Update on the free 67 Elky I have had just over a year now. I still am on the mission of creating an homage to early 70's street machines and have stuck to the knitting so far. Let's face it- it's not a super rare LS6 Chevelle, GTO Judge, etc. so stock would be dull. It's too new to be a gasser. It's WAYYYYY too new to be a Rat Rod. And it's too straight, too old, and too unusual not to treat it lovingly and do something cool with it.

The car lives in my father's shop 950 miles from me until it is "presentable"; at which time it can come home and have a space in my parking spot in our TINY garage here at our house.

I got to build the motor twice after a camshaft break- in failure. The motor is a 350 that has good stock bores- a low mileage block that was sitting assembled in the garage with a Comp "268" cam and some big chamber, small valve heads that were lying around.Scratch that. It has been rebuilt again with the Lunati "xxxx01" cam and 58cc 305 heads to defeat the dish pistons that are in the motor. I found the timing chain, oil pump, etc. on ebay and scabbed together a rebuild kit for "Break-in Two: Electric Boogaloo".

This time it survived break-in quite nicely. The car sits now with a 350/ 3- speed combo and a fresh World Class T5 waiting to go in, so the trans swap will be next year. and LOUD exhaust is coming, too. It is just too quiet right now.

FREE ADVICE: USE COMP Break- in oil additive AND Brad Penn racing oil during break- in. Don't let the "New" oil fool you. It eats flat tappet cams.

I started the body work and had a great time prepping both quarters, the roof, and the tailgate and massaging 40 years of door dings and work- related injuries out of the good metal on the car. I had to fill 20 holes from a ladder- rack that some bright guy had mounted on the car during its life and re- repair a dent that was fixed very poorly. Then I shot primer all over the freshly worked areas and promptly knocked my work light over and put a fresh crease in the body line in the same quarter that I had just finished. Oh, well. I plan to use sealer and primer and a single- stage paint on the car that resembles one of the factory colors from that year. I do not believe that my ride should be seen in better paint than they were born with unless it is fully customized. This car is supposed to look like it would have if I owned it 1972 and was the same age I am now. In other words.... Low Buck Chuck style. Mostly stock with more boogie than usual and some sweet rims. That mild 350 should be fun in front of 3.08 gears, since it has all torque and most of that is downstairs. 420 Lb.-ft. is more than enough to make me forget that it has only about 340 horses. This will have 375 lb.-ft. at 1800 RPM. That is more than my Suburban. And she weighs 5500 pounds.

Also replaced/ rebuilt
springs and shocks
new air shocks out back
all drum brakes rebuilt and new flexible lines new wheel bearings, new dash knobs (J/K:-))
New "period correct" radio that is actually an MP3 player- tee hee.
New wiring harness and fuse block
HUGE 1 1/4" anti- sway bar up front.
$15.00 each swap meet wheels.
Junk yard T5 since rebuilt and ready to go in.
Hand grenade shifter ready to install.
Shrunken head purchase planned for next summer

Also scheduled:
Disc brake swap with 2" drop spindles to work with my "big car"/ overrated springs (see gasser stance- too high) New exhaust next year- headers/x pipe/ dynomax ultraflows.
cruise it.

Looking good there Joey,keep us updated with those great pics :thumbsup:

Keep the updates and pictures coming. The bring back a lot of memories.

Looking good!:thumbsup:
Are those old Weiand valve covers I see on the engine?:)

Yes the valve covers are Weind. So is the air filter. Intake is an old Edelbrock.

I found an original Fenton shifter boot that should compliment the hand grenade shifter, too!

Thanks for the compliments. When I get back to the car and do more, I will post more.

that looks awesome, motor must sound great, the disk brakes should be a huge improvement

Your making GREAT progress for only a year! But just a friendly word of caution. Those triangular foam ProFlow air cleaners have been the cause of more than just a few hood fires. I'd ditch that thing in a heartbeat!!

Getting Closer

http://www.enotools.com/67-el-camino.html SEE PICS HERE.

Last Fall, I made the trip to New York and brought the car back to Missouri where it sat until just shy of two months ago.

The sweet little Aunt Betty who gave me the car took ill and passed away 24 hours after my official tantrum and subsequent rant about not having time or space to work on the car, as I have not to date reached a net worth or leisure schedule of the rich & famous. Two little girls under six keeps Daddy out of the shop, too.

My aunt said that all she wanted in return for the car was a ride in it. Well, it's been in the family since 1992. She's gone. I'm not. I decided it is high time to get it done.

No trailer queen, not pristine, here it is thus far after I spent ALL day and night last Friday 400, 600 wet grit sanding the car, cleaning it up and painting it to to top off 5 weeks of body work.

A note on body work: Ever see Apocalypse Now? Remember Brando as the Colonel telling Sheen as the Captain about "The Horror"?

Long board, 220 grit sanding over a guide coat atop three year old primer revealed alot more dings, high spots and fisheyes in two colors of 44 year old paint and dents than I care to discuss. I used in all 3/4 of a quart of Bondo and one package of Dolphin paste, most of wich got sanded right back off. I was basically starting from scratch when I thought I was half way there. I pulled, hammered, and coaxed the metal as best I could to recreate lines and features in places that I didn't notice were hurt until this last go 'round. The saving grace is this car had almost no rust. I learned alot about body work on this project as motors are my forte. And paint does not lie.

Paint is 1K sealer, wet on wet, Dupli Color Mineral Gray Metallic with 20% Acetone at 65 degrees and low humidity. Two coats of paint. And it's done. I love my $100.00 HVLP O'Reilly paint gun.

I got a box with about $400.00 worth of seals, weatherstripping and doo-dads with the car. Installing all that now.

The look I want is Survivor. It looks like a low gloss clear in person. I have as many original parts as possible in the mix. And it has some very clean Patina in certain spots that make it look just the way I wanted it.To be the one to see a good, solid car before some surgeon pays a shop $100K to do 5 year job on a car that Detroit never built is the way I want the viewer to feel when they look at this. Not that I dislike Surgeons, shops, or super cars. I'm just sayin'.

But I might change my tune in a few years when the skin on fingers comes back.

Looks good .

Thanks!

Keep up the GREAT work. It may have taken a few years to get to here,,, but your seriously close on a seriously NICE build!

I like it Joey! Keep the pics coming!!

UPDATED.
http://www.enotools.com/67-el-camino.html