I know almost nothing about cars but I've always wanted an el camino. I have a specific question regarding el caminos and maybe you guys can help me out.
I'm looking for:
1. a 65-67 el camino. 68-70 ss are good too.
2. a reliable weekly driver (I have a more fuel efficient car that my wife will drive and I take the train to work)
3. something that is powerful/ good amount of torque/ acceleration, etc. Not like i'm going to race it but i'd like to know it's there
4. something I can drive on the freeway at a decent speed. (which leads me into my question:
I was looking at a 65 el camino (with someone who knows cars of course) and while I liked the car overall, the seller mentioned that he doesn't like to drive the car over 55 on the freeway b/c it runs the engine too high. at first I didn't understand why but now that I think about it, it makes sense to me. I know it involves the transmission, rear end etc. (I had to think about gears on a bike to get the concept).
-my question is what do i look for in an el camino to ensure that I can take it at higher speeds without killing the engine?
-what kind of specific transmissions or rear ends (specific names if you know) should it have to get good acceleration yet good freeway speeds and get tolerable gas milelage?
-in general, what kind of things should i look/feel for on the test drive, and what things should i look out for?
thanks in advance

Assuming the transmission shifts into high gear, the final drive ratio of the transmission will be 1:1 whether it's a powerglide(2 speed) or TH350 or TH400(turbo hydramatic 3 speed) or even if it's a manual shift. Later model 4 speed automatics and some manuals have an overdrive gear that reduces the final ratio to about .7:1 to improve mileage and highway driveability. That said, the issue you need to know about is the rearend gear ratio. Those ratios vary from about 2.5:1 to about 5:1. The higher numbers are for fast acceleration and the lower numbers for highway cruising. Now, to determine the approximate rearend ratio, jack up the rear axle, slide under the car, and put a mark on the drive shaft. Have someone turn the wheel 1 revolution while you count the number of times the driveshaft turns. The number off turns is the approximate gear ratio, ie: 2.73, 3.08, 3.23, 3.42, 3.73, 4.11, 4.56.

You don't say what "too high" is. "Too high" depends on the engine and the driver. For some guys, cruising at 2500 rpm may be too high even though it's OK for the engine. For other guys, 4000+ rpms may be OK even if it happens to be hard on that particular engine. My big block turned about 4000 at 80 with 3.73 rears which didn't hurt the engine (except for a little extra wear) since my peak horsepower is about 6000 and the engine will rev about 7000 even though it stops making more power above 6000. Even though the 4000 didn't hurt the engine , it drove me crazy, so I replaced the TH400 with a 700R4 transmission to get the overdrive and reduce those cruising rpms to about 2800 which I like a lot better.

If everything else about the truck is good for you, the rear gear ratio is simple to "fix" and probably won't cost more than $300-400. As to your test drive, if it has a high rear gear, it will shift out of 1st gear about as soon as you move unless you're hard on the throttle so you just have to drive it and see what you think.

As far as buying an old truck, in general, I'd be a lot less concerned with the mechanicals than the body and frame. Motors, transmissions, rear ends, suspension, etc. can always be fixed or rebuilt. Rusted frames and body panels would be a much bigger concern for me because those repairs are hard to get done right and if the rust is there now, it won't go away. I'd take the truck where you can get it on a hoist and go over the chassis and the floor pans with a "fine tooth comb" and I'd use a magnet on the body panels to make sure they're not filled with bondo.

All of that being said, good luck and I hope we can welcome you to this group of wise automobile afficiandos.

Good info, bkstk.

Good info, bkstk.


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Welcome to ECC/NECOA Chris!

If you're not too concerned with having an "original drivetrain" El Camino, try to find a 65-72 that has been upgraded with a newer OD transmission like the 700-R4 or 200-4R. Both have OD and a torque convertor clutch lockup which will help with highway MPG. These trannys will allow you to run a higher gear rear end for fast acceleration and still cruise at a reasonably low RPM.

My 87 Elky and 86 MCSS have the 200-4r but the rear end gears are different. The Elky has 2.41:1 and the MCSS has 3.73:1. At 65 MPH the Elky is at about 1300 RPM and the MCSS is at about 2000 RPM. The Elky gets around 22 MPG and the MCSS gets about 15 MPG.

Good luck on the test drive. Look out for [fade:ba016dbdaa]RUST!! [/fade:ba016dbdaa]
:mrgreen: