2009 Chevy Impala LS

Update your progress on your various car projects.

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MostMint
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2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

Yesterday I brought home a 2009 Chevy Impala LS with 62k. Paid $3200 for it. It came with some spare parts and the prior owner gave me a lot of information on what he had done to the car. He bought it at the city of Canton's police auction for $700! It was wrecked in the LF - bent the lower control arm, tie rod, LF fender and door. He replaced the door and fender. He installed a matching rear seat and replaced the rubber floor mat with carpeting. Lots of bodywork was done to fill in the holes from the cop accessories and a few dents. The rim was bent so he got a replacement tire and wheel. It also came with spare parts - LF a-arm, strut and knuckle, a LR tail light, driver door panel, cop rear seat belts, steering wheel (with radio controls) the original LF tire and wheel (with TPMS sensor inside), some other door parts and some parts of the wiring harness.

The car made the 45 minute drive from Canton without incident. It has a tire out of balance and the brakes pulse a little. The column shifter is pretty worn out so it will need new bushings or replaced. The ride is good and everything works. It leaves a small drip of power steering fluid (he told me the seal was damaged in the accident).

Last night I replaced the LR tailllight, spliced the wires to get the center brake light working, and replaced a bulb on the RR. All the exterior lights are now working properly. Lots of little things to go but it's a start.

I need a set of hubcaps and factory front floor mats
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Basement Paul
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by Basement Paul »

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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

Hubcaps are ordered and on the way.
With the snow falling I moved it to the detached garage - cramming in 3 tractors, a utility trailer, the Saturn and two Impalas.
Went to local dealership and bought a second key.
While there I asked for the build sheet. I had received this when I bought my SS so I knew they existed online. The service manager provided it. From the build sheet I learned a few things about the car - like it had a full size spare and now has the donut. There are special packages for suspension - some of them are the same as the SS though it has some that are not the same so it will be interesting to see how it handles. Besides the "cop suspension" it has ABS and traction control but NOT Stabilitrak so this might be a good track day car.

As a bonus the service manager printed off the service history of the car which was more valuable. I learned the last time it was in for service was on July 20 2013. I also know everything that was replaced - and there was a lot! Power door locks, catalytic converter, halfshaft, one spark plug, the AC vents in the dash, both front lower control arms were all replaced. There are at least three pages. The biggest one is the engine which was replaced at 16,000 miles! So the engine has 46k miles.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

Busy day today - cased the steering rack and front suspension and the shifter problem before heading to pull-a-part. Turns out the mechanism for the shifter in the column was broken and the assembly needed replaced. The closest thing I could find was "shifter linkage" for $12.05 in their parts price list.

Fred32v joined me there and we visited the only Impala of this generation pull-a-part had in the state at the Kirby Avenue location. It was wrecked in the back and pretty well stripped but we still got the shifter, the gas pedal, and the driver door weatherstripping. I'm going to try the gas pedal on the SS - for under $5 it's worth a shot the parts costs over $100 at Autozone.

From other cars we also got the right lug nuts to support the new hubcaps (three different cars to get some nice ones), the clips to hold the headlights, the trunk cargo net (from a 90's Caddy) some Impala emblems for the c-pillar (2001 Impala).

I spent some time this evening installing the shifter and the air box from the SS (they are identical). Fixing the shifter really helped increase my confidence in this car. For the air box it turns out I needed to adjust some of the sheet metal to get everything to line up correctly. Using my Impala as a model I was able to move most of the metal where it belongs. I used some wood blocks and a hammer to make the adjustments.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

Image

Today's donor car:
Image

$58 for all this stuff from pull-a-part
Image
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

Going after the brake pulse – had an adventure removing the LF when the torx bolt holding the rotor to the hub would not come out. Well it did after I broke two T30 tools and drilled it. The rotors are being turned and I bought new front pads. The backing plates fit but the pad surface is only 2/3 the size of what can fit on the backing plate. What? It’s like they are saving 50 cents a set by not giving me all the material. Duralast Gold is apparently not that good.

Also been working on the steering rack situation. There are two different racks for this generation W-body. Initially I thought the steering ratio was the factor but it turns out one has Magnasteer – a feature of GM cars that adjusts the effort into steering. Low speeds the power assists more and high speeds less. By the books this car does not have Magnasteer but the SS does. The Magnasteer rack has an electronic connection.

I can clearly see the rack has a slow leak. Reading the manual I can see it requires lowering the subframe to get it out of the car. I can’t find any seal kits though I can find the tie rod. I’ll have to do a little exploratory to decide what exactly is wrong and whether it needs a new rack.

My other discovery was the passenger halfshaft needs a new inner boot. The prior owner put a poor quality aftermarket boot on there and it must have been cut during the install. He gave me a lot of info but kind of left out that little nugget. I have decreasing confidence that the halfshaft is actually any good (part of the trans on that side was broken from the impact of the accident) – who knows what that impact could have done to the CV joints.

Getting a good look under the car I have my doubts about this guy’s transmission sealing ability – though it has not left any fluid on the floor yet the trans is wet around where the new part was installed. I also noticed a replaced boot on the left halfshaft that included us of clear caulking to get it to seal.

