My daily driver project 81 ElCamino

[Judge Mills]

Sweet Elk! Mine leaks like a sieve too.

 

[HAFROD]

Yesterday was pretty hectic. I drove my dads truck to Pep Boys in Tulsa and bought four new 215/70/14 Futura raised white letter tires. I got back home and removed all the wheels and went to a local tire shop and had them mounted/balanced. Two of my steel rallys are bent. They put a bunch of weights on and got them zeroed out. I put them on the back. I ended up with black Edelbrock valve covers and got them installed. Put in new AC plugs, MSD Street Fire 8mm plug wires(cut to fit), passengers side header, header collectors, and new cap/rotor. Went to start it and it backfired. I did not check the old wires on the cap before I removed them. Someone obviously wired it wherever the distributor fell. I checked the balancer and there's a painted on line a little below the factory timing groove. So its got a timing tab for a 350 but a 305 balancer. It got dark on me so today I'm pulling the distributor and rotating the oil pump shaft to drop it into the correct spot. When I removed the valve covers I noticed the rocker arms, pushrods, and the head look new. I also noticed the made in Mexico cast wording. I'm starting to think its a crate Goodwrench 350 engine. I just put one of these from Summit in my dads 82 truck and it was made in Mexico. The oil leaks may have been solely from the old incorrectly installed valve covers. Friday, I'm planning on driving to one of my secret G body salvages to see what he's got for El Caminos. Hopefully he's got a couple rally wheels so I can replace my bent ones.

 

[pontiacgp]

With your luck you should buy some lottery tickets when your out getting parts...

 

[HAFROD]

I'm pretty sure this is not a real super sport. It has sweep bar speedo and idiot lights. The cowl tag has the same paint code upper and lower. The option sticker is not in the glove box. It does not have F41 suspension if F41 is a bigger sway bar and cradle to frame horn braces. just has a small sway bar and nothing else.

 

[V8 Rumble]

I like it. It looks solid. I wish I had some extra cash for one.

The prices on the gbody elcos are getting up there. The conditions from what I have seen don't match the prices. Normally the ad's say little rust. We all know a little north east rust is different from a little southern and west coast rust.

Will this turn into a salon project down the road?

 

[HAFROD]

So today I reset the distributor and it lit off. Took it to the exhaust shop and got the pipes fitted to the collectors. Now after all this tune up and repairs, it runs awesome. Very smooth and responsive. Its not a race car but at least it will pass a car. The next order of business was the sloppy steering. Changed the idler out and the upper control arm bushings on the drivers side. One was completely gone and clunking. I bought a set for the other side but going to wait till I get ball joints and swap everything at once. I turned in the allen adjustment screw on the steering box a little and got out the slop in the box. Getting ready to go drive it but had to come in and eat.

 

[HAFROD]

Will this turn into a salon project down the road?

Yes, it will get pretty much the same treatment.

 

[HAFROD]

It drives a little better after replacing the idler and the drivers side upper a arm bushings but its jerky. It does not correct itself after turning a corner. I'm going to tear all the front suspension out this weekend and replace everything. Then it will get a front end alignment. It was pretty warm today so I tried to slide the top heat/ac control knob but it was stuck on heat. Also the hi posion on the switch did not work. I removed the unit to find a piece broken for the slide. I had a couple extra units here so I cleaned one up and re greased it. All that is fixed now. I'm very glad I have extra parts here. Its saving me some cash.

 

[HAFROD]

Gathering a buffet of tools to go hit the salvage today. I made a list so I don't forget something. Saturday will be rebuild front end day then get it aligned Monday or Tuesday. Its jerky driving on the highway so here in a few minutes, I'm going to turn out one of the front wheels at the tie rod. It looks like its toed in. This will be the longest trip I've made in my El Camino since purchasing it a week ago.

 

[HAFROD]

Got some salvage goodies but had a horrible squeaking in my front end on the drive. I stopped at the parts store and bought all 4 ball joints and wheel bearings. Got it tore apart and the lower ball joints are galled and sticking. I believe this is my hard to steer issue