Just venting here a bit...
I bought my 70 elky here back this past May- Bought it because it was solid- had all the main things i wanted- power disk brakes/ show quality bodywork/ good glass etc etc.

I knew from the beginning that i wanted to change quite a bit of the car- i just wanted a good running platform to start from... Very shortly started finding all the goof ups the previous owner did, or let slip in when other people worked on it.

Today I took it in to get the front brakes worked on- Started howling something awful on the pass side wheel when turneing- i thought the bearings went out... Luckily no-but we did find out all this great stuff:

Both Calipers were shot (pass one was hanging- dirvers one had the bleeder so rusted- it crumbled when opening it. 8O
Both hoses were shredded and looked to be origonal...
One rotor had been turned to the tolorance- the other looked brand new- so the previous owner changed one of them, but not the other... :?

Now- This all isn't too surprising to find on 30+ year old car--- but the kicker was the previous owner put all this on- he did the conversion from drums to disk about 5 years ago- got all the stuff from a monte carlo. ARG- he just put the stuff straight on- at the minimum he could have put on new hoses!

Arg. Oh well. At least now i know the brakes are all good & solid now. I got the pad and shoes from Praise Dyno Brakes- they are made from some funky compound to help stop better- Car craft and Hot rod did some articles on them a while back and i've been wanting to try it out.

Anyway... Another project down... :wink:
Next up- New headers & remove the X-Pipe (too quiet!) 8)

I think we can all feel your pain in one way or another relating to short cuts taken by previous owners. I got my elky a year ago this month from the original owner and wondered why the power steering pump was only a quarter full. Yeah, it was bad !

But isn't that why we drive 20 to 30 year old cars. they're so few of them around and they're so easy to work on. Mod's are easy and reasonably inexpensive.

PS: I'd keep the X pipe, just use different mufflers if you want a more agressive sound.

:) I know... Its kinda funny though.. My old 69- the car was really run down when i got it- The few things that had been done by previous owners mostly turned out to be good things (had no hops installed, built 12 bolt, Poly rear bushings, etc etc... This one is kinda the opposite- the car itself is pretty nice, but there are a lot of these little thing that were done to it- and done wrong... Oh well. Its a project, and thats why i love it! :)

The exhast is funny- i keep waffling about what i want... I had the whole thing put on in may when i bought it- read that the X crossover was the new best thing, so i got one... Sometimes I really dig the sound- Other times i just want the deep rumbly sound you only get with straight head pips to the mufflers.

I'm actually thinking about cutting it off and putting on a chambered exhaust system- Check out the sound clips on the MFG's site:

http://www.gardnerexhaust.com/soundclips.html

Awwww Yeah :twisted: 8)

Who knows... After all this brake stuff i'm poor again, so i'll be keeping the exhast as is for the time being. I'll try to take a sound clip and post it.

-Ben

It really bugs me when people do stupid things like that. i can't see why any one that would do all the work to do a brake swap. would cut corners by puting old worn out brake parts on a clasic elky if they didn't do it right why do it at all they should of left the drums still on the way it came from gm. your just lucky that you didn't have a accident before the brakes let go. :roll:

I feel your pain!!! The guy I bought my '78 from had removed the original engine. In the process he CUT the power wires off the starter (no fusible links), and he cut (of all things) the throttle cable!! 8O Some people just shouldn't be allowed to touch a car!

Always do your homework. This is a very interesting read...

http://www.boyleworks.com/ta400/psp/exhaust.html

Whenever I buy a new elky the first thing I do is clean and inspect it from bumper to bumper (if it has any!). That way you know if it has any problems. By the way my first '67 had frame rust so bad the rear axle came out. Live and Learn!

Our first Elky (actually my sons which was given to him) a 1985 is rusted so badly in the rear from years of salt corrosion (frame and body mounts) I'm surprised the body didn't fall off. Guess we'll turn that one into a pro-streeter. The second (mine) a 1984, I purchased from the son of the original owner. It was originally from California and was Ziebarted when brand new. No sign of rust underneath but the doors were rusted through due to drain holes being plugged. When you decide to purchase an older car, make sure you give the underneath a real good look, put it up on a rack if possible or get on your back and climb underneath especially if salt is used in your area in the winter, it'll save you a lot of headaches/heartbreaks and money down the road.

I do have to say though... For the most part i am 100% happy with the car, and everynow and then, i crack open something expecting a can of worms, and find it is PERFECT...

As i said in the beginning, when i bought the car i wanted a SOLID car. My 69 had TONS of hidden rust on it, so before i bought this one i spend a long time crawling around under it with a flashlight- Of course I knew that wouldn't cover everything...

