It's finally done!!! My 1968 El Camino is finally painted after 3 years of work and body prep. The new color is gloss black. It's looks and great! Not bad for a $800 paint job! I started working on my El Camino in Feb of 1999 and my brother (Matthew) did all the body work over a 3 year period in his auto body class at school. Below are some very recent photos of my new paint job. Stay tuned for more new photos once I get all the chrome moldings and trim back on.
Here are three
pictures of my high performance 350 C.I.
engine, that powers my El Camino. My el camino originally came with a 327 C.I. engine and a two speed automatic powerglide transmission. The 350 C.I. has, TRW flat top pistons, MSD 6A ignition unit, MSD Blaster II high voltage output coil, MSD rotor, MSD super conductor 8.6mm wires, Autolite double platinum spark plugs, Streetdampr hi-performance harmonic balancer, performer intake manifold, S/R Torquer 2.02 cyclinder heads, 67cc chamber with 171 intake runners, Holley 650 double pumper with mechanical secondaries and a Holley fuel pressure guage, Crower hydrolic camshaft with .444 lift, Comp cams 1.6 roller tip rocker arms (.474 lift with the 1.6 roller tip rocker arms), modified Millings high volume oil pump, K&N Filter Charger air filter, double roller timing chain, Headman hedders, 2 flowmaster mufflers with a cross over, 700R4 4 speed automatic transmission (installed by BowTie Overdrives in Hesperia, CA) a 1800 stall locking style torque converter, external transmission oil cooler, Modine 3 core radiator, a GM 12 bolt differential with a 3.42 rear ratio, high performance Strange ring and pinion gears and a Eaton posi-tracktion carrier. The differential (was taken from a 69 Chevelle SS396), Moroso tall chrome valve covers, and almost 100,000 miles to boot, and still runs very strong and it's still very fast! I use Valvoline 10-40 motor oil and Fram extra guard oil filters.
When I
bought my El Camino back in 1987, I was
only 19 years old. It had 127,000 original miles on the stock 327 engine. Since I bought it in August of 87 I have driven it over 240,000 miles! My El Camino has over 350,000 driving miles on it! I have rolled the odemeter over twice since I have owned it! I did some crazy
things to this vehicle when I first got it. I literilly beat the hell out of this truck and
it never
let me down. Got it suck in the mud numberous times, stuck in the sand out in the desert numberous times. Chevrolet really knew how
to build tough
trucks back then. I take care of it alot
more today
than
I did back when I bought it. Here is a
picture of me
jumping
it out
in
the desert with my dirtbike in the bed.
Here is also
the
landing
of that same jump. 4/1989
Here is a picture of my el camino going
through a
very
deep river
crossing,
coming home from a camping in trip up at
Crab Flats
in Big Bear, CA. 5/1992
This picture of my El
Camino was taken on
December 28th 1998. Me and my brother
(Mark) where on our way to Parker,
Arizona to go dirtbike riding. The
picture was taken at highway 62 and
highway 177 outside of Yucca Valley. I
have my 1984 Yamaha TT600 dirtbike and
my brothers 1998 Yamaha YZF400 dirtbike
in the bed. We had about 100 more miles
to go to reach Parker, Arizona.
Back in 1996, I bought a 1969 El Camino from a friend of mine for $150 bucks. This El Camino had been in a bad head on accident with a wall or another vehicle. The front end was completly smashed in, the instrument cluster was missing, the front seat was shot, and the engine was making a very bad clanking noise. I ended up fixing the smashed front end of this 1969 el camino all from junk yard parts, and I also found a 1969 instrument cluster and found a front seat out of a 1970 Buick. I put alot of hard work and hours into this vehicle. After of about just 6 months of owning it, I had to sell it cause of personal problems I was having with my girlfriend at the time and I was moving out of her house. I had no where to store the el camino and I had to end up selling it. I got $650 bucks for the el camino. I had pulled out the engine and sold it as is to some guy that lived in Anaheim, CA at the time. But now I wish that I would have never sold it! But at least I still have my 1968 el camino after 13 years. Here are some pictures that I found of my old 1969 el camino.
Here are five pictures of my all time dream car. Either a 1968 through 1972 Chevelle Station Wagon. I hope to someday own one of these great Chevrolet machines. They look really mean! Check it out!
