so I just got back from iraq today to see the el camino in person for the first time. Talk about a beater. It's going to be a process to fix it up, that's for sure, so I think I may just give it a flat black rattle job with a skull on the hood and have some fun with it.


anyway, once I hooked up the battery, I started pumping the gas to get it started. The pedal stuck and wont go back. everytime I start the car now, it starts shooting to the red line. I can't drive it like this, but I dont know where to start on fixing it. If anyone has any tips, with pictures hopefully, It'd be greatly appreciated. I told myself this was going to be my car to really learn how to wrench on, and I guess this is a good place to start.

Im gonna take a stab or at least point you in a direction................open hood, depending on carb you have , might have to remove air cleanerto see ,big round thing that sits on top of carb,one nut on top, cable from foot pedal attaches to carb, some type of clip, remove, now cable is free from linkage, see if pedal moves freely or is still stuck..........its eithert he carb linkage or cable from foot pedal.............wd 40 carb linkage...............dont have pix cause carbs vary..........................................if this dont help post picture of drivers side of carb to get more spacific.....................also try (ignition off) pushing and pulling your foot pedal by hand, dont try starting your car with the pedal stuck:beer:

first of all i presume you came back from Iraq because you are in the service. if so i am glad you came back safely. thank you also. you need to check out what mr wonterful said & also see if the throttle return spring is still on the carb. good luck, keep us posted. carl

forgot to say...................thanks for your service and glad you got back safely:beer:...................................... .........................................Jerry

yes, back from serving.

I'll try disconnecting it here soon. It'd idling at about 3-3.5k currently. Also, there seems to be smoke coming from the engine. I'm assuming it's burning oil, but I have no idea how to fix it or pinpoint the problem. I'm trying to not have to have any mechanics do some simple work for me. From that point I just need to fix...everything. Interior is jacked, paint is jacked, stereo needs a major upgrade. It does have overdrive though, so I'm pumped about that. I just dont know how much I trust driving this thing on the highway with the high idle and smoke. I don't know if the two problems are connected, but we'll find out.

thanks again for the support and quick responses.

looks like you got the rpms down, howd you do that? at this point there isnt a need to disconnect linkage, maybe just fast idle cam?,maybe the return spring I found that you need to give a lot of speciffics so you can get more oppions here,the smoke from exhaust?Color?,how long has the car sat? Im sure you got better things to do than work on your ride just getting home. try somethin get back to" US" and let us know you find.Good luck and tackle one problem at a time

You need to get some reading material that will give you the basics on operation and ID of parts a few hours with that help will give you a big leg up when you ask a question on why and what is this.

The car sounds like it needs a number of checks and items given some serious attension before you even think about driving it other than a safe parking lot. I just finished a machanical run down and all systems check on a 56 T-Bird that was as my father-in-law said, was ready to drive a 1000 miles to my house, it would have never made it 100 miles and that is being real kind (oh that was 100 miles or death which ever was first).

So it nsounds like the perfect ride to get into and learn as you may not be able to hurt anything and will learn the ways to restoration of a cool ride.

here is a pic of the throttle linkage on my 80, make sure the spring fas not broke or the linkage is not binding. lubing it with something is ok to get it freed up best to get it clean and dry afterwards. its oky to lube the cable. just keep the linkage on the carb clean and dry. pay attention to the linkage make sure the secondaries are not binding and staying partially open.
http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac309/JohnBer_album/p-pump026.jpg

rpms down came from who knows what to be honest. I dont know if that's a decent idle range or if I should try to lower it some more. The car has been sitting for a good month I'd say since the wife bought it, plus however long it was sitting before the guy sold it. I'm assuming he got it from an auction and just sat on it till it was sold. I was told it needed whatever carb spray to get it going at first.


i dont know a whole lot of specifics

it's a v8 305, 86 SS choo choo customs. The dash says the trans has overdrive, so I'm sure that can narrow down that factor.

what kind of specifics are you needing that I can figure out while it's still light out?

Your carb linkage will look a little different than the photo in the previous post because you will have a device in front of the linkage that compensates for the A/C unit that has a plunger that holds the idle at a higher RPM when the A/C is on. You might check to see if that plunger is stuck of if the spring (somewhat similar to the photo) has broken or become disconnected.

more great news. no change in idle, and now the drivers side door wont open anymore. I'm ready to drive this thing through the house of whoever sold it to my wife.

also, the dash lights dont work, so no night driving. the air isnt connected to the vents, so there's no air flow at all, and im pretty sure the steering column is broke. I'm not happy right now.

At this point we know your in over your head, we learn by doin something once and the next time its easier and so on...........How we learn anything in life and I learn something new everyday(Im 66) Heres what I suggest............Take the car to a mechanic(someone close) and ask them to give you an estimate for your top three problems(engine) . they will say it needs a .................................................. ..Usally free) and that way you can still fix it yourself and learn but they will diagnos( the hard part.for a begginer.)..................this way you can get the satisfaction of doing it yourself but you will have a better direction than I can give you without being there JK