El Camino (A Project Car)

Wrong POM

2009-10-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Well a friend of ours with a tester came out and checked out the elky, turns out there is a short in the wiring harness somewhere. Which actually is the least of our problems. The computer has a POM in it, and the thing is the previous owner switched the 283v6 to a 305v8, so, the computer is attempting to run a smaller engine, and thus the carb tells the engine to run full rich all the time.

So the easiest solution considering the POM is for a V6, is to completely get rid of the computer, and run the car as if it were an 1980 model (the year previous did not have a computer at all, lucky me i pick the first year they put a computer in it).

Now i have to learn more about Carburetors, and how they work and which one i need, so far i've learned i need a 600CFM, 4 Barrel, with an Electric Choke, and that's about it.

It's a small update, but that's all for now.

Dash Fix

2009-09-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

I know i jump around alot on the restoration of this car, working on the brake lines and the fuel line at the same time, or the interior and springs. Simple fact is when i hit a hardspot or a road block i just move on to a different spot. Surely it makes for a very confusing atmosphere sometimes, and i forget things from time to time, but overall it's coming along nicely i must admit.

I ran across a dash repair guide for a Monte Carlo. The guy actually does admit the dash is not original to a Monte, but it's a good guide on what i'd like to do to restore mine, which has identical problems.

If you look closely you can see the cracks around the radio panel. The red is obliterated and dryrotted.

I was thinking of perhaps coating it in fiberglass, it wouldnt be the softest dash, but im looking for more of a "show quality" look, even though this wont be a show car i believe that will be the look i'm going for, fiberglass coating. take a trip to Lowes sometime this weekend perhaps i can find something im looking for to redo that entire dash. *shrug*

Personal Touch

2009-09-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

I added a bit of personal touch to the air filter. most people have the stickers that have the engine block size on them, i decided to paint mine on with a little creativity. feedback is welcome, however i like it and that's what matters most! :P

Come Together, Right Now.

2009-09-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

The front clip of my elky slowly but surely went back on, inner wells, front header panel, the fenders, the whole match. It needs to be raised, as the doors hit the fenders when opened/closed. It's not perfect but im glad it's starting to shape up some.

As you can tell the gap isnt right between the doors/fenders, the front clip needs to be lifted completely to fix this, it'll come in time when i get some washers to do so.

Running, Coughing, Choking.

2009-09-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

We'll my friend Franco and i sat for hours in the shop configuring the wiring of this car. By far i have to admit the hardest part of the build has got to be the wiring, you can just weld it, and if you screw up, re-weld it. It's a task in itself ot find the wiring diagrams and follow them at all.

After a full night of wiring and a good nights sleep, some wire management, we finally started cranking on it an here are our results.

Let the Body hit the Floor.

2009-04-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

The Rotor's were turned to knock the rust off of them & the bearings repacked. This is them back on the Spindle.

Then i found something in our shop that made my life so much easier, a air impact wrench. this made putting the wheels on and taking them off as easy as they do in in NASCAR.

And the Car is back on the ground & sitting on the new suspension!

I threw the fender back on to see the difference from when the old suspension was on it, the first two are of the new, the latter of the old.

Spring & Shock Installation

2009-04-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Control Arms back in place, and ready to have the spring put in them.

This is the method in which my father came up with to compress the spring so that we could correctly put it in place.

Here is a short video of me releasing the compression on the spring by cutting the holding wires.

This is the spring in place & the shock installed, now all to do is put the rotor on and repack the wheel bearings and such.

Engine Block Paint Complete!

2009-04-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

it's been a while since i posted, but ill go ahead and update a whole bunch at once, here's a few shots of the painted block, intake and exhaust manifold.

Painting the Brake Booster & Engine Block (along with Intake and Exhaust Manifold)

2009-02-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

The Finished Painted Block

The Car as it Sits Now

Passenger Side Front Suspension

2009-02-27T07:16:00.002-08:00

The Side Painted and Ready to Put the Control Arms back in Place

Before the side was painted.

Driver Control Arm's and such Painted!

2009-02-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

:D doesn't it look like new?!

nom nom nom it's so awesome looking lol.

The whole setup- going to be put together soon enough! :D

extraws stufss

A Complete Walk Around of the Car as it sits! :)

Frame Painted.

2009-02-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

Suspension & Steering Linkage (Photo Update)

2009-02-20T11:09:00.001-08:00

New Parts!

