foil. I’ve worked on many cars and have never actually seen this type of “fix” done.

One thing that bothers me about the Impala are the funky looking Chevy S10 wheels it currently sits on. The wheels don’t have the center caps mounted due to fitment issues.

I checked a set of American Wheels and Ansens. Both are period correct for the Impala. I wasn’t digging the look, so I’m going to pass. The wheels are a neighbors down the street that is into hot rods.