some of you will scof at turning a elco into a drag car. but i have too many and can't haul the family in the one i drive. so here is the 2 nd one.
plan is to use the car without totally wrecking it for later street use. it is titled.

it is starting as a 64 roller i bought at a swapmeet with some nice stuff.
california body that is not straight.
great frame
front discs
it came with 2 12 bolts 65 and a 67
gutted

changing the frame to a wagon frame to lighten the car, while also installing a roll bar for safety. the frame will get swapped out very soon.

bought some used fiberglass doors, and a 65 1 piece front clip. trying to make this as light as possible.

going to run a turbocharged inline 6 to keep it fun. allready built a 12 bolt w/ spool and 3.73 w/ford bearings and moser axles.

need more ideas on how to lighten up the car without destroying it.

i know you guys want pics, they are coming. tom

Tom, from what I understand the Camino is VERY close to the weight bias of a wagon so it is a natural for a drag car. I had a buddy who built a S/ST car from a 71. He put a little 660HP small block in it, put a fiberglas 'snug top' pm ot and would run 9.8's off the throtle stop. He deleted the heat/ac, tossed the innerfenders, put glass front fenders and hood on it, gutted the doors, did the typical cell and battery in the back deal. Not a lot of wild lightening and as i remember he had it down to just under 3000 pounds.
Good luck and YES, we want pictures!!!!

here are some pics.
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2533/dscn2880.th.jpg (http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn2880.jpg)
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2129/dscn2879.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn2879.jpg)
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9626/dscn2878.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn2878.jpg)
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6217/dscn2877.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn2877.jpg)
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5194/dscn2876.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn2876.jpg)

Great project, can't wait to see the results. Keep the picture going.

that sounds like it will be fun, the turbo 6 will be cool, dont see that in an elco every day:thumbsup:

Won't hear us scoffing, especially for a 64/65. One reason I race mine is because you just don't see many of them out there and I love the look on their faces when you blow by them. Just curious as I never paid attention but are wagon frames not fully boxed? If you're gonna throw some power at it, I would leave the fully boxed frame for stiffness. I removed the heater stuff and wipers entirely and only have a glass hood, but for a street/strip car, I left most of the rest of it in there. Not much weight reduction and in fact I have a little bit of extra ballast in the rear but I made up for it with a little more power. Keep us updated with pics, a turbo six will be very cool.

R/ Dave

dave,
the wagon frame is the same dimensions but not boxed, just as you thought. i know it weakens the car, but the cage will add stiffness back to it.

in fact, if i remember correct. it is pictures of your cars cage i am giving to my installer to try to replicate for the cage.

what does your car weigh?

other weight saving measures besides the unbolting options are:
aluminum calipers on front
alum master cyl
tubular front upper control arms
lexan side and rear windows
fiberglass bumpers, doors, front clip
powerglide trans

i need ideas for a lite weight front lower control arm/spring package. this car will be lite in the front and wondering if a coil over would be a good choice to use.

tom

and presenting the frame. it is a 67 station wagon frame. cost 100.00 to blast it and 116.00 to powder coat it. they do nice work! they had it done 3 days after i dropped it off.

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5562/p1020667.th.jpg (http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1020667.jpg)
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3757/p1020666.th.jpg (http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1020666.jpg)

Wow, that's dirt cheap for powder coating and sandblasting. I paid $397 for a Harley frame and swingarm in the Detroit area.

Looks good!

dave,
the wagon frame is the same dimensions but not boxed, just as you thought. i know it weakens the car, but the cage will add stiffness back to it.

in fact, if i remember correct. it is pictures of your cars cage i am giving to my installer to try to replicate for the cage.

what does your car weigh?

other weight saving measures besides the unbolting options are:
aluminum calipers on front
alum master cyl
tubular front upper control arms
lexan side and rear windows
fiberglass bumpers, doors, front clip
powerglide trans

i need ideas for a lite weight front lower control arm/spring package. this car will be lite in the front and wondering if a coil over would be a good choice to use.

tom

Hey Tom, yeah, we have pm'd a few times before, I remember. With the ballast and me in it, I commonly race at 3820 - 3825 lbs. I still have steel inner fenders, factory control arms in front, Wilwood street discs all 4 corners (no lightweight race brakes), all glass, fiberglass hood only. The only things I took out are heater, radio, wipers, and heat/sound insulation from under carpet. Still has carpet though. Original bench seat replaced with Kirley seats too but for better support for racing. 20 gallon fuel cell. It could be lighter but then again, it could have been even heavier too.

As for lower control arms, check with TRZ or Autofab. They have really nice arms. Think hard about the coil overs. Less weight yes but you lose some spring travel. May not be an issue of your car is light enough in the front and transfers weight but if not, you may need the extra travel of the stock type spring to help transfer the weight.

R/ Dave

ok, got to work on the frame this weekend. pretty much installed all the suspension.
here is the rundown.
rear suspension:
boxed GM lower conrol arms ( poly bushings)
UMI lower arm relocation brackets
edelbrock adjustable upper control arms
GM frame stiffeners ( between lower and upper arms)
Stock drum brakes ( no parking brake hardware)

front suspension:
SPC adjustable upper arms ( greasable joint)
stock lower arms
Globalwest Delrin bushings
lightening holes ( drilled by me)
stock disc brakes
Wilwood aluminum calipers

For springs there are stockers for now. once car is assembled, then i will weigh it and order the appropriate weight springs.

i may get to drop the body on in the next 2 weeks. tom

frame is now installed! told my 8 yr old it would take about 1 hr to swap, he looked at me and said no way! had the old one out in about 20 minutes (body on hoist) and new one bolted in within the hr. we had a blast.

seats were bolted in last night. next it goes to my guy to get a roll cage installed. i know pics are coming. tom

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/8243/p1030165.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1030165.jpg)
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/9017/p1030162v.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1030162v.jpg)
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/8805/p1030159.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1030159.jpg)

Looks like its going along great. Love the turbo 6 idea. I just got a 72 that Im going to make into a street strip car. It allready has a lot of stuff done to it going in that direction. Built 12 bolt, 4 point cage,hole cut in the bed for fuel call, (I didnt like that one to much) and a few other things.

dropped the elco off last night to get the roll bar installed. going with chrome moly to keep the weight down. tom

Nice project. You can see my '71 El Camino drag car from the link in my signature.

You can see my '71 El Camino drag car

Ten flat at a buck-thirty plus....

nice ride Phil

got any pix to post of your rear suspension setup?

Eric

Ten flat at a buck-thirty plus....

nice ride Phil

got any pix to post of your rear suspension setup?

Eric

Eric,
I'm sorry I don't but it is basically a narrowed 9 inch that is braced on the rear of the housing, Chassis Engineering ladder bar setup, with Strange single adjustable coil over shocks. I wished I could say it was streetable but it's not. But it sure does work well on the track. :)

Thanks for the nice comments.

Hey Phil, that's a cool site you have links to (dragtruk), a few nice Caminos there. I thought about listing mine there but I don't have any 1/4 mile times yet. There are four 1/8th mile tracks within 1-1/2 hours and I've run at a couple of them but no 1/4 mile tracks nearby.

btw, nice Camino!

R/ Dave

Hey Dave,
Yeah, it's a pretty cool site. To bad there aren't more Camino's. Most people don't realize they hook as good if not better then the Chevelle.