1966 El Camino

[Yelcamino]

I never started a thread for my El Camino so I figured I'll post updates as they come along.

As a refresher, this is how the Elky has been for the past five or so years...

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It had the Global West Negative Roll front suspension with B-body spindles, Baer Brakes, a Currie 9" rear, Intro Pentia wheels and Nitto rubber. Overall my wife and I have been very happy with this car and it's performance not to mention its great street manners.

Like anything, eventually it gets a little stagnant, so we decided to make a few changes.


First on the list was swapping the B-body spindles for a pair from ATS along with a new pair of GW UCAs designed to work with the new spindles.

Here are the B-body spindles...

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And here are the ATS spindles...

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Once that was done, I reassembled the brakes and installed the Forgelines leftover from the Chevelle and aligned the front end...

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I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! :bananna2:


I didn't stop there. Last fall the thermo switch for the electric fans finally died so I installed a Spal fan controller...

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I also picked up a set of window cranks and door handles from Clayton Machine...

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These things are pure jewelry and worth every penny! Interestingly, the door handles are a bit long for the early A-bodies...

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I talked to Clay about it and he's in the process of making shorter handles. I assume the shorter version will be available for sale, but I can't confirm that. Maybe he'll comment.

Wanting to keep the interior fresh, I replaced the Arizen seats with a pair of Sparco Torino II seats.

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Don't worry, at least one of the Arizen seats was put to good use...

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That's it for now. I'm sure I'll come up with some more things that will need updating soon!

[Mr. Anderson]

Love it Herb! Those wheels really change the car too.

I've got the seats for my Elky sitting in the "living room" right now, and have been thinking how cool it would be to set it up with a wheel and pedals for GT5.

[Tiger]

Ciao Herb,

as always good work! how come the car seems so much lower.

the Intro Pentias dont happen to be 18x11" and 18x10" with the correct backspace for my Chevelle do they?

[Yelcamino]

Love it Herb! Those wheels really change the car too.

I've got the seats for my Elky sitting in the "living room" right now, and have been thinking how cool it would be to set it up with a wheel and pedals for GT5.

Thanks Eric! My wife bought us a PS3 w/ GT5 for Christmas and driving cars with our thumbs wasn't much fun. About a month ago I was in the basement looking for something and I saw a couple of bed rails on the ground next to the seats and the idea to build a game seat popped into my head! GT5 is a lot more fun but for some reason I haven't improved my skills much!

[Yelcamino]

Ciao Herb,

as always good work! how come the car seems so much lower.

the Intro Pentias dont happen to be 18x11" and 18x10" with the correct backspace for my Chevelle do they?

Thanks André,

The Pentias are 18x10 and 18x8. I don't know what backspacing you need but these have 5.5" and 4.5" respectively. They actually fit on my Camaro.

One other thing I changed (no pictures) are the tail pipes. The old ones were from a kit and if I lowered the rear too much they would contact the axle on bumps. I found a little shop near me and had new tail pipes made so now there's plenty of room for the ride height I want. The rear Forgelines are 19" so that's probably making it look even lower.

[Vinz68]

Looks great Herb!!

[David Sloan]

Killer elco. As always!!

[oestek]

Great upgrades Herb! The handles look killer!

[The Stickman]

Great car, great color, great build.

[Tiger]

Thanks Herb but they wont work (not that you ever said you were going to sell them...:o)
I need between 6" and 6 1/2" backspace both front and rear.

ciao

[clay johnson]

Herb...Those wheels made a huge difference, and great choice...I have a similar style on my '07 Suburban, but they're I-Forged. Yes, as I mentioned, we're making shorter window cranks and will be for sale in a week or two. I'll get another set out to you at no charge. The shorter versions will be our standard length from now on.

Clay

[tommycomfort]

That's it, we're buying a PS3 and building a cool seat thing too!!! As always we love the El Camino and your work is a blast to follow.
Tom

[Yelcamino]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the positive feedback!

[THE TECH]

Good looking camino!

[Yelcamino]

Herb...Those wheels made a huge difference, and great choice...I have a similar style on my '07 Suburban, but they're I-Forged. Yes, as I mentioned, we're making shorter window cranks and will be for sale in a week or two. I'll get another set out to you at no charge. The shorter versions will be our standard length from now on.

Clay

Thanks Clay, and I really appreciate you making the shorter window cranks!

[Scarelane]

Man I'm not a Camino fan, but yours sure is cool! Looks great!!

