56 Safari Wagon Project

[56Safari]

I posted an introduction a while back but I haven't had time to start a more official project build/progress thread so here it is again starting from the top.

I have made a little progress since my last post, but I was out of town most of January so things have been moving pretty slow. As a disclaimer, this project thread will get derailed frequently and move unexpectedly slow. This is also my first attempt at a project of this magnitude, so I will be learning and taking my time as I go along.


The day I hauled the pontiac home, May 2016.
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I dropped it off the trailer and started mocking up the wheels I have from a corvette I'm parting out. It sat outside under a tarp for the next 5 months while I parted out the corvette in my garage.

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November came and finally the hood is off!! Someone cut the top of the radiator support instead of unbolting it for some reason.
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Interior is now mostly stripped, I still need to remove the steering column, pedals, and everything in the dash

One of the first projects will be installing a new one piece floor pan. No one re-pops the Pontiac floor pan so I am going with a Chevy nomad/sedan floor. I will also be installing a C4 corvette front and rear suspension. The pontiac frame is 48" wide, in order to use the corvette suspension without narrowing the frame a lot I will be swapping over to a chevy sedan frame. This should also help with the floor pan install. All of the Chevy floor pan body mounts fit perfectly on the frame, so I'll just need to redo the front cab/firewall mounts to the Chevy frame.

Here's the frame and floor pan I picked up over the holidays. I also purchased outer rockers as well (sitting on front frame rails).
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There are a couple of areas I will need to wrap my head around before swapping in the new floor.
- The doors need to be aligned.
- The drivers side rear quarter panel is separated from the outer and inner rocker.
- The inner LH quarter panel is also separated from the floor / inner rockers

I will cross brace the body thoroughly inside the car before separating the body from the frame. Does anyone see any need to further address the outer rocker / inner quarter area before lifting the body off?

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Interior is now mostly stripped, I still need toremove the steering column, pedals, and everything in the dash

One of the first projects will be installing anew one piece floor pan. No one re-pops the Pontiac floor pan so I am goingwith a Chevy nomad/sedan floor I will also be installing a C4 corvette frontand rear suspension. The Pontiac frame is 48" wide, in order to use thecorvette suspension without narrowing the frame a lot I will be swapping overto a Chevy sedan frame This should also help with the floor pan install. All ofthe Chevy floor pan body mounts fit perfectly on the frame, so I'll just needto redo the front cab/firewall mounts to the Chevy frame.

Here's the frame and floor pan I picked up overthe holidays. I also purchased outer rockers as well (sitting on front framerails).

10.


There are a couple of areas I will need to wrapmy head around before swapping in the new floor.
- The doors need to be aligned.
- The drivers side rear quarter panel isseparated from the outer and inner rocker.
- The inner LH quarter panel is also separatedfrom the floor / inner rockers

I will cross brace the body thoroughly inside thecar before separating the body from the frame. Does anyone see any need tofurther address the outer rocker / inner quarter area before lifting the bodyoff?
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I got distracted from the Pontiac for a couple days because I purchased a new TIG welder. I've never TIG welded before, so I decided to learn by building a new welding cart to hold my old MIG and my new TIG together. It's not finished yet, but starting to look good. I still need to add filler rod tubes, finish the torch holders, and devise a foot pedal holder. In the last pic you can see where I had to redo one of the braces so the door would open on the MIG welder. My last welding cart blocked the door from opening and it drove me nuts. I also added additional bracing underneath for the perch the TIG sits on. Don't laugh, I'm aware theres a couple ugly TIG welds on there.

I really like this Lincoln TIG 200, for the price I'm not sure you can't beat it. My only complaint is that the fan is on all the time. If the Miller diversion 180 was closer in price I would have went that route.
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Back to the Pontiac

Before I do the floorpan, I'm going to install the C4 IRS kit I got from Laszlo. I finally got some time last week and started prepping the rear section of the frame. I picked up a 110lb pressure blaster from HF and 250lbs of aluminum oxide from Tractor Supply. I was very impressed with the sandblaster it took the paint off quickly, the body filler went much slower.

When I purchased the frame it was sitting on cinder blocks outside. I took a measuring tape, checked it for squareness and loaded it onto the trailer. I didn't realize the previous owner had filled the seam on the bottom side of the frame with body filler to make it look like a seamless frame. It took roughly 2.5 hours to sandblast out all the filler from JUST the two humps on the frame rails. Anyone have any tips for chemically removing body filler?
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The rear frame rails are ready for IRS install kit. I also removed the leaf spring brackets as well but forgot to take pictures. I have the Energy Suspension Hyper-Flex System (3.18122) kit on order. I'm hoping it arrives before I fly back home this weekend. I would love to get the bushings installed so I can start the install. That's it for now, any feedback / advice is more than welcome. (sorry for the long post, I never get time to update progress at home. Once I'm out of town for work with nothing to do in a hotel room I finally get time to do this part of it)