Well i have my el camino all torn apart again. This time i bought a new gm crate 350 for it, i started taking it apart on friday december the 5th. I am hoping to have it all back together in the next couple weeks. I am repainting the frame and firewall,replacing all hoses and engine accesories,New engine,and New transmission. My 305 was wearing out it was smoking very bad and had bad power loss. Heres some pics!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1214.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1209.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1189.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1215.jpg

SWEET AZZ RIDE :You_Rock:

Pinkomino is jealous!!!!!!
Great start.
Donny

While you have the front clip off and look at the firewall, don't you think all the A/C stuff is UGLY?
I removed all that stuff and got Vintage Air replacement. Now I have lots of room ... and the firewall looks much better!
Have FUN, I'm jealous.:nanawrench:

Hope it warms up just a bit to a comfortable temp for you since it looks like you are doing this outdoors. What are you changing the tranny to?

That will be a sweet ride when it's finished.

Steven, it looks like you have behaved, Santa sure has been good to you, take care, Tony.

Nice motor. What is the HP rating?

man o man, are you havin' fun or what!? that is one BAD looking engine

Looks good Steven. That'll keep you rolling for a long time. :nanawrench:

nice looking ride looks like it's gonna be a lot more fun too :smileyb:

Nice Engine-enjoy-take your time..........:nanawrench:

That Elco Is Gonna Come Along Nasty http://community.ratsun.net/public/style_emoticons/default/blush.gif

Thanks guys yea the factory a/c is ugly but i already bought it all a couple years ago so im just gonna go ahead and put all the factory a/c back on. I hope it warms up to its been cold but with two jackets its ok man i hate the cold!!! And yep im replacing the tranny too i had a new one but the pump was going bad, so i have to get another one i should be getting it back any day now. The engine is the 290 horse mr goodwrench gm engine with all the dressed up accesories!

Stand back boys and girls. Steven has his tool box open again ! For those that don`t know him , he reminds me of a 464 Elky kind of guy . Seeing that there is nothing good on t.v. for the weekend , he pulls out his motor ! Steve had an 81 before that he did a ton of great work to and now has an even nicer 83 . Got to see it at the Plaza during the recent Daytona Turkey Run . Maybe Edonthebeach has started a fad for installing new motors . LOL . Good luck and congratulations Steven and we look forward to seeing it at our next get together . :nanawrench:

I painted my frame yesterday friday the 17th and today i attached the tranny to the motor and put on the new tranny line,fuel pump,and exhaust manifold. I want to put the engine in tommorow but i have to work from 1-6 so im not sure if i will or not. Hopefully by the end of next week i will have her going down the road again.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1232.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1233.jpg

lookin' awesome, buddy!

With help from my buddy alex we got the engine in monday night at about 11pm. Heres the pics right before the engine went in and a pic with it in. I bought motor mounts from auto zone and they didn't fit correctly at all, we had a heck of a time getting the motor mounts to line up so we could put the nut and bolt in. Finally we got it in so were getting that much closer though we still have alot to do!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1234.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1235.jpg

Lookin good Steve! Glad to see you got it indoors to work on.

:beer: Randy

too cool, buddy.. i know you're havin' a ball!

That's the way to do it, work some then sit back and enjoy the show. :nanawrench::nanawrench:

Nice car. What's the trick to unbolt the front end intact like that? Just knowing which bolts to take off and which to leave on I assume but it did not look that easy when I tried it after my wreck. (In my 79)

Oh yea im having loads of fun i'll have even more when i get to take it down the road for the first time though!!! To take the front end off in one peice remove the wheel wells,take the radiator support bolts off theres one on each side that holds the radiator support to the front of the frame. Remove the two bolts inside the door jam on each side they hold the fender on, remove the fender bolts under the hood that are near the windshield one is on the side of the fender and one is sticking up near the hood hinge. Then remove the one bolt under the fender right near the front of the door on each side. unhook your headlight wiring from the plug that goes into the firewall,and unbolt your hood latch cable from the radiator support and then you can remove the front clip!

Just a thought...
Remove the A/C box with all its wires and fill the holes. That will give you much needed space. And, will look so much better!
You won't need A/C for a couple of months. So save up some money and purchase a Vintage Air conversion when you can.
I suggest NOW is the time to do it. Later will be difficult.
I did mine with the front clip off...Piece of cake...
Just sharing my knowledge, not being a smart a--, enjoy your project. You do what you wanna do, I understand.:beer:

That would be cool but ive already bought all my a/c so im just gonna go ahead and put all the factory stuff in thanks for the suggestion though. Im getting pretty close to starting it up ive got all the brackets on, so now we have to attach all the accessories,power steering pump,compressor,alternator,fan,starter,distributor ,carb,and all the wiring and hoses and it will about be ready. Ive been working long hours because of the holidays so not much time to work on the elky but hopefully soon we can finish it up!

it took me most of the summer to get as much done as you've done in a couple o' weeks!

