Well, finally after almost 20 years, I got to take a car of mine on vacation... The last time was '97 in my white '67 2+2 Coupe from Goose-Bay, Labrador to Newfoundland.... the year I left the East coast and move to my new home in Foam Lake, Saskie....
When I bought my '06 GTO last year, I said to myself that I would take it to Newfoundland the next year on vacation but as time got close, I got cold feet as the GTO only has 10,000kms on it and I knew there would be road rash, chips and the all dreaded road construction along the way... After concluding my trip, boy, am I glad I never... A couple of places in Northern Ontario were putting down much needed pavement and the crap and slop I drove through, put it this way, the barrage of descriptive adjectives I expelled just south of New Liskeard Ontario would put a blush on the face of any seasoned sailor! (lol)
So, with very little deliberation, I decided to take my LS4 motivated 76636, '70 Safari Estate along for the ride.... As most of you saw in an earlier post, I installed the much needed factory placed rear sway bar, (haha) springs and shocks on all 4 corners, new front sway bar links, front brake hoses with pads, new BF's with wheels, had an alignment performed and the most valued upgrade, behind the rear sway bar, of course, a 700R4 that with the factory diff, allows the 454 to spin over at a measly 1500rpm at 70mph... (1900@90mph) I installed the proper brake switch and vacuum switch to be as close to the factory specs and looks as possible. I also added a micro toggle switch under the dash to kick off TCC and to run in 4th when the RPM's went lower that my calibrated speed and also for the many steep hills I knew I was to encounter along the way...
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Also added to the mix I installed a Pioneer Bluetooth deck into the glovebox and ran my mic to the upper left A pillar for the many phone conversations I would place and receive along the way... PLUS, the endless stream of internet '50's-'80's music when I sync'ed my iPhone to the mix.... It's a great feature to be able to change the display of the deck to match the colour of the car! Â One must have endless tunes travelling through northern Ontario, believe me! Replacing the factory dash speaker and the R/Quarter speaker was also required for a much clearer and crisp sound... Also added was a USB port to charge the phone, a Catalina Map light above the ashtray and repaired the factory mirror maplight to operating condition... I WAS going to install a new windshield I have here for the wagon but at the last minute, I decided not to... GLAD I didn't! The construction trucks in Ontario popped 5-6 stones off the glass with 2 chips.. Also, the replacement glass has the blue tint for the sun where the original glass has the goldish band... era correct....
I was to leave for the month of August but with work and the hotter temps in that month, I decided to lay low another month to further inspect the car and replace or tweak the items on the car to ensure a the most trouble free crossing and trip I could hope for.. I replaced the lower rad hose, thermostat and the fuel line from the stock fuel filter to the carb as someone had cut and rubber hosed it near the carb inlet... Since the water pump was also noisy, I replace that as well but kept the original as it was original and I plan on getting it rebuilt (the replacement and original are nowhere look-alikes) I also replaced both heater hoses and tried to the best of my ability, to locate as many original hose clamps I could find in the repair! Still need a few to complete the job....Â
As of right now, with the switching of phones and computers, I am missing my transmission swap pics along with the mods I had to perform in the adaptation of the 700R4 but I will find and post with "edits" along the way...
Another pic I forgot to add to the lot is when I crammed every inch of space in the rear compartment of the car with every imaginable spare part, lubricant and tool I could think of for the pound of cure I tried to envision for along the way.... Coil, points, plugs, fuel pump, alternator, regulator, oil, filters, belts, ATF, coolant, wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, v-grips, rags, tie straps, hand cleaner, spray cleaner, brake cleens, w/wash, battery,  and whatever else I could think of... I even took a spare trim ring in the event one decided to depart ways along the trip!
Before I left, I wanted a somewhat decent appraisal on the car in the unlikely event something happed and before I could do that, I finally called George at Vintage to get the docs for her... I asked George, because of her originality, to find as much info on the car as possible for the appraisal.... and for the package policy I was adding to the car. Most of what was stated on the car due to the docs given to me by the previous owner, Ken (Cheviac) as done by the previous owner before him...... with ONE extra tidbit! I was pleasantly surprised...
Stay tuned, much, MUCH more to follow!
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-- Edited by 67Poncho on Monday 10th of October 2016 05:46:49 PM
Good stuff Vince, you've done a lot on that car. I notice it has a tilt column, but it's not on the GM Documentation. Did you add that too? Just curious, does it have the shift indicator above the column? All the 70 Pontiac tilt cars I've seen have had the shift indicator blanked out.
