Among the many, MANY things I'm thinking about doing to my 72 is peppier engine and a custom interior of some sort. I've been looking at engines on Craigslist. A really nice engine can be had for $3,000 - $5,000. But is seems that I could get a wrecked Corvette or Camaro for the same price and then be able to maybe use the interior, and maybe other parts to hop up the Elky.

What say all of you?? Anyone ever try parts from a Vette or Camaro in an El Camino??

I know anything can be done if you're willing to spend enough money, but that's not the idea here. Just the opposite really.

Anyone ever heard of someone going the other direction? Fitting an El Camino body to a Vette or Camaro chassis?

Kind of spit-balling here so don't be too hard on me. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Yes i have seen one in a trader magazine where a guy use a later model camaro chassis under a 71 el camino , he used some of the interior parts also computer & such..
Looked a bit squirley really cause chassis looked a bit wide for the body...
Probably be alot of work to get the body to fit the frame and look right with either choice unless you own a metal fab shop... :-)

I put a 1972 Trans Am front sub frame under a 1972 El Camino. It worked very well because even the radiator support holes were in the right place and the track width was right. The Trans Am frame extends back to about the middle of the transmission and is narrower than the Camino frame in that area, so laddering the frames together was a piece of cake. Headers and/or manifolds fit, the steering bolts together and it just plain worked. With the two frames sitting on a flat floor, the heights of everything is close to perfect, so there is no juggling numbers to make it work. Get the wheelbase right and start welding..

I would seriously hesitate to try ad adapt another frame when that swap was so easy and worked so well. Now all you nee to do is find a Gen 2 Firebird donor frame! The Camino was on the cover of Hot Rod (June 1989) and the details are in an article in that issue if you can track an issue down. eBay is a good source for the magazine.


Yeah, I've had Caminos for a long time..........


http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n114/kern-o/hrdp_1989_05_zhot_rod_cover.jpg

Thanks guys!! Please keep the suggestions coming.

I'll start checking the salvage auctions for Firebirds.