project drivabeater 2.0: 64 el camino this time

first autocross of the season is Saturday at zmax in concord nc. yall are welcome to play.

Leak fixed. Changed crank seal with no change. Finally found the oil pressure sender at the front of the block under the serpentine setup was leaking through the wiring harness. Had another. Fixed now.

Next autocross is Saturday at zmax. I'll be there.

You still thrashing on the camino?

Its probably been 15k miles since I updated this thread. 

Damn good truck. Due for a set of tires, some paint touch up, and a ring and bearing job. 

Pulls a trailer really well.

Honestly, between the challenge car and duster and miata, this one hasn't seen much love lately. But thats going to change soon.

Needs rings and bearings already? Or did it not get them originally, I read through the whole thread the other day but I don't recall everything that was done when the TBI happened.

Also did you autocross this with the 700r4? How was that?

Never did them to the tbi. Enging has roughly 350k on it, near as i can tell. Its slap worn out.

The 700r autocrosses beautifully.  Slam it in secong and go. Very responsive, very stable, very predictable. 

Ahhhh ok well 350k is pretty good then ha ha. 

And that's good news- I am hoping to play with my big truck next year for at least one autocross.

Honestly, between the challenge car and duster and miata, this one hasn't seen much love lately. But thats going to change soon.

Same issue with my El Camino! Project car and daily's get all the love. El Camino just gets loads of mulch, landfill/scrapyard runs, and the occasional fair-weather commute. Finally put new tires on it though! 

So, 12 hours on the truckyesterday. 

New shocks

All 4 brakes done with pins and pads

Fresh fluids

Fresh air cleaner

Billet wheels 

Timing adjusted

Fresh alignment 

Led headlights 

HD radio 

Operable antenna 

Motor mounts 

And started the mini tub

Can you share with the class a picture of your LED headlights?

Sure thing when it gets dark. 

May not be tonight though 

On a side note, what i had diagnosed as a rod knock at idle is actually the exhaust manifolds hitting the frame.  Hence new motor mounts. 

Unfortunately I had already bought another engine....

Dusterbd13 said:

Sure thing when it gets dark. 

May not be tonight though 

It's not gonna get dark tonight where you live?

Lol. No, just been away from the family far too much lately, and the truck is at my dads place.

Love seeing the elco get some love!

Haven't forgotten about the led pictures.  Just haven't gotten there yet. If Flickr would link from phone, life would be easier. 

Side question: can polished billet wheels be clearcoated, or is there some way to make them lower maintenance? Love the polished wheels on this thing. 

So, long time since an official update. Truck has been fairly reliable in all that time. Some issues, but nothing major. 

Tuesday, I pulled it on the lift for a nut and bolt check. 12 hours later....

New shocks- Ebay AST brand. 

All 4 brakes done with pins and pads oriellys warrenty on pads, good used pins

Fresh fluids

Fresh air cleaner $10 from a fellow GRM challenge competitor

Billet wheels 90 and a set of slicks from a fellow grm challenge competitor

Timing adjusted

Fresh alignment 

Led headlights 25 from ebay

HD radio leftover from another car

Operable antenna cheapest electric on ebay. Want to say 11

Motor mounts 

Mini starter from amazon 49ish

And started the mini tub

Lots of this was purchased so long ago that I dint remember prices other than what I listed. 

Anyway, the truck has served some serious duty and neglect. And about 15k. I put a starter in it due to the unknown age and source original. Still have to tweak some grounds and battery cable sizes. The motor mounts were because I had an exhaust manifold hitting the frame. I thought it was a light rod knock, but im tankful I was wrong. Shocks were because the bilstein experiment resulted in broken fronts about every 7k, and rear springs that fell out every time it was jacked up. I honestly cant tell a handling difference between the cheap ebay brand and the junkyard bilsteins. Ride is definitely better with the ebays over harsh impacts. 

Alignment was taken from -3 camber and all the positive caster and 1/4 toe out to a much more tire friendly -.75 camber, 5.5 positive caster, 1/16 toe in. It actually has better steering feel and road manners, but less ultimate grip. 

The JVC head unit had died a while back. Swapped in a pioneer HD radio I had leftover from something else (i stockpile used HD radios for my dailies), and the power antenna was mounted in the right rear bed corner. I chose the location for two reasons. One was access. The other was due to the studs being broken off the trim, and I used the antenna to hold it in place. Works great, and has a great sound and reception. Theres more audio revisions that have been made, such as a different amp 

(eclipse died), different front speakers (kenwoods in speaker kick panels, which are both going away).

