Hot Rods The El Stinko ‘60 El Camino

I was unaware you could eliminate the harness for that little external brain box thing from these later HEI distributors, that's actually really good info to know, as I have one like that in my '64 Impala project and I was thinking I'd have to replace the whole thing. I learned something valuable today!

 

There’s a guy on YouTube that breaks it all down. Basically, you can make the 2 different kinds of 5 pin modules work like the normal 4 pin, but the later 7 pin module distributors don’t have a mechanical advance so they’re a lost cause.

 

I'll have to look at mine and see what it is, it's from 1980 but I'm not sure what they used then. Good info to have for sure.

 

I take back what I said earlier about wide whites, your Camino would look so bitchin done this way. Every now and then you see a car where everything, and I mean everything is right. This car is one of em. Coolest 61 bubbletop ever.

*side note, I think he has PA6 factory chromes on the front. 14x5 I think, can't remember what the RPO code is for the 14x6's. Anyway, very very hard to find now.

 

@Moriarity Did you change your taillights? They look great, but I thought you had vintage smooth aftermarket.

 

On your distributor, you can start with the weights and springs you have now, or pick up a kit from your local parts store that has a different set. Your springs look pretty heavy, which is going to make full advance slow. I like to have mine all in by 2500 or so, I would guess that your springs will not do that until 4000 or so. Once you're running, if you listen to your engine, it will tell you what it wants.

Devin

 

My daily was in a mood, so that took most of my weekend car time. I did run up north Friday evening and picked up two wheels from RMR&C. Thanks Scott! After a little cleanup:



I’m becoming the rusty chromie king of at least my street. Maybe even this half of the state.



I’ve now got 3 sets of three and a random deep reverse single. Of course the 5” ones are in the best shape.

Current plan is to order some wood bleach and do a soak tank. If I can get the rust build up out of the pits, I’ll wipe silver paint into them and then polish it off the main surface. I could run spiders and cover up more of it. That might make them passable. I’ve got one extra bad wheel to use as a guinea pig. Hopefully it doesn’t make the chrome peel.

 

I've done that with the paint and actually had pretty fair results. I think it'd be worth the effort.

 

Oh gotcha. 50 bucks'll work! Yeah, we've all seen any year chevy done 100 different ways. Yours with the chromes, whites, two bar spinners, the color, shaved handles and emblems but all the trim still in place, white insert, white interior, the wheel, the dash, the grille, the ride height, taillights look excellent, I mean everything. It's not overdone, just a bunch of little details. It's a knockout. Should be in a magazine.

Anyway sorry to jack your thread Lewk. You are the new chrome king wow got a collection in no time! Yeah I've done that on chrome reverse, not proud of it but it works really well. Clean em best you can with 000 steel wool and dish soap, and what rust you can't live with, hi-temp silver and wipe the overspray with brake cleaner. Cheesy but it works really well for a while.

Agreed on this one. This car has the perfect look already. Real chrome reverse not FN baby moons. Little finish work and she's perfect.

 

I think I read about the paint on here. There’s some old threads about cleaning up rough chrome. People can have strong opinions on steel wool.

Don’t worry about thread jacking. I like looking at that 61! I’m not doing much other than trying to get my OT Jeep to act right and hoarding wheels at the moment. I did order 2lbs of oxalic acid powder.

What size tire are you running? I love that car.

 

It will be running by June at the rate you’re going! Yay!

 

Thanks!

Halloween at the latest.

 

The new ones aren’t much better than silver paint around the centers anyway…

 

Thanks. I was thinking about lighter springs at least, but I don’t really have a point of reference yet.

The 5” wide wheels still have most of their chrome in the middle and it looks ripply and thin.

 

I got my oxalic acid.



Chose my worst wheel.



Soaked it overnight. My mix is 3 hefty tablespoons per about 4 gallons of water.



This is after a quick scrub and rinse.



I’ve got to come home at lunch so I’ll check it again then.

 

Already better, certainly isn't hurting it any.

 

Might want to add a little more to the mix?

 

I left it in a day and a half and here are the results.



That’s long enough for a wheel I’m not going to use. I mainly wanted to watch what it did to the chrome. Nothing peeled that wasn’t already peeling.

Next wheel:



I souped up the soup a little. After 20 hours:



I’ll soak it a little more and then try the silver paint thing. I want the pits cleaner.

