4x4 el camino/ Good idea or should I be institutionalized

[itsnotanova]

I have this freshly painted 80 el camino body collecting dust and I was thinking about putting it on a modern 4x4 drivetrain. I've surfed salvage websites, and you can get a rolled,theft recovery or wrecked tahoe or blazer for almost next to nothing. The wheelbase is very close and I'm positve I could fab some body mounts. I'm thinking something clean, not an 80's flashback. No 44inch tires,ten thousand lights or shocks.No big ugly rollbar. clean and simple almost like it just came from the factory with some 35 inch meaty tires on 18inch rims..So what do you guys think?

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I think you should be fitted for a straight jacket. If I were to do 4 wheel drive on a G body, I would use the AWD system from a Astro/Safari van instead, and figure out how to use a manual trans and independent rear suspension at the same time. Make it a modern performance car, not some hick mobile.

 

[Coveted]

+1 straight jacket.

everyone else with trucks are going to say you could have had a truck.
Why did you lift a car?
Money better spent elsewhere ect.
look for a wrecked ls1 camaro or soemthing, and swap that powertrain into an elcamino .

 

[midwestls]

+2 on that, why wreck a good car just to look like you should have whip antennas, a dixie horn and some boss hogg bull horns on the hood. Come on now.

 

[itsnotanova]

I know it's a crazy redneck idea. I like the dare to be different stuff. Hell I love Gbodies! I'm not sure where you guys live but here in modern hippie , tree huggin, rainbow flag waven, toyota prius driven Austin Texas. NOBODY knows what my car is and I like it that way.

 

[pose_442]

I think you should be fitted for a straight jacket. If I were to do 4 wheel drive on a G body, I would use the AWD system from a Astro/Safari van instead, and figure out how to use a manual trans and independent rear suspension at the same time. Make it a modern performance car, not some hick mobile.

Well said!! There's a ton of those Astro/Safari vans around that can be bought for cheap. Install S-10 4x4 front hubs and your bolt pattern issue is solved.

Also, installing a set up from a 4x4 S-10 should work well. To correct the F/R tracking issue, install an 8.5 rear axle from a B-body (Impala/Caprice). Then just install wheels with S-10 4x4 backspacing or 93-02 F-body wheels.

For me, I'd keep it as stock looking as I could. The 4-hi for grip in the bad weather and great handling, then 4-lo for killer 4-wheel burnouts!!

AWD T-type Anyone????

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I know it's a crazy redneck idea. I like the dare to be different stuff. Hell I love Gbodies! I'm not sure where you guys live but here in modern hippie , tree huggin, rainbow flag waven, toyota prius driven Austin Texas. NOBODY knows what my car is and I like it that way.

Different is one thing, reviled is another. In order for different to be cool, it must first meet certain guidelines of respectability. A nicely done AMC Pacer makes you odd, but some people may still dig it if it is done nicely. Same goes for a 1975 Datsun 610 wagon or a Plymouth Valiant. If you stay within the lines of certain conventions they are cool because they fit that particular genre of automotive self expression. Very few people like cars (Or car/pickups, or "utes" as the Aussie's call them) turned into 4x4's with lift kits. I can only think of one company that ever did it from the factory, and that company is GAZ ( Automovid Gorky Zamod-I am sure I got that wrong, but it stands for Gorky Automobile factory), which was a state owned enterprise of the former Soviet Union.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I couldn't find a paste-able pic of a GAZ M20 Pobeda, so I present this Soviet 4x4 car. I think it's a GAZ Volga. Love that communist engineering! :lol:

I found it on Google pictures, but it originates from this site:http://autobuzik.blog.hu/2008/05/14/orosz_fantomok Sorry, but I can't read Russian either!

 

[midwestls]

Those kinds of things (cars on 4x4 frames) are everywhere up here and let me tell you, every one of them are incredably retarded looking. I'm going to take pic's of all of them and make a new laugh at these guys if you see them post. Just to list some of the cars that have been made into trucks (the ones I can remember anyway) up here where I live (Bismarck ND); 72 Chevelle, 85ish Firebird, an old 60's Mercedes, a 61 Plymouth wagon, a Pinto, 80's full size Caddy, ect....

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I kinda liked this Volga though... It just looks like it's is ready for war!

It is also a pickup truck, and a 4 door sedan!

I found it here, on Jaloponik:http://jalopnik.com/cars/el-camino/...e-four+door-four+by+four-volgamino-220347.php