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May 24th IT'S HOME!!!! I just plain have not had time to do an update the last week. I took Frankenstein home last Friday (the 16th). It's still kind of hard to believe that I've got it home. The only thing I've had to do to it so is fix a charging problem that it had. That was surprisingly very easy to fix. The gauges are all installed and working with the exception of the gas gauge. I guess when I did the wiring for it at the gas tank I reversed the wires for it with the fuel pump. When we tried to see if the pump would work the 12 volt power fried the gas level sender. So now I have to order a new sending unit. A quick way to spend $180. But that's just a minor inconvenience at this point. I just finished today removing most of the wiring that is not needed anymore for my setup. The Anti-lock Break System, power steering pressure switch, the connectors that normally connect to the under dash wiring etc. All in all about 2 or 3 pounds of wiring and connectors that were useless to me. With eliminating this it also allowed me to downsize the convoluted tubing that the wires were it. So the engine bay looks somewhat cleaner now then before. I've also added in the wiring that will let the torque converter lock up. This should help both performance and gas mileage. Not that it needs much help in the performance area. The other night after doing it's 500 mile oil change (yeah I've already driven it that much). I took my friend Louie for a drive. From about a 40 mph roll I gave it about 3/4 throttle. It just spun the rear wheel. Until I get the posi unit installed spinning the one tire is about all I'll be able to do. Also both of the 98 T/A seats have been installed. Jim at Don Lee Auto finished the passenger seat yesterday. This weekend I'm going to try and get the new bumpers installed. I'll just have to see how that goes. Jim also made one very trick cold air induction system for the Elky also. You can see it in the link below. Yesterday I also ordered some new front springs. The ones I have must be for a big block motor. It's sitting just to high for anything else. When I stand on the bumper and jump up and down the car hardly moves at all. Too bad I bought them so long ago, it would have been nice to send them back.
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June 7th I've been doing a number of small things and a few large things to Frankenstein. I did get the new tucked bumper and air dam installed. More of a pain in the butt then I thought it would be. Doing the bumper would have been a lot easier if I would have had somebody to help me. After screwing down one side the other side has to be pushed in place to be screwed in. Real fun doing it by yourself. I've also ordered the parts to connect up the heater core. It's going to be all braided line like the rest of the motor so far. I also found some bolts that have lights built into them. These are going to be for the new rear bumper to light the license plate. I needed lights like this because I'm installing an Impala license plate flipper. I don't know what else to call it. On an Impala you use it to flip down the license plate to get to the gas cap. For me this is going give me access to the trailer hitch that is going to get installed. The pocket for the plate is pretty tight so I don't have a lot of room for a light that I would have used in a normal setup. After the rear bumper is installed I'll be taking Franky around to get prices on the paint and body work. I guess everything else is not that important just some things that had to be done. Pictures |
June 22nd
Well I've gotten some things done. First I changed the springs on Frankenstein. I installed an Eibach Pro Kit. It dropped the back about 1 1/4 inches and front about about an 1 inch. It's sitting at 25 1/2 inches at the top of the wheel wells now. The ride is a 1000 times better now. And the look is a lot better then the 4 x 4 look it had. I may still wind up installing some drop spindles later on but for now I'm happy. I also got the rear tucked bumper installed. I did do the wiring a little different for the tail lights. The bumper has Corvette ZR-1 lights in it. I bought 2 more of the bulbs and sockets that are used for the brake/turn/park lights that are normally only on the outside set of lights. I wired the new lights for the center lights to do the same thing. Now when the brakes are pressed all 4 lights will light up. Also when the turn signals are used both lights on one side will blink. It's funny though that right now the exhaust pipes are sticking out about 4-5 inches with the new bumper. LOL Now it's time to start getting some prices on the body work and paint. That's going to be real fun.
Next I need to do some work on the engine. I think I have a vacuum leak somewhere that's really messing up the idle. Hopefully it won't be too much of a pain in the butt.
