Build Thread: 1937 LaSalle / Family Hot Rod

[halftanked]

The easiest way out that I can think of is to buy a trailer light interface,plug it in your harness,and then run your wires from the interface to your taillights.Yellow should be turn for one side,and green the other. I can never remember which is which,so I always have to test with a light. The other choice would involve rerouting the wires from the brake light switch up through the column and sending the power out through the turn signal wiring,but this only works if your ts switch is wired to be used this way. If not you end up with power going out to the front lights also,not just the rear. Hope this helps, Hank

[37 Caddy]

Wow! I hadn't realized how long it has been since I last posted. Family interfered. My wife and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl in to our family.

However, I have been able to carve out some time to work on the car lately. I will post some progress pics later. (I am currently in a battle of wits with a very sleep two-year old, the baby is sleeping...like a baby)

I will have to go back and check where I left off.

I am down to the details and will have a lot of questions coming up soon.

[falconvan]

Congrats on the new family member! Let's see a shot of that young lady.

[37 Caddy]

Here is a picture of our baby girl an d her big brother. He sure does love his sister. I hope to have both out in the garage soon.
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[37 Caddy]

Now on to the progress report on the LaSalle. I hadn't been posting because I hadn't thought I had made any progress. My time in the garage has been extremely sporadic and in very short bursts.

The body is back on the frame with the help of some friends and since then I have been working primarily on the wiring and some time on interior panels. I have not had a chance to do much fabrication because of fears of waking the kids.

The wiring has been particularly challenging. I am adapting the 92 Suburban wiring harness and computer into the LaSalle. This involved cutting two very large holes and drilling a couple smaller ones in my nice clean firewall. However, I am making it work and have been successful in getting most of the wiring tucked away neatly. The main harness connection through the firewall and the fuse box are both complete. I am going to attempt to mount the computer on the passenger side tonight.

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ps I will amke the pictures a little smaller next time.

[simpsongreg68]

It looks like it wont be long and you will have it running. there is plenty of room in the back for two car seats, are you going to put a/c in it?? I have always wanted to build something like this, but with a packard body,, good luck and keep posting.

[37 Caddy]

Thanks. My wife and I really like the body styles from this era. We looked at Packards and Cadillacs. We stumbled on this car at a car show and the price was right. Plus it was not a restoreable vehicle which meant I could feel good about cutting it up and customizing. There are a number of subtle touches. the reat tailights have been deleted. the gas cap on the fender was deleted and a gas door was added on the side. the hood tilts forward and has been welded solid down the center, the sides are stationary. The interior will borrow the power, heated, leather seats from a 2004 Bravada.

It will eventually have A/C...not really optional in Phoenix.

[39Deluxe]

Looks like you are making real progress. Congrats on the little ones.

Tom

[37 Caddy]

I hate wiring!! ...and have some questions.

What is the best way to splice very small gauge wire? Are there extremely small butt connectors or do I just twist them real tight and put some electrical tape on them?

Anybody know enough about the wiring in a 92 Suburban to confirm that the purple wires that run to the rear are for the rear window defoster?

Anybody successfuly wire electric seats? I am really hoping I can make these 2004 Bravada seats work.

Thank you, Jay

[falconvan]

I did the same thing on my son's 69 Chevy truck; we used an 88 GMC van wiring harness and computer along with the TBI. It came out great. I got a Chiltons and a Haynes manual for the van; between the two of them we figured all the wires out. Beautiful little girl, she sure looks wide awake!

[NTFDAY]

I hate wiring!! ...and have some questions.

What is the best way to splice very small gauge wire? Are there extremely small butt connectors or do I just twist them real tight and put some electrical tape on them?
Thank you, Jay

I don't like butt connectors and just twisting them together and covering with electrical tape makes for a poor connection. I would twist them together and solder them and cover with heat shrink that has been slipped onto one of the wires before they're twisted together.

[37 Caddy]

I did the same thing on my son's 69 Chevy truck; we used an 88 GMC van wiring harness and computer along with the TBI. It came out great. I got a Chiltons and a Haynes manual for the van; between the two of them we figured all the wires out. Beautiful little girl, she sure looks wide awake!

Well this "heart transplant" should look very familiar. Any words of advice or lessons learned?

Did the van have a tranny cooler and oil cooler or ABS? These are a few of the things I have questions about.

Can I just cap the inlet/outlet of where the oil cooler originally was?
How do I make the brake lights work? I already have abrake pressure switch plumbed in, but what wires will I hook up to it?

[37 Caddy]

Considering what I started with, I am pleased with how the wiring has turned out. I am trying to reuse as much of the Suburban parts as possible. I cleaned up the wiring around the steering column and I got the computer mounted. Eventually I will clean up the floors and secure all the wiring but at least I know where it is going now. The picture might be more impressive if I had mounted the dash, but I thought it would be a good idea to use the gauge cluster to monitor the engine during the initial start up of the engine.
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[falconvan]

Well this "heart transplant" should look very familiar. Any words of advice or lessons learned?

Did the van have a tranny cooler and oil cooler or ABS? These are a few of the things I have questions about.

Can I just cap the inlet/outlet of where the oil cooler originally was?
How do I make the brake lights work? I already have abrake pressure switch plumbed in, but what wires will I hook up to it?

Basically, I laid the whole harness out on the shop floor, unwrapped all the tape and went over it wire by wire from the book until i identified what each wire did. Take good notes. Anything we opted not to use I cut out to get rid of some of the mess. Power windows, door locks, cruise control and all the hvac wiring went. If your planning on using an aftermarket A/C down the road, it should come with it's own wiring and all you should need to do is run a hot wire to it. Anything you're not going to use, get rid of the wiring for it to avoid confusion later. When you've got it laid out with all the options you want to keep, do a trial fit for wire lenghths. Shorten or lenghthen where neccessary, then wire tire, tape, or use the ribbed platic conduit to neaten everything up. Also, i'd make yourself a wire diagram listing colors and what they do along with any reminder notes of what you changed for future reference. It'll help a lot in the future, and if you ever sell, it make the next guy happy to get it.
It was a standard conversion van so it didn't have an external trans cooler. I used a 350 from a 92 Caprice police edition and it did have an oil cooler but it had a different oil filter adaptor that the cooler lines came out of. I just swapped the standard filter adaptor from the van motor to solve that. You should be able to use the wires from the Suburban brake switch if your changing over to a pressure switch for the brakelights, or just run a hot wire from an accesorry on your fuse box to one side of the switch and the wire going back to the brakelights to the other side.

[37 Caddy]

Again, I have let far too much time pass since I last posted, but it never seems like I have done anything worthwhile.

Well, that changed this long weekend. I took Thursday off last weeka nd told the wife I would be in the garage.

It took forever but I was able to fabricate a radiator mounting system I can be proud of. I cut out the two little pieces of bar stock that were holding the radiator up solely from the flanges. I replaced it with a frame that goes all the way around the radiator and has a piece of angle iron underneath to help support the weight of the radiator. And then to secure it I welded tubes on the top of the bottom, ran thraded rod through them and used these to clamp the radiator in place. I am very pleased.

Other updates: the wiring is done, the trun signals, headlights, tailights, license light, third brake lights, reverse lights, dome light...they all work.

I am painfully close to having this thing on the road. I estimate 30-40 hours, but all the major fabrication is finally done. Wish me luck, I think I am on the home stretch.