1978 Pontiac sunbird safari wagon 2.5

[lleelduo]

Wheels on and DONE! They look GREAT Thanks to all of you that helped me find everything.

[zeke]

Looks great lleelduo!

[rm617]

Looks Great!!

If you haven't already, you should silicone the center caps to the wheels. They are notorious for popping off when you hit a bump.

[lleelduo]

Done and cured before I mounted them on the car.

[lleelduo]

Another small project I have been working on. The air cleaner sight cover had the remnants of a decal on it when I got the car. From doing research and my admitedly poor memory I tried to recreate it. It may not be perfect, but I will do for my project. I think it looks good.

[lleelduo]

I got a heck of a shock last night! My wife said "Why dont we take some money we have saved up and get the Sunbird painted." After the inital shock wore off, I went over and shook her and said" Who are you, and what have you done with my wife?" She is getting excited about my project too. that makes all this stuff even more fun. Body shop here we come!

[zeke]

It is great to have a wife that's into your projects!

[lleelduo]

Just a side note. I have been talking to Tim Dye the owner of the Pontiac Oakland Museum in Pontiac Ill. He just purchased a wagon like mine in a collection of cars for the museum. Glad to see there is at least one more out their like it. It has the V-6 though, I'm jealous!

[lleelduo]

My wife Got me a Christmas present for project. A new Pontiac nose panel crest she got though Clyde Baigi. I have been doing a lot of small projects getting ready to take the car to the body shop. PAINT! YEAH! The end of March first of April. Kellys body shop in Bluffton is going to do the body and paint work. I sell GM parts to them and know them well. They are even going to let me help. I have vacation time to use and I am going to spend a week doing grunt work on the car, Disassembly, strip sanding and the like, It will save me money too. I bought my self new rolls of adhesive side molding to use on the hatch and sides. I also got a new "UNLEADED FUEL ONLY" decal nos from another GM dealer. I am sending all the window molding to Extreme Metal Polishing in Flordia to have them refurbished. I wanted to do it myself but I decided to let a professional do them.I will post pictures when I get them back.

[zeke]

Nice stocking stuffer!

[lleelduo]

Winter is here and my car is stored at my mother-in-laws garage. I am a winter wimp. I HATE IT! but i live in NE Indiana, So I want to park my work car in my garage. I have been working on small projects to get ready for my car to go to the body shop. I have been collecting as much as possiable in the way of small detail things as I can. I have all my exterior emblems refurbished and ready for installation. I have purchased new rub strip moldings for the sides and rear hatch. i have new drip molding purchased and cut to length. I found new decals for the fuel filler and outside color door handles All the things I can do ahead of time that I can think of. The bodyshop I am taking it to I work with all the time. I supply all their GM parts for repairs. They are graciously letting me take a weeks vacation to help do a lot of the grunt sanding and striping to help them and save me some money too. It wont come too soon.

[lleelduo]

I have decided to add the bright belt moldings from a hatchback Vega on the doors as part of my "SAFARI" package. The "NOMAD" has a lower quarter window molding that I wanted to try and match on the doors. I think it will give the car a more "Premium" look. I found a set of moldings for $50.00 plus shipping. I had to determine if the wagon doors had the provisions to mount the moldings, and they do. I also then had to determine if they could be modified for the installation of the applique on the rear of the window frame for the "SAFARI" panels. And they can. All I had to do was remove the outer window belt fuzzies, and save them. I then temporarly installed the moldings and laid the upper door trim panel on to mark the molding. I then used a hacksaw to remove the extra material. About 1 1/4 inch in length. I removed the old bad fuzzies from the back of the moldings and used them as a template on the good set that I had removed. The only trick was to remove all the mounting clips from the fuzzy so it would lay flat to the molding and could be re-stapled on to the molding. I am now going to have the anodizing removed from all the bright molding on the car and have them polished. I have found someone to gloss clear powder coat them then for protection when I get them back. I also cut the front corner of the quarter window top moldings to clear the panel as you see in the first picture. The quarter window front molding is eleminated so the panel will lay flat to the glass.

[mahoy78spyder]

Getting excited for you, Larry. I have a wife who is really supportive of my car habits as well, but I'm nowhere near getting my car painted, so I'll live vicariously through you for the moment if that is ok. Lookin' good!

[67shovel]

I like the Nomad look on your Safari wagon. You doing some rear lift gate Nomad strips too? I've done the same thing to my 73 Vega wagon and found some cool looking Nomad emblems off of a Kawasaki crusier on e bay.

[lleelduo]

Yes I am, The Sunbird/Astre wagon had small hatch molding strips that match the side moldings. I have replacement side molding, and have enough to make strips on the hatch. I plan to make them longer than the originals. Like the ones that came originally on a Vega Nomad. The only thing I can not decide is if I want to use them with the black insert to match the OEM side molding, or use chrome ones to mimick the original SAFARI type moldings? Then Do I use Chrome side moldings on the side too? Oh the agony! So many decisions! What do you guys think?