Pictures
July 27th
I think I figured out the vacuum problem, my idle problem and the lack of gas mileage: the CAM. The cam that was provided by the first shop is just too radical for what I wanted. It's specs show it to be a little more then an LT1 Hotcam. Not what I wanted or asked for. After doing some searching and research I've bought another cam, a Comp Cam 500. This is just a little over the stock cam and I'll be able to use the rest of the valve train without having to change anything. So if things go right Frankenstein will be going back under the knife next weekend for a new cam. I'll be losing some horsepower doing this but what I gain will more then justify it. Besides the Elky was planned from day one to be my daily driver, NOT a horsepower machine. If I had wanted that I would have installed an LS1 or something else that could have done it for me a lot easier then an LT1. Besides the next project will have a Big Block!
I did have to remove the speedometer from the dash and send it off for repair. The needle just started jumping all over the place even sitting still in the driveway I was doing 160mph. I got it back from Autometer (no charge!) this week and put it back in. Seems to be working. Also the sending unit in the gas tank has be switched so I have a correct reading gas gauge now.
August 9th
Well I got the cam changed out in Frankenstein last weekend. Idle is stable at 850 rpm, vacuum is at 17 - 17.5 psi, and in the first test I got 19.2 miles to gallon. YEAH!!! One more problem solved.
I also went and got a price from a friend on the paint and body work. The price seemed good so in about 2 weeks I think it's going in for paint and body. First I have to get a new cowl hood ordered and see if I can get another tailgate somewhere. The old gate is pretty beat up and would take a lot of work to get looking good.
September 9th
Big surprise I'm behind on getting the Elky into the paint shop. What were the chances of that?? But it is going in next week. I've spent the last few weeks ordering new rubber parts for when the paint is done and the new cowl hood. It has not arrived yet but hopefully soon. I did drop off the new mirrors and the tailgate at my friend's Rick shop. He was going to work on them if he got a chance. Frankenstein has looked strange without a tailgate on it.
In the next few weeks I should be able to post pictures of the paint and body work as it gets done. Stay tuned.
I've also added some pictures of the exhaust system as it's installed on the Elky for anyone that's interested.
September 20th
Well I got the Elky dropped off at Rick Kreher's Kustoms last Friday. Luckily I still have the old the wheels and tires for it. Rick did not want to paint Frankenstein with my new wheels on there. I didn't even think about it. I picked up my wheels and got a few pictures of what's been done so far.
I've also been unable to get to my powder coater so I can pick up a radiator support bracket and few other little brackets that I've had done. The engine bay will look way better and the pieces will last longer.
I've also added a section for the Paint & Body to the pictures section since it will probably get pretty large during the process.
September 27th
I went by Rick's shop and got a few more pictures of what's been done so far. The bed looks done and drivers and passengers side look about 99% done so far. Rick was hoping to get the new hood installed the next day and see if the body lines were OK. If everything lines up then he was going to try and remove the fenders and doors next week and start priming everything.
I finally got by the powder coaters this week and picked up the pieces that were there. WOW is all I can say. The pieces look great and I can hardly wait to see them installed. The original one that I painted last year looked OK but when I had the Buick fan bracket powder coated about 6 months ago I knew it would put the support bracket to shame. So what the hell it's only money. The new brackets are at the bottom of the Engine Bay page.
October 2nd
Today when I went to Rick's the Elky was primed and had the new hood installed. Frankenstein is dirty and dusty but that's the way it is. The drivers side still needed to be adjusted a little but other then that I really like it. I need to try and find some pictures of other El Camino's with SS stripes like I want to put on mine. Mostly to get a few ideas of both what I want and what I don't want them to look like. Also Rick is getting the tailgate close also. The 5th generation El Camino tailgate has a lot of curves so getting it right is no easy thing to do.
Updated pictures are below.
October 9th
Things are getting closer. I visited Frankenstein again today. The bed seems to be about ready. The drivers side is almost done with it's final sanding. The passenger side has it's fill primer on it. The fill primer I found out is what they put on before they start block sanding the body. This helps to show high and low spots on the body.
If you notice on the picture of the passenger side from today the antenna hole and the hole from the lock cylinder on the passenger door is gone.
Updated pictures are below.