My El Camino Engine swap

[asphaltgambler]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

EFI and super tight fuel regulation and roller cams are what put machine shops out of business.

rjp

Randy - I agree completely - but add that better R&D, metalurgy, evolving component design and assembly methods all lead to this. In the last 10 years, there has been 3 excellent machine shops in the Northern Va area go under. All 3's main business model was engine machine work, reconditioning and high performance.

Some very talented, skilled people who basically need to move on from that industry

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The salvage guy lists them as "large style 350 manifolds" that are from some early 70s vintage vehicle.

That O2 sensor is in place only to keep the threads clean. It is the one that was in place when I bought the manifolds. It will be replaced with a good O2 sensor.

You can't have it both ways. Either it's an early 70s or it has an O2 bung. No O2 sensors in anything until computers/electronic engine management, so I believe that would be mid 80s, possibly early 80s (82 maybe) at the earliest or maybe as late as the late 80s.

early SBC exhaust manifolds usually looked like one of these.

mostly 60s, I believe


more like the stuff in the 70s, I think

[masraum]

I don't know why people selling cars and parts always want to make them something different than they are. A buddy bought a '67 Camaro years ago. The guy told him that it was a corvette motor (aren't they all). It seemed odd since I don't think many of the early Vettes had 2bbls. Anyway, when we got the car back to my buddies, it turns out that the motor was original which pleased my buddy to no end. He was much happier with a numbers matching car.

[GH85Carrera]

Good point. Obviously it has the O2 sensor, so it must be 80s. The important thing is they are indeed much larger than my 305 manifolds and they bolt on and have a rear dump. A center dump will not fit my El Camino.

[GH85Carrera]

I spent some money on "while I am in there" stuff today. I just can't bring myself to use the old spark plugs and use the old plug wires on the new engine.

I went to NAPA and got the top quality plug wires, new spark plugs, a new rotor & distributor cap. Grand total $110.46.

I would not have replaced any of those now if I was just going to keep driving with my old engine.

[Burnin' oil]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I spent some money on "while I am in there" stuff today. I just can't bring myself to use the old spark plugs and use the old plug wires on the new engine.

I went to NAPA and got the top quality plug wires, new spark plugs, a new rotor & distributor cap. Grand total $110.46.

I would not have replaced any of those now if I was just going to keep driving with my old engine.

That's how it starts. The car would look great with a newly-painted engine bay. Good time to replace vacuum lines. How's the radiator?

FYI, I had a broken brake return spring on my bug a couple weeks ago. Suddenly, I am in the middle of a body-off resto. How did that happen?

[GH85Carrera]

Actually the rest of the vehicle is in pretty good shape. I will indeed spend some time in the engine compartment cleaning things up. I have a couple of rattle cans of the color matched paint I had made up a couple of years ago. I can pretty up the engine compartment for little more than elbow grease and cleaning products.

This is a daily driver. It ain't even gonna be anything else.

[GH85Carrera]

I got started on the swap today.



This is a photo of my Elky with two engines. The old 300,851 mile engine still running and the new engine in the back. The trailer is hooked up and loaded with the engine stand and the engine hoist. I was ready to head to the house with all the goodies.

I have the new engine on the engine stand and the old engine is coming out tomorrow.

I am tired and sore all over my body. Tomorrow will be tough. I will post more details later.

[masraum]

Cool. I've liked el caminos since I was a kid. A HS buddy had a '70 SS with a 402 (factory bored 396). Last weekend I saw a sweet '67 that was for sale.

[Tobra]

An old gentleman I know has a late '80's El Camino he put a crate motor into, as the original was getting a bit tired. Pretty clean old car. garage kept, always liked them, especially the early big block's, the were beasts.

[azasadny]

Great project!!

[GH85Carrera]

I am out of the garage and out of the shower. There is a small spot on my left ear lobe and a small spot on the side of my nose that does NOT hurt. It sucks to get old.



That is the old engine on the floor and the fuel injection off. That is as far as I got today.



This is the empty engine compartment. As you can see there is not much room to stand in there to get the classic photo. I will figure out how to get in there just to have the photo of me in the engine compartment.

I will post more tomorrow.

[Laneco]

If you want to get kind of nuts.... We sandblasted this one and threw down a nice layer of DP. Kind of amazing how much superfluous crap is in those engine bays... Lots of space to hide stuff in the area ahead of the core support and inside of the fenderwells (above the splash shields). Probably could hide 20 keys of coke there. I'm just sayin...

angela

[Rick V]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Kind of a cannibalistic image.

[GH85Carrera]

OK time for a update. I survived the weekend with no major injuries but a lot of sore muscles.

I got the new engine home and hung on the engine stand.



I started taking apart the stuff necessary to remove the old engine.



The old tired engine had done its job, it was time to retire.

I took off the alternator, AC compressor PS pump, raidiator, and fan.

[GH85Carrera]

Then I unbolted the exhaust system and removed the hood and put it on top of the roof. There was just not many other places to put it.



I hooked up the engine hoist and started slowly lifting. My friend Ron was there to help. He has done this many times before. In fact he owns the hoist, engine stand and trailer.

[GH85Carrera]

Here is the engine sitting on the base of the crate the new engine was shipped on. It makes a nice cradle to hold the engine upright and steady.

[masraum]

looks like fun.

Well, fun as long as you have other transportation and you aren't on a deadline to get this finished before the next time you have to go to work. That's the difference between fun and not fun.

[masraum]

Poor old thing definitely looks like it's tired and needs some rest.

What are you going to do with the old engine? Scap metal recycler? I'd guess that's a few pounds worth of iron.

[tevake]

GH85

You are well on the way! Good going. I would have had to put tape labels on everything myself to be sure to get it right on reassembly. Going to be nice to have new life in your ride.

Cheers Richard