I wish I could have come to a deal when it was here in Calgary back in 2007, but the fellow just wanted too much for it. I even tried to justify the higher price reasoning it would come in handy during my upcoming basement renovation, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I missed it when it was for sale in Calgary's Bargain Finder a couple years before that.
Great stuff Vince. Can't wait for the rest of the story!
I should have started writing this when I returned but a month away and I had a literal ton of other much needed stuff to do..... AND, my typing skills, AKA speed, sucks the hind teet! (lol)
Good stuff Vince, you've done a lot on that car. � I notice it has a tilt column, but it's not on the GM Documentation. �Did you add that too? �Just curious, does it have the shift indicator above the column? �All the 70 Pontiac tilt cars I've seen have had the shift indicator blanked out. � �
I wish I could have come to a deal when it was here in Calgary back in 2007, but the fellow just wanted too much for it. �I even tried to justify the higher price reasoning it would come in handy during my upcoming basement renovation, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. � I missed it when it was for sale in Calgary's Bargain Finder a couple years before that. ��
Ken installed the tilt.... plus a host of other interior repairs before I got it... All the floor shift cars don't have the "PRNDL" in the dash... My '69 Safari is like this one... it has... That being said, how much was the guy asking at that time? I have docs here from a Mr. Poole... Possibly him?
Good stuff Vince, you've done a lot on that car. I notice it has a tilt column, but it's not on the GM Documentation. Did you add that too? Just curious, does it have the shift indicator above the column? All the 70 Pontiac tilt cars I've seen have had the shift indicator blanked out.
I wish I could have come to a deal when it was here in Calgary back in 2007, but the fellow just wanted too much for it. I even tried to justify the higher price reasoning it would come in handy during my upcoming basement renovation, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I missed it when it was for sale in Calgary's Bargain Finder a couple years before that.
Ken installed the tilt.... plus a host of other interior repairs before I got it... All the floor shift cars don't have the "PRNDL" in the dash... My '69 Safari is like this one... it has... That being said, how much was the guy asking at that time? I have docs here from a Mr. Poole... Possibly him?
My floor shift cars have the dash indicators, but the tilt steering ones have the dash indicator blanked out.
Mr Poole bought the car from the Bargain Finder, he had it a couple years. He sold it to Derek who I nearly bought it from. If I recall, Derek's rock bottom low price was $4K. Keep in mind it was not running. It turned over ok but was not running. Derek sold it (or maybe it was a swap) to Ken, and Ken got it running.
It was great to see the car in person when you were in NL. I can guarantee you that nothing like it has been seen around these parts in 45 years, if ever. I don't recall seeing any 70 Safari Estate here even when new, let alone one with a 454. The car is quite something and I know from scanning the local social media car sites that it was noticed, with several photos posted. (I was away when you first got here but I already knew you had arrived as my son had texted me a photo of the car).
Here's a photo of the car in front of my house.
Hope the return to Saskatchewan was as smooth as the drive to NL.
When I installed the 700, I had to do some refirb on the carb linkage... This being an early '70, she still had the mechanical rod to the carb from the accelerator with the kick down switch still at the carb itself..... removing that and laying it aside, I had to modify a TV kickdown bracket to attach the cable for proper fit and geometry higher line pressure for shifts.... My first attempt didn't fare so well but because of the attachment point or lack thereof to the base plate of the carb, I again had to create! I used a newer baseplate with the proper attach point for the cable, swapped it onto the carb and in the clear... NOPE! Because of the lack of rise on the intake, the kickdown pivot was hitting the center bolt that holds the intake to the head.... Remove again, cut the pivot off a 2bbl, cut it off the 4bbl plate, position away from the intake bolt and weld the 2bbl pivot onto the 4bbl base plate! Voila! Success! Test drive and adjust the kickdown, firm but better than delayed and slow/soft clutch plate roasting shift... Transmission serviced! Gas tank full...
So, with most of the work out of the way, I remembered to drain and replace the diff oil, like at the last second! DOH! I was to leave on a Saturday Aug 27th to catch the ferry Wednesday the 31st at North Sydney, no later than the 15:00 check in time... Due to me being late, Sunday morning ETA of 06:00-06:30 is scheduled!
