My 1964 Pontiac Catalina Safari build

Hey guys! New member here, sorta. Been "lurking" awhile for info.

A couple months back I purchased my 64 Safari. I found it in Chicago. It was listed on eBay. The pictures weren't very good but the seller (zero feedback) said that it was in really good shape. Rumor has it they bought the car for only $1500! This car was parked in a garage since 1997. Here are the pictures listed on eBay







I saw evidence of some rust, but not much. Given its age and location, it actually looked pretty good! I then asked for some under carriage shots, I figured this would make or break the deal. This is what I got





Again, not too good, but good enough. We agreed on a price that was below the reserve, and I sent a deposit. I then tried calling them for the next two days, with no answer. The weird thing is that they never removed the auction, so I started to worry. I decided to "buy it now" to ensure it was mine. They can deal with paying the fees. So I hit Buy it Now, and within 5 minutes the seller called me. Funny how that works.

"So I see you really wanted the car!" Yeah, no kidding lol So I made arrangements to go up there the next week. I was like a kid waiting for Christmas!

So, I loaded up my Tundra with a uhaul auto transport and went from Roanoke, VA to Naperville, IL. Roughly a 12 hour trip before stops and traffic. I left very early on a Friday morning, met with a business contact for dinner, stumbled to my hotel and passed out about 11pm. I had been up about 22 hours. In the blink of an eye my alarm went off and I had NO trouble waking up! I even skipped my coffee which is a feat in itself.

I drove 15 minutes to see the car. It was in a nice subdivision, and as I took my final right hand turn, I saw it in the driveway. This is what I saw







It was still obstructed by brush. I looked it over best I could. it started right up, with a HORRIBLE noise. I thought it was valvetrain, but thank god it was only the heat riser valve on the passenger exhaust manifold! We all piled in the car to go to a local garage. I made it very clear I wanted to inspect the undercarriage for rust.

Here we go! The two in front were co-owners. They had been friends 20+ years and they bickered like they were married LOL


The car rode fine. it was sweet crusing in the back seat with all the windows down. It drove nice and quiet, but had a weird vibration at slow speeds.

At the garage, I took these photos real quick while the owners told the shop owner we were here. It was the first good look I got at the wagon. All the chrome was real nice, the interior was real nice too. This wagon had the 2 options that I really really wanted:

-A Roof Rack. You can see its in remarkable shape.
-Rear facing 3rd seat













Look at that steering wheel....its almost perfect!


Here it is on the lift, and the ugly undercarriage






Its crunchy, but not too bad. Just surface rust. No rot, and the floors looked perfect! We drove the car back to the owners house. This time it was my turn to drive it, so exciting! Again it drove fine, I loved it! The only thing was that shudder/vibration. I thought it may have been the posi in the axle, but I found out it doesn't have a posi. I replaced some bad u joints and its still there. Did a little more driving, and the shudder goes away in neutral or low gear. Great, something is wrong with this 2 speed "Slim Jim" transmission that I've heard nothing good about. No worries, I have a good TH400 at home. Other things the car needed were 2 front fenders, and a passenger rear door. They had some rust.

So, we load up the car and I start my trek home! The way home will be split into 2 days, much easier.

I drove until early that afternoon and stopped in Pontiac, IL. I love visiting my friends Tim and Penny Dye. They run the Pontiac Museum....chock full of Pontiac cars and memorabilia!



Inside, I had to visit my absolute favorite display. Its the only display that I haven't seen change in the 4 years I've been going. Wonder why I like it?











Here we are, ready to hit the road again



Gas time!


I left about 2:30 in the afternoon to continue my trek towards Ohio, when this nasty storm popped out of nowhere.



I stopped at a gas station and a truck walked in very shaken, telling me to "get cover. Park that Pontiac in a car wash, and let that Toyota hang out the front...you can replace he truck". This had me a little concerned.

