Picked up a set. Thanks for the tip. I’m assuming they’re attached with machine screws? Would anyone be able to advise the specs on them?
Wagons and elcos are the same. If I remember correctly the machine screws are 1/4" oval head. 3 on the tailgate and 3 on the body per side ????.
It is definitely interesting working on a car away from your home shop with all your tools. Cleaning up the tailgate latches would have taken about 3 minutes in the blasting cabinet up north, not so quick with a brass brush down here. lol
Carrying on with this theme, wire brushed the crusty exhaust manifold that came with the car today and then POR 15 coated it and the passenger manifold I bought off the web site. Will be interesting to see how the coating lasts without a blasted surface. Have been really happy with the manifolds I’ve coated with the product in the past. Can anyone advise what torque the manifolds should be tightened to? Wait until you see the old school torque wrench I brought down here......
Dry and ready to go on today. Looks like I should be torquing the manifolds to around 18 foot pounds done in two passes? 11 and then 18?
Went to install the exhaust manifolds and then realized it didn’t make much sense to do that until I installed a new starter harness..... as well as a dipstick and tube. I’m having trouble finding the dipstick and tube. Any suggestions for a source? I did quick bolt the passenger side to close up the exhaust ports. Looks like the choke tube is broken off in the manifold. I’ll have to drill that out when it comes back off. I did get the latches installed into the tailgate so I now have a tailgate that latches, although I need to pick up some more screws for the hinges and the passenger side latches. ..... and I was happy to find out the one piece of loose trim was the front box trim as suggested. Missing the front corner pieces, back driver’s corner, back window trim and the two lower long trim pieces (and one “airplane”). It could have been worse. Anyone have the trim pieces I’m missing?
The one piece of tin painted red I was asking about was a filler panel below the tailgate. Thanks for that suggestion! I think I need to buy an assembly manual. lol
I'll check my parts stash, but I know I don't have the long trim behind the airplane/bird, I've been trying to find a spare set for mine for years (not looking REAL hard mind you). If all else fails I did see bed trim on eBay.
A few leads on parts https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/367661644640060/ https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/759200634823506/ https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/357059355519850/ https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/510766516441682/ https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/579000656145910/
Nice find buddy, my brother has a complete number matching 60 that he is going to build. As most are saying find a parts car, trim and back glass could be a pain to find. So apparently the missing part were sold and not put with the car when the estate sale happened, that's a bummer, but you have a great shell so that will help on the build so you can spend money on finding the missing parts. Will keep a watch on the build and pass this on to my brother, he will be very interested. Have fun!!!
The stars have kind of aligned so I’ve picked up a ton of missing parts in the last week. Amazing how much different the cab looks with the back glass in place. I’ve bought a new weatherstripping for the back glass but will need a second set of hands to install it permanently. Picked up some interior box panels. Some new El Camino fender emblems. ... an air cleaner. ... and a bunch of other parts like the heater box, headlight bezels, fender eyebrows, etc. etc. The list is getting shorter.
It looks like you already got some more parts. My stash is a lot smaller on trim and panels. I don't think I even have a complete set of CHEVROLET letters for the hood, other then on my car.
Tomato Soup Red....... never thought of that! Just a nice driver. Stock other than Impala seat upholstery and door cards. Ciadella makes a great interior package for it in 3 different options. May do a wood bed in it also. Loved the look of the stained and varnished bed in the ‘55 Cameo I had. Kind of leaning towards the solid red door cards and the houndstooth seat. The boss says you can never have too much houndstooth though so there’s a very good chance it could go that direction also. lol
As mentioned I’ve picked up a ton of parts over the last week. The list is pretty well done now for El Camino specific stuff. Today I was able to buy the bed trim I was missing, the back window trim, the one missing “airplane” and the long lower trim pieces exiting the “airplanes”. He also sold me the horn ring and and hood latch parts that were MIA.
You aren't wasting any time accumulating this stuff! It's going to be an entire car, uh, truck, well you know, in no time.
I hope so! Installed the radio I bought off the auction site for a great price today (condition was way better than I was expecting) as well as the wiper bezels I bought in a group of parts on Sunday. Also cleaned up the window cranks and inner door handles that came in one of the parts bundles. #0000 steel wool does a pretty good job...... used it on the wiper bezels also.
Hello, As long as you are in this stage, you might want to give that empty space some serious thought. As an El Camino owner for 12 years and 125k miles, we used that car/truck in all kinds of traveling and daily road trips. One thing that we always wanted was more lockable space. A station wagon would have done the job, but back then, it was a station wagon and couldn’t carry a Harley in the back when necessary. When my wife and I were on our long coastal road trips, every time we stopped, our luggage was sitting in the back with a cable run through the handles and strapped down with nylon aircraft straps. But, if we were out of sight during lunch/dinner, it was ripe for a theft. So, we had to unstrap/unlock the cable and put both suitcases inside of the cab. My photo equipment was out of sight behind the seat. But, for everyone to see, the suitcases were just sitting on the seat. Many times, I took off that bed panel to see what was inside and what I could do to keep it clean and lockable. At the time, hydraulic support arms were not considerd. So, knowing I would waterproof the whole compartment and make the lid seal well, I started to draw what I thought, would work. I wanted it to look stock from the outside empty bed times, just cruising around on our daily errands, etc. but, could not think of a way to have the panel drop back down to lock. The space was large enough for two medium suitcases or multiple duffle travel bags. Plenty of room for two people on a week to 2 week road trip. There are laundromats for clean clothes after a few days, so packing 14 outfits was not necessary. We were good at packing. 40 days in europe with two small to medium suitcases, while others had full size suitcases and a medium size case, as well as a carry on bag. We found laundromats everywhere we stayed. On the road trips along the coast, there were more than enough laundromats to satisfy any needs. So, the small suitcases would fit in that empty cave under the bed panel. It was a question of how to make the waterproof lid and compartment. A small channel all around the edge of the opening would channel the running water around and out of drainage holes. With the top sealed beyond that, water would have to go in the channels and out of the weeping holes. Jnaki For all the years we owned the red El Camino, that was the one necessary thing that was missing. 90% of the time, the bed was empty, so quick access to that bed compartment was just an easy lean over the back rail. The custom footwell compartment never got built as we were downsizing to smaller waterproof, Haliburton Aluminum Cases for our travel needs. They fit on the floor of each footwell of the El Camino, out of normal sight. If something was amiss, we could stop and wash our clothes at a laundry or a one hour dry cleaner store. The final look would be the stock look, but with a surprise underneath. Since you are doing a full rebuild and it is in the mild reconstruction phase, you might want to consider this special rear compartment.
As mentioned, I’ve been getting lucky sourcing most of the missing parts and getting them installed. Headlight bezels. Hood lettering (do have some paint touch up to do. Seat bolted in. ..... and the throttle linkage (that I didn’t realize was there because it had been jammed behind the engine when it was reinstalled) removed, cleaned up, and reinstalled.
The Jalopy Journal