The Center Link for the Linkage.

The Old Center Link that came out

All Together Now.

After a while of finagling i got the spring out. new springs next to it.

The Control arm hanging loosely.

Cleaned it all up a little with Diesel Fuel.

Cleaned the frame a little too

Uncleaned Frame Section

Somewhat clean but still rusty Control Arm.

Old Shock & New One.

Distributor Parts

2009-02-16T11:08:00.001-08:00

I replaced the condenser coil on my distributor today, i ordered it yesterday from O'Reilly's and they got it in this morning, it went in perfect, no problems at all. next will be to reassemble the distributor, and then move down to the Steering Linkage.

I ordered the Center Linkage from the same parts house today as i picked up my first part, should be in later today actually, ill probably swing by and pick it up later.

Nice little diagram showing you what's what, the top right picture is what i have, Parallelogram steering. It's the bottom center piece in the middle.

Compression Test Results & Thoughts

2009-01-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

My father and i borrowed a compression tester from a friend of ours who restores older cars, and my dad and i could not do the compression test correctly to save our lives. So we called him up and he finally got out here on Saturday & they ran the test and got the results.

Piston - PSI
1 - 190
2 - 180
3 - 200
4 - 205
5 - 200
6 - 195
7 - 185
8 - 190

As for my thoughts, it seems to be fairly even, not perfect but it's also a 10+ year old engine, that the previous owner installed. It sounds great and i dont particularly want to touch it mechanicly, i'd like to leave it.

The Transmission however bothers me some. It has a minor leak and the linkage is lose, the linkage is a simple fix, however the leak is what worries me. Family friend of ours says you can find a plane-jane 350 auto trans in auto magazines for 800-900$. I'm curious how that's cheaper than a rebuild - but i'll take it. I need to determine if the current transmission is bad first however.

The Body i believe will be one of the later things- i'll get it straight, and the bed lined. but it's all going to come in due time & money.

A Clean Engine!

2009-01-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

We sprayed desile all over the engine compartment and then pressure washed it off and these we're the results

Ready to Clean

2009-01-09T21:40:00.001-08:00

We took the car off the jacks and are now ready to push it out onto the lawn where we will soak it in diesel for about an hour then come back to pressure wash all the fuel & grim/grease off of the engine block, frame and accessories around the engine. Once we get all this cleaned up decently we will look into painting most of the surfaces with a Heat Resistant paint for the engine compartment. I'm thinking Flat black for everything around the block and blue for the block itself.

Windows & Chrome

2009-01-09T21:37:00.000-08:00

Franco came over and helped me remove some of the very crappy applied window tinting from the back window and the two side doors. and along with that revealed to my father and i that Break Cleaner works very well to clean surfaces & windows if they are sticky. Also we removed the chrome from the truck bed rim & bottom of the rear window.

Wiring Stripped

2009-01-09T21:33:00.000-08:00

We Pulled all the wiring off everything we needed to today, the carb, the wipers, a/c and all sorts of other various things. Here are some before & after shots.

Up on Jacks

2009-01-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

Wheel Wells off & Removal of Radiator.

2009-01-08T20:25:00.001-08:00

Hood & Fender Removal!

2009-01-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

Bumper Removal!

2009-01-08T20:17:00.001-08:00

The bumper was taken off first, easiest thing to begin with.

Car Progress!

2009-01-08T18:13:00.001-08:00

We got it in the building first off!

lol that plate is old anyways, so i dont mind if people know it. it'll never be on the car again!

Building Progress

2008-11-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well the building has to theoretically come first in the order of fixing things up, so here are a few snap shots of the progress we've had in the building. Our hope is to get it fixed up by Thanksgiving, get the car in there and begin work on it Thanksgiving week- that will give us the better part of an entire week to tinker around with it.

Light Installed in Bathroom (just need to install switch) :P

Cabinet temp in place, a good location too, right next to the water fountain.

This table is next after Dad finishes his boxes, then we finish this workbench table and it's gone :)

Wood on right is for Crates, Lawnmower is waiting to be sold, the rest is just looking for a new location in the building, somewhere out of the way.

Pathway to the bathroom

The wonderful makeshift wall for the bathroom, it's a ramp we used for our front door.

Got our toilet insides replaced, they we're dry rotted, now it's a working toilet, no leaks, & already been used! lol.

Still have a table of junk to sell, but that'll get sold in due time.