The hubcaps arrived so they will go one once I get a little closer to driving it.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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GMJohnny
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by GMJohnny »

When the Regal got up in age I did half shafts on it. They were pretty easy to install, and, as I recall,
Youtube had plenty of footage of the repair, and the parts were not terribly priced. I'd put new ones
in.......

GM
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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

To my surprise they are about $60 each. Just a CV boot is $24 each. Right now I'm thinking they both should be replaced. The front of this car is almost exactly the same as the Saturn I could almost change them in my sleep.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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ttamrettus
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by ttamrettus »

My 2005 Impala needed a new steering rack when it had 60k miles on. It was leaking.
Matt Sutter
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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

This one has a bent tie rod from the wreck so I think that impact had something to do with the leak.

It took some doing but the rack is out and so are the halfshafts. I ordered replacements. Autozone has 20% off for ship to home so that saved a few bucks! I just hope they will take the steering rack core back at the store.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

Lots done the past week.

I ordered the steering rack, both halfshafts and one tie rod end online - got 20% off from Autozone. The order was messed up but I was able to take it to the local Autozone and get the part exchanged.

So I cleaned up a lot of the grease from the bad CV boots and grime in the working areas.

I then installed the rack (connecting to the steering column was a pain!), reinstalled the sway bar, installed the halfshafts, installed tie rods ends, connected lower ball joints, brakes. There was extra work here to bend the LF brake line so the rubber part was not getting stretched (apparently it was reshaped in the accident). Took a shot at front end toe in alignment but I still need to drive a little to make sure the wheel is straight.

The oil was changed last week but I had to let out a quart since I put in 5 and it only takes 4. The SS takes 6 so I figured the police car would take at least 5 - oops.

Took a while to get the power steering bled. I guess it kept pulling in air even though the reservoir was near full. Eventually I figured it out and only ran it a couple seconds then let it settle. Each time the level went down and I topped it off.

I also took advantage of the nice weather and put some white primer on the white parts of the car. It's just temporary but it looks less like a spotted dog now. Definitely wroth the $6 for the primer

I balanced the front tires also as the car was vibrating on the drive home.

I also noticed there were some wire looms poorly zip tied to the lower radiator hose. That can only end with the zip tie cutting through the hose, so I zip tied the wire loom to the bottom of the core support instead - basically where the harness was connected until the plastic ring holding it broke.

Still have a hole in the firewall to close up, some bare wires to tape up and get the LF TPMS sensor in the wheel.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Fred32v
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by Fred32v »

And with long days and late nights,
look what showed up at Grandmother's house Christmas Eve.

Image

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

On Monday the car got out to echeck and passed with flying colors. Funny noises though on acceleration not sure what that was. It did remind me the car was low on trans fluid before I leaked a bunch out starting it without the halfshafts (wanted to know the rack was not leaking before assembly was done - not a good idea!) So I put the quart I had in there and picked up more. I also forgot to mention the temp tag and title work was done on Sat.

Went to put the hubcaps on and found out they do not exactly work right. Turns out the tire valve location on police car wheels is different than standard wheels. Since the hubcap attaches to the lugnuts, the positioning of the tire valve to the lugnuts matters. Right now the caps are on but I need to remove them to add air since the valave is under one of the large spokes of the hubcap.

The RF halfshaft from Autozone was no good. The car had vibrations I did not recall from the drive home - not a tire out of balance the kind like you get from the weedeater. Autozone did not have the part when promised so I bought on from Advance. I can change a halfshaft in less than an hour so I pulled out the bad one Monday night and put the new one in Tuesday morning.

With the pending trip for Christmas I did some basic work in the interior - running the vacuum and cleaning up glass chips. Also put windex to the dash and most of the interior plastic. It looks presentable. The trunk mat was pretty dirty but it cleaned up real nice. I used Windex as a spot cleaner and it worked great - go figure.

Upon driving it we found the LR inside door handle does not work, and the LF door is too low and lets in a fair amount of wind noise. I feel pretty good about the front end alignment now that I have put some miles on and the tires have had a chance to adjust to the alignment. The front brake job worked out and the rear pads look to be about 80%.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Basement Paul
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by Basement Paul »

In case you were unaware, there's a switch inside the edge of the door that when switched will prevent the passengers from opening the door. It's a child safety thing and it might be your problem if you're lucky.

-BP
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MostMint
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Re: 2009 Chevy Impala LS

Post by MostMint »

Last night I went to work on driver side door alignment. Turns out the accident moved the bottom of the a-pillar inward between 1/4 and 1/3 inch. The pillar itself does not show sign of damage but the inner fender is buckled. I tried flattening it with a hammer with limited success? The doors line up with each other much better and along the roof line but I may have a gap at the base of the a-pillar. I made some adjustments to the door seal to try and compensate. Since I am not planning to put the car on a frame machine I will probably have to find creative ways to get it to seal.

I found that switch in the LR door last night but it had no effect.

I also found the seal for the LF halfshaft appears to be leaking. I'm thinking that is related to the vibration I feel in the LF. Hopefully this is caused by a defective Autozone halfshaft. Nonetheless I will change the sea
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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