Fixing up a '71 Grand Safari

They're working on my end.

 

I called the exhaust shop down the street last week and they said they would take the car even if it didn't run so Dad brought the truck and trailer over and helped me load it up. Fortunately he had gotten the winch working a while back.













The shop is at the top of a small hill, until you consider pushing a car up the hill, then it becomes a very long mountain. Fortunately I was able to back the trailer up to the lift and pull the ramps out right onto the lift. Pushing the car wasn't difficult at all, not that I was actually pushing; I was steering at that point.





Here's a shot of the new gas tank and the old glass pack exhaust. This same shop put these on about 20 years ago. It was a very big deal for me to be able to get dual exhaust on The Caprice back then. I had access to what most would consider some pretty cool cars of the day, but I wasn't interested in them and loved this Caprice. It used to be a loaner car for Dad's dealership and when I found it, it was on the back lot with weeds grown all around it and was soon to be on its way to the junkyard. I really loved the look of the car, but at the time almost no one at all appreciated these cars, and this certainly wasn't even a nice example of one. I used to get made fun of quite a lot for driving it. My parents thought my love of this car was some kind of teenage rebellion of sorts because I chose it over something nice, but I never actually went through any teenage rebellion phases and just really loved this particular car. As a result, Dad never let me modify or spend money on the car because he didn't like it and thought it was a waste of money, so when I finally convinced him to let me put dual exhaust with glass packs on it it was a big deal. Also at some point someone had traded in a Chevrolet S10 with 7 inch rallies on it and I convinced him to let me swap them onto my car and take the hubcaps and whitewalls off. Eventually I used that as a segue to getting some 8 inch Corvette rallies and white letter tires. Years later someone with a body shop owed Dad a favor so I actually was able to get the car painted. I'll miss the sound of the old glass packs. Sometimes I would come home on summer weekend nights and sit behind the car and listen to the true dual idle out the pipes for a little while. It wasn't fast at all but it had a nice sound to it.



I don't have any photos of the finished exhaust because I wasn't there when they finish it. Because of my work schedule I'm not in town when the shop is open. Dad went by on Monday and picked the car up and we unloaded that night at the house.





The aftermarket transmission dipstick wasn't made exactly correct (no surprise) and the mounts wouldn't fit, so I had to make my own. I started by bolting a piece of cardboard to the block to use as a template.





Anything over a single bend is difficult to impossible with my small vice. I used some of the leftover 1/8" steel from the upper radiator mount, which I intentionally ordered large because I figured a need would arise for the excess. This setup doesn't make good looking bends, but they're passable for this project.





I had to mark where to drill the second hold for the dipstick tube, which was very difficult because there was a lot of play in the tube so I had to mark its entire travel and also getting the marker between the firewall and tube was a task in and of itself. I located where the hole needed to be with a punch.





And then I had to transfer that mark to the other side of the mount so I could put the piece in the drill press.





I eventually got all of the bends and holes where they needed to be.





Primered, painted, and ready to install. It still surprises me how long it takes to make things like this. I think I ended up having about 4 hours just in this mount, mostly because of the difficulty of measuring the bends and holes in such a compact and difficult to reach space.





I had to cut down a couple bolts to make everything work, but the hard part was getting everything tightened down. I think I had to crawl under and pick up the bolt or my wrench no less than 8 times.





I also had to make a mount for the transmission lines. I ordered some line clamps. That body clip I had welded and painted for the fender and then found out I didn't need ended up being the perfect solution to for this mount.





I mocked everything into place several times and drilled the holes for the line clamps and shortened the bolt. I had bought a couple of these flanged bolts for something else but ended up not needing them.





I was in a hurry last Saturday morning when I made this transmission line because I had to get the car to the exhaust shop before 12 and I needed the line to be in place so the shop would know where to run the exhaust pipes.





I ended up kinking the line so I knew I would have to replace it.





I knew immediately when it happened I had ruined the line. I was pulling gently and all at once it gave away and bent. I'm also not very good at this, so that doesn't help either. This copper aluminum line is very nice to work with, but kinks very easily.





There was also a smaller kink on the same line closer to the radiator so I replaced the entire line from here forward.





I made sure to put fittings on the lines immediately so I wouldn't forget.





The rear section of the line would not come out without taking a lot of the bends out and reshaping it to reinstall. Fitting the flaring tool was very tight, but it was possible. It would not have worked with the traditional flaring tools I had been using. I can't say enough about how great this tool has been. I don't even worry about how the flare is going to turn out because it has yet to make anything other than a perfectly round flare.





