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What have you done to your El Camino today!

718K views 7K replies 689 participants last post by  Indianjohn 
Got under the hood for the first time since buying her. Familiarised myself somewhat with the vacuum system and identified a few issues to work on in future.

Still waiting for the British government to process the registration paperwork so I can (legally) drive her.
 
Whelp, Christmas came early. Literally. Ordered the QJ on Sunday night, got here 3 days early. Wednesday lunch time. Gotta say that's a good start. Naturally just had to inspect it, it's straight. No tooling marks or hammer dents, or warpage at all, even in the weaker prone areas of the 1/2 inch bolts. It's basically pristine except for the cutouts for the idle mixture screws and the grind marks where they took out the plate screws to bushing the throttle shaft etc. Obviously going to require choke adjustments, fast idle etc, but so far it's looking very good for National Carburetors Inc.
Had a new qjet put on my 305 recently too. Cost close to a thousand bucks (shipped to UK), but it idles and doesn't stall out anymore, so there's that.

Do seem to get exhaust smell blowing into the cab with drivers window open. Not sure if that's normal or not. Feel it may be running a little rich, but the tailpipe is clear of soot so maybe not.
 
Just had a guy out to check over the fuelling on my 87. It's running hugely rich and the lambda probe (Oxygen Sensor) is not registering any voltage so needs to be replaced. This will hopefully solve the rich-running. RockAuto list an NTK replacement for about £11. I'd prefer an OEM one if anyone knows of a good source to the UK.
 
NTK is a reputable brand and 11 pounds seems a fair price. did you check the wiring in addition to the probe readings itself?

if you don't know how then get yourself a multimeter and read up here, lots of links

I don't know the specifics on the El Camino, whether you are checking for resistance, voltage, etc, but someone on here will be able to tell you
Yeah, the guy had a fairly sophisticated piece of equipment that was measuring the voltage and resistance of all plugs and wires, he stuck a probe into the O2 sensor cable through the sheaf and the computer screen should have been showing an oscillating graph as the voltage rose and fell, but it was completely flat. The CO2 readout was through the roof too.

I'm reasonably confident that he was not feeding me any BS, he advised me to go for a good quality (not eBay/Chinese) sensor and told me how to test it when it arrives.

For the low price, I'm happy to just replace it anyway.
 
Replaced my passenger side wiper arm today. The passenger blade was barely touching the screen and the arm wouldn't seat on the tab correctly. I did order a pair, but the driver side was fine so left it be and will keep it as a spare. Now clearing the screen perfectly.

Also replaced the washer pump with a Trico part from Dixie's Restoration Parts. Tricky to disassemble the wiper motor for access, but the part swapped out nice and easy once we figured it out.

My windshield trims arrived in the same order, fitted the upper trim no problems, but the passenger side had at least one missing clip and wouldn't locate securely so I've ordered a bunch from eBay. It also felt like it needed bending/manipulating to fit flush but I'm not sure how much of that was due to the missing clips.

The wiper arms now don't return all the way to the stops over the metal trim panel at the windscreen base, but I'm happy with that. I didn't like how the blades would drag over the metal piece. I guess maybe I knocked the cam thingy inside the motor, but I'm happy to leave it.

Fairly productive day, all told.
 
I'll likely be replacing my oxygen sensor tomorrow or Friday. Anything I need to know beforehand? Do I need to disconnect the battery to reset the ECM? Or will it just adjust itself accordingly?
 
Dude has a few sensor wrenches so will hopefully have one that suits.

It's not horrendously buried, but probably just enough to make me swear!
Automotive tire Bumper Wood Automotive exterior Gas

Amber Automotive lighting Wood Automotive tire Automotive exhaust
 
Changed out the oxygen sensor today. It wasn't as awful a job as I feared. Got hold of a 7/8" sensor wrench from a local parts store. With a length of pipe acting as an extension on the ratchet handle, she popped right out. The hardest part was connecting the wiring plug back up.

Did she ever kick out some smoke when I fired her up. Thick browny grey, which I suspect is all that unburnt fuel sitting in the cat.

A few good hard runs down the road got that cleared up, and acceleration is noticeably better. No engine light showing now either, and most tellingly - the fuel smell that used to permeate the cabin has gone.

I'll keep an eye on gas mileage, but I'm fairly confident that this was the culprit.

Motor vehicle Coil Gas Auto part Engineering
 
Picked up the 87 from the shop. They said it was one of the cleanest underbodies they'd ever seen.

Also had them replace the sender lock ring and gasket as it was leaking badly. No more leaks, and the tank is pressurised now.
 
No pics, but I got the blower motor and resistor swapped for new components. A while back the resistor was getting real hot and melted the wiring plug so I disconnected it while the car wasn't being used over winter.

First drive this year saw smoke pouring through the air vents into the cab. Blower motor had burned out. Pulled all the wires and all was well.

New parts ordered from RockAuto and arrived to the UK within 4 days. Simple job to unbolt and replace both parts. Took the opportunity to clean out the blower box as it was full of leaves and rocks. Probably a waste of time as it's basically open to the elements from underneath - just a kind of flap thing to protect from debris.

Reassembled and all is working fine. Always nice when that happens!
 
all that should be there is a drain hole for moisture. did you take the top screen off and get in there to clean it out?
Well, it's like a slot at the bottom of the chamber with some kind of flap cover to prevent detritus from underneath from being flung up I guess.

By top screen do you mean the mesh/grille at the base of the wipers? I did and it was full of earth and leaves!
 
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