project drivabeater 2.0: 64 el camino this time

Brian and mad: if you guys want to get together in the next couple of weekends, and look, I would appreciate it. If you find something super promising, go ahead and snatch it. I can PayPal you money ahead of time or afterwards. Y'all choose. Im willing to trust your judgment on a used junkyard milld. Tbior vvortec, dont matter. Prefer a 350 though. Just makes everything a little better.

Let me know how we want to proceed.

I'll PM you both with my thoughts. For the rest of the class:

We'll get together at some point and grab an engine. I'd maintain there are plenty of good Vortecs out there. We'll make sure it's free, pull at least one head and the oil pan to check for condition. No promises that it'll run.

Cool. Ill wait for the pm. And tuna, its your show and my bill. Thank you so much.

Even without an engine, that I thing is officially no beater. Very pretty.

Names Luke. Not Lucky, but Luke. ;D.

Yeah we found out real quick that our super wonderful insurance does not cover two false labors this year. YAY. At least it dinged into our super high deductible before they cover anything right?

/sarcasm.

Dusterbd13 wrote: Thanks Brian and mad. Mad, what's your real name? Ill let you know by the end of the week or so on the motor. Kind of waiting to see what aflac dies to see what kind of funds I have to work with. This fall has been really expensive due to my insurance sucking a big hairy one. The last two months i have had to put out seven grand and all the bills haven't come in yet. Thanks for being here with me guys.

Thanks y'all. I still maintain that its a ten footer. But it is coming out way nicer than i had ever planned.

Dad is currently trying the head gasket in a can stuff in hopes to get the motor to live long enough to finish setting up efi and shuch. He also suggests listing it on craigslist prior to removal as someone with a good block could use the rest of the motor and make a good one. Im figuring ill get scrap value from it, but it will go to a good home and be useful.

So an update on the ankle injury: went monday to the er for severe calf pain. Ortho was worried that it might be a blood clot. Thankfully it wasn't. So I had to resort to the heavy duty narcotics. These make me nervous due to my history. Thankfully i no longer like the way they make me feel.

Today was a follow-up appointment. Got the plaser cast cut off and the calf pain immediately became bearable. They removed the stitches and were pleased by the way I'm healing. They now put me in a giant plastic boot that I am to remove to do exercise and shower.

Still not weight bearing until the 30th, but am cleared to drive as long as I have not taken narcotics in the previous 12 hours.

So, sweet!

Let the lure of driving the driveabeater keep you from the narc's man. :D

Any luck on a CL person?

Not yet but I haven't been able to show it, so im hoping to be able to really start trying next week.

And im doing everything i can NOT to take those things.

Don't know how people can take the narco pain pills for more than a day or so. Whenever I have, the constipation pain they caused was way worse that whatever made me take them.. So there is that.

Good luck with the boot and the Elko. Still enjoying the story.

Thanks. Hated the way they changed my temperament, made my head feel like it was full of cotton, and screwed up my balance. The constipation was the least of what i didn't like.

So far, since getting the boot, I have managed with alleive. And the swelling and pain have dramatically reduce. Still quite a bit, but tolerable.

I even managed to get in the shop today to start modifying thewwiring harness for the tbi swap and sell some parts on craigslist. Up to 140 cash money in the hot rod fund. In addition to the 200 my wife agreed to give to tuna and mad if they find a motor. Got a couple of nibbles on other stuff, but until they show up in my driveway i wont believe its sold.

Thanks for following along guys.

Michael,

Don't you have something to share with the rest of the class?

(In phineis and freb voice) why yes. Yes I do.

Scored a motor today. 60k on a rebuild, all accessories, injection parts, wiring, etc. Heard it run, drove it around the block ( poorly and in first gear only cause the trans was shot) and paid the man 350. Inside of the valve covers were spotless, same with the rockers. Ill pick it up Saturday.

Its a tbi 89 350 truck engine. Plenty for my needs.
So, hell yeah!

I go pick up the motor tomorrow. Im excited.

Is it sad ive been researching horsepower mods today at work and I ain't even picked it up yet?

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I say no as long as work is still getting done.

I spent most of my day doing monitoring, meetings, and working wiyh clients. One if my busiest days this week actually. So the company got theyre eight hours worth and then dome. Im sitting at 52 hours for the week when I clocked out yesterday at 4.

How are things going man?

Going pretty well. Healing nicely and actually able to get back into the shop. Currently working on prepping the junk motor for pulling when I can get some help.

Did get it sold. 75 bucks that I didnt have before.

