project drivabeater 2.0: 64 el camino this time

wait till i break out the rattle cans. i have to do it. even if it will be getting sanded off pretty quicly, i still have to do it.

so i spent a couple of hours over the last couple of days getting a little pre-tlc done to this thing.

i pulled down all 4 drums, cleaned, lubed, and adjusted. could find no evidence anywhere of where the brake fluid went. no idea. it had to go somewhere, but that somewhere has not revealed itself to me yet. all the drums were nice and thick, no appreciable wear. all the shoes looked fairly fresh, same with the hardware. wheel cylenders fairly crusty, but no evidence of leaking.

bled a bunch of air and crap out of the lines. readjusted the wheel bearings, and found minute amounts of play in both wheel bearings on the rear axle. will probably change them when i go to rear disc.

gave the underside a good once over. floor pans have been replaced at some point, and BADLY. and the replacements are already rotted. so, looks like that will be a bigger job than originally thought.

found why the e-brake was not working. was not hooked up at the pedal. hooked it up there, and had to adjust it almost to the far slack end of travel for it to have any travel at the pedal. doesnt drag, but only has about an inch of travel in it. may work out with time.

engine was origonally blue, as evidenced by where the chevy orange is flaking off. one piece fel-pro gasket (blue one) on the oil pan, which makes me a little nervous. but it runs good, sounds good, has plenty of power. need to figure out just what it is though, and to do that i need to find the casting numbers. im afraid its a 305, but still, even if it is, it will suit my needs fine. just need to figure it out for TBI stuff, really.

also swapped the shifter stick to a longer one i had laying around. still dont like it.

started looking around up under the dash while i was doing park brake. cable to the heater motor is sieved for some reason at the box. thats why i cant turn it on, as the fan speed switch also operates that cable.

the low beams dont work, but 3 of the 4 headlights come on when you pull the switch. miserably dim, though. still has 2 of the old t-series bulbs in it.

test fitted my new to me spotlights. fit the hole perfect.

drove it a little tonight after all that.

runs hard in the secondaries. dont know what its geared yet, but its stiff. like 4.11 stiff. rear brakes are having massive pre-mature lock up problems. but its wet, and i think i may have them adjusted a little too tinght. time will tell. also, i proceeded to pop the cooling system on the way to the gas station. i know its at the front area, but unsure if radiator or hose, as it was really, really dark and i had no lights or tools with me. still put fresh gas in it, and drove it home after adding a lot more water. well figure that out another day, but short version is to put a 3core aluminum radator, new heavy duty cooling pump, and fresh hoses in it. then see if the freeze plugs hold.

it was a fun drive tonight, though. i really like this old truck.

now back to customer cars.

michael

I'll tell you that if the brake shoes have ever had fluid on them they will always lock up with the slightest provocation. They're cheap, and it just may be the right idea. I don't think there is a way to adjust it on those stock, so unless there's an adjustable proportioning valve which was added OR the fronts are toast and not functioning at all, I'd say a shoe change in the rear is a good idea. I think gear oil can cause the same symptoms, have you checked how much is in the pumpkin? The GM rears are somewhat famous for rust coating the underside of the bed. In fact, I have not owned a single GM stock rear end that didn't do this.

A brave man taking a serious unknown for a lengthy test drive without tools!

Keep the updates coming, man! I am excited. These cars are a neat aesthetic mix. I've always longed for one. Of course now it would need to seat five to be of any use, but hey.

i dunno about brave. stupid maybe, but not brave.

and the drums aint staying long enough to worry about. as soon as i get soem real time, its going 4 wheel disc. i ahve all the aprts, from a couple of cars that i was planning on doing over the years and never did due to selling the vehicles.

so hopefully the cooling system will be a quick fix, as the body man wants it next week to sand it down and epoxy prime it. for a grand total expenditure of 25 bucks. giggity.

