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1970 El Camino 350 Daily Driver Project - Lots of modern Modz

57K views 495 replies 24 participants last post by  Old Bear 
#1 ·
I am new to this forum. I am hoping to share some of my modz and project work while gaining some insight from others as well.

I have been building a new 2019 Subaru Forester Sport for the past year or so since buying it. I am glad to learn that the El Camino Central forum uses the same forum engine. Should be easy transition.

I am known for posting detailed build projects with lots of photos and hope to do the same for this project. I will share a little about this car and then I will move forward with some projects.

This car belonged to my father-in-law. He bought it in about 1990. It was his pride to work on. He did a restoration himself including the paint. There is nothing original about this car. It does not have matching numbers. He built it the way he wanted to drive it and he was proud of that.

Before his passing, the car had sat untouched for about 3 years. We fired it up and in his last year of life we spent some time working on the car together. Since he has passed, I slowly began moddifying this car in about 2015 to become a daily driver. Like him, I wanted this car to be what I wanted to drive and enjoy. I also want this to be a car to remmeber him by and one that my wife will drive and enjoy as well, especially since it was her father.

Since 2015, my wife feels scared to drive this car. My pursuit has been long but continues with the premise that I want to convert this car into something with a modern and reliable feel. I have no interest in keeping this car original at all. Therefore, this project build is all about performance, comfort, and reliability.

And away we go . . .
 
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#436 ·
Getting ready for two weekends of car shows in a row. I ordered a Retractable Show Display from Vengeance Graphix. It measures 3' x 6' tall. Chris whipped out thje design over the weekend. He sent me one proof, I asked for a few adjustements and approved this today. I hope it arrives in time for the first show.

He did a great job of featuring the car exterior shots while integrating some of the finer details, like motor, interior, dash, subwoofer, etc. He also did some magician work with my photos by removing the garage shots from the background. He used the pavement and some smoke to transition between shots. Really, really impressed with his work and speed.




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#438 ·
Excited to head out to the Route 66 Car Show in Williams tomorrow and Saturday. It should be a big turnout this year.

I am off work tomorrow and it will be a big day for the Elky. Tomorrow is a casual sign in and get a parking spot then I am going to drive down to Phoenix to visit Baer brakes to pickup the rear disc brakes and other parts. I hope to tackle that project before the end of June, but that may be tough.

I should put in a good 300 miles tomorrow and it will be a true test for the AC performance. I don't think the blower is strong enough and only has 3 speeds. So, good trail day tomorrow with Phoenix temps projected at 113 deg.
 
#439 ·
Oh, and the signboard wont arrive until tomorrow afternoon if UPS is able to do their job, which has not been so good lately. They are almost as unreliable as American Airlines.
 
#440 ·
Well, I had a horrible drive to Phoenix and the entire car show was a disaster.

When I arrived at registration Friday morning, they did not have me registered even though I paid. They verified that I did pay and gave me a new registration number, #428. There was about 500 cars this year. They made me redo all the paperwork again and then when the lady wrote out my car tag, she did not assign my classes even though we discussed it. On Saturday no one judged my car and I finally discovered that it did not have a class on the window sign so I tracked down two different judges and they both told me they woudl get ahold of Charlie and he woudl call me and get everything straightedned out. There was about an hour of judging time left at that point. No call, no judges. I left shortly after that. Horrible!


On Friday I drove down to Phoenix and it was hot! At least 110 and it was projected to be 113. The AC was barely keeping up on high speed and I was still a little sweating. The AC temp was about 35 deg, but just not enough air volume. The big problem is that the Promaster alternator rated at 150amps was only making 10.1 to 10.5 volts with AC on High. I have been having promblems with my alternator and recently switched out to a smaller pulley and this did not seem to help enough. Actually, I think the alternator is a lemon. It is only 2 years old or so.

I made it to Phoenix without a problem. However on the drive back up to 7000 ft to Flagstaff the car died three times and I had some electric power outs. I also had a spark plug wire pop off and I thought this was the issue, but that was only the result of the first time the car died. The two other times, the wire was intact and it seemed to be more of a power failure from the low voltage. It was quite strange. Once I got up to 5000 ft it was cool enough that I could roll down the windows and drive home without AC. Car made it home about 50 miles with no problem.

The next day, Saturday, I went to the car show. On top of all the logistical problems, my sign board pole broke in half with a wind gust, so I could not use the sign for the majority of the day. Then on the drive home about 40 miles, I got into town and the car just flat out died and lost power. Some components worked like the radio but the PCS shifter and ignition did not. I called my wife to bring tools and when I was testing the fuses I noticed that there was power on the left fuse bank and nothing on the right side. So, there was batt power, but no power to ignition or accessory switches. So, I hooked the acc and ign wires up to batt and the car started right up and I drove home.