I appreciate you asking, mad.

so, budget first:

previous total: 8793.38

355 for front air dam and COMPLETE TBI 350

20 for brand new blem 65 gauge bezel

-50 for 89 serpentine assembly, minus ac compressor

-50 for reman starter I bought last summer

-75 for busted old small block

budget clean up for parts that aren't going to be used:

-36.95 ecm

-34.95 tbi wiring harness

-24.50 for the angle iron I never needed

-15 for underdash ac unit

-40 for airtex frame pump

current total: 8841.98

when we left off last time, I had gotten the doors hung, headliner done, and discovered a completely junk engine. also, I was awaiting surgery. removed bone chips, resurfaced cartilage, drilled holes into the bone and put in epoxy, shaped the epoxy, and stitched me back up. it looked like this:

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while being flat on my back for the week, I had plenty of time to surf craigslist for stuff, as well as watching movies. if you're bored and have netflix, look up machete kills and bad ass 2. Danny trejo is wonderful.

anyway, I managed to come across a guy selling off what was left of his 64-65 chevelle parts. called him on the two bezels he had listed. nice guy. turns out one was brand new, in the box, with bad chroming. he was sent a replacement and never sent this one back. so for 20 bucks, he mailed it to me from an hour north. saved me trying to find a ride.

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additionally, I had some members in south carolina willing to go to their local salvage yard, find and pull me a motor, and deliver it. guys I've never met in person before, or even spoke to on the telephone. just an incredible couple of guys. fortunately for them, they didn’t need to. through a guy at church, I was able to locate an engine. supposedly rebuilt with 60k on it, though no documentation. truck had 150k on it, so worst case that’s actual mileage of engine. I was able to fire up the truck and drive it around the sellers yard. had a bad trans, and the bed had a tree fall on it, and there was no title....

anyway, engine had sat for a week before I got there. took a little dinking around to bypass the ignition switch but we got it to fire off. no smoke, no noises, nothing. truck was showing 60psi cold idle on the dash gauge. so I bought it. beat the seller down from 425 to 350. included the full wiring harness and ecm, all accessories, everything. they even pulled it and loaded it into the back of the truck. I also bought the front air dam for five bucks. I like air dams under the front bumpers of muscle cars, and I think I can make this one work.

pictures are unloaded at dads house, with brother Dustin taking them as he was the guy to unload the mess.

the heart donor:

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the soon to be transplanted heart:

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I was able to sell the serpentine and pieces that I would not need for greater than scrap value. also, I found that this engine had a new IAC, knock sensor, map sensor, mini starter, cap and rotor, distributor module, as well as all the heat shields, ground straps, spark plug wire looms, everything. a treasure trove of knick nacks that will make the finished product that much nicer. also, when I tested the engine, I found that the AC still blew cold. the compressor made no noises. so I pulled that for mine. so here's a picture of what 50 bucks worth of serpentine and other crap looks like:

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and the leftovers of what I'm keeping

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I also compared the mini starter to the reman one year unit I had bought last summer. much smaller, and about 20lbs lighter. also, I don’t remember this late of a truck having the hot start issues that the older starters had. so, a win on all counts! sold the starter to the same guy that bought the serpentine.

picture of the mini starter:

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then we decided to get started on yanking the rest of the stuff. im still not able to walk, hence the crutches in the picture of me. but I did steal a broken rolling office chair from work. its effectively a broad, stable, high rolling stool. between that and a rolling shop cart, as well as getting out of the plaster cast and into a removable boot, I was able to start making some real headway.

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got the new heart stripped down and the first couple of layers of grime off of it. still a bit more to go before metal ready and POR15, though. and im re-gasketing while its out. will wind up being orange with black hardware and brackets. also staying TBI, and reusing the aluminum serpentine from the last engine.

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I then started on the removal of the old drivetrain.

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random guy is giving me 75 for it, as he can use the heads if they're not cracked, and the crank.

anyone want to buy the top end? weiand intake, 300 mile holley 600, hei, etc....

anyway, tomorrow after church my wife is coming down to finish pulling the trans and motor. then its on to some finish welding, finishing the hvac install, and starting to get the firewall and floor pans finished up.

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im excited. and tired. it’s a lot harder and slower working from a stool. all that stuff should have been doable in a day, not a week.

one last picture of the elky with the dust rinsed off and the air dam sitting in front:

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Michael

Man oh man, that looks great!

chandlerGTi wrote: Man oh man, that looks great!

I know. I could be a foot model.

Wife and I finished pulling the drivetrain today, and the ild and busted one left. Along with tbe rest of it. So all told, I made 25 bucks in this whole fiasco. Yes, I got 250 out of the tin/carb/ignition/manifold.

Still lost money overall though when you factor in what all I put into the boat anchor last summer.