We have been busting our butts i wake up around 9 in the morning i go get parts then work on the car for alittle. Then i usually work 4-9 though its been 4-11 lately then when i get off work i go work on it some more usually till 3am or so. I wanna get it done asap so ive been workin on it like crazy and i have my buddy helping me so it goes alittle quicker! Heres a couple more pics from yesterday.http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1238.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1239.jpg

i like your exhaust manifolds much better than mine, what are they from?

I bought them on ebay when i first built the car i just looked under small block chevrolet exhaust manifolds and those were the ones i liked.

Got my carb and breather on today also worked on cleaning up the last few parts to go on. I got my new alternator and starter today also got the oil dipstick,and new positive and negative battery terminals & Wires. Heres a picture of the engine with everything thats currently installed!http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1251.jpg

:beer:

Im almost ready to drive my elky away we put the front clip back on this evening! We have to make the spark plug wires the right lengths,put radiator in and attach tranny lines and upper and lower hoses,hook the transmission linkage up, add oil,bolt up the power steering pump and lines,bolt up the fan and fan shroud,attach the wheel wells,time the engine,and attach the fuel filter. Then away i go allthough i will only go two blocks then it goes to shop to get aligned since i removed my upper control arms to powder coat them and install new ball joints and upper control arm bushings. Then im going to see how long it takes to put down the first few thousand break in miles!! I will post some pics soon with the front end back together!!

Can't wait to see it. Hurry so you can get going on mine!!!!!:poke:
Donny

sounds good love it when a plan comes together!!!:beer::smileyb:

Heres a few more pictures of my engine compartment coming back together the wires are just flopped on the engine we still have to route them. Im also going to have to remove the waterpump and get another because i cant find a lower hose that will fit over the pump and my radiator.http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1268.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1267.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1269.jpg

All righty Steven! Nice job. :nanawrench:Going to do the Power Tour with us? That'll get a couple thousand of those miles! If not I probably won;t see it until NPD.

Im hoping to do atleast the first leg of the tour i want to go till tennesee but im not sure yet. So we fired her up tonight which is tuesday january 11th 2011 at 12:15 am she purred like a kitten. So tommorow i have to hook up the vacumn to the tranny,hookup the shifting linkage,put on the fan shroud,re install the steel fuel hose to the fuel pump since its leaking then im gonna drive her a couple blocks to my house. From there i have to take it to Gibsons alignment shop to have it aligned since we changed the upper control arm bushings and ball joints! Then the driving begins :nanawrench:

Heres a pic from today with all the accesories back on i can move it around finally!! In the next week or so its going to the front end alignment shop.http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1279.jpg

Thats a nice looking Ride you have , I have to ask are you installing the inner fender wells ?? if not why not ? :dontknow:just askin?

sweeet ride.:smileyb:
yea that waterpump inlet looks huge(may just be the pic),,what kind is it??
hehe,,saw the bags of cans,,hope that wasnt all beer,,that really drives up the upgrade budget,,:beer:

I'm just curious, did you have to make those new trans cooler lines, or are they available new?

it's lookin' great!

Yep im installing the wheel wells im taking it to the front end shop then when it comes back im gonna put them in. I bought the water pump at the turkey rod run carshow, im not sure what brand it is i didnt see a brand anywhere. Allthough i do know its a high volume aluminum pump, and i ended up ordering a lower hose for a 83 elky with the 350 diesel the pipe on the water pump side is alittle bigger.Yep all those cans are beer but there not mine i dont drink there my stepdads and all his buddies lol! Nope the trans lines arent custom made you can buy them brand new from dixiemontecarlo.com heres the link to the page of all the different lines they sell http://dixiemontecarlodepot.com/78-87elcamino_subSections/s39.htm (http://dixiemontecarlodepot.com/78-87elcamino_subSections/s39.htm)
And thanks for the comments Ed im trying to get her done as soon as i can im itching to drive it a long distance!!!

It`s looking better and better . One day soon you will be able to say " today`s the day to light the fires and kick some tires " ! Next get together maybe Ed will put you on video .

