Fixing up a '71 Grand Safari

Brandon: When you get a minute, check in and tell us what's happening! We're all getting concerned. Hopes and prayers with both of you. With a bit of luck, the 3 of you!

 

Hey guys, I gotta run, but I'll copy this over from the blog I just finished real quick. Thanks for the concern. We were, in fact, in the hospital. The day we got back family stayed at the house and I ended up falling asleep on the couch and woke up with a terrible migraine. Today was the first day that resembled normalcy since last Thursday. I had to get up early today and head to Nashville.

With the exception of last year when April I went to stay with my old friend and college roommate in Birmingham, Alabama so that we could, the next day, go look at The Clam to see if we would buy it, we have gone to the riverfront in Nashville to watch the July 4th fireworks for many years now. Because she was so close to her due date, we decided that the heavy rains and several miles of bumper to bumper traffic and shoulder to shoulder people all under a series of explosions might not be the best place for a pregnant lady. We decided to stay home this year for the 4th. That day, April began feeling very slight contractions, but they were the type that could mean that pregnancy was possibly still a week away. Nick came over and we got some food and then watched the city's fireworks from our front doorstep. After they were over Nick and I were in the garage and April came out and said her contractions were getting pretty painful. We called the doctor and he said to try to wait 30 minutes and if they continued to come into the hospital. We didn't want to have a false alarm. After about 20 minutes we headed to the hospital.

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We finally got settled into the room around 11:30. April had decided she wanted to abstain from using an epidural, so she gave birth with no pain killers. Our parents and family came down to wait in the waiting room, as well as Nick and also April's good friend Shelby. I stayed by the bed coaching April until Rose was finally born at 7:18 am, Friday 5th, 2013. Everything went well and Rose was healthy. We called April's parents and they drove down from Indiana. By the end April and I both had been up over 24 hours and April's parents had been up over 28 hours. Nick took the day off work. I can't distinguish the next 3 days apart from one another, they were all a blur of days in the hospital sleeping odd hours in a fold out chair. Many friends and loved ones came to see April and Rose and eventually we were able to come home.

I found this is how all men stand in the delivery room.

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Unfortunately, The Clam isn't ready yet for Rose because she decided to come two weeks earlier than they said she would. The nurses said she was full term, so it seems that the due date was off. Her birth came at a very convenient time. It rained for almost three entire straight days, so I couldn't have gotten any work done and it wasn't a complete loss being stuck in a hospital room for three days. It finally stopped the day that we were to come home.

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And the (to the car guy) very important first ride home in The Caprice. I wanted to have a clean Caprice for the ride home but the never ending storms made sure that didn't happen, but at least we had air conditioning because it was exceptionally hot and humid after the storms.

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Gratz! Good to hear from ya!

 

What a beautiful daughter! Bless your hearts!

 

Well, Brandon, I guess we can forgive you not being here for little bit. Congratulations on the safe arrival of Rose. Hope you and April recover before she graduates high school! I would, hlf-facetiously, suggest you start a new "build thread". Rose seems like she is worth it! Have fun, and TRY to get enough sleep.
Blessing on all of you.

 

What a cute little tater bug! Congratulations, glad to hear everyone is doing good.

 

Haha!!!!!

 

Congratulations Dad!
She's a beauty!!

 

Hot dog! That is awesome! Almost had you a fire cracker baby. My Brother was born on the 5th of July too.

I couldn't be happier for you three. Congratulations Dad.

 

Thanks everybody. April and I and Rose appreciate it very much. I'm very thankful to all the people that have been so helpful and giving here lately. My parents made us dinner last night and then brought us dinner tonight and another friend of the family is making us dinner tomorrow. It's great, but it doesn't give much free time at the end of the day. With the rains we had my yard had also turned into a small forrest.

Hey MotoMike, I was in the pull-a-part yard. I couldn't remember what engine you had or year Trooper you had so I called April, who was home with Rose, and she signed in and checked my messages. They didn't have any Troopers in your year range.

 

Congratulations!!!

 

Congrats to all three - mama, papa and baby!

 

I had to go to the Pull-A-Part two days in a row. It was borderline dangerously hot. I had intentions of going there and finding a long driveshaft from a truck or van and then taking it straight to the driveshaft shop to have it shortened. When I got to the yard I found that every driveshaft was bent due to the way they haul the cars around on a forklift. It was exceptionally hot and humid with temperatures near 100 degrees and the humidity through the roof. I ended up getting so hot I forgot half of what I went to get. I didn't find anything I needed that day except for a rear seat belt that I intend to install in the rear of my '57 Chevy so I can carry Rose around in her car seat.

When I first got to the yard I thought I struck gold. They had, literally, just moments before set this 1977 Grand Prix in place, so all the parts were still there. I have read that all Pontiacs from 1977 on had the larger, 5x5 bold pattern wheels. I was excited to find some cheap Rallye II wheels. After I got three off I decided to measure them to make sure and unfortunately found that they were the 4 3/4", small bolt pattern. The one short drive we took in The Clam revealed that April really doesn't like the way the shoulder harness buckles. Because it doesn't retract you have to tighten it across your chest and it holds you firmly against the seat. She says it rubs her neck and makes her feel trapped. This car had roof mounted, retracting seat belts. I got one of them almost all the way out before I realized the lap portion of the belt had been cut. Another bust.

