Hello everyone! It seems I've finally found myself joining up with you Chevy guys =) I'm historically a Mopar fan, but have always given respect where respect is due to some very fast and very cool Chevys.

I was left a '75 El Camino 350 by my great grand father when he passed away a year ago, and I've finally gotten the time to get around to lightly restoring it, and I really want to make it into a casual strip cruiser for nights at the drive-in and an occasional outing at Sonic. Here's a few quick pics:

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h212/BlurComet/ElCaminoPics001-1.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h212/BlurComet/ElCaminoPics004.jpg

And yes, those are true original miles (he was the original owner)! =D

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h212/BlurComet/603518_9.jpg

I really like it, but I'm being forced to keep it simple, as I can't really afford 2 hopped up classics :P So, here are my goals: I want to have the small dents fixed and then painted (right off the bat, I'm thinking white) and just a simple set of some chrome 5-spokes of randomness. Having only 46K miles, she runs so good, and I want to try and avoid messing that up! The most I will be doing is Intake, Carb, and a nice healthy sounding dual exhuast (probably go ahead and do headers with it; parts for you guys are cheap! =D ). Everything else stays stock =D (by stock I mean OEM replacements!). So, I geuss I'm just looking for suggestions from you guys about what carb you'd be looking at, and perhaps mention some things to check for, hidden problem areas and such. It is a 350 as well. Just looking for some good low end and stock gas mileage. Thanks for your help and I look forward to being a member of the community!

welcome to the best sight on the net. I like that body style even though most dont care for the mid 70's El Caminos. Good thing that car is in great shape, because finding "OEM replacement" parts for those cars is harder to do then any other body style El Camino. Even the 78-87 models are getting quite a few parts available new. Someone forgot to tell them about the mid 70s cars I guess.

There isnt a El Camino body style I dont like. Enjoy the car. I would go with a nice dual plane intake and 4bbl carb, performance exhaust and a nice set of wheels. That would make it much funner to drive and improve the look. If its a 4bbl carb its probably a Q Jet. Great carbs for reliability and driveability. I would reuse it.

Here's what I would do. A lot of those year Caminos came in a two tone. I would paint it that same brown with a little metal flake and white two tone. You should be able to find a pic with the factory type two tone. It really makes these Elkys look a lot sportier.
For the wheels I would get a set of 15X8 inch wide Chevy rallies. Tall wide tires all around makes this year Camino look really muscular. The wheels could either be the factory type silver or painted the same brown as the car. White letters out on the tires too.
As for the carb a nice and simple 600 vacum secondary Holley would do nicely. A Weiand Action Plus would be a good intake too. Great for stock and a little to grow with later. You know when you wanna change that cam. Like you said Chevy parts are cheap and you're "already there almost" when you change the intake. A good cam for that motor would be a 231 duration at fifty thousanths with about a .480 lift. Add some cheap headers and you'll have a tuff little motor that's easy to cruise, a little muscle and pretty good on gas. A 2200 stall would really help that cam too and a shift kit would be nice.
Cragars look good on these years too. Laterman --Josh

Thanks alot for the welcome guys, and all your suggestions! I too was thinking that I would probably go for a good quality 600 cfm 4 barrel, and no more than a 650 (My built 383 is about perfect running a 750). When I originally tried searching up on the basic performance parts you could look into, I was swamped with results and it can get a bit overwhelming! So, I really do appreciate you guys helping me sort out the mess (and those cam specs; always helps to hear from the experienced builders! =D ) . The more I think about it, the more I think I'll really enjoy this car. I've never built a cruiser before, and always focused on max output and over the top performance. I'll look around for parts as I get the time today, and I'll see what you guys think of my findings!

Alright, here's the few things I've found in the typical place =P I think these should all work comfortably together, with nice low end torque and acceptable gas mileage. What do you guys think?

Holley 4160 E-Choke http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=HLY%2D0%2D80457S&N=4294925239+4294839063+400178+4294908216+115&autoview=sku

Holley SD Intake http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=HLY%2D300%2D38&N=4294908216+4294908186+4294925067+4294925239+4001 78+115&autoview=sku

Small Summit Cam http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM%2D1104&N=4294908216+4294908186+4294925067+400304+42948876 37+4294838108+115&autoview=sku

And then just a simple set of Summit Headers http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2DG9001&N=4294908216+4294908186+4294925067+115&autoview=sku

To finish out the engine, I will also be running 2.5" exhuast to dual Flowmaster 40s. So, what do you guys think? Very open to suggestions!

If I were you I'd skip the Flowmasters and use some Thrush Turbos or similar turbo mufflers. I'm sick of hearing all the Flowmasters around my town. The sound is getting old, I bet it'd get old if I were driving with them too.
The rest of your combo sounds pretty well chosen for what you want. I bet you'll like it. Later--Josh

All right, thanks for you confirming I'm on the right track. You might be right about the Flows, but they seemed to have wrapped themselves around my soul =D I put 'em on every car, from my Charger to a Suzuki Swift =P. If anyone else has thoughts or suggestions on the setup and parts, feel free to add in! Thanks!

...I've never built a cruiser before, and always focused on max output and over the top performance...
I know what you mean. I drove my Vette on the street for years. High compression...Premium gas...Ear ringing loud...overheating...stiff clutch...ultra lopey mechanical cam...breaking things...just a beast to drive. Nothing will cure you of "hot rod" like having to drive one in the Las Vegas summer. Decided the Camaro would be a "cruiser". Auto trans...power steering...RV cam...flat top mid compression pistons...just fire it up and drive it anywhere. No fuss...no muss...looking cool.

I was never a big fan of the '73s-'77s but I've been seeing a lot of really cool ones showing up lately. Their day may have finally come, and you've got a solid low mileage example of one. Enjoy it.

Welcome to the site. It is always nice to know that you have an original.
Sad to hear that it was a relative that passed away.

Whatever you do, make sure you keep anything that is original to the car. Maybe in the future you will want or need it.

Most importantly, enjoy.

Thanks again! I just got the ol' tires replaced with some nice fresh 225/70's all the way around; it feels nice and smooth, but that may also have something to do with the HUGE swaying the suspension is doing =P . Or course, they're raised white letter tires as well :D