Fixing up a '71 Grand Safari

Good idea about the blower fan, I might clean it next week when I'm on holiday. Can you get to that without removing the fender panel? After some rain storms here recently I also noticed a puddle of water in the back so I now use a double folded tea towel between the last floor panel and tailgate to soak up the water. Used WD40 on the frame rails and vaseline on all the rubbers, siliconed some open spaces which helps some but water comes in straight from the sides which seems weird to me. Thanks for the pictures!

 

My 71 poncho heater blower problem was the dash switch assembly

 

If your blower motor won't work on any speed there's a high likely hood it's blown the fuse that is behind the alternator. If a blower motor won't work on the lower speeds but does work on high, it could be the switch, but it is most likely the blower motor resistor. The lower speeds work from a resistor (mounted under the hood) and the high speed works on a separate circuit that has its own relay. If a blower motor ever stops working on high only it is most likely the high-blow relay (or it could be the switch).

You will either have to remove the fender well or cut a hole in it. The shop manual says to cut a hole in the fender well and at the time they had a factory patch panel that would screw back in place. I didn't want to do that so I removed the fender well. It takes a little finagling but it can be done without fully taking the whole fender well out of the entire car.

 

Hi Brandon, that's smart taking the carb to an expert. I've been told the Quadrajets have somewhere near 1 Billion parts in them!

 

The same year GM trucks had the same issues with the heater motors. Not a big project but can be dirty and awkward. I've done it both ways, cut the hole per the suggested route in shop manuals, and also removed the inner fender. The latter is a bit more work but it is a lot easier to do the actual repair.

We always went to a wrecker and bought a similar fan out of an A/C equipped vehicle as they seemed to have better fan motors. I don't know if that is correct information but it was what we were told by an autowrecker and we went with it as gospel

 

Good to hear from you Brandon. It seems like there is no rest for the weary. Chin up though, You have much to be thankful for and seems your coming through all of it well.
Thanks for the update.

 

lol I know it was my switch and it was "smelly" and when inspected "KRISPY"!


Brandon do me a favor and find out what SIZE that carb is when they rebuild it. I mean CFM size I think it would be 750 or 800 CFM I heed to get mine rebuilt also it doesn't "perform" correctly with the edelbrock

 

Thanks guys. I am supposed to start a new job sometime in the next week or so. It's going to be very long hours and not a lot of pay, so I'm afraid time for projects will suffer.
Sorry, I already picked the carb up last night. I can give you the numbers off of it if that would help. I've run them before and found that it's actually from a slightly later model Buick or Oldsmobile.

 

Hmmm strange I will check I have my original and a 4bbl off a stage1 455

pretty sure mine looks like yours in early photos on this topic. I believe that they are poncho specific with that strange unit on the top front(that strange 1/4 inch hole screw on unit). I'll compare and get back on that

 

I was told a while back that my carb could have an assortment of different parts. It's a remanufactured part. I can't remember who said that, if it was online or someone locally, but you might consider that when looking at mine because I'm not sure how correct or legit mine is or isn't.

 

Also, I thought about posting this in the main forum and if you guys think it's a good idea I can let other people know. I recently tried to buy parts for The Caprice and there was a guy on another forum that had the ones I needed. While we were waiting for the insurance check he sold half of them, which I understood because someone showed up with the cash (at least that's his story, which I now have to consider may not be true, but I have no real reason to doubt it at this point). I then got the price for what it would cost to ship the remainder of the parts anyway, but he wasn't clear on explaining exactly what parts he had left. When I found out that some of the parts that were '78 specific were gone that I was mainly interested in anyway, I told him I only needed the taillight and lens. At this point he began cursing me and said I was a bad buyer and playing games with him. I tried to explain myself professionally and he sent me yet more insulting emails. A few days later he sent me taunting emails taunting me, saying I'm never going to find my parts now because he has blacklisted me from several forums. As it turns out he's a moderator at the Bbody forum. I didn't realize this at the time (I was just dealing with him through email) and so I posted a message to others, not saying don't buy from him, but if someone does to be careful. He then sent me another email saying that I'm harassing him and he may have to contact the authorities (which is ridiculous and an empty threat, I know) and then had me banned from the bbody forum. I suppose he's friends with the administrator because the administrator won't even talk to me. Well, I found out that the guy is a member of a lot of forums, including THIS ONE. His name here is SweetSeventy9. Like I said, he was super nice at first and then out of no where he went insane. I talked to another guy online that said the same thing happened to him.

Anyway, this is really infuriating because there aren't a lot of resources for these cars and now I've been completely shut out of the main one for absolutely nothing and I've been given no chance to even explain the situation. If you deal with this guy, it could go fine, but it seems it could instantly turn very, very sour. I've kept every email exchange we have had.

 

You got plenty of friends here Brandon! We'll all be on the prowl for any good sources of '78 Caprice coupe parts! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

Even if he keeps at it, I suggest you keep being polite and nice to him even if he doesn't do it back. He might think he has a case against you but is missing out on 98% of the story and his 2% sounds like 100% to him even though it's really 2%. These numbers I posted don't really mean the actual story, But I do recall times when I thought something was as I saw it but it just wasn't or was much larger.

Also, I found this Coupe on Craigslist. I'm not sure it'll help though since Craigslist encourages people to only sell locally. http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/4487710972.html

 

What a crazy week. Rose turned one, which meant, of course, April had to have a 1 year birthday party. I think there were something like 40 people at our house. It was nice to get to see everyone but I'm glad to have the house back to myself.

Thanks guys. I will say that I was furious at this whole escapade but I maintained a polite tone and vocabulary with him, which shows up if I ever have to use the email exchanges as evidence with another seller.

That coupe looks really good, I wish it were closer.

 

That's a bad turn of events Brandon. It's also sad that someone you are trying to deal with gets you booted off a forum. I can't see where that had anything to do with you and the group. It stinks.
Hopefully others there will forward your story and probably others. Then maybe it won't be you who is banned.
Anyway happy birthday Rose !