20171025_175744 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20171025_180007 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

The air cleaner was already powdercoated black, with a reusable filter, for cheaper than I could but a replacement paper air filter. 

20171025_175756 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

LED headlight bulbs: at some point, I had put in higher wattage Hella bulbs. One died on a low beam, and one high beam. I was able to purchase LED bulbs from ebay cheaper for all 4 than the two burned out bulbs. I wanted to try them out, see what I thought. I kept hearing rave reviews about the LED stuff. 

20171025_175717 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Low beam. Better field of vision at night, noticeably less hot spot

20171025_175707 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

High beam: holy crap much brighter

20171025_175728 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

At some point I dyed the seats, removed the headrests, and installed a second generation blazer console. Forgive me if I mentioned all that before.

20171025_180014 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Due to me being me, ive been wanting some different wheels. The z06 wheels were cool, but it looked too subtle. The c4 sawblades were awesome, but bent. I tried some mustang bullitt wheels, didn't like them. So I scored a set of vintage centerline scorpion wheels. 17x8 front, 17x10 rear. Fronts came with 245/45/17 with good tread to replace my really camber worn front tires. Swapped my good pair of 275/40/17 on the 17x10. Patrick had bought these in the late 90s, and never really used them. I gave them a good home. They had been sitting in the barn for over a decade before he brought them to me. 

20171020_084354 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Washed them first

20171023_115436 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Mounted them up to find they rubbed the wheel well lip. Figured this out on the drive back from the tire shop. Wrecked the wheel-well lips, and did a number on the quarters. But the wheels looked so good, I don't mind. Hence the mini-tub job....

20171024_202416 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Now ive started polishing them. Will have to wait to do more until my polishing cones come over on the slow boat from china. 

20171030_080349 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20171029_153058 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20171030_201305 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I also picked up a safety upgrade: a tilt column. Reason I qualify as safety is that the stock 64 column doesn't collapse in an accident. Its a spear pointed at your sternum. This one will collapse. And, as a bonus, its not worn out. 

20171025_192023 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

Up next is to get this old girl cleaned up, the wipers and heater and stereo fixed, redo the keyless entry so it works, make a better seat mount setup, and swap the column. Probably also going to finally hook up the cruise. I also have a fuel smell I cant find yet, a smugglers compartment to finally finish, and bed-liner to respray. Just because I don't have anything better to do.....

I gotta be honest,  not a fan of those wheels. Then I saw them on the truck, holy smokes!! Amazeballs! Keep on doing what you do.

In reply to Pattyo :

Im a product of the 80s/90s. Back in high school, 17s were huge and billet wheels were true baller status.  I bought every car mag ij could find, from hemmings to minitruckin.

These take me to 1996. Love it. I know they are not everyone's cup of tea, but they are nostalgic for me. And, once on the truck, they really click with the build. Clean and simple enough to be subtle, but flashy enough to catch your eye. 

I didn't quite express myself the way I wanted to. At first I really did not like the retro wheels, but then when I saw them  on the Elky I was blown away with how good they look. She's really coming along nicely and I don't think you'll have any trouble selling it in the spring if you decide to go that route.

That's almost exactly how i interpreted what you wrote.  So, no worries. 

I turned down 9.5k two weeks ago.  Apparently its not actually for sale.

All the old metal is cut out. The tires dont rub anymore!

I love the looks.

Saturday morning i head to the coast for kick panels and seafood, turn around and go to the base of the mountains for fenders.

My insane plan is to redo both quarters with the front wheel arches from the junk fenders, making the front and rear wheel exposure and arches the same. It seems like a good idea in my head. Especially since these quarters now need a lot of work anyway.

Well, spoke too soon.  Leaving hardees, full right lock and bump. Caught the left front wheel well lip and bent it some.

Hmmer and dolley tomorrow.  And figure out why le left front is 1/2 less spindle to wheel arch than the right. My guess is body is lower on that side.

the core support bushing fell out on the drivers side. whoops. 

borrowed a fender roller from my buddy that runs the tire store. noce tool!

and added stcikers. and gas. and drove it some tonight. 

20171101_182945 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20171101_182935 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

tomorrow i meet mad ratel for some wheels to get to him, and saturday i got from here, to fayetteville, to lenoir, to back home. for kick panels, inner fenders, and spare 64 front fenders to do reprehensible things to. 

MC now i know what 'back in black' is ALL about..........please continue. Was also not a fan of those hoops back in the early 90's, but great googly moogly those look spot on.