Fixing up a '71 Grand Safari

Thanks everyone. Since this radio will be sitting in the room where we watch television I didn't want to add a light where the eye used to be. I thought because of its size it would be too distracting so I welded a piece of steel to the faceplate mount that would cover where the eye hole was and painted the steel black.

I completely forgot to get a picture of the exhaust today. I'll try to remember to get one tomorrow, but if I forget please remind me again. You can ask April, I can literally forget something by the time I go into the next room if I don't concentrate on it while I'm walking.

All day today it appeared that it was going to rain at any moment, but I took the chance and used an assortment of steel brushes and an air grinder to finally strip the top of the core support. It took a few hours because it had its fair share of surface rust.

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I found this date under all the crud. It appears this core support is just 10 days away from being exactly 42 years old.

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I have been fighting these door springs for a while now. I determined I was probably going to end up hurting myself or losing an eye so I called Ricky, the man who painted the car for me. He let me borrow this door spring compressor. This tool was an absolute life saver. It probably took five minutes to complete both doors and it was safe, too. I installed them and took the tool back when I got done.

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To use the tool you just put the spring in the jaws, tighten the bolt to compress the spring, install it, and then unscrew the bolt.

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There were quite a few nicks in the paint that needed to be touched up from a couple of the stubborn door pins. I used a brush to touch them up by hand as well as all of the heads of the door hinge bolts. I also touched up anywhere else on the car that needed a touch up and then finished the passenger rear door area that was rubbing. I had to use an air grinder to shave some off of the door jamb and touch it back up.

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I realized I had not yet installed the rubber and routed the wires into the rear doors. It took a while to feed the ends of the wires through the tight rubber seals. I took some soap and water and cleaned them with a toothbrush.

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That looks much better. After I did this I greased all the door hinges and locking mechanisms with chassis grease and silicone spray.

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The car was missing the driver side bolt that holds the core support to the frame. I have been searching for a replacement to this bolt and it's accompanying bushings but I haven't been able to find one. Several weeks ago I noticed a bolt for sale at the parts house so I made a mental note in case I couldn't find an original replacement. The bolt had some bushings with it. I had to customize it a bit but it ended up working well. Here is a picture of the original on the passenger side and the one I made for the driver side.

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To finish up the day I cleaned a few of the other rubber pieces with more soap and the old toothrbush.

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Great job Brandon! Does April know you've got her toothbrush out in the garage? :confused:

 

Fender Well Done

Today it was time to install the fenderwells and the fenders. I don't think I would have figured it out without the diagram and numbered bolts with notes for each. After the first fender went on the second one went on that much quicker.

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I used tape under the bolts to keep from scratching the paint down to the metal. After the fender is adjusted for the final time I will loosen them one by one and take the tape out. I also couldn't strip and paint these bolts because they were all labeled and numbered, so I'll have to do them one at a time as I remove and replace them. I can't have fresh paint everywhere and then rusty bolts sticking up all over the place.

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Since I was doing this by myself I had to use a couple of empty boxes to hold the fender well in place so I could start the front and rear bolts.

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After I got both fenders mounted I aligned them. The alignment process, though difficult, was much easier than it could have been. I have seen things like this take an entire day or longer. I have to keep in mind, however, that I still have the hood, header panel and corner pieces to go, so I may not be out of the woods just yet. I only tightened down the rear of the fender because the front will still need adjustment as I add more body pieces.

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Hey, it kind of looks like a car. After I finished with the fenders I temporarily hung the front header panel so I could get the measurements for the custom horns. As I mentioned earlier, much to April's approval, I am replacing the two stock horns with dual note horns from a 1990's Buick. The best way to describe how these four horns sound is to imagine the sound of a mini train horn. When people cut us off in traffic, as they so often do in this town, we will make sure they are aware of it.

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I wanted to find a way to make the one extra horn per side fit without blocking any more air flow to the condenser and radiator.

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The original horn mounted with a bolt going through the core support and a small tab bent up from the horn mount and went through a small hole in the core support to steady the horn. The new horns had this tab but it was positioned the wrong direction. I found the best solution was to cut the new horn brace down and weld it back the way I needed it. I used the extra material left over from the bracket to add support by boxing it in. On the left is how the horn originally looked and on the right is what I ended up with.

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This is how the horn will mount and then I will bolt the second horn to the first horn. I began on the second horn but ran out of time, so I will have to finish it tomorrow.

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Here you can see how the new horn bracket lines up with both the support tab hole and with the bolt hole. I unfortunately didn't think about the fact that the new horns use metric bolts, so I will have to go pick some up at the hardware store when I go to get the hardware to bolt the two sets of horns together.

April has no idea I use her toothbrush....keep it on the DL...she's from Kentucky, so she never uses hers. tee hee hee.