And it was three guys in their early 20's. Loaded it into the back of a crv. Nice guys.

so, budget first:

previous total: 8841.98

sold off the rest of the boat anchor (intake, carb, tin, ignition) to a couple of guys who loaded it in the back of a crv. : -250

bought 21 circuit EZ wiring harness: 154

TBI injector pod spacer. ebay. 17 shipped

VSS for 2 pulse and mechanical speedo, jags that run: 85

full gasket set (again!!!) 82.56 oreilleys

8 cans of undercoating (advance special, 3m pro grade paintable) 64.50

new total: 8995.04

so, when we last visited my project, I was waiting on my wife to come help me run the hoist and the trans jack. well, she did that next day. spent a couple of hours, got everything pulled and got the shop sort of cleaned up. later that day, while the guy that was waiting on me to get it out was avoiding contacting me (he had given me a 20 deposit on a 75 longblock) a guy from a few towns over called me on the engine. talked with him for a considerable amount of time. wound up selling him the whole works for 325. refunded the other guys 20 bucks when he finally called me back a week later. hed been after me and hounding me to get it out, as he had paid his deposit, then couldn’t be bothered to come and get it when I told him it would be ready. so I felt justified.

anyway, this young guy (late teens, early 20's) and two of his buddies, and his girlfriend, show up to get the engine. in a CRV. obviously we couldn’t load it with the engine hoist. these three guys pick it up, and put it in the back. I miss being that young....

so now the elky was pretty bare of all things. sweet! the parts pile was expanding, I had some parts money in my pocket, and life was good. spent all the money, and then some, within 24 hours. bought an EZ wiring 21 circuit harness from ebay, as it was 50 cheaper than buying form anyone else. reason I went with EZ is because I wire stuff for other guys. the EZ kits are nowhere near complete, and their directions and tech guys are truly second class. but for the basic components, and very small fuse panel, are worth the price. I would not recommend them for a first harness build. or a second. maybe not even a third. I've used them a few times on lower budget builds, and always wind up wondering why I did for a customer. they don’t save any money due to higher cost of install, etc. its actually cheaper for me to do an American autowire or painless kit. but this one is mine, so my labor is free!

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I also needed to get a VSS for the TBI conversion. all TBI ECM's require a 2k pulse input. most vss on the market are 4 or 8 pulse. there's a bunch of things I could do to these signals, and make them work, but in the end the complexity and signal degradation would not be worth it. jags that run have been doing this stuff for a long time, and offered a 2k vss with mechanical speedo in and out for 85 bucks. I could have MAYBE saved 20-30 bucks by futzing around, but in the end the extra time and aggravation would not have been worth it. it has not arrived yet. when it does, ill take pictures.

additionally, I plan on doing all the ultimate TBI mods. one of these mods is to space the injector pod up 1/4 inch to improve airflow. these spacers are usually about 30 bucks. some dude on ebay has started making them and selling them for 17 shipped. decent enough piece. does what its supposed to do.

other than that, I bought a gasket set for the new engine. full felpro set. pretty standard stuff.

anyway, we now had a bare rolling elky. fuel tank out, no engine, trans, front sheet metal, interior, etc. I needed to finish up the cleaning and painting of the roller to be able to start putting parts back on. to that end, I did the most unpleasant job of any restoration. pushed the car outside, put it up on the big jack stands, soaked the bottom side in castrol superclean, and hit it with the pressure washer. hit all the nooks and crannies, inside the frame rails, everywhere. just a filthy, nasty job. absolutely miserable. also did the underside of the dash and the interior floor pans, as well as the firewall. (on the firewall, I had previously took a wire cup brush to all the seam sealer. it had failed, and also looked really bad. so I removed it. firewall is another day and another post)

after this dried and I got my brothers to push the thing back in, I started with the POR15. did the frame (all except for the back axle kickup and crossmember. need to pull the axle to get in there) and the inside of the firewall/back of the dash. covered in the stuff. but its done and over with, never to be needed to be done again. I then started to shoot undercoating on the floor pans. so far I've gone through 4 cans. I am using the pro grade 3m paintable that advance has on sale right now, 2 for 15. I have 4 more cans for the underside of the bed, rear wheel wells, and maybe some left over for another coat. but its looking good under there, and im feeling good about having all this behind me. I'm almost ready to start putting pieces back in the truck.

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under the dash, I cut the whole defrost channel out, as I just had to keep cutting for my hvac setup. I'm going to order the vintage air plenum duct they use in their sure fit kit. just hit the easy button there.

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this is the pile of parts that needs to become an elcamino again:

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also, I finally found the good camera, so I took a few pictures with it of the body. looks better with the better camera.

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lastly, I started on the "new" small block. pretty good inside. little sludge buildup, but nothing major. going to finish the regasket, check the bearings and timing chain, finish painting, and slam her home. I need to drive this thing again.

up next: engine finishing, more undercoating, hvac hanging, and hopefully walking again. im tired of the crutches and rolling chair.

This thread is humbling. I have nothing useful to say but well done and keep up the good work. Also you and I have a very different view of what constitutes a 'beater'

The finish looks fantastic. Nice work on everything!