Anyway- Yesterday, I pulled the cover off the smugglers box(getting ready to do some cool speaker stuff in there). Now both of my old elkys this area was TERRIBLE... This one- FACTORY PAINT IS STILL THERE... just dusty & dirty! :D :D :D :D :D No rust AT ALL!!!!!! 8O 8O 8O

I also pulled off one of the REAR cab kick panels- ALSO PERFECT!!! (although I did find a nice paint line where they masked off the factory lime green color... :wink:

Anyway.. I guess I just like to gripe... :)

I think that you all sound to of had some really terrible problems with your elkies. I have a 78 and 79 and I have had many different kind of old cars. I think that there are about half the people that work on them shouldn't do the work. My 86 Olds Cutlass Supreme when the person went to put in the new engine they massively goofed up. For one they cracked the front header panel than while they took the old engine out they went and riped all the wires out. Than they took the steering column out well kinda they loosened it way up so it wouldn't work properly.

Well I had traded a car for this one and while they towed it here they didn't put the engine back in all the way properly or the transmission so the drive shaft was rubbing up again the underside of the car and had literally burned a hole in the carpet and through the car. I got that one running after hundreds of dollars. They shouldn't have even tried working on that car. Than my 79 Elky the pervious owner did the same thing with the brakes. They replaced the front two brake lines and left the back two. I drove the thing from MI to Chicago before it broke. I thought the brakes had just fallen apart so I went and drove it slowly back to MN. About an hour from home it was getting dark so I needed the headlights and the thing died. The pervious owner had just electrical taped some of the wires so the alternator wouldn't charge properly. Well I had to use a knife to cut the wires and such and super glued them together well that worked until I got home and had to to it properly.

My 78 El Camino they actually didn't do really any work on that. It was near original with like no rust or anything. I was totally surprised that I picked it up for $1500. I know that this car would be sold an easy 3-4 times what I paid for it. The car came from SD so only a little rust spot near the tail pipe. Otherwise the car was perfect. It does need the interior but that is easy to do. I am working on that so if anyone knows where to get a nice blue interior for it I would love the help

I cannot say that all botched repairs were accidental. Somebody at one time or another chopped wires in my 1968 elCamino just to see what would happen( I swear). After I got mine home I drove it to work to show the guys, and there the car sat for 2 days while I ran down the problem. I didn't know until after some investigation that Chevy didn't put a Ford selenoid on the wheel well. The starter selenoid was shot, so they put a Ford selonoid on the car, and re-routed wires. When I tried to go to the origional selenoid it worked(occasionally). I unwrapped a bundle of wired to find the hot lead to the starter selenoid was chopped and making a bad connection. Once I sorted through problems I was able to drive home. But lying on my back with everybody asking questions isn't how I wanted to spend time after work.
The heater wasn't working. It was easy enough to find somebody had bypassed it. A little more difficult to replace when finding someone else tried, and cut a hole in the right wheel well. Upon finding they couldn't fix it they sheet metal screwed the wheel well back together. My dad still has a scar on his fore-arm from that one.
Of course the windows leaked, but it didn't help having sand packed into them then the window lip silicone gooped over that to try to stop leaks.
Putting the wrong pulley on to straighten out the rubbing belts also didn't work. The belts still rubbed and I broke down in Northern California to be robbed by an un-scrouples tow driver. I spent the whole next day limping home replacing coolant.
I know that I screwed up trusting my relatives opinion of the car, but I feel that it is almost criminal what some people do to make a quick buck!

Well, finally i decided to browse online to see if there are any el camino forums, low and behold i find this, boy am i glad!! anyways, im a new guy here, small business owner and student in northern virginia(any locals :)) anyways, i own an 83 conquista, she's my pride and joy. My dad and i bought her when i was 15(im 19 now) so we've had the beast about 4 years. She's 20 now!! 5 more years, and antique plates/laws here i come.

In any case, in reference to this topic, as far as previous owner screwups....my el has always been what i feel is, underpowered, i mean i know its a 2 ton car with only a 305 under the hood, but off the line it always felt slow, it lagged a bit, kinda like it couldnt get all its power out. So, about ayear ago, i crawl under it(the muffler needed changing) and figured i'd look into napa parts to see about replacing the cat->back, well, low and behold the previous owner, for an unknown reason put the v6 exhaust on(smaller pipe size) No WONDER its felt slow. SO anyways, i put an edelbrock 304 stainles on her, and you would not believe the difference in power, just from a muffler that is 2.5ID, man thats nuts.

my reason for searching these forums, is this summer i have a lot of work cut out for me, rebuilding an old volvo p1800, some supercharging work on a friends mustang, sadly its a ford :( and a new one....oh well..its cars right......but on my el, i've been seriously pondering tpi, and headers and side pipes. I'm just curious if anyones done this? I'll post a new topic, i figure not too many people read this. anyways, cheers and glad i found this place,