Here's the pictures of the 1978 El Camino damage.
I don't know anything about body restoration & i'm looking for suggestions.
Before I start dropping money into restoring it I want to make sure all the damage on it is fixable.

Here's a picture of the rear passenger side dent that my Grandmother put in it by jack-knifing a trailer into it. This is the piece I have the most doubts about fixing, just not sure if it's posable. I'm posting pictures of multiple angles to give a better perspective of it.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse008.jpgRear passenger side from back (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse008.jpg)
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse028.jpgRear passenger side straight on view (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse028.jpg)
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse007.jpgRear passenger side from above (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse007.jpg)

The drivers front fender was rubbed against a post long ago, I'd like to know if it is repairable or if it just needs replacing?
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse016.jpgDrivers front fender (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse016.jpg)

Here's a small dent in the passengers front fender...
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse015.jpgPassenger front fender (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse015.jpg)

This is damage to the passenger door made by a deer charging it at a traffic light in the country.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse013.jpg (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse013.jpg)http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse012.jpg (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse012.jpg)http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse010.jpg (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse010.jpg)

Here's the tailgate damage, I'm sure it could just be replaced if not repaired.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse022.jpg (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse022.jpg)http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse021.jpg (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse021.jpg)

Finlay I need to know what I can do about this rust around the bed & rear window...
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse020.jpg (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse020.jpg)http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse018.jpg (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse018.jpg)http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/th_ElCaminoAbuse017.jpg (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s246/badrsole/78%20El%20Camino%20Black%20Knight/78%20El%20Camino%20Damage/ElCaminoAbuse017.jpg)

If you have an opinion feel free to share it. I don't plan to fix all this damage right away. I want to make everything functional before I get into the body, but like I said I don't want to waste money if I won't be able to restore the body eventually.

Thanks for reading!

The rear quarter will be an easy fix. A stud welder and a good body man will be able to pull that right out.

The drivers fender I would replace. They are fairly cheap.

The passenger fender is an easy fix.

The door is a pretty easy fix with a stud gun and dent puller.

Tail gates are pretty cheap on ebay if you can find one close. But that one is very repairable.

The rust around the bottom of the bed doesn't look to be thru the metal. A good sand blast and some epoxy primer on it as soon as you can to keep it from getting worse.

The rust around the window needs attention asap. Remove the trim and window. If you never removed a window have a glass shop do it for you. You can't get a new one. After it is out have it either sand blasted or wire wheeled witha grinder to see if there is holes thru the metal. if there are holes you need to have them welded up or brazed. Clean all the rust out and have it painted with an epoxy primer. Have the rear window reinstalled or do it yourself with some window urethane. If your rear window was leaking you probably have some rust on your floor. pull up the carpet in the front drivers side and check the floor there. Also the front passenger side under the heater box. then check the back floor wells.

All in all the body is in pretty good shape but get that rust taken care of first and quickly before it gets worse.

Some other areas to check is under the front trim on the windshield and the frame from the back tires back.

Hope this helped.

Rob

I agree with everything he ^^^^ said. I just pulled some dents on my car. And my dents were harder to pull than yours.

Thanks for the replies. It's a good weight off of my mind to hear that the rear quarter is salvageable & the tailgate also.

I won't have time to do anything with it until September. Until then I'd like to find out how much I can do myself & how to do it. It seems like taking care of the rust is the obvious priority. If you know of any links to related information that I could learn from it'd be appreciated if they were posted.
This will be a rolling restoration, & I'm curious how many hours/days it would take to remove the rear window, & take care of the rust? I know it's hard to be exact so just an estimated of minimal to max would be good. We do have something else to drive in the meantime but we need the truck a few days a week.

The rear window doesn't leak at all but I do get a little leakage due to bad weather strips on the small side windows. I intend to figure out how to replace the weather strips also.

Thanks again for the post, that's a lot more information than I previously had & I'm real glad to hear that someone thinks the body is in pretty good shape.
I'll check the front trim on the windshield soon, but I'm not real sure how to look at the frame from the rear tires back, or what to look for. It looked good (to me) over a year ago when I replaced the rear end, but I may as well check again & get an idea of what I'm looking for.

I back what the others said as well. Yours definitely looks better than a few i've had. For the rust i would use a product called rust encapsulator made by the eastwood company. The stuff is awesome and you don't need to get all the rust out for it to work. They have all kinds of do it yourself resto goodies. Is it a real royal knight?

For the rust i would use a product called rust encapsulator made by the eastwood company. The stuff is awesome and you don't need to get all the rust out for it to work. They have all kinds of do it yourself resto goodies. Is it a real royal knight?

I checked on that Eastwood company site & it looks pretty promising. They even have a forum comunity so it should be easy to get instructions :D

Yeah it's a real Black Knight, My Grandfather bought it from the original owner whom our family had known for a long time. It had all the graphics on it when he got it but he replaced the hood & swapped the original 4 bolt out for an already built 2bolt. The side & tailgate graphics wore off over time.
The guy that swapped the engine is a friend of ours & is going to let me check the VIN's on all the blocks he has laying around, I'm hoping to find the original 4bolt ;). I'm not about making all the numbers match but I think it would be cool to have. Someday I might even get the graphics back on.

Like others said a stud welder will work well at pulling most of those dents out. The harborfreight one works well for the price.

The way I look at it is for the most part if the panel is damaged more than a little and it's replacable I'll probably put a new one on or a good used one.


As for the rust in the bed or any rust... Sand it away blast it away then use phosphoric acid to remove any remaining rust. The acid removes rust and forms an iron phosphate coating which primes well. You can get the acid anywhere or you can get it from the body shop store as metal conditioner.

Most all of the rust converting paints contain phosphoric acid as well as many self etching primers. It's the phosphoric acid that provides the etch.

FYI look at the ingredients on a can of orange soda. It often contains phosphoric acid. Kinda funny that you aren't supposed to get it on your hands but it's Ok to drink(in small dilluted quantities). :) :) :) Same deal with propelene glycol (AKA enviormentally safe antifreeze that used to be available)