Well, this doesn't look good.


yup its pretty bad. People were literally driving up the ramps under the overpass to get out of the ridiculous hail

 

I found a parking lot to pull into. This was one of the worst storms I'd been in. Almost no visibility. Listen to that hail pounding the truck!

http://vid60.photobucket.com/albums/h29/Racer001/Wagon/20150815_174319_zpswgdwlryd.mp4

I waited about 30 minutes and it finally passed. I drove a few more hours and found a hotel in Ohio for the night.

I stopped at a friends house in Ohio the next morning. he buys and sells a ton of Pontiac parts and has a cool collection of cars. After talking with him a bit, I purchased some parts

A good passenger fender with no rust on the bottom


And a replacement steering column for floor shift


Not pictured, is an NOS rear passenger door. I couldn't believe it! I snatched that up quick lol

After I left Johns, I drove the rest of the way home. I got home late that sunday. It was a LONG 3 days on the road, but so worth it

When I got the car home, I brought it to a body shop to get an estimate for a repaint, then I brought it to a garage for:

- tune up
-wheel cylinders
-diagnose possible bad transission

I also had the gas tank sent out to be reconditioned. It had some pinholes. I sent it to a "Gas-Tank Renu" franchise. They coat the inside and outside with what looks like an undercoating


I also had the fuel sender rebuilt, since the gauge didn't work.

I got the car back running better than it had been, and a confirmation of a bad transmission. In the meantime, my new VA License plates came in



I hired a mobile sandblaster to do the nasty job of cleaning the undercarriage.



He did it in the back lot of the body shop, so when he was done, the body shop could immediately seal it.

Primed:








And "chip coated"








So, my main concern was now taken care of. I brought it to my shop for the first time, and got some better picture

 

I have been searching online for a LONG time for a 4 speed swap for my wagon. What would be cooler than rowing gears in this grocery getter?? When the lowest price I found for a used setup was $2500 plus shipping, I began thinking of other alternatives. That is when I got a lead from a local Pontiac-Oakland Club (POCI) Member about a 64 catalina he heard of years ago. Lo and behold, look what I bought!

a 64 Catalina with a 4 speed and a posi! The price was only $2k! Its rusty, but has everything I need. 4 speed swap, posi, and even a NEW radiator that will need to go in my wagon Once I take what I need, I will try to sell the car or part it out. If I can get my money back out of it that would be amazing!







So fast foward to today. Both cars have been dropped off at a garage for the 4 speed swap. I've also ordered a TON of parts today to go on.

-4 wheel disc brake swap
-FAST EZ-EFI 2.0 fuel injected setup
-068 Pontiac Cam, springs, and lifters
-Weatherstripping
-Timing gears
-assorted paint
-motor mounts
-log branch high flow manifolds

Plans is to pull the motor and trans at the same time. I will do my best to detail the engine bay, and paint the motor Pontiac blue. Once it goes in with the new exhaust manifolds, and the 4 speed is swapped in, I will bring the car to an exhaust shop for true dual exhaust. Once that is done, I will do the EFI swap with my buddy David. I'll post in progress pictures as I can.

I have a deadline of the end of december to have all mechanical work done. January 1st the car is going in for a complete repaint. I'm torn between dark metallic forest green, or dark metallic gunmetal grey. I will be deleting the body line chrome, rocker panel chrome, and likely the window trim. It will all be body colored.

While it is stripped down for paint, I plan on installing air ride, and some nice 18" american racing wheels.

I'm more excited about this car than any other build I have done, and I'm glad I get to share it WHEW THAT WAS A LOT OF TYPING

 

Great intro, great car, great plan!

 

thinking of these wheels

 

Man...this gets me pumped up....I wonder why I like this one so much? Nice ride bro, giving me some motivation!

 

Congrats on your awesome looking car, seems like you have a plan!
One of my favorites on youtube:

 

That car is absolutely an inspiration for my project

 

fiddling with the car, I ran into a problem with the 4 barrel intake. Its different than my 4150 style throttle body






Found an adapter on ebay for $30, solved that issue.