Killer, I tried to snap some photos of the exhaust today. The tarp was tied in the back and all over the place. It was so windy I couldn't take it off because I wouldn't have been able to get it back on myself if a storm came up.











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So impressive, as always Brandon. What an amazing job you are doing and what a great job of documenting it as well. You can tell how great the body work and paint job are even more now with the front fenders on, just a nice continuous, deep reflection. Any decisions yet about the wood grain?

 

Thanks, but I have to say that the pictures do quite a bit to improve the look of the body work. I'd say that most people who look at it in person wouldn't notice but if you look down the side there are some waves due to the fact I had to sand around those blasted little tabs that the woodgrain moldings attach to.

I ordered some woodgrain from JC Whitney just tonight, no thanks to their foreign customer support that couldn't explain anything. Even though they offer 8 foot pieces (for the tailgate) they say they don't offer the 8 foot anymore, or it's not in stock. It took me forever to get the guy to understand what I was asking.

 

OK Brandon, tic a lock on the toothbrush caper. Mum is the word. The Clam is looking great! Don't get in too big a rush to finish it, lol. I been by Whitney's big place on the "I"(I55?) just sw of Chicago. Wonder why those folks can't understand English? :confused:

rating continues for this thread!

 

Did you order 3M dinoc?

 

Cracking me up with "blasted"! I think the JCW woodgrain will look good and the body contours are not too intimidating. Bought a pin years ago in Big Sur that read: "Nice planet - Lousy Service".

 

Brandon, beautiful work as always. For the first time, though, there is something I just have to question and that is the exhaust outlets. That looks dicey, to say the least. The first times you drive the car, carry a portable CO detector with you. Those exhausts are in the middle of the car, and the gases will be sucked up the back of the wagon just as if the outlets were under the bumper. Also, if there is any small opening under there that can let exhaust gases in the car, they will find it. What you may end up needing is to have the ends come out at the side, just in front of the bumper, behind the spare tire well on the passenger side, and matching it on the driver's. That is how the factory did it on the late 80s Colony Park wagons with dual exhausts. The rest of the system looks like a work of art, that's for sure!

What makes me concerned is Bertha. Someone used the 79 and up tail pipe on the 78, so the outlet is about 6 inches shy of the bumper, and in stop and go traffic, you can smell exhaust in the car, even though there are no holes I can find. That will be fixed along with the engine replacement starting this weekend, because it is not safe as is.

 

It's coming together great Brandon. I think In a way I'll be sad when the car is done, since I enjoy seeing your progress so much. But I'm sure there will be many updates along the way.

The exhaust looks great. Reminds me of the the pipes on the Ranchito. You should put some chrome tips on there that just barely peek out from underneath. Would be sublte, but cool.

Here's the Ranchito's for reference:

 

Mike you got exactly where i was going with my request! Thats exactly why i asked tor the pics and the way i wanted them taken as i had seen what i thought was exaust not comming out as you described it.

Vetter i suggest you rethink those outlets or your first ride in that when completed very possibly could be your ONLY ride in it! Your going to gas yourselves in there with the exaust like that BELIVE ME I KNOW.

A. You have open seep holes for exaust gasses directly above the exaust outlets and a LARGE area for them to collect to do so.( area in front of the door box AND the door box itself remember the shotgun shell by that drain?)

B. You will get exaust gasses/smells from them running out the back or sides,even in the stock location. All of my wagons did this with even the stock single exaust unless i added a longer piece of pipe to extend it.

C. In closing on the exaust i would not run them out the back as i belive the louvres will let it in too. I would somehow go out the sides possibly right behind the tires or farther back out at the back of the 1/4 area.

D. Before you do this with all the work you have done and knowing these cars as i do i think you need to adress that gas tank BEFORE you finish the exaust as to make it easier. looks like its rusty at the front bottom corner(where they are prone to going) and i would make sure it is clean and treated where that bottom strap runs across it( another place they go bad). Also while you have the tank out get a good rustproofing paint wash out the cavity( where the tank goes) let it dry and paint it with chassis saver or poor-15 type paint.WEAR A MASK! and not a dust mask i mean a painting mask. When you reinstall the tank put a piece of rubber( old inner tube or the like)between the strap and tank,And i also put an ample blob of grease on it the rubber where it contacts the tank.

You'll be glad you did this before the exaust is finished.

 

As far as the tailpipe concerns. I have dual exhaust routed pretty much iddentical to how you have yours Brandon. My car is a 72 Safari. I have drove my car everyday for the past 6 months and have not noticed exhaust gasses inside my ride at all. I understand everones concern here but you are very limited on how you route your tailpipes. The factory single exhaust exits out the driverside in almost the same place.