The car is truly broken and in this state now. Not sure what is happening. I checked the two fusible links in the engine bay and both were good for batt power. I think I must have fried a wire on the back side of the fuse box. Today, I just took the day off and worked on other projects. Does anyone have ideas? My next step is to pull the fuse panel off and check the backside connections. Somehow, nothing on the right side of the fuse panel works and the three spades in the middle are BATT, IGN and ACC and only the BATT has power when the ignition switch is on. I am also going to see if maybe sothing is wrong with the Digital Gaurd Dawg device since this taps directly into the IGN power and wiring. Maybe that alarm box is not passing the power through.

All and all a horrible weekend for the El Camino. I have a car show next weekend too, but not sure I will make it or have a replacement sign pole by then either. I did muy a new Mechman alternator, so I am hoping this solves my power struggles with the AC on. I really need this to work as it should.
 
#442 ·
I don't know the voltage at the alternator. I get a much lower value on my Dakota Digital instrument compared to a USB charger with a built in volt meter. My DD would read 10.4v and the USB voltmeter was reading about 11.4. Not really sure which one is correct, but I definately notice problems.

What does "Could be small wire voltage drop." mean? Are you referring to me possibly having a small gauge wire in my charging system setup? I am using a 10 gauge wire from Alternator to the battery and 10 gauge wire from the battery to the junction block which I used to replace the factor splice joint and regulator. This was the recommended setup from MAD enterprises. Again, never had my charging system running above 12 volts so I do not think the MAD setup is the fault. I am hoping it was a lemon of an alternator.

Cheers,
Scott
 
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#443 · (Edited)
Hello Scott,

"Small wire voltage drop" is where the thinner gauge wires can't carry as much power as a thicker gauge wire. Thinner wire has more resistance so the voltage drops, especially on a longer wire.

I also have a DD set of gauges in my EC and I see this same drop of almost one volt difference between what my DD voltmeter says and what a good multimeter indicates at the battery. Its the thin wires after the fuse panel on the way to the DD voltmeter where this problem is mostly seen. I simply add one volt in my mind to what I see on my DD voltmeter and keep on driving.

My multimeter typically measures 14.4 VDC before the e-fans and the AC kick on, measured at the battery. And around 13.7 VDC once everything is running and maybe 13.4 or so at night with the headlights on.

Rick

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
#444 ·
thanks guys. i will do a couple checks at multiple points before i swap alternators. the edelbrock e-tuner also shows the same lower voltage as the DD gauges.

any idea what may have caused the issue with the fuse panel not passing electric to the accessory and ignition wires? it is either the fuse panel or the digital guard dawg ignition box causing this problem.
 
#445 ·
Scott, As B52 said please check at the alternator with a good volt ohm meter before going farther. Check at battery also With motor running nothing on. If voltage is good turn on stuff and check again. On my setup you need voltage on the small wire to make the alternator work. You only have voltage on the small wire when key is on.
Tom
 
#446 ·
Well, I pulled the fuse block and everything looked good. No damage back there. So, I figured thr problem must be at the DGD alarm box with the ignition wire taps. With the power on, all the wires were hot. So, then I traced each wire and sure enough the green ignition wire that ties into the car harness was not making a good connection. Arrgh. But, an easy fix.

So, I have the battery on a charger. When I get home from work tomorrow I will do some tests on the old alternator, then I will install teh new Mechman alternator and do a retest. I will post the photos too. Mechman has some specific instructions for testing for voltage drops at specific locations, so I plan to follow and report those tests.
 
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#449 ·
Hey now, that is not funny. You know I will spend countless hours searching for those twin turbines and when i can't find it, I will design my own with linear actuators to move the turbine to a more lateral position to collect more air. i want it to look like the pod racer that aniken skywalker had in the force awakens.
 
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#450 ·
As a former NASA worker, I can help you out. I've put those very items on our airplanes. 😮
 
#451 · (Edited)
@EL S ONE has these special mounting brackets he uses to mount them wide on each side.
Not only will these turbine alternators generate lots of real and static electricity, they also help out if your A/C isn't measuring up. Come complete with aerodynamic triple plated chrome bullet tips and are clearly marked with "Custom" badging. They come in black, white, cement and Verdugo Green and a luscoius Bomba Brown.
The prototype was first found near area 51.

But wait, there's more!
Today you get two (2) mounting kits.

Due to the classified nature and limited quantity, I am not permitted to add a link.
Yet you know who to contact.

