My 1964 Pontiac Catalina Safari build

This car is going to be simply Awesome!

 

I hope so!

 

Updates are slow. The guy working on the car is a perfectionist. Plus he's dealing with missing parts...

He CNC'ed a few block off ports for my intake


New intake is installed. He didn't want to get any skin oil on the intake, and make any smudges. He literally bought a new pair of white gloves to use while handling the intake. He cleared it with some high temp clear, to make it easy to clean in the future


Looks pretty clean. Head studs are a plus


Engine and 4 speed are back in the car. Exhaust is hooked up. March serpentine system is going on. Valve covers have been super polished and look better than new

 

I found my gauges!


Drivetrain is back in



Long branch manifolds


Serpentine setup....AC compressor is installed. Looking great


I ordered my driveshaft today with Fleetpride for $300. Should be done in 2 days.

 

Any progress to report?

 

more progress.

EFI is going in. Fuel pressure sensor on the right. Round cylinder on the left is the fuel filter.


This of course is the throttle body


vacuum referenced fuel pressure regulator


Shiny plug wire covers (came with the motor)


New power steering hoses


New ball joints


New pitman arm


I dont think I've taken a shot of the back of the disc brake swap...


New driveshaft is painted and installed. It turned out perfect.


Frame mounted in-line walbro fuel pump


New wheels! They fit! Same size (18x8 front with 4.5"BS and 20x8.5 rear with 5.25" BS instead of 4.75" BS on the other wheels.)








Adjusting the rearof the car up a tad. 1 Turn on the coilovers seems to equate to 3/8"


The car is pretty level now. Once the radiator/water/hood etc are installed, it should be about dead nuts on


Fuel pump block off plate


New column installed. Nothing wrong with the stock column, but its not "correct" for a floor shift 4 speed car, to have an auto column in it. My OCD costs me lots of money sometimes. This column alone was $250 since they are so hard to find


One of my christmas presents from my wife: Installed


This is the return fuel line from the EFI. I forgot to take a pic of how this will work. My buddy found a rubber collar and a couple inches of filler neck to put over the stock neck, and it will allow him to TIG weld a nipple to it, put the hose on, and the return fuel flows back down into the tank. Hard to find a better solution as there is no room under the car for a universal tank, and literally nobody makes a replacement. Thats why I had to pay a thousand damn dollars to refinish the stock one.


A rare look at the back of the car. It will soon be covered in new carpet



Thats all for now. I asked my buddy if he knows when he will be done. There is a big local show early march I'd love to put the car in, but more importantly, I'm trying to tow it to Dayton Beach at the end of march for the Turkey Rod Run. I have 2 magazines that want to do a shoot on it then.

Oh, and I had to order ANOTHER starter. Finding a small starter to clear these OEM style ram air long branch exhaust manifolds is a serious pain in the balls.

 

Now to elaborate on this random fuel line


It is the return fuel line for my EFI. It works like this. You remove the factory gas cap, and install this over the fuel filler neck






It is a fill neck extension, held by hose clamps. It provides a return fuel hose where unused fuel will be recycled back into the tank.

HID headlights are in and temporarily wired





Here are plans for a custom fan shroud for my dual 10" fans


MSD Mini Starter installed



More efi wiring progress/mess

 

The F.A.S.T. looks very cool, but a question: I saw the old-style dizzy cap with the points adjustment window; is it still points? Or have you upgraded it to electronic ignition?

 

I have actually upgraded to the fast dual sync distributor

 

More progress.

Return line is completed


Wiring lol


Computer mounted under the dash


Wiring is being routed


Here is a shot of the new hard return line off the regulator


My radiator


My fans


New custom shroud

 

Lots of goodies!
Isn't amazing how much time the "Little" things take to wrap up a project?

 

New wiring system recommends larger positive and negative cables.


distribution block


the wiring is turning out nice. you can see the main loom going through the firewall


Here is the new main fuse panel. you can see all the wires hanging down, labeled.


Here is the start of a custom clutch linkage bracket. He was in the middle of making this when I showed up today.


Sorry it looks like it was filmed on a Potato. Otto is a very talented man and has all the right tools for this kind of work

 

Congrats on the build and keeping your OCD in check, I know once mine kicks in it costs me money to get it perfect!
I thought about EFI too but there is too many wiring and return lines involved, plus it saves me about $2K in parts for an engine rebuild.

 

Looking good. Steady progress always helps in a project like this, even if it does seem like it takes for ever...
You should have this thing just about wrapped up in time for the weather to shape up and be perfect for cruising.

 

More progress.

Ignition box and coil are mounted on the heater delete box


Oil pressure gauge supply line. One day I will replace the gauges with Autometer that have electrical senders.


Less and less wires! I believe these are for the rear of the car (lights, etc) and will be left for the upholstery shop once they tear it apart


Loomed up under the dash pad. Found some scary previous repairs that needed to be fixed.


Factory tach mount holes are drilled. This thing fits perfectly. The tach I found looks good as new...its in amazing shape


Gauges


More wiring. Its coming along.