 

Hi Brandon, I've not been on here much in the last year and a half, and am just now catching up on threads I've missed. I stayed up late last night, totally absorbed in your wonderful project! You do incredible work and your Grand Safari is looking so fantastic! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

Your posts on your childhood and your life now were so nicely done. You are living a pretty great life, and are surrounded by people that love you. So nice to see. Your wife is dream, and you two seem so perfectly suited to each other. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima:2_thumbs_up_-_anima:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

Since this is my new favorite thread on here, I await more pics and posts.

David

 

They exit under the gas tank and PAST the 1/4 panel out from under the car body from the factory. These end just under the frame rails (not even past the gas tank) and have very obvious OPEN HOLES into the body cavity right above them.

 

Radi-hater

Thanks everyone for the kind words and checking out The Clam's progress.

Hey Wixom, good to see you back. Your thread is actually my favorite thread on the website. I look forward to seeing the project progress if you're able to continue with it.

I'm not sure about the exhaust. When I look at it in person it appears as though it may or may not cause a problem. I believe whomever said something about the gas tank being rusty may be looking at the picture wrong. The gas tank doesn't have rust on it and no rust on the gas tank is visible in the pictures I posted. There is some surface rust on the frame in this area from where I sand blasted this area and when I'm finished and have the car running I'm going to drive it to a friend's lift and sand and paint the underside of the car, so I haven't bothered with it yet. It may be correct that this exhaust setup will cause problems, but since it is completely finished and everything is in place I'm going to leave it as it is now and wait and see if it becomes and issue.

I finished up the horns that I wasn't able to finish from last week. I bolted them together using all-thread, a spacer and two lock washers. It was actually fairly time consuming to get these pieces installed due to the confined area in which they had to bolt together.

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I didn't grab the bolts that held these horns to the car when I picked them up from Pull-A-Part so I went to the hardware store to find somereplacements. They were metric and I found a #7 that fit. When I got home I found that it fit one side, though it was loose, and actually fell right out of the other side. I went back and the size was actually between a #7 and #8. The guy at the hardware store helped me look for about 10 minutes and we both decided it must be some strange thread. I bought a couple of standard bolts, because no one wants any stupid metric bolts on their car anyway, and retapped the holes. I have since learned that these bolts were supposed to be the very coarse threaded, body bolt types.

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This is what I ended up with. Today, with my dad's '71 parked right next to our '71, I realized that I don't think these horns will fit. I think they may stick out too far. I'll have to wait and see.

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Then came the big problem for the day: The Radiator. Many radiators bolt to the core support and the shroud bolts on after. In this case, the radiator is installed inside the shroud sitting on rubber supports and the shroud is bolted to the car.

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The problem came when I realized my new radiator was thicker than my old one. The new radiator is approximately 2 1/2" inches deep and the old radiator was somewhere around 1 1/2". It took quite some time to figure this out, but what I have is a heavy duty radiator. The parts house did not distinguish this fact. I was simply told there were two kinds, one with air conditioning and one without. In reality there were several available and the one that my car came with was the non-heavy duty with air conditioning. Fortunately I had dad's car right next to mine and I was able to measure his radiator to see that his was much thinner than mine and since he sold the car new as a salesman in '71, we know that it is original. The real confusion came in to play when I found that others have not had the same problem I was having. Supposedly, the heavy duty radiator should fit in the same shroud. The only difference should be the length of the rubber supports. At first I wasn't sure if I had the right radiator, what kind of radiator I had, if I was installing it correctly, if I had the right fan shroud or if Pontiac originally offered different types of fan shrouds that corresponded to different radiators. It took me all day long to find the answers to these questions. I finally found that there was only one type of shroud made. Different rubber supports were made for the heavy duty and non heavy duty. The reason my shroud won't fit is that the aftermarket company that made the radiator did not make it correctly. I eventually talked to another person that had recently done the exact same swap to a 1971 Pontiac. His heavy duty radiator bolted right up.

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If you look next to the yellow sticker you can see where the radiator is pushed as far into the shroud as it can go and is making contact with the sunken area of the shroud. There was no more room to give any relief.

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Here you can see how the shroud is sitting too far back to align with the holes.

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I attempted to make the radiator go under this lip to give a bit of extra room, but it could not be done.

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Because the top rubber supports would not fit I had to leave them out temporarily until I can get the correct size. This picture shows where they would fit, sandwiched between the radiator and shroud.

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The fan had plenty of room despite the fact the shroud would not move back any further

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It took the entire day to get to this conclusion, but I eventually notched the holes in the shroud to make them slots. This allowed me to mount the shroud in its new location.

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This was an exceptionally frustrating situation and also why I dislike dealing with many aftermarket companies that say they make model specific parts that end up being generic parts that are "supposed" to fit a wide variety of models. Because I am eventually going to try to see how many miles per gallon I can get from this massive old engine I will, down the road, most likely end up converting the clutch fan to an electric fan setup. In that case I will have to make an entirely custom shroud from scratch, so that means this one is not a huge deal if it isn't perfect for now.