New owner of a 1976 el camino classic

[1976]

Well I guess I should introduce my self, my name is Jake, I am from Alabama, I am a junior in high school, and I have just been given a 1976 el camino classic. I have been looking through every single used car classified ads website, bulletin board, mule trader, etc... For the past year. I looked at a lot of 5th gen el caminos but all were either rusted out or the owner wanted an arm and a leg. Finnally, just yesterday, my father drove an hour and half to look at a 76 that only had a low quality black and white pic in the bulletin board. I wasn't really expecting it to be in as good as shape as it was, test drove it, and 5 minutes later was signing an old bill of sale and off I was in the only car that could have contained my grin so well. I had thought it had a 305, and was expecting the engine to be pretty anemic, but when I got on the interstate, I had no problem weaving through traffic( my dad is a road warrior so I had to keep up lol). Anyway, it turned out to be a small block 350 two barrel. I was pleasantly surprised with the umph of the acceleration. Got it home, and couldn't stop smiling at it, finally after showing all my buddies, I knew the tear down process had to start so I went to sleep, when I awoke however, I tore out all of the interior excluding the dash and began inspecting the floorpans, for a car of its age, the pans were really good, just a few rust holes but nothing bigger than a dime. I also found a dead rat in the smugglers box, but that is irrelevant. Lol well that is where I am at as of now. I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks, I uploaded an album and I will post new pictures as I make progress, if veteran members could guide me through this, I would much appreciate it. I am planning to find some buckets out of a camaro and build a center console. But I need new carpet, windshield, and whatever the insulating material under the carpet and behind the seats was. I am also planning in doing all body work myself, have the car painted a "Honda" red, and badge it as a rally sport just to make people say "what the heck is that?". Anyways, if you have any input, I would love to hear it, and any questions I would love to answer them. Also if any one has an idea on where to find the items I listed above, it would be much appreciated. Now let me shut up and look at y'all's builds.

[87next2last1]

Welcome from Florida !! Got any pics ?
Ask away on your questions ! There is no dumb questions on here except for the question not asked !!
Use the search key to help find tons of info !!

[shadowr3d]

Woo! Another 76 owner(: welcome from California! Great story too lol have fun with it! Will check out your pics when I can!


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[Elly Girl]

Welcome from Tx. You will receive lots of help from the great folks here.

[84elcoconquista]

Welcome! I'm a junior in High school too with an 84'!

[84elcoconquista]

I thought only 305 4th gens had 2-barrels? Check it out, I was told mine was a 350 but it was a 305.

[LOCKJAW]

Congrats and welcome, Jake, from sunny Florida. C'mon and get some photos posted , I want to see it. You are going to enjoy this site and community of Elky lovers.

[DONE DEAL DONNY]

Welcome & great start!!
We need our fix of daily pix!!!
Donny

[jkk]

Welcome from Texas good luck with your project

[El Diablo]

They will stop you at the border and check for dead rats. If yours is missing, they will give you one.

[shadowr3d]

Just saw your album, your car looks amazing man! The seats look great!


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[oldtinsmith]

1976,
Jake, welcome from mid-Michigan. Nice ride!

Doug

[hagensen 78]

Welcome from Idaho.

[mrblanche]

Ah, a boy after my own heart! I wish I could have done that. Keep in mind that that is a 36-year-old car. It will take lots of new parts to make it dependable and fun.

To put it in perspective, my first car was a 1941 Chevy. That was in 1966, so it was only 25 years old at the time. A Model A (1930) Ford would have been 36 years old. 57 Chevys were just cheap used cars.

[69 SS396]

Jake welcome from sunny central Florida.

Sounds like a cool car, even though you have a 350 mouse motor in her you can tell everyone you got a rat in it.

2 bbl carbs were fairly common in the mid 70s for gas mileage reasons even though a good q-jet gets better if you keep the secondaries closed. Smaller venturies.