 

That worked well.... Great, now I'm going to have to do the old rusty chrome wheels that were on my Stude pickup when I got it. LOL. Gotta save old parts if you can.
I bought some citric acid powder a while back, is Oxalic better?

 

I’ve never tried citric acid. I had some green stuff I thought was citric but it turned out to be a sulfuric/phosphoric mix. That stuff will eat metal. I’ve also had some good luck with vinegar, but did pinhole some stuff too. People on various forums use oxalic on chrome, so I thought I’d try it. I’m. $30 in with the tub and the powder.

 

Sounds good, I'll try it. Thanks.

 

Best results I've had using paint in the pit areas was with a metallic silver paint pen. It's not a perfect match but it's much easier to hit a tiny spot and fill it in with that rather than trying to use a brush or a spray can and having to clean the excess off. Although if there's a better way, I'd be very interested to hear about it.

 

A paint pen is a good idea. I already hit some spots with a spray can. I’m waiting a day and I was going to hit it with some polishing compound and see how it goes.

Done with oxalic:



A little Rustoleum bright metallic aluminum:



The lighting is different between the pics.

I’m really eager to polish and see how this works out.

 

I’ve been pecking away at a lot of little stuff. I got my poly locks for the rockers. I got some Chinese bling.



I’ve dipped a million chrome wheels in oxalic acid. I finally installed the passenger side front shock relocation mount. I rebuilt and installed the ebrake and glove box light switches. The reproduction glove box had the light pocket stapled on wrong.



So I fixed it.


I put the glove box door in.



The bed subfloor has stampings that locate the gas tank. It isn’t reproduced and I need it. Pattern:





And I made some stuff.



I harvested some metal from the BeAir roof



And cobbled this together



First try bead rolling. If this was visible, I’d try for straighter lines. This goes under the car above the gas tank.



And assembled:



There are a couple little brackets that still need to go on in this pic. I forgot to take a pic after they were done. Here are panels stuck in place but not trimmed. The front panel is sedan from the Bel Air. The ribs are different, but it’ll be just fine.



I still need to make this one. I have a plan…



I’ve had the gas tank tipped up with the filler neck pointing down. Terrible sludge accumulated in the rubber filler neck hose.



Next up, I’m going to trim those panes, fix a cowl gusset, set the valves, and fool with the PS pump. I might put oil and a distributor in it too. I’ve got a radiator from the 59. I might mess with it before I have to turn off the garden hoses for the winter. I need to do some stuff to my daily before winter too.

 

I’m finally back on the El Stinko. My wife’s Toyota’s rear hatch devoured its spoiler. That cost me some car time and money with backordered parts and cleaning my mess up enough to do paint. Then I decided to do a little deferred maintenance on my daily Jeep before winter. That spiraled into a header and full exhaust, slip yoke eliminator and new driveshaft plus lots of little stuff. I stopped myself before I re-geared and put lockers in it…

I trimmed that sedan floor it fit. The radius on the turn down is different, but I’ll make it work. It’s all hidden anyway.



I started making my rearmost section. It’ll take a few sections to get what I have in mind made. My beads are getting straighter, but still need improvement.



After the Jeep, I had exhaust on the brain. I’ve never fabricated an exhaust before. I was going to buy a bunch of 2.5” 304 bends and do it the hard way, but a discounted open box kit turned up on the auction site. It was missing the clamps and one turn down. This ends before the rear tires, but there’s a rear kit available. This will save a ton of mess around. Unfortunately it’s 409 instead of 304, but it’ll still be great.



This exhaust is set up for headers. I need to work out the missing section. I’ve got some bends in the mail that should have been here 5 days ago.



I’m going to run glasspacks. I need to order em. Stainless ones are $$$. I’m not an exhaust guy and finding the right pieces to mate up to my 2.5” rams horn in stainless has been a pain. There are a few guys on the auction site selling aluminumized stubs, but not stainless. I’ve gotten this far.



I still need a donut and a flange. I know I could try bugging the local exhaust shop, but my buddy’s buddy got in a fight with them over them using aluminumized connections on his high dollar stainless kit on a 56 210. I’m not interested in repeating his experience.

I dug around and found an air cleaner. It’s ugly but it’ll do for now.



I still need to go through the carb, PS pump, put the distributor in it, and more. Something has been disassembling squirrels and birds under the car. I’m looking forward to laying in that mess as I do the exhaust.

 

Good to see you back on it!