I used the old line as a template and April helped me hold the excess roll of line while I bent it into shape. Because of the tight fit of the lower line near the radiator there is practically zero room for error in the shape.





I had anticipated this earlier in the week and ordered some female flared fittings.





The finished mount ended up like this. The 1/8" steel provided a very study mount.





And here are the lines after the final installation. I would really like to have tucked them in closer and put some tighter bends in them but this is the best I could do with the tools and skill that I have. I was running out of line and didn't have enough to experiment with. I'm curious if the air intake tube will have enough room to fit behind these.





Finally, a kink-free turn. I would like to have been able to get the lines to look more symmetrical but I think it would take more than what I have available to make them look factory perfect.





I ordered the line clamps in a two pack. I installed the other here which now has given the lines more stability and they do not make contact with anything around them even under vibration.

 

Looks like you're a couple of steps closer to the finish line!

 

Sure enough! The days are getting very short. Dad's picked the kids up each day this week so I could come straight home and get as much done as I can. I got the new transmission filter installed and the oil dipstick tube, which was a huge pain. Also got the power steering hydrasteer fitting blocked off and got some vacuum hose for the canister. Which reminds me, I've gotta go get the screw out of my pants pocket so I can take it with me tomorrow and get another one so I can mount the canister. It only had one screw in it. I have to start working overtime next week so I won't be able to go out during lunch and get parts for who knows how long.

 

A bad stomach bug was going around and sickness hit our household hard. April ended up with multiple ailments and both kids were sick at one point and then I was sick myself. As as a result I had to go three weeks without working on the car. It was hard to be patient knowing I was so close to the end but still had so much work to do.



I put a new filter in the transmission. I thought I was going to be smart and pre-fill the filter with fluid like an oil filter. After it all ran out on my workbench and floor I realized that the filter has holes in the bottom. I probably won't make that mistake again.





I cleaned the pan up and realized I had the wrong gasket. Fortunately a gasket came with the filter so I was able to use that.





This is a picture of the very last stages of the PCM and fuse panel.





At long last I applied some paint to the fuse panel.





I did a final inspection of the wires and applied heat shrink to any naked wires.





I installed the PCM connectors and realized I'd forgotten these plastic pieces. I've been working on these for so long I had forgotten they existed. I also installed the PCM gaskets that came with the new-to-me PCM. My old PCM was missing the gaskets.





I finally did what I should have done from the beginning and put all of the harness supplies in pull-out drawers. This is way better than continually digging through tiny plastic bags.





I noticed that there was an empty slot on the back of the fuse box. The wire that powers the AC relay was missing. I was confused because these connectors are not easy to remove even if you are trying and they cannot just fall out. As it turns out I had just cut the wire and stuck it in there and forgot to put connectors on the end. I found the wire on the floor and installed it properly. I also installed the cavity plugs.





The assembly was finally ready for the first fitment in the car. This moment has been a long time coming.





I suppose the best way to describe this process is the same as describing walking many miles. Just one step at a time. I bolted the fuse panel in and slowly began working my way down the harness.





The electronic gas pedal requires a harness connector and a controller box. The controller box originally mounted under the hood but I don't have a good spot for it so I'm going to mount it under the dash. Regardless of that fact the connector would not fit through the hole in the firewall and I'd have to cut a monster hole to get it to fit. Rather than do that I opted to de-pin the connector and I will re-pin it once they're all through the firewall. I will also end up shortening these wires as there is just too much slack to contain and too little room under the dash.





I cut the original firewall grommet off of the original throttle cable assembly, however the rubber was far too hard and brittle to work. Also, the interior diameter was too small for what I needed so I picked up a new grommet at the hardware store, which at this point should probably offer me a position on their trustee board.





In order to get the Dakota Digital dash operational I'm going to need to mount a couple of pieces. There are a lot of items here and not a lot of real estate. The top left is the electronic pedal controller. The right is the controller for the digital dash and the bottom left if the BIM connector which will allow the Dakota Digital dash to plug into and get engine diagnostic and monitor information from the OBD II port. This will allow the dash to gather most of it's information for the engine displays from a single cable running to the OBD II port rather than running all the wires to the different sending units. If I understand this correctly it's going to save a lot of work and tidy up the wiring to a large extent.





In all the years I've worked under the dash of this car I've never removed this panel and the vent behind it to make more room. I'm not sure why because it was only four screws and pulling the vent hose off. It took about 3 minutes and made it way, way, way easier.