[bonecrrusher]

That is awesome!!

[Yelcamino]

Again, thanks guys! My wife, Carol, drove the Elky at RTTH last September and had a blast! She's looking forward to more track time this season so I wanted to make sure her ride was current; adding the new wheels was a no-brainer! The window cranks and door handles were a little surprise for her and the fan controller was necessary. After a good wash, detail, and wax, it should be ready to go!

[CruizinKev]

looking good! :twothumbs

[69projectKAOS]

up until now i never liked El Camino`s but DAMNNNNN this one is soo sick! the forgelines set the car off perfect, and the stance is spot on! love it.. -Dom

[Yelcamino]

up until now i never liked El Camino`s but DAMNNNNN this one is soo sick! the forgelines set the car off perfect, and the stance is spot on! love it.. -Dom

Cool, I converted another one! Thanks!

[Yelcamino]

Took the Elky to a Track Daze (https://www.trackdaze.com/) event and drove the crap out of it!

Carol came out for a little while and took some pictures...

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[tommycomfort]

That is flat out awesome!

[Yelcamino]

That is flat out awesome!

Yes it was! It was probably the best $325 I ever spent on car related activities! I got FOUR hours of track time over a two day period with a great instructor every time I rolled onto the track!

[Mr. Anderson]

looks like a blast! car looks great on the track too.

[65_LS1_T56]

Hi Herb, it's Aaron here, met you at the Motorstate Challenge autocross last month. I was hanging around the Farrington's scoring some fun rides in there cars. Enjoyed talking with you about the camino, very nice ride!
Looks like a great time on the track getting some pointers.

Hope we cross paths again someday :)

[surnufz]

Very cool Herb! I'm looking forward to doing the same thing at VIR on July 23 & 24.
Bobby

[Yelcamino]

Thanks guys! I had a great time and plan to do it again very soon!

Here's a LINK (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42635971@N06/sets/72157627196568612/) to the pictures Carol took on the first day.

I have a couple in car videos I'll post as soon as I edit them.

[Bad94]

I really like ur car, but i have to say, i like this car better now that it has those wheels on it.

[Yelcamino]

I really like ur car, but i have to say, i like this car better now that it has those wheels on it.

Thanks, but those wheels are back on the Chevelle. I only had them on the Elky for the event because of the stickier tires.

[Yelcamino]

I finally got around to putting the video together. It's kinda long but still fun to watch...

dHW6-dxtUQ8

[seancarole]

WHAHOOOOO!!!! KanGradits thats Alsome

[chrismoe]

I finally got around to putting the video together. It's kinda long but still fun to watch...

dHW6-dxtUQ8

Great video. Never was much of an El Camino guy until now.

Chris

[Yelcamino]

One thing I forgot to mention, while at Trackdaze I found a weak link on the Elky... the power steering was heating up enough to push some fluid out the weep hole on the reservoir cap. Since I didn't want to install a cooler, I went with a finned reservoir from Lee Power Steering, along with a new Lee type II pump and Lee 670 steering gear. Fortunately I had enough time to install and test drive the new parts before RTTH and everything worked great! The steering feels firmer and so far the PS fluid hasn't overheated.

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Now the next thing I need to do is install the new center link I bought. The one that's on the car now is the original one!!!

[tommycomfort]

We sure are Thankful that you found in necessary to replace your old setup...

[Yelcamino]

We sure are Thankful that you found in necessary to replace your old setup...

Oh yeah, I almsot forgot! Hope those steering parts serve you well!

[Yelcamino]

A quick update on the El Camino, I replaced the aging Kenwood deck with a modern Sony unit. The old Kenwood was basically a CD player because the tuner didn't work with the Dakota Digital hidden antenna. So, out the old in with the new!

I went with this particular unit because it has a cool interior tray to plug in and store your iPod, iPhone, or thumb drive. You can control the song files from the face of the deck. It can play Pandora radio and talk hands free on your phone via Bluetooth. It also has a USB port on the face of the deck and the tuner works great with the hidden antenna.

For just under $220 it's a pretty good bang for the buck!

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[chunger]

Amazing what kinds of capabilities that can fit in a car stereo now - cool mod!

[Yelcamino]

Amazing what kinds of capabilities that can fit in a car stereo now - cool mod!

Thanks. For a little over $200, it's a great unit. The next time I hit the road for a "Run To..." event, I'll have endless tunes to choose from.