Am-Tour El Camino Barn Find

[jettback50]

Howdy All, amateur

New to the site and first project like this that I have attempted. Starting with a fairly clean stock 1966 El Camino Custom 327/ Powerglide/ 10 bolt with highway gears.

Just pickup the car after it had been sitting for years, just a 3 owner car with very low original miles. The person the I got her from had it for about three years as it was a match to the 327/ 4spd/ 12 bolt cruck that he has owned for 20 years. He spent 10 years trying to buy it from the second owner where it was stored in a gravel lot for most of the 25 years that number two owned it. The last owner liked the car but put less than 1000 miles on it in the three years, has another 66 Elko, is building a 66 Chevelle to match, and knew how much I wanted the car, finally relented and sold me my newest project.

Drove it around a bit, found the brakes to be hazardous, pulled them apart and ran new lines, hoses, and converted to a dual res master for added safety. Back on the road, drove it for a few more days before the heater core blew, and started pulling her all apart to fix that and some other issues. The plan was/ is to do the repairs and get her back on the road for summer fun before tearing her apart over the winter. Kind of a shakedown. Want to find out what needs to be done before make too many final decisions.

Basics; runs and drives great, brakes are good but still and bit touchy and some noticeable fade after continuous driving, handles terrible. Much worse than I would expect from a car of it's age and size. These are all items I would like address including getting some tunes in the car for all the time in city traffic.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/07/66ElCamino3_zps3676e016-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino3_zps3676e016.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/07/66ElCamino10_zps608e024f-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino10_zps608e024f.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/07/66ElCamino7_zpsa97633d6-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino7_zpsa97633d6.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/07/66ElCamino12_zpscb0c5a03-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino12_zpscb0c5a03.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/07/66ElCamino6_zpsd27581e9-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino6_zpsd27581e9.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/07/66ElCamino20_zpse023b400-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino20_zpse023b400.jpg.html)

[rrelco]

perfect car for having FUN!!!!

[Yelcamino]

Welcome aboard and congrats on your new ride!

[Bonehead]

Gotta love El Camino builds. Good year too! Looking forward to seeing where you project goes. Just putting the interior together on a 67. El Caminos hide rust well. Keep digging!

[bmbrzmn101]

Welcome from another Elky owner. Enjoy her. Cool project.

Chris

[jettback50]

Thanks for all the welcomes. I have always loved first and second gen Elkos. The 2nds are lighter, cheaper, and easier to make into a ride that I can drive regularly on modern roads.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/66ElCamino_zpsf60fde6a-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino_zpsf60fde6a.jpg.html)

As you can see there is another that is taking up some of my time. A super clean 1970 El Camino with a 250 straight 6, 350 automatic, and 12 bolt rear end. No rust, perfect dash, all black interior, and ready for paint. She is for sale so I am trying to finish up the few last items and find a descent paint shop. I also have a 1972 GMC Sprint 350/350/12B that is for sale as well. If both of these go I will have a little more space for my baby but until then my focus will be a little split.

[jettback50]

Now I know that this has probably never happened to anyone else but some projects just can seem to get away from you. The funny thing is that the last owner warned me about this. "Don't start on your car until you are ready to finish it." I understood and thought I was just going to get the car back on the road and enjoy it for the summer, tear down in the winter for bigger work and by next winter there would be the full teardown and build.

Did not exactly work out that way. First up was get the cruck registered and then flip those stupid-looking white letters in so that is does not look like curbed whitewalls as I roll down the road! Registration went fine and then off to the tire shop where I found pretty serious radial tears in the front brake hoses. Well if the lines need to be replaced, brakes need to be checked, better replace the rear hose too, and upgrade to a dual res master cylinder which also means a new tee and some new lines. Fine. Do that, hunt down the correct retrofit master, all the brakes look good, found some serious gunk plugging the pass rear wheel cylinder, fixed. New lines, braided on the rear, and custom fittings for the master to tee, bleed everything out.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/66ElCamino23_zps91c3b3ea-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino23_zps91c3b3ea.jpg.html)

Well, flush the cooling system, replace the leaking P/S hose, flush that system, replace thermostat, belts, hoses, caps, best time to pull off all the brackets and clean and paint those too right? Done. All the chipped paint on the engine can't stand now, just clean it off, get off all the chips, and paint most of the engine too. Got that, put it all back together and on my way. Right? Right?

