Fixing up a '71 Grand Safari

You'll get it Brandon! So you have to install new break in additives with the fresh oil again right? I know you been talking to your engine builder.

Not personally being near the mechanic you are, I really appreciate your taking time to photo document your investigative steps. Thanks!

 

I forgot about the fuel pump fiasco! Once you get that starter figured out and things running if you have no pressure check that distributor gear! Just that lil piece could of seized it long enuff to shear the pin.

Check your oil filter for crap too, stick a new one on it.

Good job man!

 

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it. Mike, I wouldn't really call myself a mechanic really. I don't really have any idea what I'm doing each time something goes wrong then I just read as much as I can and with the help of people on several forums I can usually weed through the threads other people have posted and try to find some solutions I think might work for me. Haha, if you were to use my computer and search "Pontiac 400+455" and then include every series you can imagine of describing low oil pressure you'd find every link for the first 3 pages of every search would be purple instead of blue where I've read it at least twice.

The starter wires were reversed. They're both black so I thought I had them in the right place but obviously not. Switched them and then started the car. The longest 3 seconds EVER..... waiting for the oil gauge to come off of 0. It did and went straight to 50 or 60. When it's completely warm it's at a healthy 10 while idling and jumps to 40 or 50 with gas.

I test drove the car today and it shifted OK for a while, though I wasn't completely happy and then near the end it started having some more issues. I tried some adjustments but nothing helped. I called the transmission guy and he said I could bring the car to him Monday and he would look at it.

 

Congrats on getting it running again, Brandon!
That is one gorgeous looking car you've built; you should be very proud of yourself!

 

I have to agree 100% with Wix. You have put a lot of heart into this rebuild and it is always the little things that happen when you are just about done that make things seem miserable. You have the tenacity and proven ability to get through pretty much anything. You deserve a lot of credit and you are certainly an inspiration to a lot of us just plodding along.........

 

Could not agree more!

 

Hey thanks guys. I appreciate you guys helping out along the way. It's definitely a good motivation to know that other people are out there that care about the end results of your project.

I crawled under the car and looked at the starter. The wires are supposed to be color coded but they are both black with age and dirt. I thought I had put the long wire back where it came from and I'm not sure how I made the mistake because I decided to stop making mistakes last year so I'm not sure how it happened. After switching the wires the car fired up. It was the longest 3 seconds in history as I waited for the oil pressure come up. After the short eternity it jumped to 50-60 psi. My relief and thankfulness was immense. I went for a test drive and picked Nick and Daniel up and headed into town for the first drive. Nick has helped out quite a bit on various issues with The Clam that required an extra hand and Daniel's father helped me rebuild the engine so they both somewhat had a vested interest in how it would turn out. The oil pressure and temperature did very well, with the oil pressure dropping to a healthy 10 psi while hot and idling and 40-50psi when on the road, but the transmission still was not great. There seemed to be some small slipping in overdrive and also a vibration at a certain rpm. There was also some shudder, but the transmission guy said that was typical of a newly rebuilt 700r4 for the first few miles. By the time I was near home it began hanging in 3rd gear and not wanting to go into 4th. I pulled it in the driveway and checked a few things with no success and called it a day.

Today I wanted to do some more investigating of the TV cable and also wanted to try to get the rocker molding closer to installation. I couldn't find anyone with a sandblaster that I could use so I reluctantly geared up to use my small one. It's hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't want to dress up like this in late July.

​

The rocker moldings extend from in front of the rear wheel, under each door and along the bottom of the front fender to behind the front wheel. Round clips hold the molding in all areas except on the front fenders. These areas have rectangular metal pieces that screw into the fender. They were rusted pretty bad, though not rusted through. I couldn't mount them back on the fender in this condition so that meant I had to sandblast and repaint them.

​

​

Next, I examined the TV cable again. I read and reread all the instructions and tutorials I could find on this cable. I had noticed that mine had not "clicked" into place when the final full throttle adjustment was made but I had assumed that it perhaps didn't need the extra adjustment. Today I tried to manually pull the ratchet-adjustment on the TV cable assembly and found that my cable had no ratcheting abilities. It is somewhat difficult to explain how this relates to the operation of the proper adjustment of the cable, but in short there is a TV cable housing with a button. The button is pushed which allows the sheath to be pushed back into the housing. Then, when the cable is pulled during the full throttle adjustment the sheath extends so that full extension of the cable can be achieved. The pictures below show the sheath pushed in and in the second picture shows how it should be able to ratchet-out to allow extra travel if needed.

​

​

When the sheath extends there should be a clicking noise as it ratchets out. My sheath cannot be pulled out at all, unless I push the button and pull it out, which is not how the device is intended to work. I called the company and tried to describe my situation. The guy seemed somewhat hesitant to believe me, stating they have never had this problem before. They also tried to charge me shipping to swap out the cable. I explained that if they see that my cable is faulty I don't expect to have to pay for shipping so they agreed to reimburse me for the shipping when they see that mine is, in fact, faulty.

After this I finally was able to wax The Clam for the first time. After a thorough wash I used my new DA buffer. I have detailed cars since I was 15 years old. It's what I used to do when I started working at dad's dealership during the summers between school. I have always hand waxed all my own cars. For me, this was a tedious process. I tend to really, really bear down and wax a panel with several passes when I wax a car, so the hand waxing process was very time consuming and it also would take a physical toll. I always assumed the day would come when I would not have enough time and the physical toll wouldn't be worth the result. I found that with today's new DA buffers that the job they do is not only better than a hand wax job with today's harder clear coats, it's also much, much quicker and much, much, much easier. I was told it was important to keep chemicals off of the woodgrain because the material it is made from would absorb them so I covered it with newspaper-endrool. I hope to eventually make custom, cardboard pieces that I can quickly tape up and reuse for this purpose.

​

 

The car looks stunning! Awesome work!!

 

....I have no words

 

Great dedication Brandon, with great results!

 

I am in bewildered awe! What an incredible journey you have been on, and the end is in sight! You have an amazing car there, and you can take real pride in knowing you did it! I'm sure that you and the family are going to have many, many wonderful times in that glorious wagon.

 

I totally second that! Brandon, you are absolutely amazing!

David :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

Both your girls have changed quite a bit since this thread started. And both all the more beautiful!

Did you find the build sheets for your Clam anywhere during the rebuild? I'd like to know all the options your Clam has, maybe its in the thread somewhere and I missed or forgot?

 

I have never seen a TV cable that would "rachet".

These have always been a pain in the butt cause it takes 2 people to adjust them. Or ya have to figure out how to hold at full throttle while you do the MUST HAVE 2 hands to do it job lol. Why they didn't make these like the old 350 cables is beyond me. They were spring loaded pushing backwards, You simply pushed the button and pushed it to full throttle let go of the button and DONE!

 

Fantasic job!!