Automotive parking light Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Automotive lighting
 
#452 ·
I have the last two. The other four were used on the Voyagers. Good luck retrieving those. 😮
 
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#453 ·
The Promaster is a 150amp alternator. The Mechman is a 170amp. Well, I did some testing and made the swap tonight. Unfortunately, I could not use the March pulley with cover. The shaft on the Mechman is very different in design. So, I had to use there billet black serpentine pulley. It is not as small as the March pulley I had on the Promaster. Nonetheless, the new Mechman outperforms the Promaster hands down.

Here is the photo journey for the install and results.


I had the battery on a trickle charger for a couple days and when I took it off with the car off I get 12.53v on the tester.
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The edlebrock reads 11.5v with car off.
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About 11.5v on the DD display with car off.
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now I started the car and turned on AC and headlights. Radio off. Car in park and not warm yet. And I get 11.99v.
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Same situation and the USB volt meter gets about 1v higher and this is consistent with all my readings.
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DD edelbrock are at 11.5v again. I should add that I was not driving in teh heat or uphill like the time when I had all these problems.
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So here is the Charge path test. According to Mechman, I hould have less than 0.1v. This is a fail. So, after reading the potential things to fix, I only have a 10g wire going from the alternator to the junction block "splice" and this is what is recommended with the MAD charging system setup.
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This is the Ground Path Test. This is a pass. So ground is good and charge wire may be too small.
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#454 ·
So here are the photos after install of the Mechman 170 amp alternator.



After installing the Mechman I fired up the car and before adding any accessories this is what I got, 14.6v.
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USB voltmeter is about the same.
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DD cluster shows about 14v.
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With AC and headlights off and radio off at idle I get a nice 14.2v on the USB display.
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DD cluster shows about 13v which is consistent for being a little lower.
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Back to the battery with everything above mentioned, running at idle.
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Now for the Charge Path Test. It is a tiny bit better, but overall still a fail.
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DD and Edlebrock are reading about the same.
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So, here are the Mechman instructions for performing a Charge Path and Ground Path test. It is important to note that the text box corresponds to the photo on the side of it, not bewlow or above it.
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So, I am going for a long drive tomorrow and a car show on Sunday. This will be another nice opportunity for a test.

Overall I am happy with the startup performance. The road test will help alot.

I plan to install a large 4 gauge wire from the Alternator to the battery tomorrow and will leave the existing 10 gauge wire in place that connects to the junction splice. This was the recommended strategy and wire size according to Mechman. I will retest the Charge and Ground paths tomorrow after the wire upgrade. It would be nice if I can reduce that Charge Path test to below 0.1v.
 
#458 ·
Tom, you are correct. I could not agree more. The testing did help me understand that my power wire size was too small. The MAD instructions are old and based on standard equipment and alternators. So, running the Charge Path Test was crucial to identifying this problem. I think this is a test everyone shoudl be doing with their charging system.

So check this out. Here are the results after adding the 4 gauge power wire back into my sstem like I had before folling the MAD instructions.



You can see the fat 4 gauge wire running up to the gold distribution block. This connects directly to the battery and then feed the audio system. The Charge Path test with the car running and no accessories is 0.020v. Previously this was 0.769v and the goal is to be below 0.100v.
Hood Motor vehicle Automotive design Vehicle Automotive exterior




This Charge path test is with the car running, headlights on and AC on High. Still solid at 0.056v. Really impressed with this test.
Motor vehicle Hood Automotive design Automotive tire Automotive exterior




Lastly, I tested voltage with car running, headlights on and AC on High and get 14.85v with cold engine at idle. This is still an improvement over the reading last night of 14.06v before adding in the 4 gauge wire which was recommended by Mechman for this alternator size of 170amps.
Hood Automotive tire Motor vehicle Automotive lighting Automotive exterior



Heading out to visit Dad for Father's Day and a car show tomorrow. I will report back on the overall running of the car with AC on and hopefully no more break downs due to the power voltage drops.
 
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#456 ·
Good Job Scott on your testing.

It seems the charger brought battery Voltage to 12.53 V.

It is then 14.6V before the images with the new Mechman alternator installed.
Do you know if any of that increase was from the older alternator bumping voltage prior to the switch?
 
#457 ·
Old Bear, The 14.6v is with the Mechman alternator and the car running with no accessories on.
 
#459 ·
Successful drive to Vernon, AZ. I ran the AC the whole way and never saw the voltmeter dip below 13.5v. Most of the time it hovered 14.2v. I also had some rain along the way and the wipers were working great. Good day for the Elky and I hope it stays like this for the rest of the year. I also have over 800 miles since swapping the rockers and lifters and everything under the valve covers are quiet.

I am heading out to the Blazin M Ranch Car show in Cottonwood and hope to display the signboard with a beefed up pole and new attachments to prevent the wind from blowing it over. I hope it works.
 
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