BUILD THREAD 84 El Camino build thread

[SoFloG]

About 4 years since I've been on the forum. Unforunateley sold my 88 Cutlass from "Unofficial 88 Cutlass build thread" on here after blowing the th350 and letting it sit. Picked up a gmt400 rcsb and put the drivetrain in it with a fresh th400 and scrapped that project, but kept drivetrain. Now, I have finally qualmed the desire to once again pour blood sweat tears, and time, in to another Gbody. She's rough, but has much potential, and now my son is old enough to learn and help with a project. So here is the beginning, and I'll try to keep a log going.

 

[SoFloG]

Cleaned the bed out, adjusted the Edelbroke, found more door panels than I know what to do with, and got a tire on one of the wheels.

 

[SoFloG]

It also came with a 2 piece fiberglass topper, and a strange piece of glass curved at almost a 90 degree angle... anybody have any idea what it might be?

 

[mclellan83]

Interested to see this come together

 

[SoFloG]

Door handle in/out, started cleaning up engine bay removing all unnecessary stuff. Bare bones street drag car is the goal for now.

I want to get a visual on all the rust and find all the little issues before any aesthetically pleasing mods are started. Apparently this car was being prepped for paint when it was pulled out of the shop 10 years ago and left to sit outside.

Passenger wheelwell rust-attached to front core support, so sawzall was activated. Slowly collecting parts. Want to start at the front and work my way back. After some carb cleaner, b12 and fresh gas the engine is smoothing out. Gotta pull plugs and do cap and rotor. It sounds like it might have a mild cam, so I'm thinking about getting it streetable(before swapping drivetrain) especially since it has a 2004r which was supposedly rebuilt before it was parked. It also layed down double rubber stripes so there seems to be a locker in the rear. Trying to sell the topper and some extra parts to fund new ones!

 

[SoFloG]

In the process of pulling the carpet and realizing the extent of the work ahead... my cousin reaches out to me from out of state with an epic offer that could change this build drastically. I don't want to put the cart before the horse, so it will be a few days until my next update.

 

[SoFloG]

Now I have another elco! My cousin traded me for my built chevy drivetrain out of my cutlass that was supposed to go in to the 87.

It's very clean and solid... floors appear to be intact, interior is decent and it has a 305 with a nice cam, 700r4, headers, flowmasters 2.5" tru duals, summit intake and temperemental qjet which looks to be non cc.

I haven't decided what to do with both cars, but I'm definitely keeping the 84, and driving it for now. Took the 13" daytons off and put the corvette staggered rallye 15s back on.

 

[SoFloG]

First grocery store trip

 

[SoFloG]

My buddy has officially taken possesion of the 87 and has some figuring out to do. I got it closer to streetable after sourcing 14" tires, some carb tuning, door handles... needs some more attention though. Glad to still have it around for now yet out of my car port.

 

[SoFloG]

I grabbed the f41 bars off the 87 and bolted them up to the 84 and put the tailgate aside. Most importantly the 84 is now under the car port and out of the torrential downpouring of rain we've been having this week. I will now be able to asses the bed leaking, and new windshield leak as of today. Thankfully it is no longer a dire race to keep the floors from rotting out!

I managed to replace the temp sensor and proceeded to change the leaking oil sender but upon realizing that the car originally came with dummy lights and now has actual gauge cluster, I'm going to take another route. The temp sensor doesnt work with the gauge, and obviously neither will the dummy light oil sender even though the harness and plug match up. The fuel gauge works great, and I don't want to risk that by taking apart the cluster and trying to figure out the wiring and dealing with the printed board and moving pins, blah blah blah.
I have a couple of old school triple gauge pods, a new tach, and a gps speedo from amazon I'm going to figure out how to install and incorporate in an aestheticaly decent manner, until I can afford a digital cluster or nice gauge kit.