 There are 2 that runs to the Island of Newfoundland... The regular 5-7hr run to Port Aux Basques, west side of the Island and the summer 15-17 hour run to Argentia.... For me, the Argentia run is the one for me due to my hometown being only 1hr from there.... less than an hour from St. John's. If I went the other route, it is an extra 9-10 hour trek across the Island.... and another night in a motel... NOT HAPPENING! 4300kms and the count-"down" is now on.... We will get to the boat stories later...
After reading some of the stories on BB mileage and the issues Cliff had, I was glad that I was writing down my start/stop miles, place of fuel, time and litres.. Everytime I would fill, I subtracted to distance traveled, converted litres to gallons, (4.54 per gallon as it was easier for me because of the cars engine size) and then doing the calculations.... That being said, my speedo compared to the GPS on my phone was about 1/2-1mph faster.. nothing, really! I never did do an odometer check.. not sure why! When I returned home, I used MapQuest in the same rough start points as where I filled up... They always seem to have more of a distance than my odometer showed... I will ask others in that area I traveled to compare distances to mine!
Here we go.... Times are local!
Left Foam Lake, Sk @0:600 with 5426mi on the odometer....
Vermillian Bay, On @15:40... 5952mi--62.49Lfill. (283mi travelled)
Thunder Bay, On @20:50... 6186mi--45.4L fill. (234mi travelled)
I travelled another hour or so but I was beat... Almost made it to Nipagon but I was too tired to do so... So, I backed into a General Store at Dorian that was out of business and I slept on the front seat... It was warm all night! (I didn't care at that point)
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I stopped there with 6231 miles on the clock... 805 total miles travelled.
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I kept Ken, (Cheviac) in the loop and the way and sent pics of like numbers and when she rolled up to the next #thousand as I went along... As you can see... I forgot 5555!
-- Edited by 67Poncho on Monday 17th of October 2016 01:31:17 AM
It was great to see the car in person when you were in NL. I can guarantee you that nothing like it has been seen around these parts in 45 years, if ever. I don't recall seeing any 70 Safari Estate here even when new, let alone one with a 454. �The car is quite something and I know from scanning the local social media car sites that it was noticed, with several photos posted. (I was away when you first got here but I already knew you had arrived as my son had texted me a photo of the car).�
Here's a photo of the car in front of my house.�
Hope the return to Saskatchewan was as smooth as the drive to NL.�
 Thanks John! It never even donned on me to take you for a run.... not that is anything special, but just to say! And thanks for one again for showing me all of your hidden jems as well... Talk to you soon!
Good stuff Vince, you've done a lot on that car. I notice it has a tilt column, but it's not on the GM Documentation. Did you add that too? Just curious, does it have the shift indicator above the column? All the 70 Pontiac tilt cars I've seen have had the shift indicator blanked out.
I wish I could have come to a deal when it was here in Calgary back in 2007, but the fellow just wanted too much for it. I even tried to justify the higher price reasoning it would come in handy during my upcoming basement renovation, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I missed it when it was for sale in Calgary's Bargain Finder a couple years before that.
Ken installed the tilt.... plus a host of other interior repairs�before I got it...�All the floor shift cars don't have the "PRNDL" in the dash... My '69 Safari is like this one... it has... That being said, how much was the guy asking at that time? I have docs here from a Mr. Poole... Possibly him?
My floor shift cars have the dash indicators, but the tilt steering ones have the dash indicator blanked out. �
Mr Poole bought the car from the Bargain Finder, he had it a couple years. �He sold it to Derek who I nearly bought it from. �If I recall, Derek's rock bottom low price was $4K. �Keep in mind it was not running. �It turned over ok but was not running. �Derek sold it (or maybe it was a swap) to Ken, and Ken got it running.
Interesting! I will have a better look from now on!Â
You can check your odometer when you get back to the prairies. The grid roads are every mile going east/west, and every 2 miles going north south (the road allowances are part of the measured mile). Find yourself a nice 10 mile straight stretch of road and note your mileage at the start, and every mile. The odometer in my Parisienne was only off by about 2/10ths over 10 miles. Quite a fluke actually considering the untested combination of the tranny gear, rear gears, and tires.
The grid roads are every mile going east/west, and every 2 miles going north south
???
We have them every mile in Manitoba either direction (in the flat areas of course, which is most of Manitoba!) You mean you don't have that in Alberta?
