1954 Pontiac Pathfinder

Ah, thanks! Saves me going to town to buy more stuff!

 

One of these would look cool.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=712838&highlight=389

 

Run it

 

i seen that car roll thru salmon arm a couple weeks ago. you must have went a ways to get it . looks like a solid startand the best of luck with her.

 

I went to 100 mile house to get it, so about 7 hours from me.

Small world

 

almost stopped to say hi at Wendys parking lot but i had just scored a milkshake so i was busy.lol

 

Being a Canadian Pontiac, a 409 is acceptable as well.

 

No worries, you're welcome to come see it if you're ever in the area.

 

Do any of you know what this E break is off of?

 

That handle could be from a 53 54 American Pontiac. The Canadian ones were not chromed.
Found the book 1941 to 1955 Chassis parts. Some great exploded diagrams especially of the grille. Looks like only the Pontiac Emblem is the same all other parts have unique part numbers suggesting Cdn only. Let me know by pm if you want me to scan any pager.
Attached picture of us Cruzn the Dub last week

 

Cool car, and an even cooler 1st car. As has been mentioned, Canadian Poncho's are mostly Chevy's, which makes parts a little easier to find, kinda, sometimes, except when there is a blend of Pontiac/Chevy stuff, like some of the wiring harness. And lotsa good advice here, make it run/stop/steer and go from there. Good help on the Canadian Poncho forum as well. Stick with it during the times that suck, 'cause there will be a few. Getting a car going with your Dad is one of the best times of your life, you will remember it forever. Good luck.

 

Always nice to see this one around town! Helluva nice guy too!!

 

Great find. Keep the engine if you can. Love those inlines. Subscribed, so keep it coming.

 

Weird, I was curious cause my father pulled it out of a car a few years ago. Kinda neat that it may be from a similiar model.

And thanks to everyone else for the input, I'm just waiting for some shipments of stuff before I can really tear into it any more. Then winter should stop me dead for a few months as well, not really lookin forward to it.

 

Alright so I've been doing a lot of thinking here for a while, I get what all of you meant by running it first so I don't lose interest, it doesn't sit and rot etc. But I'm gonna switch the front end out for a mustang II or a nova or something I think so an engine change only makes sense. I'm going to keep the flathead, so no worries there and I wont let it sit and rot either. It'll get done, even though all of this is a long ways down the road yet. I got too much time to think while I wait for the equipment to get started! I've thought of all different kinds of motors for it but haven't quite settled. I found a 327 out of a...67? (I believe) Chevelle that I was thinking would be fairly nice. I have also found lots of 283's. What would you put in it?

Also, what type of welder should I purchase? Size? I was thinking of getting a MIG from Eastwood. Would a MIG be appropriate for welding on the front end too? Stupid questions I know but its the only way to learn and I'd rather get my info from intelligent people.

 

Your car do what you want but I have to ask WHY?

Seriously!

 

I like the speed of a larger engine, the disc brakes, and power steering are an added bonus. ( Makes me look like a pansy but I could care less ) Just seems cooler and more "custom" to me. Besides who doesnt like to go fast?

 

Well, if you wanna swap for a V8, why not try to keep it a Pontiac? Small: 326, big: 389/455, cool 421 Just remember that that old rear end won't handle much power.

 

Instead of the Eastwood wait for Canadian Tire to put the Lincoln 140 on Sale comes on at 499 regularily ($650 to 699 any where else) and occasionally at 450. very nice unit but a bit light for a sub-frame swap, you will still need an arc welder or get that done by a pro after you tack it. 327 is a great engine, 283 are decent too but I have always found the 327 to just be the right combo of torque and hp with high reliability. And as a Canadian Pontiac, correct enough. I cannot recall, do you have a torque tube? If so then you will likely have to change out rear axle and trans as well unless you get an adapter I believe. As for the swap, a Nova is a little more of a do it yourself challenge than a Mustang kit and you have to decide if you are going to go 74 and prior with the steering box behind the wheels or newer with the box infront of the wheels which can potenially make for some sheet metal interference. There is so much available of the Mustang ones that I would recommend that. Remember you will need a kit for a 1954 Chevrolet and get the rotors that are drilled for Chevy unless you are going to use a Ford rear end. That said a complete 68-74 Nova would be a great donor car and maybe have a 350 in it.

 

I just noticed that they a complete 54 Chevrolet shop manual has been posted, lots of measurement details on the frame here. http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyresto/5411.htm

 

Look.s like your off to a good start. I.m doing a 53 cdn. pontiac but going gasser with a 408 s/b chev. You will need another rearend and shaft but the 8.8 explorer rearend is a great fit and most come with 3.73 gears. Message me if you need parts. There are still some good Chev/pont. parts cars around this neck of the woods

 

It is your car.

I like the fact that you are 17 and have a really cool first car and project. I just hate to see you really screw up. If you start a hacking on it, this car will not be on the road for who knows how long and will be advertised "for sale" as a project shortly thereafter at much less than its current value.

How many miles have you driven it with its factory set up?
What did you dislike?

Save yourself a lot of time, money and grief. Get the car safe with with its current set up, drive it 2000 miles and report back.

It is your car. I will not post on this thread again.
It is your car. I will not post on this thread again.
It is your car. I will not post on this thread again.
It is your car. I will not post on this thread again.
It is your car. I will not post on this thread again.
It is your car. I will not post on this thread again.

 

Before you do all that work why not sell the car and buy something that already has a V8, auto, power steering, disc brakes etc? Why try to reinvent the wheel?

 

Some good points there, it can easily take 2 or 3 years for a complete going over and you got nothing to drive in the meanwhile.

 

I have a vehicle to drive if ever I need one. It was just an idea and its not something I can see not getting finished to be honest. I do see where you all are coming from, I'd hate to see it get messed up as well and I respect your opinions. I know fully well I'll probably regret the decision and that it'll take a lot of time, I'll probably be bashing my head off a wall in no time. This car is going to be my daily driver when its finished so I want something I'm satisfied with. I bought this car with the intention of it being a project, something I could customize and do what I wanted with it I dont have any WILD ideas and I dont want to take it to any extremes. She'll get done!

 

Thanks! Seems the further east you go the easier it is to find things!

That sounds wicked cool by the way!

 

here's my 2 cents on that dash. i assume the big round thing in the middle is a speaker? maybe a thumper bass speaker would fit in there?

 

You should be able to bolt in '54 Chevy tail lights and Lee lenses for a smooth look without any modifications if you don't have any other tail lights. And a Chevy trunk should work to replace your mangled one.

Some good advice has been brought up by some other members about not doing a subframe/suspension/engine swap just yet. I know you have big dreams and ambitions for this car and that's good, but I personally feel it's a terrible idea.

It's your first project, and a car that could potentially be made driveable with the current drivetrain and suspension, plus it's a car that needs a lot of other work anyway, and you want to take on an engine and suspension swap, which is the kind of stuff that takes years of fabrication experience to pull off correctly, and is a big task even with the experience.

I'm not trying to discourage you or put down your skills, but very strongly consider working on other areas of the car and taking it slow before you tear into it so deeply.

 

With so many people telling me to leave it as is, it got me to thinking again and you guys are probably right. I guess I'm just a little bit too pumped and am having wild ideas without fully thinking things through. I got time to learn how to do engine swaps etc and it'd probably be a good idea to get some experience under my belt first!

Thank ya guys again, it's appreciated.

 

Pumped up is what it is all about! Find someone around your area who is doing or has done some of that stuff. Maybe arrange a garage tour. A wise man learns by his mistakes, a brillant man learns by others mistakes. A dumbass like just makes them in the first place.