Projects New Project, ‘60 El Camino

Nice score! I had a 59 that was from the LA plant as well. Was a solid car.

 

@Al T the stars are aligning very well for you with this awesome acquisition. What a pleasure it is to witness this...Hamb front row seats are like no other...that near rust free metal is again something to behold...you are very fortunate...thanks for sharing your buttoning up the Beast for its voyage back to home base...

 

Thanks! This one is actually going to stay down here. I’m planning on moving south permanently in the next couple years when I get my kids through college. Currently I only head north (prior to COVID) once in a while to spend time with my kids and make sure they don’t kill each other while I’m in St. Louis. lol

 

Man, it'll be complete in no time.

 

Sweet project. I love the full size El Caminos! And I may have missed it in a previous post, but the paint code 938A translates to Fawn Beige.

 

You are correct.

 

I’m heading North for Christmas on Wednesday...... it’ll be in hibernation for a month and a bit. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the remaining missing parts in the interim.

 

The missing box trim showed up in the mail yesterday.


..... and the rear window trim and airplane.

 

when you first started this thread, I though it was going to be more challenging for you to find El Camino specific parts, but I swear you have been shaking some elusive EC-parts tree in some magical forest. Enlighten us, ohhh powerful one...

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

Yes I'm just as curious myself, I'm looking for one piece of trim for my 61 Biscayne and can't find it and you have found almost a whole car, tell us your secret!!!!!!

 

Well, to start with you have to catch a leprechaun...... then it’s all pretty easy from there on.

 

Seriously, I picked up the radio, tailgate support arms, El Camino badges and the hood letters off of the auction site. I bought the seat off of Craigslist local and was able to buy the heater box, back glass, passenger side bed panels, fuel tank filler and window crank handles from the same guy. On Facebook Marketplace I found a guy across the Mississippi with the headlight bezels, fender eyebrows, upper grille support, wiper switch, horns, wiper escutcheons, air cleaner and shroud. I also found on Facebook Marketplace from a guy in Alabama the missing box trim, back window trim, hood latch pieces, horn ring, airplane, lower side trim, and a back bumper.
Only pieces left to locate are two pieces of rear trim.

As mentioned, for me, a lot of the enjoyment comes from the hunt for parts.
Flying back North today so this will be on hold until mid January with the exception of the hood latch pieces that I’m bringing North to blast and paint.

 

Back north with better “tools”. Not a lot of updates coming, so this is probably it for a while on the El Camino project.

 

Oddly enough it seems those back trim pieces show up more often then the other pieces you bought.

 

Would you happen to know if there are are right and left pieces or are they reversible?

 

The wing trim is left and right, same goes with the tailgate trim. It's the angles of the top vs the bottom of the trim.

 

Maybe I can do a few updates while up in Canada. Nice to be out of the return to Canada 14 day quarantine. I was able to buy the missing drivers side rear fin trim from a guy in Winnipeg which is in transit..... and then yesterday in a moment of weakness I bought the parts car suggested a few pages back. It’s got a lot of the parts I’m missing still on it, but will still have about 97% of of it left when I’m done. lol
Anyone need anything, message me. I’ll put an ad in the classifieds also.

 

Looking at the column on the parts car vs. the El Camino, were there two productions of columns? The shifter indicator is completely different on the parts car. Is that a Biscayne vs. Bel Air thing?

 

Would anyone be able to measure the length of the top of a door panel for me? I’m wondering if the metal “rail” at the top of the door panel from the rear doors of my parts car are long enough to modify to use on my El Camino.
Also wondering if someone could tell me the length of the metal track that the bottom of the window glass sits in to mount to the window regulator.
Thanks in advance.
Allan

 

Back down in St. Louis. Brought all the parts I needed off of the parts car with me including the grille support that I cleaned up while up north so spent a little time today installing parts.

The grille support from the parts car cleaned up really nice. So it went in along with the hood latch parts and horns that I blasted and sprayed up north also.

I was able to salvage a bunch of the door latch machine screws so was able to finish installing the tailgate latch assemblies and support arms.

I also installed the sun visors (they’ll be replaced with new ones when the interior is done, but the arms are helpful) and the rear view mirror.

Installed the voltage regulator and horn relay.

Installed the fresh air vent covers (that I blasted and painted up north) to get them out of the way until I have kick panels to install.

Did a little wiring clean up under the dash, installed the dangling fuse panel back onto the firewall and pulled the passenger manifold back off so I could install the starter harness, but my little toolbox I put together to bring down here doesn’t have any small sockets as I didn’t bring any..... so that will be up in the next couple of days. I’ll be pulling the plugs and soaking the cylinder with some Marvel Mystery oil before I try to bump the engine. It’s at top dead center right now so I’ll drop the distributor in before I try turning it over.
It’s amazing all the little bits and pieces I was able to salvage off the parts car. Crap I would have never thought about until I needed it.

Allan

 

I also dropped the heater core and control valve off at the local rad shop yesterday. They pressure tested it for me. Core is fine, heater control valve has a “seep” (as he described it). Has anyone had their heater control valve rebuilt by Old Air Products? If you have, cost? I’ve sent an email but awaiting a reply.
Is it something a person could do themselves?

 

Making lots of progress!!!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Is there supposed to be a bracket here that the pedal mounting studs screw into?

 

Pick a part was here...

 

To quote Mel Brooks "It's good to be the king."

 

I also pulled the strap holding the power steering pump and it looks like the brackets on the pump are for a W Block so will get that bolted in place once I receive the dipstick tube I ordered that I want to install before I install the driver’s side exhaust manifold.

 

So with the weather finally warming up around here, I was able to get back on the El Camino. I installed the starter harness, battery cables (salvaged from the parts car), exhaust manifold and then the choke tube. I had to drill out the old choke tube that had seized and broken off in the manifold I had picked up. A 1/4” drill made short work of the issue.

I also dropped the distributor in and installed a thermostat and housing.

.... and then seeing as I had a few extra hands around, was able to get the front bumper back on the car. If this car could talk. I tried some 000 steel wool on the drivers end of the bumper. I think it should clean up nice.

I was going to reinstall the PS pump onto the block but didn’t have the proper size bolts for the bosses. Would anyone be able to advise the bolt size so I can pick up some bolts?
Thanks in advance.
Allan

 

7/16-14 x 1 inch

 

Thanks!

 

Spent a little time today getting some more things installed. I ended up having the heater control valve rebuilt by Old Air Products in Texas. While it was away I cleaned up and painted the heater box and then reassembled it once the valve showed back up. Turnaround on the rebuild was 3 days from Old Air Products!! Cost was $125.

Didn’t have a spare set of hands so had to improvise to hold the box in place while installing.

Also got the cleaned up generator brackets along with the generator, the PS pump (the bracket for the modern pump was correct for a W block) and the cleaned and painted fan all installed. The engine bay is starting to look a little better.

Inner fenders cleaned up pretty nice also.