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After leaving the yard without finding a suitable driveshaft I still continued on to the driveshaft shop. Some of the research I had done suggested that the yoke I got from the '89 truck a while back was not correct for my 700R4. The splines would not push all the way in. When I got to the shop I asked the guy there about the yoke and found that there is a lot of misinformation about yokes and there are several different lengths. After talking to him for a while I came home to do some more research. After making some measurements and doing some more research I found that along with different lengths there are also different style yokes. A couple of differences being that the splines do not go all the way to the end of the shaft on the inside of the shaft and the rear of the yoke having a vent or weep hole to relieve pressure. This type of yoke uses an O-ring to seal against the shaft. After finding this out I realized I did not have the correct yoke for my application. After pricing different options I found that having my driveshaft lengthened would be the most cost effective course of action. Notice the vent hole in my first yoke.

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The next day I returned to Pull-A-Part to find the right yoke. I had done some research the night before and had an idea of what size to look for. I ended up finding a 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham with a 5.7. This car was massive. I wish I had a picture of it, it was the last of the real cars that GM ever built and it was a real beauty. Because my shifter linkage was missing a few parts I ended up getting the linkage from the Cadillac after I noticed they were similar. I grabbed a few more parts that I had on my list-o-parts which I had forgotten the day before in my overheated stupor and came home so I could take the yoke off the driveshaft I had to buy to get the yoke and then put the new yoke in the transmission and take the measurements. After getting the measurements I took the new yoke and my old driveshaft to the transmission shop. Once there he explained to me that my old driveshaft could not be used. Luckily, he had an old, used driveshaft that was exactly 7/8" longer than what I needed so I was able to buy that from him. It was a Ford driveshaft so he used the special U-joints that have different sized caps on each side. He called the next day and already had it finished so I went to pick it up.

I always like to try to support local shops. This shop, Clinard's Driveshaft Shop, has been in business since 1962. The owner took the time to explain some things to me and help me understand some things I needed to know. As you can see in the picture the location is very near the heart of downtown Nashville.

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Here the difference between the two yokes.

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The guy at the driveshaft shop explained to me that the clips shown here need to be turned toward the pinion instead of the strap. That is how they are meant to be held in and centered. This picture actually shows them backwards but I turned them this way to make the gap in the clips able to be seen.

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The new-to-me driveshaftshaft

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The new yoke fit exactly right

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As it turned out the linkage was so similar I didn't need to modify anything. I just took the parts I needed from the Cadillac and changed them over to the Pontiac linkage. I also grabbed the bolt that holds the shifter plate to the side of the transmission because the new stud is metric rather than standard.

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After finishing those up I attached the transmission lines which turned out to not only reach the new fittings in the transmission, they were the same thread size, so all I had to do was bend them a little and they screwed right in. Then I moved on to attaching the TV cable to the transmission. After feeling the hole I found it hard to believe that it would fit. I tried a little but stopped because I didn't want to damage anything. I called the tech line for the company I ordered it from and told the tech how difficult it was to get it installed and said I didn't think it would fit. I was told that was normal. I tried again and managed to get it very close to fitting but it seemed almost impossible to get fully seated. At this time a massive thunderstorm moved in and it began pouring rain. I stayed under the car for a while but eventually water began to run underneath so I had to come in. When I got in I started doing some research on the internet about the topic and found a video that explained that the TV cable comes with a grommet and a newly rebuilt transmission will also have a grommet already installed, so it is necessary to remove the grommet from the TV cable. I knew that I had left the cable outside and it was still stuck in an awkward shape because I had pulled it up very snug with the bolt that holds it in place. I had to go out in the rain and fix the problem to ensure that the new grommet wasn't damaged. After doing this the cable fit exactly as it should.

This is the grommet I removed from the end of the new TV cable. I was basically trying to cram two of these into each other.

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Here is how the TV cable should look when fully seated into the port on the transmission.

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While I was at Pull-A-Part I found a 1994 Lincoln Mark VIII. From what I have researched these cars have one of the best electric fans available today. They are fairly expensive if you buy them online so I grabbed this one from the '94 Mark that I found and it only cost 20 or so dollars. I will eventually install it in The Clam which should cool better as well as keep the engine from having to turn the fan which should free up a mile per gallon or two.

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Since I have been concentrating solely on the mechanical issues I came up with a way of keeping the water from damaging the interior. The weatherstripping I have installed so far keeps the leaks down to two specific spots. On the passenger side the tub is angled to drain the water into the spare tire well, where I have removed the drain plug so it runs out immediately. On the right, with April's permission, I borrowed one of her pots which I empty every so often as it rains.

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Brandon, I would not recommend trusting my family to restraints that are 40 years old. I would buy new belts to replace the belts in the wagon.

I used a kit from Morris Concepts because they had a specific kit for my GTO, but there are other suppliers that offer 3-point belts for both front and rear seat positions.

They'll be more expensive than the JY units, but the belt material will be stronger than the old, used material. The webbing can degrade when it gets old.

 

Brandon: I second JMT's excellent advice. For starters the webbing will be weakened, by the sun, if nothing else. Also, if the car was ever in a crash with that belt in use, the stitching will have stretched, as it is meant to do to absorb some crash energy. New belts are not that expensive, especially compared to all the work you have done to make that car a great, and safe, driver for your family. That is why most yards cut the belts, too, so that they cannot be reused. Every owner's manual I have ever read specifies that any belt in use during a crash be replaced, and seldom is this actually done.