82-87 El Camino - can you put a M/C SS nose on it?

[fast69cam]

I have a dear old friend (70 yrs old) that has an El Camino (82-87 body) and he has already purchased a higher priced NOS nose facia (paid 600.00 for just the nose) for an 83-88 Monte Carlo SS and wants to put it on his El Camino. I know my Monte's but am not familiar enough with the El Camino's. He has already figured out the angle of the front fenders is not the same. Can he buy a complete dog house for an 83-88 Monte SS and put it on the 82-87 El Camino ? Do the body lines, doors, etc match up ? Are the hoods the same ? Are just the fenders, radiator support, headlight buckets, bumper mounting the only differences ? I would really like to hear from someone who has had first hand experience at this.


Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

 

[monte olrac]

I'm not to sure about the dog house fitting, i've heard the caminos had a slighty narrower front end, but I do know you will need the doors to line up the body lines. some else will chime in on the fenders and header panel.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

The only way you can use a monte ss nose on a camino is by having the doors and complete front clip, including fenders. The malibu and el camino use a different nose similar to the choo choo nose.

 

[Mike P]

I'm doing a 78 Monte nose on my 83 El Camino, I'm pretty sure youre friend is going to run into the same issues I did.

He will need to use both the dog house and front doors (I'm pretty sure the core support will be that same).

He MAY have to extend the front frame horns and there may be some extra bracing required.

I'm pretty sure he will run into body line issues at the back of the doors both with the lower and upper and lines.

Here is my thread that covers the swap so far, the clip swap starts on page 3

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=12658

 

[glhman222]

yes you can, mines already painted viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15420 scroll to bottom to see pics

all u need is the whole front end, which bolts up, longer front bumper shocks, the el camino ones are to short IDK if monte carlo ss ones fit or not haven't sorted that out yet, the doors from the monte you need, and then swap your glass from the el camino to the monte doors, and the misc parts as well, you need to use the el camino coolant resevoir and possibly drill some holes for a few small things on the inner fenders

 

[patmckinneyracing]

That's what sucks is that you practically need a complete donor car to pull that off. That's why I just decided to stick with an ss spoiler that goes around the bumper instead of swapping out over half the car just to put a nose on it.

 

[camino82]

i have it on my 82 elco

 

[Chevyonbillets]

Yes you just need the hole front clip and doors. On the body of the elky there are two lines that don't match just with body filler
you make them.

 

[1983ss454]

I have Done this swap myself, and everyone is right about needing the doors and nose. I actually found it easier to swap the dash and wiring harness in as well. . . Only the earlier models (78-80) I believe need the horns on the front of the frame modified, my '83 bolted right on. . . For the body lines there are se several ways to do it, 1. Leave it alone, 2. Use about 3" body moulding to go down the side, 3. Use body tools and bang out the quarters, 4. Use filler and make the lines, (I've seen them all used) 5. Is the way I did mine, get a donor door and weld the sheet metal with the lines into the quarter. Just my 2 cents, but I refused to build the lines with filler seeing as thou I didn't want my paint job coming apart in a couple years. . . Just wanted to share my experience on the topic