The Not so Little Wagon That Could

So this is the story of my 1989 Pontiac Safari station wagon. Now you might be thinking what the heck is a Pontiac Safari. I didn't know they existed until I bought this one about a year ago. Its basically the same thing as a Chevy Caprice wagon or a Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser.

With 600$ and a trip to the DMV and it was mine. it came with 3 rows of bench seating (with one facing the rear), a tired Oldsmobile 307 V8 that made about 120hp and a lovely transmission that would barely go in reverse. At the time it might have been crazy but it was my goal to turn this into a rat rod style street/strip machine. This thing Has been a huge project for me and my first all on my own but after a year of hard work its definatly come along way to that goal.

So this was taken the first day I bought it. the interior was great other than the missing headliner and some missing trim. BUT LOOK AT ALL THE ROOM FOR ACTVITYS!!

Cool note the rear window rolls down so you can pull the tailgate down. With the rear facing bench seat this things perfect for tailgates and first dates at the drive in. Unless she runs away just by looking at the car...

Did I mention the room for activity's? (picture of my buddy and the wagon strapped down when I was moving between place)

sorry I got distracted lets get to the good part

So in my search for a new engine and trans I found a 72 Oldsmobile 455 Big block (that's about 7.5L) and a TH400 transmission for sale about three hours away in the absolute middle of nowhere. I paid 500$ for both. and the guy did not have much info on either of them he had gotten it from a coworkers of his that used to race Oldsmobile's back in the day. Stock the motors were rated just under 500 torque and 400 HP. I figured that was enough to get my wagon going.

This was about all I could gather from him
the bottom end had been rebuilt
the block had been bored over .30
no idea on the mileage
had an eldbrock torker intake
some type of cam
Fully rebuilt transmission

tore it down to the heads to make sure everything was in good order

everything looked pretty great

Got it all back together with new gaskets, plugs, distributor and a set of long tube headers

Time to start getting ready for the swap. there was no turning back at this point.

Did I mention anything about the wiring? lovely 80's emission controls. This thing is carbureted why are there so many things. it has more wires than my daily driver and its a lot newer. It was definatly fun trying to disconnect everything.

Well there goes the front end. Fire extinguisher and beer for safety

and out goes the old. I'm pretty sure there was more oil leaking from it than in it..

Pulling it closer to the garage with the trusty lawnmower

Test fitting the engine.

All ready to go in

That was a very late night but finally got the engine and transmission bolted in. There was a problem with fitting the headers on so I had to lay them in the engine and bolt them up as I lowered it down.

Hey the front end is back on! sorta..

final product everything hooked up and in place and she runs perfect.
I have no idea what to do with all the extra wiring yet tho…

Next thing is wheels and tires and taking her down to the strip!

Wagon $600
Engine and Trans $500
Various parts to make it work $500
Building something Ignorant and unique by myself on a limited college budget = Priceless

PS. I know there might be some spelling errors in this I'm kind of dyslexic and my computer hates me.

Edit Most Viral: Dang I'm surprised you all like this thing! haha I know some of you asked to hear it run so here's a link to a potato quality video just for you. https://imgur.com/gallery/xrsgO6b
Will try to get pics of the rear facing bench seat later too.
Send car pics or whatever