66 El Camino - Project CaMEANo

[Mr. Anderson]

Glad you like it!

Power steering pump is back on and looks like it'll work well. Now I've got to figure out routing of the alternator pulley to clear it, via an idler pulley.

I'm in the middle of moving the column now. Moved it up about 1-3/4". Had to buy another piece of double-D shaft, but it's well worth it. The paint is drying now.

*edit* Got the column all put back together and man what a difference a couple inches makes! It's in the perfect spot now. The oil pressure and temp gauges are much more in my line of site now...before the steering wheels was a bit in the way.

I also couldn't take the short carpet anymore, so I made some step plates that tuck under the sill plates and hold the edge of the carpet down. No more worries about it pulling up!

[DYNODANNY]

Mr.Anderson your interior is coming out bitchen, love those 66 elco's. Cool build!

[Motown 454]

The interior looks great. That console looks like it was made for it.

[Mr. Anderson]

Thanks Danny and Wayne!

Some more problems sorted out. Here's the idler pulley on, should work a-ok. Had some issues getting my power steering pulley on the pump, but turns out I had a pulley from a bad batch that Alan Grove sent out, and they agreed to swap it out. The new pulley fit great!



I should know by now not to assume anything. After some research, the bore of a C4 clutch master cylinder is 13/16", while the Camaro slave cylinder is 1". They don't work so well together, or at all! After exhausting OEM options (did not want to use the stock Camaro m/c, way to ugly) I went aftermarket. Thankfully the plate I made to mount the C4 m/c had enough meat on it to drill and tap a couple more holes and fit the Willwood 7/8" bore unit, same bore size as the stock Camaro piece.



the old one...

[chunger]

Are you running a slave cylinder down at the bellhousing? Or am I'm not clear on what did or didn't match up?

[Mr. Anderson]

Yeah, I'm using LT1 stuff with the slave cylinder on the bellhousing....not a hydraulic throwout bearing.

[chunger]

So, the two bore sizes have to match? I'm asking 'cause I'll be going through something real similar when I set mine clutch up in the next few months.

[johnny68]

hey eric i noticed your ebrake what year camaro is it and what did you do for cables i need to start from scratch and like your set up thanks
john

[Mr. Anderson]

Chunger, they don't have to match but they need to be close. It can get a lot more involved if you play with pedal ratio and other things beyond my comprehension level. But the smaller the bore of the master cylinder, the less volume it can push. But also, the smaller the bore of the master cylinder, the easier it will be to push.

So with the slave cylinder down on the transmission being 1" bore, I could have used a matching 1" master cylinder making the slave move exactly the same as when I push the clutch pedal....but it would have been a very stiff pedal.

The 7/8" is a good compromise in that it will still move enough volume to disengage the clutch, but the pedal pressure should be tolerable. 7/8" is also what the factory used with the clutch setup I am running, so I figured it should work out well.

John, the handle is from a late 4th gen. Probably '98 up, but I'm not exactly sure. My console came out of something like an '01 so I found a brake handle that matched. I used Lokar e-brake cables to hook everything up, part # EC-80FU. The front end of that kit where the cables tie together has a large clevis on it (meant to bolt to Lokar's own handle). I took that clevis off and replaced it with part # S-8074, which allows you to connect to a single cable. I had to remove the mechanism from the end of the stock Camaro handle's cable, then that cable fit into the S-8074.

[Mr. Anderson]

Got the brackets welded to my radiator today. Put the core support and the fenders on....all just for mock up. But I located the mounting holes in the brackets and got the radiator in.

[Motown 454]

Nice progress, the radiator looks good in there.

[johnny68]

thank eric car is looking great wheels look very good on it
john

[Mr. Anderson]

Hear me out....I had a thought, but it's probably not a great one.



What if I were to fill the "empty" side of this area with a fuel tank. In the existing hole, I can make roughly a 16 gallon tank, a little more. If I were to move that center support over to the edge of the hole for the battery box, I could make up to a 24 gallon tank!



Advantages....weight in front of instead of behind the rear axle. Mounting the spare tire where the old gas tank was with a late model truck cable/crank setup keeping it nice and hidden. If I build a 24 gallon tank I've got 4 extra gallons than stock, plus I can build baffles into the tank, something the stocker doesn't have. Less chance of rupture in case of an accident.

Disadvantages....possible refabrication on some of my battery door stuff. Sealing off the cab wall completely, and well as the battery. If I went with a 16 gallon tank, I'm losing 4 gallons from stock capacity. The weight will be mostly on the drivers side where the driver is already not too lightweight himself. Have to route fuel lines across the center of the car. Loss of storage space.

Thoughts?

[chunger]

Excellent idea. Dunno about your Elco, but on my Ranchero, the gas tank is already offset to one side, so that's less of an issue. I like the idea of being able to carry a spare out of sight - where was it originally?

[Mr. Anderson]

The spare was inside the cab, behind the passenger side of the seat. Of course, I've gotten rid of all of the brackets for that stuff. The plan was to just throw the spare in the bed, but I wasn't real keen on having to make something to lock it down with to keep it from "walking off" either.

[Yelcamino]

It's not a bad idea. I think the pros outweigh the cons and I really like the idea of mounting the spare under the bed like a newer model truck. You could probably fit two GTO style space saver spares!

[dusterbd13]

id say do it. those are all good reasons to, and i see no real downside other than filler door access with stuff in the bed. id also go with as much capacity, baffles, and in tank fuel pump as you could.

Michael

[chunger]

Of course, it would be really trick if you could mount the spare under the bed, like newer models, and utilize a crank system to lower the spare, when needed.

[Mr. Anderson]

I guess in the back of my mind I was hoping you would all say "thats a silly idea!" so I wouldn't have to do it.

Guess I have a project for this weekend now! The more I think about it the more I want to do it though.

I haven't nailed down a way to fill it yet, but it will certainly be through the quarter panel and not through the cab floor. I had that pleasure on the last old truck I had, and what a pain in the butt that was.

Thanks for the input guys!

[Yelcamino]

I guess in the back of my mind I was hoping you would all say "thats a silly idea!" so I wouldn't have to do it.

Guess I have a project for this weekend now! The more I think about it the more I want to do it though.

I haven't nailed down a way to fill it yet, but it will certainly be through the quarter panel and not through the cab floor. I had that pleasure on the last old truck I had, and what a pain in the butt that was.

Thanks for the input guys!

Here's an ... move the gas filler door that's already on the driver side of the car forward to behind the driver door in line with the new fuel tank location. The average Joe probably wouldn't even know it was relocated.

If you do it this way, make sure the filler neck goes in the top of the tank and not the side like the factory did it. Before I changed my tank, I was at a show and had to park on a rolling hill. The driver side of the car was on the downhill side and through the course of the show, fuel started to dribble out the fill cap (had a full tank ). It was such a crowded show I couldn't move the car unless we wanted to leave so everyone that walked by got to enjoy the smell of 93 octane!

One more thing, try to locate the fuel level sending unit as close to the center of the tank as possible. Rick's put the sender in the forward left corner of my tank. Downhill and on right turns I always have a full tank, uphill and left turns it's suddenly empty!