so, quickie update. the cooling system failure was threefold. what caused the massive loss was the too large mechanical van contacting the upper radiator hose. cut it juuuust enough. also, the previously mentioned ffan clutch. lastly, the core of the radiator is haing small leaks in multiple places. so i fixed all three problems for a grand total of 8.94. thats 7.99 plust tax, and a couple of crimp connectors, as well as stolen nutmeg frm the wife. upper radiator hose was bought at o'reilleys. after i got that in, i found the small leaks. used nutmeg, which is the worlds best stopleak. and it smells nice! i the went on another test drive, as i had to get some hardware and zipties for the firebird build. wound up driving over half the town to get what i needed, drop off movies, and get some groceries. truck ran really good, though slightly warmer than id like. drove pretty good, and the brakes felt good (well, as good as 10 inch drums are going to.....) suspension has a little play at the steering, a few creaks and bangs, and the shocks are done for. pulls to the left as well. trans and drivetrain are pretty good. pulled the engine codes, and it comes out to an under 200 horse 73 350 with 3 speed. runs good, though, so i wont mess with it. also an acceptable power level for stock TBI and ECM from an 80's fullsize.

tonight, after work, i decided to address the cooling fan. up in storage, i have all sorts of odds and ends and parts. pulled out a dual fan setup from my duster , and a thermostatic control left over from my old s10. so no new money spent.

qpther 5.99 at o'reilleys for the fan mounting ties, a luttle time in the rain and dark, and i have an ugly but functional cooling fan setup. it really needs done differently, and will be, but first i want to get a few other things redone so im not chasing my tail.

also, my 1.5 hubcentric spacers (58 from ebay)came in today. now to find a couple 275/40/17's that i can mount up on the z06 wheels. see if i like them, or if they need to go waway. im leaning towards them going away, as i would really like to go with a 16x8 rally and 245/50/16 tires. saw a black one on the net with that setup, and it works for me.

lastly, i started mocking up the spotlight.

new budget total:4291.65

if you're talking about the steel rallys in 16", i can tell you they're super heavy. what about a set of the 18" retro-looking steelies from the new camaro? somebody on here put a set on an old galaxie with pattern adapter spacers and they look sweet on the old iron.

I've not had a steel rally in my hand in this size. Not too concernde about weight though. I just really like the looks of those wheels. Especially in a darker grey with a smooth center cap. Sucks being sick. O progress on nothin. Was making great progress on firebirsd, and shoulda been almost done this weekend....

budget first: subtract 120 for the z06 sheels and spacers. add 535.26 for the following: steering wheel pitman arm brake booster brackets 16X8 rally wheels with 5 inch backspacing

all ordered from summit. the wheels are on backorder, and should be here in a few weeks. then ill put some good tires on them, and convert my disc setup at the same time. new total: 4706.91

im not sure if the wheel is going in the elky or the duster. either way, ill use this price. ive always wanted a tuff wheel in the duster, and looked at these on the internet, but now that i have one in my hands it seems pretty bad as a tuff wheel knockoff. ill probabloy try it anyway, but im not holding my breath. if it goes in the elky, itll go in as is for now, and be color matched to the interior when i get there.

the pitman arm is for the power steering conversion. same with the steering wheel. the brake booster brackets are so i can run a late model booster and master. the wheels are because of this:

this is my goal. only with a red interior and smooth center caps instead of the tri-bars. maybe a hair lower, but not much. thanks to everyone who helped do photoshops for me. i really, really appreciate it.

im off to pull-a-part tomorrow to grab my late model serpentine power steering pump tomorrow, and hopefully a fresh remanned booster/master combo. if i get really lucky, ill snack some good rear rotors while im out there too.

michael

so, previous budget total was 4706.91 add 23.52 for 10 ft 2 gauge batery cable and terminal ends add 31.98 for booster and aluminum master (93 s10 blazer, if you were wondering) add 26.36 for rotors (brand new, though surface rusty LS1 camaro rotors) add 27.42 fpr calipers and abutments (LS1 camaro, ive had them for years. dont remember what i paid, but they came from pull-a-part, so i used current price) add 27.02 for power steering pump, lines, pully, and cap add 16.02 for valve covers add 0.00 for power steering cooler and misc electrical parts (they didnt charge me)

