Help me build a restomod 1960 El Camino

I’ve owned this car for nearly 20 years. It’s become a family member, but the years have taken their toll. I’m ready for a complete rebuild. 

She’ll be heading into the fab shop for bodywork next month. I’d like your feedback. 

I want to build a fun unique street cruiser. 

First discussion... drivetrain. 

Car was originally a 6 cylinder, but now has a 327.  Great little engine that loves to rev. Unfortunately, it lacks the torque needed to motivate 4000 lbs of iron. 

My goal is about 500+ hp. Reliability and ease of maintenance and repair is huge to me. I don’t want to build some crazy cool weirdo thing that makes me a YouTube hero but I can’t ever get it tuned. I want to be able to jump in, drive across the country, and find shops anywhere to fix it. Cool look, right sounds, but reliability is big. 

Couple of engine ideas:

- I was planning 6.0 LS. Maybe turbo or supercharged. I figured this would give me a modern drivetrain with EFI, hit my power goals, and keep it in the Chevy family. 

- My son is pushing me to do something weirder. Like a 2JZ single turbo with a GSR trans.. He may just want to piss off all the traditional hot rodders.  I love quirky, but not sure this will hit my reliability needs. 

- Recently been thinking about a big block 454. Might be a stretch for my power needs, but it would appeal to hot rodders, and probably encourage me to cut a roots style supercharger through the hood...

- ANYTHING with ITBs poking through the hood would be a turn on, but  pretty sure my tuning nightmares at the power level I want would be endless. 

So what sayeth the hive?  Let’s talk big cool engines that can still be trusted for a long distance cruiser.  

Ellis juan. With boost is definitely the easy button. 

But a 468 with dual 4bbl tbi woyld be correct for the era, reliable, and buolt for max torque, capable of meeting your goals. And would be awesome with a 5 speed.

What about diesel?  We all know you like the 7.3 Powerstroke...

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Haha!

sorry

Pictures of said car for inspiration? 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Pic s are in my profile garage. 

I’ll post some to this thread this weekend when I’m not working from my phone. 

This isn’t mine, but mine looks a lot like this:

The smart answer is probably some LS variant.  But... you want reliable?  You want around 500hp?  You like a fast spinning V8?  You want different?  How about a Toyota product:  

Not the cheapest thing in the world...

Find a 348 or 409 W-Motor and tri-power intake then run the new FiTech triple 2-bbl EFI setup on it. Looks original and way cool but will be easy to tune and work on. The engines are way easier to build thanks to the new Edelbrock aluminum heads and you can make a 500+ FtLbs stump-puller n/a. They Love boost though thanks to the weirdo combustion chambers, so a roots blower would be extra cool. I wonder if you could do a more modern design blower like a Whipple or a Magnussen on it?

What trans are you thinking of? Manual or auto at least?

In reply to Javelin :

No question the W motor would be a nice fit. 

Don't think I care about original looks. 

Care has an auto. I love a manual, but don’t think I need it in this car. 

So you're not buying the 454 from Patrick?

I think that would be just about perfect. Don't cut holes in the hood.

409 with Electronic Hilborns would be incredibly cool.  



But the cost would be through the roof.

In reply to Robbie :

I’m still considering it. That’s part of what this thread is for. ;-)

They were really destined in those later years- about 280 hp. I’d have to make some changes...

In reply to Cooter :

That’s beautiful....

I wonder how much. 

In reply to SVreX :

Just $7500-8500, controlled by FAST or Holley

LoL-I replied before your edit.  I knew you would want to know how much.

In reply to Cooter :

That’s mildly uncomfortable.

SVreX said:

In reply to Robbie :

I’m still considering it. That’s part of what this thread is for. ;-)

They were really destined in those later years- about 280 hp. I’d have to make some changes...

Yeah. I hear ya. But he's already got the intake, carb, and dizzy you need. I bet you would be a cam and some simple headwork (shave to bump compression, good 3 angle valve job, port matching, etc) away from 500.

I don't see a cheaper or easier way to 500hp. There are probably cooler ways to make 500hp, but being able to drive the car is cool too (as you know).

In reply to Cooter :

That’s the price of the Hilburn, not the whole engine!

In reply to Robbie :

No doubt it’s the easy button!

I could even use my existing trans (or the manual I have), existing mounts, etc. 

SVreX said:

In reply to Cooter :

That’s the price of the Hilburn, not the whole engine!

Oh, you want an engine, too?? 

EDIT~ I did say "through the roof"

In reply to Cooter :

Hey, I didn’t say no!

LoL.  You probably don't want me to price out a 500Hp 409 for you.

In reply to Cooter :

I need a similar Hilburn for a 454, and Patrick and I can put together a solution!

I'm sure it can be built MUCH cheaper with Patrick's scrounging abilities. 

I have a 471 that I want to place on a 291 DeSoto with a Weiand with 6 Strombergs on it, using the carbs just as throttle bodies. However, I have the advantage of not needing any real horsepower out of it.