Yes, but only for a few days before the heater core goes and starts puking all over the carpet. Back home, now I am able to get her into the shop, the inner fender needs to come out to get to all of the bolts for the heater housing. It takes almost a month to find a brass and copper core, order that, get the seals, clean up the heater box, time to replace the motor as well. Better do the switches, rebuild the broken heater control and cables. Heck just pull out the whole dash and clean up that raining insulation.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/IMG_1245_zpsf197c670.jpg.html)

There was a loud clunk in the front on the right side during some left turns. Always first thing in the morning when leaving the house and a few more times during the day. Have it apart, no is the time before some worse happens! Found some play in the centerlink, and the lower control arm bushings, and maybe some on the lower ball joint. None would cause a loud clunk but maybe combined under the right conditions they could.

New ball joints, all new steering, then I tried to get out the lower CA bushings and found out that the arm was bent just a bit. I don't have the tools to get it back in line so looked for a replacement and then looked at tubular. Had to wait another month before I could afford to order those. If and doing those now I should look at the dropped tall spindles. Looks like with a spacer I can still use my drum brakes and get better handling now and do the disc conversion later. That sounds like the ticket. Another two weeks pass, get all the parts in and find out that not all the right parts were in the kit, missing some bolts, called and that took another week. Then I try to put the brakes on the spindles, mounting points are OK, spacers in the top to flush the mounting surface, but the backing plate and brake hose contact the spindle in about half a dozen different places. No go. Guess it is time for a disc conversion.

[jettback50]

While waiting on the disc parts, the front of the frame is stripped, cleaned, and Chassis Coated.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/66ElCamino24_zps8fd7466c-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino24_zps8fd7466c.jpg.html)

Also found when the pass side shock and bushings went bad it started to saw it's way through the top hat. Welded this up so it has a new round home.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/66ElCamino26_zps7d8c935d-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino26_zps7d8c935d.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/66ElCamino27_zpsa2d1c641-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino27_zpsa2d1c641.jpg.html)

Brake kit and spindles came from Speedway. They were helpful but did not have the answers to any of my questions like "why did you send me a caliper bracket that will not mount flush to the spindle?" or "the steering arm bosses are threaded in the new spindles but are a larger diameter that the bolts that were in the old arms that I need to reuse, why is that and why were there no bolts in the kit?" I had to wait for a tech to order the parts from the warehouse and put his hands on them before he could tell me what to do.

The answer? Cut, trim, and buy bolts the right size local. I am still not sure that the lower price is worth all the hassle.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/66ElCamino25_zps599667ae-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino25_zps599667ae.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/66ElCamino29_zpsb700ffc2-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino29_zpsb700ffc2.jpg.html)

With a few wire wheels and wire brush I was able to make the spring look like new again! After the car is all back together I will have to see if any coils need to come out. I removed one during the brake job but it did not look like it went down at all.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/66ElCamino28_zpsc9b924c5-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino28_zpsc9b924c5.jpg.html)

So here it is fall and she has been cooped up inside all summer. I am sure this has never happen to anyone else. Ha!

[driveit]

Don't give up.

[jettback50]

Don't give up.

Thanks. Don't plan to!

Have the pass side together and put it down to check fit and ride height. It still looks a little high so I pulled it apart and removed the spacer in the lower arm. Instructions say that it will lower the car by and inch but measures out to be closer to 1/2".

The photo is not 100% because the cruck is only resting on one wheel and one jack stand. After it is all together, may still have to pull it apart one more time if the coil still needs to be cut.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/66ElCamino32_zps399a55b7-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino32_zps399a55b7.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/66ElCamino31_zpsd899ee81-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino31_zpsd899ee81.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/66ElCamino30_zps7c19c051-1.jpg (http://s842.photobucket.com/user/jettback50/media/66%20El%20Camino/66ElCamino30_zps7c19c051.jpg.html)

[driveit]

Looking good. Mine still needs to drop down a bit more front and back to be where I want it. I really want to get some coilovers, but they are not in my budget right now. Saving up!