Words: Tommy Parry

As a 7,600-mile car which has spent most of its life under a garage roof orthe lights of an auto show, this ‘96 Impala SS doesn’t need much help to turn heads. Nevertheless, its owner Ray felt it necessary to make several small changes to get everything possible from the heavyweight, and in the longer modification process, set his sights on making this show car handle as well as it looks.

The list of his first modifications were mild, but still enough to scare some. LPE LT4 heads and intake help the forced air, courtesy of a 9lb Powerdyne Supercharger, flow smoothly. Power is sent through a T-56 6-Speed transmission onto American Racing 17x9.5” Torq Thrust D wheels, which hint at some level of customization without screaming it.

Once the simple bolt-ons had been added, Ray’s next order of business was lifting the body from the frame. After taking careful measurements, he built a cradle out of 2x2” steel bolted together after jacking the body off of the frame. Pieces of 2x4” wood were used to cushion the contact points on the body. Then, with the four-post lift at its lowest setting, Ray and a friend ran some straps through the steel cradle and around the lift ramps to begin separation.

With the frame separated, he sent it off to have it powder coated, but as the frame was coated in black paraffin wax from the factory, that wasn’t the simplest of tasks.

It required some baking in order to get the black wax out of the inside of the frame rails, after which Ray could only smile. In addition to leaving the coater’s booth smelling like candles, it had returned to him with the inside of the front frame horns and inside of the rear wheel frame rails coated beautifully.

Next came a simple, inexpensive, and yet very formative modification. Stainless steel brake lines ensured stable braking performance during spirited runs, and a set of custom tubular control arms for a little more strength and better alignment.

A minor tweak to the suspension showed Ray just how well he could make the heavyweight Impala handle, and he started planning major modifications in this department. And then that frustrating hiatus we’re all familiar with began.

After six years, Ray again found the time, resources, and energy to begin tinkering on his Impala. He commenced the second stage of building by taking advantage of the significant changes made to Pro Touring parts during his interim and applying all he’d learned during downtime. He began retrofitting with a full suspension package from QA1.

After some cutting of the spindles to accept the KORE3 adapters for a C5/C6 Corvette brake package, he was well on his way to making that large Impala turn and stop like a much lighter machine.

The full suspension is just the first of many aimed at modernizing the Impala and giving it the sort of ride and roadholding we expect from a modern muscle car, and as we all know, any improvement in this area just motivated the builder to push a little bit more. With so much time spent dreaming during his hiatus, Ray will undoubtedly pursue this second stage of development with a stronger plan and even more energy. To keep tabs on the progress of this classy—and soon to be very fast—Impala, you can visit Ray’s build thread here.