Page 5
October 18th
Well the hood, fenders, and header panel were removed today. Also I got the new powder coated radiator support bracket installed and the new fan support bracket. The latch assembly is just dusty from the sanding. It's powder coated also.
This week I'll be taking the hood hinges, the front and rear window molding, the bed trim in to be powder coated. Also I'll be trying to some replacement bolts to replace some of the bad looking ones.
November 1st
I didn't do an update last week because Rick has mostly just been working on some of the final sanding of the different parts of Frankenstein. Also he has spent a lot of time on the tailgate trying to get it right with all of the curves on it. Not much to talk about and nothing to show in pictures. But now is a little different. Today we removed the doors and I rebuilt the hinges. If you have an older car I highly suggest rebuild the door hinges. I can't believe how trashed the drivers side was. Should make a big difference when I get it back.
Rick also got the inside of the fenders and the under side of the hood painted the new Chrome Silver. I can hardly wait to see the body painted.
Also I got an email from Summitracing yesterday that the new billet grille I ordered is finally being shipped. I originally ordered a black grille but after a month a half was told it was no longer available so I ordered a polished one and will have it powder coated black to go the blacked out front that I have planned. Oh one surprise, we removed the lower windshield reveal to look at the part of the engine bay just under the windshield. I want Rick to paint it a semi-gloss black, I thought about doing it after I got the Elky back but decided I didn't really want to be using a spray can around brand new paint. Well right there under the reveal was the connector for using an antenna in a windshield. Figures I would find this after I go to a salvage yard and pull 3 of them to try in mine. LOL Oh well I have extras now.
November 7th
First of all I've added a new Paint & Body picture page. The first one I thought was getting too large and I figure I still have about 2 more weeks of pictures to take so there it is. Man the El Camino section of this site is getting ridiculous in size.
I went by Rick's shop today and we reassembled most of Frankenstein. The doors, fenders and the hood are back on now. Rick was able to get the doors and the door jams prepped and painted in the last week. Also last week I asked Rick to paint the cowl at the base of the window semi-gloss black, which he was able to do also. With it back together and painted the motor itself really looks shabby now. LOL Oh well I have plans for that also.
One thing you will see on the pictures under today's date is a mock up of what the door threshold is going to look like. I don't think the pictures do it justice. I really like it. Another thing you will see in the pictures is the lower rocker molding. It's not painted but powder coated. The color is really close to the paint, it should look really great when it's re-installed. Rick just has to work on the new mirrors, make a few changes to the door handles, paint the inside of the header panel, and he wants to do a final sanding of the front bumper. Then it's time for the painting the whole body, maybe next week.
Also this week I finally received the a billet grille. I first started back in August trying to get a black one. A little over a month later I was told it wasn't available. So I ordered a polished one. I'll probably get it powder coated black to with the headlight bezels that I'm painting black. In addition I received the new carpet, the headliner board and all of the things that I took to be powder coated.
November 20th
Well Rick has been working on a lot of the small things before applying paint. He has gotten the 92 Camaro mirrors prepped, the inside of the header panel painted and the door handles filled also so they will look a little smoother.
I assembled the powder coated hood hinges. I used stainless steel bolts and acorn nuts along with some red appearance washers.
Rick is hoping to get the body painted next week so that the body can dry during Thanksgiving. If he does I hope to get it the following week. I have way to much stuff sitting around here waiting to be installed.
November 26th
A nice Thanksgiving present for me today. The bed and body have been painted! Rick still has to paint the bumpers, mirrors, lower spoiler and the door handles. Plus wet sand and buff the body. But the biggest thing is done. The stripes has been painted on the hood and the body and stripes have their clear coat on them. Rick is going to let the paint dry over the holiday and then do the sanding and buffing. I'm guessing by the end of next week or the first part of the week after I should be bring Frankenstein home.
December 7th
Well it's raining in Southern California (where did that come from) and after almost 12 weeks Frankenstein is home!! Now the real work begins. I get to start on the interior and finish the trim on the outside. After I get the trim done I'll get some better pictures for the exterior page but for now you can get the idea from the last of them on the paint & body section.
February 7th
I know its been 2 months since my last update but only a few things have really happened in that time. One of the problems has been the holidays and also the weekends have been too cold to paint parts or dye interior pieces. I've been able to get the headlight bezels painted and ready for install. Also the new billet grille is ready. I'm hoping to install them tomorrow. I also started on the Zaino polish process for Frankenstein today. Next weekend I'm going to start installing Dynamat in the interior. Hopefully soon I'll have a better update and pictures.
I have added some sound files of the exhaust to the bottom of the main page. Enjoy.
March 21st
Well with the weather, things going on during the weekends, and other things I haven't really been able to get much done. But this weekend I was able to get the floor board and storage compartment done with the Dynamat (floor) and Brown Board (storage area).
Also I started on completing the wire of the dash. I have the main part of the wiring in for the electric locks and windows. I just have to route the control wires to the control point. Another day or working on it and I should be able to install the newer dash and then the carpet. Then I can start driving it again while I work on it.
April 18th
The wiring of the dash is basically done now. There are things like the radio (don't have one right now), the electric locks and windows (not installed yet) don't have switches connected but who cares? I'll still be able to drive it. A couple of more days after work and I should be able to drive it.
April 25th
A little more done on the interior. I have both seats in, the carpet in the storage area and few of the rear plastic pieces dyed.
But just when I thought I was going to get to enjoy the work of the last few months I get a little surprise. I drove Frankenstein to get some gas before I went over to a friends house. Felt fine and really enjoyed it. Filled up and went to start it and it didn't want to start. I finally got it started and it ran like hell. I limped it home and took a look at it when I got back from my friends and figured that it had to be the Opti-spark. This is the LT1 version of a distributor. The fun part is that its behind the water pump. Luckily a friend of mine had upgraded his Camaro to a new billet Opti and he had his old one that only had a few thousand miles on it. So I got it swapped out and it seems to be running better but can't say for sure. I only ran it for a minute because I didn't put any water in the radiator. I wanted to let the water pump gaskets RTV set before I started running water in it. When I get home tomorrow from work I'll fill it up and see if that fixed it or not.
November 14th
Well it's been a while since I did an update. The problem from April was a pain in the ass to find. After replacing the Opti-spark I wound up replacing the coil, spark plugs, some hoses that were border line if they were good or not and I can't remember what else I replaced. I went through the fuel system and electrical system more times then I can count and still could not get it to run. It wound up being a broken intake valve spring on cylinder 6. The only guess is that the original cam that was installed by AAP was too much for the stock valve springs. Even though I replaced that cam last year it weakened the spring enough that it finally let go. Don Lee Auto were the ones that figured it out.
Since getting it running I've installed a set of billet pedals. I worked with the maker so that were made specifically for 78-86 G-Bodies. Also I've installed the center console and custom shift adaptor the allows me to use a manual shifter ball. In my case I installed a black and red flame ball. As you can see from the pictures there is still a lot for me to do to get the interior done.
Also I've started to collect the parts for the brake upgrades. I currently have the front disc brakes from a 2003 Z06 Corvette and the rear disc brakes from a 2001 Camaro. I've got some work to do for this. First I have a set of front rotors for my El Camino that the rotor is being machined off. This will give me a hub to mount the Corvette rotors to. Then I'll have to come up with a mounting bracket for the Corvette calipers. The rears are going to require modifications to the rear end. I'm going to be using some information that I've gotten from various sources. I'll be posting links to the information when I get started.
Yesterday I was able to get out and get some new pictures of Frankenstein.