Thanks Vern. The engine is a 73 and the Cam is one of Marty’s MT 5s. For now I’m keeping it at the original 8.5:1 compression.
I’m setting it up mostly for cruising so initially I’ll be running a 2.75 gear but I have a nice selection of 9” third members set up with deeper gears.
500 block backed up by a 2.75 gear... thats some unique sh*t... u gonna build it for top end... **** with the japo goukes who think you all show after 100mph
I worked at A Cadillac dealer in PHX for a lot of years.I bought a 78 Coupe DeVille For my wife, It had a 425 with a THM 400 And a 2:28 gear.
That thing would run all day at 80 to 100 mph. It was all torque and a very cushy ride. It was the best highway car.
It probably used too much gas but it sure was nice. Ice cold AC and 6 way power seats.The 425 was a lesser displacement engine that the 500 and the 472.but it was so smooth. We got rid of it when we got another house, Because it would not fit in the garage, It was 22 feet long 😳 It was one of our favorite cars of the last 30 years.
With that much torque you won't need anything deeper, I'm sure as it sits it'll still roast a pair o' tires without any problem. You could probably even go down to a 2.29.
I’m at the stage where I spend a good amount of time working on it but at the end of the day visually it doesn’t look like I’ve done much.
I did get the new quick ratio steering gear in, but still had problems. I eventually ended up putting the original fitting back in the PS pump, cut off the O ring fitting on the hose and ran a compression fitting to mate the hose to a compression fitting at the back of the pump. I still think there was a problem with the steering gear I replaced, but I couldn’t get the new gear to work with the compression fitting in the pump. The fittings looked the same, but changing it seemed to do the trick.
I got the weather striping and door glass in and cleaned up and installed all the exterior trim. This weekend I worked mostly in the interior. I got the insulation in
Followed by the carpet, headliner, interior trim and seats.
There are not really a whole bunch of options for speakers in the 5th Gen El Caminos. The kick panel ones interfere with the parking brakes and I don’t care for the look of the door panel ones. The ones I settled on were the behind the seat units, it still allows access to the smugglers box (and spare tire and jack) and when I bench tested them they sounded pretty good. It will be interesting to see how much the seats muffle them.
I got the AC/Heater installed, but right now at a stopping point until I can get the firewall bulkhead and hoses made up to I can access the fittings.
After that it’s pretty much down to the dash and wiring.
I bought the speakers thru The El Camino Store. They are made by Custom Auto Sound and actually sold by them for early Corvettes. Like I said it’s not a real high end system but between this and 2 upgraded 3” speakers in the corners of the dash it sounds a whole lot better than the stock setup.
At around $100-$125 for the setup it’s also cheaper than the kick panel or door panel options.
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