My daily driver project 81 ElCamino

[HAFROD]

Only had time to replace one side. The Parts Master ball joints I got were crap. The uppers had no grease zerk holes (non greasable) and the lowers were not splined. I took them back and paid ALOT more for MOOG. Had a hell of a time getting the coil spring back in. Went to put in my new wheel bearings and they won't fit the spindle shaft. They were Parts Master too. Going with National. I tried to save money but it did not work. Had to drive to Tulsa to look at a 1981 Jaguar XJ6 that's been sitting since 2011. Very nice car but the fuel is tarnished so tank needs to be removed and cleaned and a basic tune up/fluid change. Offered $1000 but waiting to hear back. I've always wanted one of these. The El Camino did awesome on the freeway. The steering is better and after I get the other ball joints swapped, it should be good. Fingers crossed.

 

[HAFROD]

My heart is broke. I got up in my attic to find a full instrumentation cluster from a Monte. It has the tach and clock. After getting it and two more partial clusters down, the tach is surface rusted. Could not get it to clean up. I did end up with the full size clock and bench tested it. Spent about an hour scotchbriting the contacts on the circuit board, pins, and bulb sockets. Traced every circuit with my multimeter. Got the best faced gauges cleaned up a set aside. The El Camino has idiot lights and sweep bar speedo that sometimes sticks on 35MPH. Going to swap the pins this weekend and try the freshened up Monte Carlo cluster. Also got some nice small parts coming from Showtime

 

[liquidh8]

Very nice score. I miss my El Caminos. Perfect for a daily when you don't have to haul kids around.

 

[HAFROD]

I have put a bunch of miles on it and so far no issues. I tested the antifreeze today and noticed it is brown and muddy. I removed the heater hose from the intake and the lower radiator hose. Stuck the garden hose in it and flushed everything. I was astounded at the brown crap coming out. I kept filling up the radiator and pulling off the lower hose. Did it about 15 times till it got clear. When I stuck my hose sprayer inside the heater core it really blew out some mud. Got it all refilled with distilled water and Prestone. Let it run for about 30 minutes and it still looks good. I tried to remove the water neck to put in a new thermostat and have a good spot for flushing with the hose. I think the bolts are going to break. Someone did not use anti seize on the bolts. Probably end up breaking, drilling, and have to helicoil them but no time right now. Its getting ready to rain and I have to work tomorrow. A guy in my neighborhood stopped by and told me he knows a guy with two El Caminos same body style in his back yard. He said they are parts cars for one he restored. He is going to get ahold of him for me. I need a door cause mine is dented. BIG dented. lol

 

[pontiacgp]

for the bolts on the water neck remove the rad cap so it doesn't build up pressure, start the car and wait til it gets to operating temp and then try the bolts on the water neck. I that doesn't work then I'd grind the heads off the bolts so you have the shank exposed. Once the torque is off the bolts they may come out with vise grips after the bolts have been soaked with penetrating oil

 

[HAFROD]

Just thought I'd post about winning my first stoplight drag race. I was heading to work when a nut job was riding my *ss. I seen the stoplight ahead changing so I whipped over to the left lane and stopped. He kept creeping like he was staging me up. When the light changed we both left hard but he got peeled. My peg leg rear end had that skinny tire screeching. It was a Ford F150 long bed. My ElCamino is not a race car by any means but the tune up is dialed in and the bolt ons it has just seem to work well together. It made my day. I'm always down for a race no matter what I'm driving. Don't care if I win or lose. I stop light raced a mini cooper in my wifes fiat 500 and lost but it was fun anyway. Lol

 

[HAFROD]

I'm waiting on my neighbor to show up to take me to Inola. Going to get the $50 door from an El Camino parts truck. The guy said everything is for sale he just wants to keep it as a roller to move it if needed. Taking a couple hundred bucks in case I go strip happy. Lol

 

[clean8485]

Good plan. Good luck!

 

[HAFROD]

Got the door. It does have a dent but nothing like mine. $40. The El Camino was pretty rough and it's got a date with a crusher which is sad. Its pretty picked over though and wrecked in the left front

 

[HAFROD]

So I dug in my magic attic and found the newer 87-88 dash panels with the black inlays. All 3 pieces are ROUGH. I have never used them because of the bad shape their in. I got an idea for some customization and still appear stock. My wiper switch is in my dash panel so I need to figure out how and where to relocate it. I really like the newer dash panels better. I do not like the raised CHEVROLET on the long panel so I'm going to shave it. I'm going to install my SUPER SPORT badge from my original dash panel. I'll prime and paint the black inlays with some black single stage urethane I already have. I have a single DIN CD /radio so I plan on using a sheetmetal inlay in the radio bezel. I will epoxy it on. This will eliminate the bigger double din opening. Sounds easy in theory. Lol. I also just picked up an 88 SS Monte steering wheel. Now I can get rid of that hideous Grant