Fixing up a '71 Grand Safari

That's actually humorous. they cut them and use em for lifting straps! I got an engine 2 days ago and they used 2 long seat belts tied in an X to lift the engine! wow I gotta say I have NEVER heard that one before! One of the best selling items at swap meets are seatbelt sets for older cars! And I must say even after 30+ years in the junkyard biz I have NEVER seen a degraded seat belt!

 

Brandon, congratulations on your new baby! She's beautiful!

David

 

Thanks, David, and everyone else. I think the seatbelt I got will be OK. When I redo the interior I'm going to order all new seatbelts with shoulder harnesses for the car so I'll replace it then.

 

Thanks for looking for me!

 

well...holy !!!

geez im not around for a few days and you have a baby !!!???


Congrats B ....give my best to the wife and munchkin

 

Here in Ontario, they cut them for liability reasons. They sell a used belt, and someone is injured because of it, and the yard, as the supplier of the part, can be held liable. The old belts have many uses, both around the yard and at home, and I've got some for exactly that.

As for belts degrading, I have had to redo the belts in several of my old cars because of sun and wear damage. The webbing tends to fray at the upper mount slide on the shoulder portion, particularly on the driver's seat, since that is the one that sees the most use. If the belt is faded, and I've seen black belts that were almost white in spots, then the webbing is weakened. Let's face it, the last time you want to find out the webbing is weak is in a crash when you need it the most.

 

i'd love to have the bumpers off that grand prix right about now lol

They'd bolt right on a caddy we are building for next Saturday.

 

I haven't been able to update anything lately. The in-laws are in this week and there hasn't been much time for the computer and I've been on a couple runs lately.

I got the transmission in and the exhaust reinstalled. Insurance company is having trouble insuring a '71 Pontiac Grand Safari. They finally found they could insure a '76 Grand Safari (the first year in their system), so that's what they're going to do and then manually tell corporate it's a '71. The NADA book value on the car is like $18,000, which I think is high.

The transmission is giving me some trouble. It's shuddering between certain shifts. I've done some adjustments and it's better, but I'm going to be finding a pressure gauge and checking the pressures before I do any more further tests to make sure I don't damage the trans.

Also, it's hot. So, so hot outside.

Brandon

 

go thru haggerty pretty reasonable full coverage. and you can get on line and see the price for yourself

 

Got the insurance taken care of. No official update yet but just to explain what's been going on I finally found a pressure gauge to borrow for my trans and checked the pressures. When I went to go on a test drive I looked down and I was at 0 psi oil pressure. I'm not sure how long it had been that way but the car had been idling for about 30 minutes while I was checking all the trans pressures in each gear. I'm trying to figure out what this could be. Maybe the oil filter is stopped up. There is a check valve to bypass the filter if it stops up and my oil gauge (mechanical) is hooked up right next to the filter so maybe some trash is blocking the line or the valve has bypassed the outlet. I'm temporarily using the clear plastic line to hook the gauge up to so I can tell there is no oil in the line so I don't think it's a kink in the line, but we'll see.

 

You can overtighten those plastic lines very easily

 

It's been working fine right up until now. Is it possible that overtightening it could have just now collapsed the line?

 

I would not think so check well for kinks? Just for sh!ts and giggles check and make sure your distributor was tight and the "foot" didn't slide off??? if it did it can ride up out of oil drive. I am puzzled a tad here' maybe you kanked the distributor on the firewall when you did the trans?

 

Don't be totally alarmed with not having oil in the line. Sometimes there are air pockets. However, I wonder if the oil pump has failed. Did you buy a cheap Autozone one?

 

It rained today so I didn't get to do anything except check for kinks in the line and found the line is straight. Even with the engine cold the pressure doesn't come up. I have a delivery tomorrow so it'll be Tuesday before I can look at it. After pulling out of my driveway for the first testdrive of the transmission it sure was a letdown to have no oil pressure.

Brandon