I took my elky to the alignment shop this morning i drove it home about two hours later i have to put the wheel wells and other misc parts on tommorow. Im hoping to take it to a local car show this saturday night for its first show since the engine swap i cant wait!!!:nanawrench:

kool looks great !!!:smileyb:

steven - where are you going to take it this weekend? if it's possible for me to get there, i'll try.

Im taking it to the downtown eustis carshow where you guys went a long time ago when i brought my van and my buddy had the green el camino. Here is the address to the chamber of commerce (1 West Orange Avenue, Eustis, FL 32726) and the carshow is on the other side of it on magnolia avenue. If you plan to come message me and i will give you my cell phone number.

yeah, i know the place - they make love bugs over there - lots and lots o' love bugs! i can't tell you absolutely, but that's a possible. if it's cold and wet like today, probably not. i see it starts a 5 now, would you be there earlier? i'd really like to see your car, but i'd rather see it in the daylight.

Steven and Ed , I hope the weather holds up and you can go to Eustis . It would be great for you to see each other`s new engines . That was a real nice show in a beautiful part of the state . Had to laugh about the love bugs . Wish I could do the link but there is an old photo of 82 Elco`s and my Camino on the way to Eustis . Both Caminos were so loaded with love bugs we had to stop off at El Dawgg`s place to wash them again .

lol we only make love bugs during the summer you wont find any on your way up tommorow or heck maybe i should send a few out your way lol.It's not going to rain but it looks like it may be alittle on the cold side. Yep it starts at 5 but people are always there earlier.I have to work from 9-3 i can come home grab the elky and go straight there if you would like i could probably be there by 3:45 or so,i just sent you a pm with my phone number ed! Heres the link of the love bug show i mean car show lenny was talking about lol http://www.elcaminocentral.com/gallery.php?g2_itemId=69704
(http://www.elcaminocentral.com/gallery.php?g2_itemId=69704)

looks like it will be cool, but clear - see ya around 3:30 - just sent you a text

Thanks for coming down ed thanks for dinner ill have to pick up your tab next time!:You_Rock:
It was alittle bit on the cold side but it was a good show lots of cars,cant wait to see the rest of you guys hopefully we can all get together for the power tour. :beer:

Looks like your off to a great start, Good luck and keep us posted on your project.

somehow my camera cut off after 2mins - i refuse to concede it might be operator error - here is the new engine. next time we all get together i'll make a longer, more complete vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjmV0s550kA

what eustis lacked in lovebugs this time, it made up for in cold and windy! the motor looks and sounds good steven - good job.

what steven did in about a month it took me all summer long to do, of course he cheated by being about 40yrs younger than me and would work until 4 or 5 in the morning; then go to work all day! ...sheesh

Heres a couple pics with the wheel wells in,new brake booster and tach filter installed!http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1306.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/Photo1307.jpg

Steven , this is looking really nice and hope we will get to see your work on May 19 or 20 at the Nat`l. Muscle Car Show in Bradenton .

Heck ya man!! keep up the good work!! :bigups: I use mine as a daily driver so I need a little smaller motor :dontknow:. I have a new 305 board .30 over that's going to go into my Camino when it warms up.

Looks good Steve!! gives me hope for mine!!:nanawrench:Keep the updates comin`! Matty man:beer:

Get her running Steve and be at Bradenton

I will see what i can do im not sure about bradenton but i will be at the daytona spring car show on march 25th through the 27th at the daytona international speedway and out at the bel-air plaza at night anyone coming to that? heres the link to the shows website http://daytonabeachcarshows.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=6

Here are the most current pics of my engine compartment i still have some little things to do to the engine compartment. The first thing being getting another new radiator overflow tank since the brand new one i just bought is leaking :dontknow:. I have to get a new windshield washer jug and hook all the spray nozzles and hoses up,and put all the a/c back together thats all for the moment but it never ends.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/000_0004.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/000_0003.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/000_0001.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/81elcamino/000_0005.jpg

I've been reading these posts and been meaning to ask.... Is this the Steve that lives in Tampa?

Nope i live in leesburg remember when you came to the eustis carshow i had the custom astro van.

He better remember.....that was like his ONLY show....
:poke:

82Elco - you don't remember people you already met at shows? you need to come back into the light! fire up that elky and come to a show!

I'm with 464elky...I think he is a ghost...But maybe I saw some interior pics of that 82 on a sound system thread a while back...:dontknow:

Oh I see we have jokes out there. I would like to come out and chil but what can I say. Work calls. One day, I may have to make another guest appearance. LOL..