Hi everyone, wanted to join the group because I am finally beginning the build of my 1986 elcamino choo choo SS. My dad gave it to me at 15 years old and it’s the car I learned to drive in. Sadly it sat ever since ( about 20 years). The car is now out of his barn and home with me. Started work this winter by removing the frame to clean, repair, and paint. With the frame out I fixed some rotted body mount holes then boxed the middle rails and reinforced the control arm brackets. Ready to make it a roller with some modest improvements to the suspension. I have got so much good information here and look forward to moving the project along.
SS elcamino build begins
- Thread starter Yukonelcamino
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100% a street car. Want it to handle better and have plenty of power on tap. Plans are to lower the stance and stiffen it up. Stock drivetrain is gone. Going to run a cammed 5.3 LS backed by a NV3500 5 speed and highway gears. Going with the 5 speed due to cost. I hear they hold up if they don’t see major abuse.
since the el camino's came with practically nothing, you'll need everything
jounce bars, monte carlo bar, F41 front and rear antisway, radiator x-bars, firewall-to-fender-to-radiator braces, brakes, steering shaft, quick ratio steering box, rear upper/lower control arms. rear axle is 7.5" with a 2.41 ratio
are you all about spending money for aftermarket goodies? or do you want to get these parts from other cars and save $$$?
jounce bars, monte carlo bar, F41 front and rear antisway, radiator x-bars, firewall-to-fender-to-radiator braces, brakes, steering shaft, quick ratio steering box, rear upper/lower control arms. rear axle is 7.5" with a 2.41 ratio
are you all about spending money for aftermarket goodies? or do you want to get these parts from other cars and save $$$?
It’s definitely a budget build. However I believe I have one of the rare GM SS option cars along with the choo choo SS conversion. During disassembly I saw it has the larger f41front sway bar , fender braces and the crossmember to front horn bars already. Unless of course someone added them a long time ago. Is there a factory rear sway bar I could look for??
then someone installed those. all the parts I mentioned above come on one or another Gbody, so you can piece your stuff together from different gbodies.
the steering shaft replacement option has two options, either a Chevy Astro part or a Jeep part. there's a member here who sells those IIRC. the quickratio power steering also has a jeep option I believe in addition to the F41 box from GM
brakes: you can grab the front disc from a 99-05 4dr 4x2 Blazer. the whole spindle and caliper changes out. those are dual piston calipers. if you want to put disc on the rear, grab the rears from that same Blazer; easy mod, easy to install. alternatively, elkie is light in the rear so upgrade rear wheel cylinder to S10 wheel cylinder which is larger and will apply more pressure. get rid of the air shocks and go with air bags instead. the whole weak point is the rear axle. anyone here on this forum with a gbody can tell you about that. if you're planning drag racing with slicks, that'll work .... a couple times (have fun picking up the pieces at the Christmas tree)
axle options are not limited but not cheap either. starting at about $1000 and up
Awesome, thank you . I still see g bodies around here in the scrap yards. Will definitely be doing the steering upgrade. However finding a 2wd blazer in western PA may be impossible lol.
that's 4DOOR 2wd Blazer. there's also some other options like from a Camaro or Corvette but the Blazer is the most straightforward IMHO. if you haven't visited el camino central dot com, there is a LOT of info over there shared by owners (specific to the el camino, of course)
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