1982 El Camino build *The Fonz*

Well guys My name is Alfonso i just joined the forum but i have been lurking around for a while and love what i see. So i decided that i would start documenting my journey on my 1982 El Camino build. Ive owned the car for about five years, and pretty much just had fun driving it. btw The front end is off of a '79 Malibu. I side swiped a couple years back and hit the rear tire of a parked 18 wheeler and i needed to get it fixed so a friend found the front end for me so i threw it on... but that will change because im going back to '82 header panel. But anyways now im ready to make it look real nice and unique with a couple of tricks up my sleeve to hopefully make it stand out here in good ole Houston, TX. So here's my build 8) ....


btw these pictures are a couple of months old but i'll load more later on tonight of the current progress of where im at:


i had already started to sand down the bed of Elco and removed all of Conquista side trims and ground down all the studs



here i started doing the body work on the bed and many hours of block sanding to get the car laser straight in case i decide to to go with a dark color. I had already done the body work on what seemed like a hundred trim studs.

Re: 1982 El Camino build *New Member The Fonz*

so here i already took off the old hood which had a couple of big rust spots and seemed like to much work to fix. I was fortunate enough to pickup a hood, core support, two fenders all for $50 at junkyard and all in way better condition than these. you can also see i finished the body work on the doors and roof all i need to do is cut out the rusted out spot on the lower part of the door and weld in a new piece.





so i took off the fenders and now i know why my body lines never lined up on the doors and fenders. The core support bent on the driver side... not the side that i wrecked on .... and the core support bushing was rusted all the way through with no rubber even on it. Just a little nub of metal. im also tossing the plastic inner fenders since they were both cracked and broken and i never have liked them. New ones are around $300 but maybe later on ill put some on or make some out of metal ??? but now that i have no plastic inner fenders the next problem is how to mount the battery....




the battery tray mounted to the plastic fenders, and the plastic fenders kinda of sat on the frame and core support... so now i have to come up with a bracket to mount the battery ... heres what i came up with so far.

Re: 1982 El Camino build *New Member The Fonz*

So heres a quick model of how it will mount. The bracket will be able to slide under the core suport and behind the bumper jack the use the same holes the moutnt. There will be a gussett under the bracket to help to support the weight of the battery. Im planning to use 1/16"-1/8" thick sheetmetal so that i can weld it up easily and for it to hold the weight. once i get that done ill weld some nuts to the bottom side so that i can strap the battery down and it wont move.


here's a mock up pattern. i tested it and i still need to do some tweeking to it. i dont know whether to stick with this plan or move the battery to the inside cargo area.... what do you guys think?? would it be easier to just move it.


btw heres a pic of the look im trying to go for. You guys have probably seen the pic of this car. im trying to go for a nice slightly lowered clean look. Take off the chrome bumpers and change them over to roll pans, to kind of update the look a little more. The car will either be Tarnished silver like the new corvettes/staurn vue/trucks with a blacked out grille and accents and with black interior. or Dark Metallic Blue with the polished phantom grille and tan interior with wood grain accents. ..... what's your opinion?

Re: 1982 El Camino build *New Member The Fonz*

Jack, i never thought about mounting in the bed... ill add that as my alternate plans just in case lol.... and yeah i scored big time for $50 on everything. This place mainly deals with scrap metal but put cars up for parts to clear it out to bare bones and thats how i got such a good deal. but g-bodies are hard to find here too.... i have been looking for a cowl hood and better windhield ... but still looking 🙁

Re: 1982 El Camino build *New Member The Fonz*

Thanks Doug!! .... Thanks PappaBear! ... glad i joined to track my journey.