new total: 4829.23

so, ill pick up where i started this week: getting ready to get ready. still collecting parts for the brake and steering conversions. picked up a fresh booster/master combo at pull-a-part in columbia when i was down helping a friend move. 1 inch bore, 10 inchish booster. should work great. also got the tube nuts to reuse when making my new brake lines. i had also picked up a power steering pump, which upon returning home i realized was wrong. luckily, pull-a-part has started a return policy lately, so i was able to swap it out after work today for the correct piece. didnt cost me an extra dime, and this time i got a pair of fresh power steering lines in the process. i also picked up rotors for my LS brake conversion, as i seem to have lost the set i had. while scrounging, i found a clean set of stock valve covers. i hate chrome valve covers. just seem cheap in some applications. no offense to anyone, but the ones on this car just looked BAD. ill clean and repaint the stockers. sell of the chrome edelbrocks.... i also pulled my disc brake swap stuff out of storage. what you can see in the pic is the LS calipers and abutments, C5 vette abutments, and a 300ZX twin turbo rear caliper/rotor set. i also have a set of Z06 vette calipers kicking around somewhere, i just havent found them yet.... at this point, im still up in the air about rear brakes. id like to go disc, just for cool factor. but i dont know if its worth the time and money in this application. ill leave the drums back there for now, and make the determinayion after i actually get more than one evening worth of driving in this thing. lastly is the pile of electrical/power steering cooler stuff.

i also actually turned wrences on the elky. i know, shocking that im doing somnething instead of spending money. i got it backed into the work bay tonight, and started dissassembly in preparation for rear mounted battery and hardcore cleaning. decided to route the positive battery cable along the trans tunnel inside the car for safety sake. went through the factory qaccess hole in the rear cab wall. the hole was solid, but the blockoff plate is pretty rusty. ill make some new ones here shortly.

i then pulled the battery out of up front after routing the cable. at some point, someone cut the origonal battery tray almost in half, and bolted down some universal metal tray. im reusing the universal piece in the smugglers copartment for my battery mount. i was also shocked to see no rust under the battery tray. did find a mouse nest and a handfull of drywall screws, though.

after that, i decided it would be easiest and best to clean the front end of the chassis and engine with the inner fenders removed. this is when things snowballed.

passengers side is almost out, but theres about 4 biolts that im going to have to cut off. the u-nuts on the fender have broken, and i cant get to the back side to hold them. id have cut them off tonight, but my wife and daughter are asleep. dont want to wake them. so far, everything has come apart with hand tools with that exception. i did discover a few concerns though. first, the core support is bolted directly to the frame. shouldnt there be busghings there? second, im wondering if the distribution block is plumberd correctly. something doesnt seem right with it.

lastly, im driping water from the bellhousing. the only reason i can think of for this, other than there was still a little up in there somehow from when i started cleaning, is the rear freeze plugs are leaking. which would mean that i motor has to come out. whoch would be an even better time to clean and paint everything. and swap to a 700r4. and change some leaking gaskets. and......

SNOWBALL!!

i dont know where im going yet at this point. im hoping to have a buyer lined up for the t70's, which would give me my trans money, whioch would make this much less of a debate withe myself. anyone want them if he falls through? ill let em go right, just wont ship them.

oh, and my rallys are backordered. it will be sometime in april when hey arrive.

michael

so i spent some quality time with a pressure washer and some superclean over the weekend. 2 gallons of superclean, and about 10 hours, to be honest. came out cleaner than i expected, if yopu want the honest truth. theres still a lot to go, but most of that can wait until i yank the drivetrain. which will be when i scrounge up trans and EFI money. which will be after a few more custpmer cars....

anyway, cleaner elky pics.

and i also started getting some of my new parts cleaned up and painted.

more when my back heals and im off call again.

Love the shiny new parts!!!

better than shiney new parts. shiny used parts at a fraction of new parts prices!

Dusterbd13 wrote: better than shiney new parts. shiny used parts at a fraction of new parts prices!

Where do you shop for shiny used parts? I love used parts. You at least know they worked once in the past. That's something you cannot say about new stuff.

i typically shop pull-a-part, foils junk yard, parker motors, and now LKQ. they start out grubby and evil looking, and after quality time with superclean, sos pads, screwdrivers, wire brushes, pressure washer, and finished with ;laquer thinner prior to painting.

depending on the part, it will either get POR15'd, or engine paint painted. these alimunim parts were shot with cast coat aluminum dupli-color, the steering box had the factory tag taped off and shot with cast coat iron.

and whenim scrounging, i always look for the vehicles that were well maintained and clean. easier to spot leaks and defects that way. with other parts, ill look for the filthiest, nastiest car i can, as they parts were better protected from the elements that way. engine brackets are a prime example of the latter. the first would be the strreing box, alternator, electrical parts, etc.

that help? michael

I just read through your drivabeater thread that you linked to. Jeebus. That truck turned out very, very sweet. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress with this one.