After looking at a lot of options with my head in the floorboard and my feet in the air I found this location that I believe will work great. I'll make a mount for the Dakota controller to mount up high. This will allow it to be near the entrance of the wires coming through the fire wall and will also allow it to be near the wires I'll have to pull from the original dash harness and install into the controller. I may not even have to extend some of the wires to fit. The pedal controller will mount lower, to an existing brace under the dash so all I will need to do to it is drill a couple holes.





In the picture below the empty hole to the left is for the brake pedal arm. I will make and attach an L-shaped bracket and bolt it here for the dash controller. I was very surprised at how well these mounting locations worked out and I'm still somewhat afraid something is going to spoil the plan.





The 1/8" steel from the upper radiator mount continues to pay dividends. I'll use it to make a simple but sturdy mount for the dash controller.





I was really using my noodle this night for some reason. I remembered to drill the hole for the mounting bolt before I bent the metal and then I remembered to pull the controller back away from the bolt so I will have room to tighten the screw when installing it.

 

Bummer to hear about the stomach ailments. Those things happen. It looks like you're just about to the finish line. This is going to be a pretty neat car when you're finished. I'm looking forward to seeking the finished product.

 

Not like I'm a doctor but have you ever heard of Kombucha and/or Water Kefir? Kombucha is fermented tea, the Water Kefir's similar and both of them deliver probiotics. When a nearby discount grocery store started occasionally stocking old stock at 50 cents a bottle (Normally $2.50 - $3.29 each, Kefir's cheaper) and I started drinking them each day for months starting this last January I somehow didn't get sick all winter even if I felt a scratchy throat starting. I must have bought about 700 bottles at that store this year, I had 80-120 of them sitting by the pantry door for months as I drank and restocked them.

 

Thanks. I feel like I'm getting close. I just finished up the wiring harness tonight.... at least the parts I have to finish with it off the car. Hopefully I'll be installing it for the final time this weekend.

My wife has Kombucha. I typically use the glass bottles to put orange juice in for breakfast haha

 

So much time has gone by I've lost track of where I was in the progress of the build. I had some vacation days so I took a couple days off and worked on the car from almost sunup to late in the night both days. Since I want to be able to work on this car and diagnose problems later I made a first draft of a wiring diagram. I've since added some new things that I'll have to addend on the second draft, but I knew if I didn't draw it out while it was fresh on my mind I would probably forget some things.







I have a lot of extra spray paint cans that I rarely use taking up some much needed space in the cabinet. That means the bracket for the Dakota Digital box that will be tucked up way under the dash and never seen will be..... chrome. There's still a shifter linkage bracket on The Camaro that's bright gold that no one will ever see.





I used the bolt for the brake pedal arm to locate the mount. The Dakota controller will mount here, over the top of the steering column. It's also close proximity to the hole in the firewall so the wires won't have to be very long.





Next I mounted the electronic pedal controller. There was a good place to mount it on a bracket that was already in place. After finding a good place for it to sit I made a template out of cardboard.









And marked where to drill the holes. Fortunately, the drill easily fit into these locations.





The pedal controller box originally mounted under the hood on the Avalanche. I'm mounting the box inside, so it will plug into the pedal and go straight to the box. I removed the old firewall grommet, which could seemingly double as an escape hatch on the Avalanche.





I thought I was going to have to make a trip to the hardware store to get some self tapping screws and then The Caprice provided two screws exactly the right size, and they were self tapping, right there in the glove box as I cleaned it out to find a place to mount the OBD connectors. It seems after all this time she's finally come around to being cooperative on this build. I used them two mount the Dakota controller to the mount.





I think this ground strap broke during the engine installation. I'm going to reattach it to the body where it goes.





I dropped the gas tank to install the fuel pump and sender harness. Hopefully, this will be the last time I have to install the tank.





I hooked everything up except for the fuel tank vent, which I am still considering as to what route I want to take there.





I used a single wire to measure how long all of the wires would need to be to run back to the fuel pump harness, finding a good path down the frame rail and up to the fuse box. It was time consuming installing and uninstalling and using green tape to make notes about where wire loom and connectors should go.





Then I cut the other wires to fit.





Then it was time to test fit the harness. I had, at long, long last, finished up everything on the harness I could without putting it in the car and measure how long some of the wires needed to be. I used green tape to mark where the wires would need to exit the loom so when I wrapped it in black tape they would be in the correct location. I ended up using just a few long wires and then marking them with green tape to indicate how long certain wires would need to be, then when I took the harness back inside I would measure a new wire the length it needed to be with where I had marked with tape on the test wire. For example, I had a mark to indicate how long it would be from the PCM connector, inside the cabin to the Dakota Box, or OBD connector, or how long to the AC components, etc, following the loom.