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
You can check your odometer when you get back to the prairies. �The grid roads are every mile going east/west, and every 2 miles going north south (the road allowances are part of the measured mile). �Find yourself a nice 10 mile straight stretch of road and note your mileage at the start, and every mile. �The odometer in my Parisienne was only off by about 2/10ths over 10 miles. �Quite a fluke actually considering the untested combination of the tranny gear, rear gears, and tires.
 Just checking from Foam Lake, Sk to Hearst, On with my actual and MapQuest, my actual was 1,070mi and MapQuest was 1,092mi.
Fantastic Vince, I love this kind of thing where you drive the old beast across the country like they were designed to do, and were pretty darn good at! With the 700r4 and the indicated rpms you were getting at speed you must have a 2:76 rear gear in there. Your mileage must have been spectacular or at least petty darn good. When I stuck one on my 396 I went the easy way and bought the bracket that would adapt a TH700r4 to a quadrajet. I had to bend and hack it just a bit and I went through a tranny (I hate to admit) before I actually got it adjusted properly. (Im no mechanic).
Have to agree Vincent, this is just great. This is my favorite part of the forum when I hear of the preperation and how the road trip went. Am also looking forward to the rest of the story. Thanks for sharing. Almost as exciting as when you bought one of your cars on the west coast and drove it back.
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Great story. I have to ask if you posted that you were going to go on the trip before you left. I know a lot of people on highway 11 from Hearst to North Bay that are car guys that would of offered assistance if you broke down. Timmins is about 30 miles from highway 11 on highway 101. Nobody more friendly than the people from Newfoundland or most true car people. I am willing to bet help would of been offered along the whole route from the Canadian Poncho community if it was needed.
We had the same type of problem with the 700r4 installation in a 64 chevelle with factory linkage. In hindsight it would have been easier to just buy a correct aftermarket bracket.
Fantastic Vince, I love this kind of thing where you drive the old beast across the country like they were designed to do, and were pretty darn good at! With the 700r4 and the indicated rpms you were getting at speed you must have a 2:76 rear gear in there. �Your mileage must have been spectacular or at least petty darn good. �When I stuck one on my 396 I went the easy way and bought the bracket that would adapt a TH700r4 to a quadrajet. �I had to bend and hack it just a bit and I went through a tranny (I hate to admit) before I actually got it adjusted properly. (Im no mechanic).
keep the adventure coming!
Thanks, Ken! Oddly enough, the sales brochure doesn't list the 2.73(6) as standard with the LS4... I will get a pic of it though... As for the MPG, I posted travelled distance with litres used so everyone can use their own math to see what it comes out as.. Yes, it did very well for what it is and if some of you know what most of Ontario, Ottawa west, is like, you know why!
As for the bracket, I too may have shortened the life of the 700 due to the lack of the pivot of the original base plate at first install.... BUT, with all of the access to the parts in my own bone yard here, what fun would it be to just go out and buy pieces to fit? (lol)
Have to agree Vincent, this is just great. This is my favorite part of the forum when I hear of the preperation and how the road trip went. Am also looking forward to the rest of the story. Thanks for sharing. Almost as exciting as when you bought one of your cars on the west coast and drove it back.
Oh Jerel.... The Old Wreck. as I called her, from Salt Spring Island! My Goodness....  But, myself and my passenger made it... (lol) All good now, of course but that was a different tale with no prep but many, many swear words getting to, at and on the trip back...
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I will try and find that link and paste it here for a refresher to those that may not have read it.... ( or anyone else, Darryl? You are good at that!)
Sounds like a great trip Vincent. Definitely on the bucket list, but will have to wait until the little ones aren't so little anymore.
Waiting to enjoy hearing more.
Have to agree Vincent, this is just great. This is my favorite part of the forum when I hear of the preperation and how the road trip went. Am also looking forward to the rest of the story. Thanks for sharing. Almost as exciting as when you bought one of your cars on the west coast and drove it back.
Oh Jerel.... The Old Wreck. as I called her, from Salt Spring Island! My Goodness....  But, myself and my passenger made it... (lol) All good now, of course but that was a different tale with no prep but many, many swear words getting to, at and on the trip back...
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I will try and find that link and paste it here for a refresher to those that may not have read it.... ( or anyone else, Darryl? You are good at that!)
Hey Vince, do you remember what key words were in your thread subject?Â
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
 But, myself and my passenger made it... (lol) All good now, of course but that was a different tale with no prep but many, many swear words getting to, at and on the trip back...