Winter project

[kcombs]

I am trying to get my 65 El Camino (sitting on a 65 GS four speed frame) road worthy by June. The vehicle has nice paint and chrome rims. Sits nice and low in the front and sounds a little on the loud side. This winter I did a valve job on the 401 and converted it to electric choke as the tube in the exhaust manifold is plugged or damaged. After the valve job I put a saginaw four speed in because I want to tryout something besides a close ratio tranny. I must say the shifter from Summitracing is less than I had hoped for and sits a little further back than I would have liked. Right now I am creating a removeable floor piece to cover the old hole in the floor and then I must find a hump that will go with the shifter. I think I saw one after-market that might work with a little massaging. Now on to the good stuff.

In a few weeks, or so, I am going to convert the manual steering to power steering. I had a power steering pump on another GS motor and I also had a power steering gearbox from a 67 Elky that I just sent off to Powersteering.com. I will be having the gearbox rebuilt and converted to quick ratio. While I am installing the power steering I am also going to install an Inlinetube complete conversion kit so it will have power disk brakes. I am also replacing all the parts in the front suspension at the same time with Moog parts. All of these upgrades should make the car steer and ride nice. I'll keep you posted of my progress. Kurt

[kcombs]

Well I started the project today. I have this week off from work as I am a counselor at the local community college and this is Easter Break. I cleaned up the shop this morning and then started disassembly. So far I have the sway bar and the driver's side a-arms off. Tomorrow I plan to finish the passenger side a-arms. I will then start cleaning and painting. I am also going to remove the passenger side inner fender and change the heater blower motor and reseal the box that leaks. Expecting the rest of my Moog suspension parts on Wednesday from O'Reilley Auto Parts (best price when I factored in shipping). Power disc brakes should be here any day now from True Connections, a Chevelle supplier I met at the Pleasanton Swap Meet two weekends ago. He came up with the best solution for me to have disc brakes without needing to break the bank or lift the body to change a brake line. He had a better solution than Inlinetube, so I went with him on the whole kit.

I am taking photos of the process, especially some of the fun parts like getting the ball joints apart and the spring out. Then the fun of getting the upper control arm bushing shaft off of an a-body with a 401 GS cast iron header in the way. More to come soon, I will keep everyone posted.

[GSDavid]

Post those pictures!  I would like to see the project.
Going to be a fun cool car when it's done. I like El Camino's and having it on the 65 GS 4 speed frame will make it cooler yet!
Nailhead 4 speed 65 El Camino.  Going to be a very cool one of a kind ride!

[kcombs]

FedEx just delivered the disc brake conversion parts, so time to go out to the shop!

[kcombs]

That last three days I have been taking pictures of the whole front end rebuild. I have tried to get shots of the not so obvious stuff, like getting the bolts out of the frame so the upper A-arms can be removed. That took me a half an hour to figure out, and that was after watching a how-to movie on the subject. The secret is a 5 inch C clamp, a socket, a pair of visegrips and a large hammer. Like I said, photos later.

Today I mostly cleaned parts and removed the ball joints and lower A-arm bushings. The ball joints and bushings always take longer than I think they should, but I think I have it down to a science now. Almost all parts are clean and ready for paint, except I forgot the springs, so tomorrow I will be back at washing parts outside. Tomorrow is also clean the newly exposed frame time, so that should be lots of fun.

I also discovered that a few small parts not arriving on time are going to probably put this assembly off for a week, but that is ok as long as everything goes together smoothly.

[kcombs]

Man it takes a long time to clean and paint parts for reassembly! My hands are rough from the detergents and scrubbing pads, but it is going to look a lot better underneath the car when I am finished. Still trying to figure out why I can estimate wrench time but never seem to calculate the cleanup and preparation time correctly???

Picked up the center link, ball joints and A-arm bushings yesterday. Need more paint and a few minor supplies and back at it today or tomorrow. Might go to a swap meet Sunday and sell miscellaneous parts (mostly El Camino sheetmetal) but it is supposed to rain.....

[GSDavid]

Lots of work but it sounds like you are doing it right.
I see plenty of cars that were put together well but they didn't take the time for detail like that.
I've also seen plenty of cars that had the detail work done but didn't spend enough money or effort on the mechanical.

[kcombs]

I do get a little obsessive about my projects, but they do look nice when I am done. I painted the suspension parts with a "trim black" that was recommended by a automotive paint store guy, but I didn't like the finish, it was too flat. Today I repainted everthing a semigloss and it looks much better and more like the original paint that I uncovered when cleaning the frame.

More cleaning tomorrow and then paint for the frame. Most of my parts have arrived, just waiting for the clutch rod bushing from GM. After I get the bushing I will remove the pedals, clean everything and start assembling. The fun part is going to be the brake lines from the master cylinder to the frame. I will explain how I managed that when I know for certain what method I am going to use.

BTW, do autopart store like Napa usually do double flares on tubing so I can modify a brake line?