Then I once again made base camp back in the dining room.





I had a pretty frustrating time at the local electric shop. I had measured exactly how many and how long I needed each wire to be for the battery and ground wires. In a story that's too complicated to explain, I ended up having to cut my own lengths with tin snips and I pieced together enough of the correct size lugs from several different stores to complete this part of the project.





I had to rent this tool to crimp the lugs on the wires. This tool and I spent some time together a few years ago when I had to rewire my lawn mower.





The original battery cable had a lead coming off of it that went to the fuse box. I spliced the wire with a huge barrel connector and crimped it with the rented crimper and extended it to reach the fuse box. All the connectors got heat shrink tubing.





The original unused ports on the PCM connectors had rubber stoppers in them. I used RTV to cover the holes to prevent moisture and dirt from getting inside for the slots where I removed wires from the harness.





I finished up all of the electric fan wiring and various components and connectors so everything can easily come part if ever need be. I then color coded all of the connectors on the fuse box so if I ever take them off I can tell which ones go back together. Green and yellow goes with green and yellow. Hopefully even I can figure that out later down the road.





After what seemed like endless soldering, the harness was finally done.... almost. I actually rubbed my hands raw from installing the looms.





There were a couple spots where I didn't exit the wires in the correct location on the harness and I had to cut the tape off. One was the alternator and temp sender wires.





The other was the MAP sensor. It was too short and didn't let the harness drop down far enough behind the engine. I exited the wires and wrapped everything back up.





Next I ran all the wires through the firewall. This was very frustrating. I had already installed the grommet and I installed each wire one at a time through it into the cabin. The last few wires were very difficult to get through. When I was done I needed some slack on the engine side so I tried to hold the grommet and pull the wires out just a little. This caused the grommet to pull out of the firewall. Then I had to try to install the grommet with the wires already through it. I got it installed, but had I known I was going to end up doing that I could have just run the wires through the big hole in the firewall and saved myself the trouble of doing them one at a time.





Next I installed the fuel pump relay and harness. I cleaned the frame to bare metal and installed the ground wire, then covered it with primer.





Here's the routing of the fuel line with the new exhaust.





LS engines are very sensitive to air temperatures. Installing a filter directly behind the radiator would cause the filter to suck in all the hot air. My plan was to have the air filter, pictured below wrapped in plastic, to sit under the fuse and PCM panel, and then to eventually seal the side of the panel to make a cold air intake. I'm curious how much heat the PCM will put off.





After a lot of research I found all the components I would need to make the air intake. I ordered this universal kit made of a thick plastic. My goal was to have as few connectors as possible. I did not have a way to hold the tubing while making cuts so Dad came over and helped hold the tube while I cut it with a sawzall. I've seen where other people have used super glue to put their pieces together and had good success, but fortunately I didn't have to glue any pieces together because all the joints were to couplers.





The finished piece has two bends and a non-oiled filter. From what I have read there is a potential for oiled filter to cause issues with the MAF sensor. The MAF sensor is installed in the middle. I would liked to have installed the MAF directly behind the filter so that I could hide it. I did a lot of reading about MAF sensor placement and there are many opinions on this topic. The general consensus seems to be that though the MAF will work located almost anywhere along the tube, it performs best at least 6-12 away from the throttle body and is best if away from the air filter as well. It should be in a straight stretch if possible and not directly behind a bend. The best placement for my choice would have been directly behind the small bend because this would have put it close to the fuse panel so the wires would have been very short, and it also would have kept the MAF further away from the alternator and belt assembly. As it is now, this MAF location was the best for optimal operation of the sensor so that's what I chose. It's close proximity to the belt will mean that I may have to place the MAF pointing up, so that the wires are exposed. I would have preferred to point them down to hide them, but this car will be a daily driver for, hopefully, many years, and for this build proper engine performance takes precedence over aesthetics in areas like this. I will also need to add a brace to support the filter end of the intake.





The kids have been at their grandparents this week and I've been able to come straight home and get some things done like some ground straps, installing the original car's harness for the starter and things like that. It's dark when I get home and the temperatures have been in the 20s so I haven't been taking pictures.

 

Looks like you've made some serious progress.
When this project is all finished your kids are going to wonder why there aren't wires strewn all over the dinning room table anymore...

 

Naughty, naughty!

 

Any time I'd go in the room they'd ask if I was working on my wires. When I finally got the room cleaned up they were excited because they thought they could ride in the car.

 

Ah, bummer. Poor kids...

 

You should be close enough for a quick fire-off, correct?