Fixing up a '71 Grand Safari

you finally get to drive her...and thats the great part !!
like I always say...."you cant put a price on cool"

 

Brandon always remember if you are not highway driving. And just grocery getting or around town, don't use OVERDRIVE put her in 3rd



That trans will last a LOT LONGER for ya that way!


And 17 mpg not bad!

 

This is an AWESOME thread. Gives me the gumption to jump on my '72 Squire. I'm a Tennessee boy as well - 2 hours south of Nashville.

 

I wonder how many Cracker Barrel Biscuits per Mile April and Jacob get?

Ford, you must be near Chattanooga. I love the 40/74/64 (whichever you want to call it) highway that runs next to the Ocoee River. One of the prettiest roads ever.


Several things culminated to bring progress to a snail like pace. First, I finally found full time employment, which is a good thing, but it means that I don't have nearly as much time to work on projects as I did before. Another is that as winter approaches the days get shorter and colder so that after work I don't have any time to work on things because The Clam is outside rather than in a garage. Also, I was feeling under the weather for a week. Finally, I have been working on getting the leaking stopped around the rear tailgate which means that I must create custom weatherstripping one piece at a time. This means making once piece, gluing it, and then waiting a day, or several, to let it dry and then let the rubber compress to its final shape. It's a long, tedious job that doesn't yield much in the way of discernible progress.

The Clam originally came with the factory auto leveling air shock system. I'm not sure about the condition of the pump but I do know the air lines were in a great state is disrepair. Because the old air shocks had no air and no doubt needed replacing and because we will do some towing with The Clam I installed air shocks. It was a cold Saturday when I put them on and fortunately for me dad happened to call to see if I needed help, which it turns out I did.

Most shocks I have dealt with go through the body and mount inside the cabin somewhere. These shocks don't go through the body, but they do go through the frame. This is good for heavy load bearing, but bad for access to the bolts. The top bolts for the airshocks were between the body and the frame. In this picture, that would be the flat spot on the ride side of the picture. This was the driver side. The passenger side had even less space. I don't think I could have managed to get the bolts slid through and started by myself. Fortunately dad was able to hold his fingers between the body and frame and get the nuts started while I worked the new shocks in from below. We both agreed that this was the hardest set of shocks to install we've ever had to deal with.

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The new shocks were much bigger around than these old shocks. It made it difficult to get them bolted into place. This shows the original shock going up into the body and where they mounted on the frame perch.

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Then we ran the lines for the air shocks. Typically, this would be run inside the trunk or would be mounted behind a bumper somewhere but because of the unique design of the clamshell tailgate there is no access behind the rear bumper. Though these lines appear to be run haphazardly, they are actually tidy and organized. It is necessary to have large bends in the plastic lines to prevent crimping, which would of course cut off air flow. With 45-50 pounds of air in the shocks the rear of The Clam sits up where it should, or perhaps even a little bit high, but it keeps the bottom from dragging the ground when we go over bumps or hills in parking lots and driveways.

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On the way back from church one Sunday the blower motor quit working. The fact that high blow plus the lower three speeds quit was a clue that I was probably dealing with a fuse or the motor itself. I found this inline fuse, right behind the alternator, had completely melted. I believe the old wire and plastic was not up to the task of performing any more. I couldn't even get the glass fuse apart and had to brake the plastic apart to see what was going on inside. I replaced it with a new inline fuse holder and fuse and it fixed the problem.

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For sealing the rear tailgate each side is a little different so I have started on the passenger side. Each day I will design and cut a new piece, glue it in place and let it sit until the next day and go from there. It doesn't look pretty right now but my first goal will be to get a setup that is functional, then I can work on making it look better. Here is the top of the passenger side tailgate so far.

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And here's the piece on the body for now.

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Congrats on finding a new job!

 

GRATZ on the new job!


And Brandon you do know you can get 3M weatherstrip cement in black now? And as per instruction with my new sofseal weatherstrip kit,if you rip or tear accidentally repair it with super glue!(this is what I used to make new window rubbers for mine out of 2 sets) It works very well! And seems to hold up.

 

Thanks guys.

I did know that they make black weatherstrip adhesive, but I had an almost brand new tube of yellow so I decided to go ahead and use it for now.

It's dark when I get home so I'm only going to be able to work on the wagon on the weekends now. Lame.

 

Hi Brandon, for the last 2 days I read through your entire post and my hat off for all your hard work .
Congrats on your kid and finding a job.
Being a dad with a 3 and 5 year old, I bought a 76 Olds Custom Cruiser 3 months ago in Illinois and have it shipped to Holland where it arrived 2 weeks ago.
I will sticky your thread whenever I need work done on the car to see how you did it (specially the tailgate section), all the best!

 

I hope the page might be some help to you. Glad to hear about another Clam being fixed up. The tailgate truly isn't difficult or complicated once you take it apart and look at it. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window. I hate this rear leaking tailgate and window.

The slow work continues.

 

Keep plugging along, Brandon. You have overcome much bigger hurdles getting that grand old wagon back on the road. I have every faith that you will win this war too!

 

Yeah, but when the 'gate stops leaking, the victory will be all that more sweeter! Keep plugging along, any reply from Europe yet? :confused:

 

For some reason I have been skipping this thread. Brandon you've been working wonders on that wagon and having your son help is great. My youngest now knows more about auto wiring than I do. They seem to catch on and figure even better ways of doing things.
Maybe someday you can sit back and watch your son do the dirty work while you play on your computer.

Several years ago I needed to patch the door and window weather stripping on some of my old cars. It was fairly new yet there were some tears and maybe shrunken spots. Sorry I don't have it or remember what it was. But I would imagine most auto parts stores still carry it.
It came in a tube like a large toothpaste tube. Some sort of black buytl rubber. Went on shiny which was disappointing but after drying matched the original rubber fairly well. Use a finger to smooth and blend into old rubber.
It's been on two cars over ten years and still looks good. I remember on the 55 Chevy I'd used it around a defective front door vent seal because to replace those is more work than I wanted to do again. This could help where there is a crack or tear in any rubber. I even used it on my Chevy van side windows when the Florida sun shrunk it at seams.

 

Thanks guys. I truly hate this part. I have to keep the car covered any time it rains.

Mike, I did get a response back from Europe. They just said that no one makes that part and they don't have it either.

Hey Cat, thanks for mentioning it. I hadn't heard of that stuff. I'll definitely check it out if the need arises. Also, that's my nephew, not my son. Thought lots of people think he is my son.

 

B....couple years ago ...i spent days trying to get my 68 Falcon tailgate to seal....i finally said to heck with it and built up behind the seal with silicone....it wasnt the best repair in the world...but it worked
but i feel your pain