Pulled the engine and transmission


Brought the car back to the body shop to get the engine bay painted. $450 to make it look factory. Little steep, but they do good work




This is how it turned out.








Asbsolutely HORRIBLE. They've done so good on all my other cars, I don't understand how this happened. They painted over old stickers, painted over leafs, and worst of all they didn't clean a damn thing and painted over all the grease and dirt! WTF! You can also see they didn't remove the radiator mount (2 bolts) to paint under it. WTF! I'm going to talk with them this morning and let them know this is 100% unacceptable.

 

The old 4-jet has a slightly different bolt pattern similar to the WCFB and I think some of the BOP's got a spreadbore design. Might not be a bad idea to upgrade to an aftermarket intake rather than run the adapater with the stocker.

I'm glad you said something about that engine bay. I saw that painted over sticker and thought uh-oh. IMO the only proper way to do the engine bay is to pull absolutely everything off the front end and clean and refinish the parts individually. I would be pretty upset if I paid someone that money and they painted over grease and dirt. That is pathetic.

 

Unfortunately, IMHO, this came down to a miscommunication. $450 is just too light for a clean, derust, degrease, mask every important item, repaint. Kevin's right about pulling the front end apart and doing everything individually. That also goes for the body paint. You watch any of the car resto shows, the hoods, fenders, trunk lids, etc., are all removed and painted individually to ensure proper coating. Doing yours this way would've given you the opportunity to do the disassembly, cataloging and cleaning to your satisfaction, then do the total degrease and derust before shipping it over to the body shop for priming and painting the frame and crossmembers.

 

The email quote I had from them specifically stated sandblasting, cleaning, preparing, and painting everything to look factory. there was no miscommunication between me (customer) and counter clerk (branch manager)

They didn't charge me, so I finished the job myself.

 

They should have paid you after creating all of that extra work by painting over all of that crap.

 

Time for an update!

Engine and trans are out of the car


brought the wagon back to the body shop where they said they would clean, prep and paint everything to look factory for $450.




This is what I got back









They didn't prep anything! They painted over leafs, stickers, and ALL the dirt and grease. Totally unbelievable. They didn't charge me though, and it doe look better than before. I will finish the job myself. Still pissed about it though.

Resealed the Saginaw, and spray bombed it


Ordered new shifter linkage bushings. They were literally all missing from the car. no wonder if always felt like it was in neutral!


Replaced the timing set, water pump, oil pump, all the gaskets, and scrubbed down the 389










My best buddy David has been helping me a TON with this car. Well, there has been a setback in the cars progress



My valve covers were in here




This is the SECOND time he's fell asleep at the wheel and totalled a car. Had the driver door not popped open and given him someplace to fall out, he'd be dead. His seatbelt would have kept him pinned. He's super lucky to only have got a couple fractured ribs.

My buddy is ok, and I'm real glad. When he sent me those pictures, it never set right with me. I told him he needs to go get a second and third medical opinion. His first Dr. said he was ok. I don't believe it.

SO, I need new valve covers. I bought these on ebay for $75


I will paint them blue as well.

I asked my buddy last night if he wants me to bring the wagon to a shop. I don't want him to feel pressured, and I don't want to bug him while he heals. He needs to focus on himself. Haven't heard back yet...I hope I didn't make him upset

Anyway, if he decides to keep working on it, we're at a good point. The engine and trans are pretty much ready to go back in, and get the car set up for the 4 speed. Once its running, the plan is to drive it (open manifolds hehehe) to an exhaust shop. Then we proceed with the efi, and 4 wheel brakes.

 

I really like this car, it has great lines. I love the steering wheel. Sorry to hear about the setbacks with the engine compartment and the loss of parts in the wreck. Glad to hear your buddy is OK. I hope it's smoother sailing from here on out.