Build Thread: 1937 LaSalle / Family Hot Rod

[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.
IMG_0529 comp.JPG

IMG_0530 comp.JPG

[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.