The little black truck was a riot. Had a good time and learned a lot withn it. New owner is still dailying it with fixed back seats and a cage. And I thought I took it too far for a street/daily truck...

Hopefully this one will handle and stop as good, be as useful, and ride/drive better when I'm done.

so, budget first:

previous total: 4829.23

parts purchased:

heavy duty, brand new, lifetime warranty serpentine water pump:21 from advance. they price matched oreilleys reman one year....

flyinbye brake brackets and hardware: 85

two cans of engine paint. duplicolor high heat satin black and cast coat aluminum. 16.98

braided stainless stoptech front brake lines from ebay: 55 shipped

hotchkis springs, upper and lower control arms, disc brake spindles, competition engineering rear drag shocks, and a manual steering box: 400 from craigslist in hickory

new total: 5407.21

so, I'm sick at the moment. last weds day my daughter was feeling bad, and wanted to cuddle. she was running a fever. by Saturday night, so was i. my wife and I had left Thursday night for a good friends wedding in blowing rock, as well as an anniversary weekend for ourselves. we had a good time, but cut it short due to how I was feeling. while I was resting a little bit Sunday morning before heading home, I pulled up the craigslist app on my phone. found a guy in Lenoir selling hotchkis springs for 400 bucks. no pictures, phone number, nothing. so I e-mailed him. he called me right back, and we set a time to meet at the wal mart in Lenoir. I had planned on buying hotchkis springs anyway, so I figured if I could get them for half price id be happy. when the guy and I met, he had quite a bit of stuff in his truck. the springs, tube up[per and lower control arms (I think they're hotchkis. look like it. but may be right stuff), disc brake spindles, and a steering box, as well as two adjustable drag shocks. we struck a deal for 400, and I loaded them into my car.

selling off the spindles, shocks, and steering box to get a little back.

also, after debating fabbing my own adapter brackets, I decided to purchase from flyinbye performance. he's also local to me, so that makes it even better. well thought out kit, with all new hardware, zinc plated, and great directions. ill give a full review wen I install.

lastly, I started on mocking up my serpentine setup to see what I needed to do. found an interesting issue. the harmonic balancer on my engine has a number of dowel pins that the old pulley was drilled for. the serpentine pulley is not. so when I'm able to get back down there, ill just use the old as a drilling guide for the new.

Don't you hate it when people don't comment?

I love it. nice find on the cheap used performance parts. Once thing I lament on the domestic performance front is the lack of hard data regarding the suspension stuff. I ask a guy who builds dampers for a living for the aftermarket and he wants to know the 'drop'. I tell him, no, no, I moved the dampers, that's not applicable. I changed the motion ratio from X to Y. he doesn't care.

So when I hear "hotchkis springs" I get all weird.

Hotchkis was a GM engineer who designed some good stuff. Now there's an aftermarket company. What springs are they? Stiffer? Straight rate? Drop?

Same for the dampers. What are they?

Sounds fun. I am reading.

springs are stiffer (500lb/in fronts, 175 rear) and provide a drop of ~one inch out of the box. the control arms are harder to find specs on, but they supposedly increase positive caster, and the lowers provide an additional 1/2 inch drop. ill put them in the way they are, and see what i actually get. ill probably still wind up going tall upper and lower ball joints, though.

and the shocks are just some drag shocks. im selling them. ill wind up with some nice bilsteins. i like bilstein shocks. im pretty sure i can run s10 blazer shocks front and rear, but more research is required,

michael

no budget update!!

after hundreds of minutes of painstaking body work, with a no expenses paid 1.00 point body restoration by my team of crack body men, the drivabeater is painted!!

seriously, I scuffed the old primer with an SOS pad and dishwashing detergent, rubbed it down with laquor thinner, taped it off, and shot it with krylon satin italian olive and satin black. it looks a lot better than the "rolling advertisement for tetanus shots" as my wife referred to it.

bonus points at my house for painting it her LEAST favorite color. she hates it. I think it looks kinda cool.

its still getting painted black, though......

michael

The paint looks amazing. Keep it!

Sweet!

That green is perfect for the truck.

OK, I back down, I normally rant on about how bad the whole matt/satin craze looks, but well done, that looks awesome

adrian, normally i agree. for a temporary, left over paint job, this looks pretty cool. at least in pictures taken from 20 feet.

i honestly didnt expect this kind of reaction to spray painting a classic car.....