The "66 El Camino that I finally own" Thread
Discussion
So fitted with cheap and nasty modern plates until my pressed metal black plates arrive, I finally ventured onto the road at the weekend!
First stop was to pick up some chicken food. Hmm, either I need a smaller pickup or we need to get more chickens!!
First impressions are good though, she drives well, quite soft on the suspension and a little more play in the steering than I would like, but comfortable, easy to drive and tracks straight and true with sufficient power to make its handling and braking abilities feel interesting!!
The rubber hose joining the fuel filler neck to the tank is rotten, so that is an urgent to-do item. I put a 5l can of fuel in for local pottering around and in doing so the joint at one end of it had a little weep, so I daren't fill the tank at the moment as that joint would be below the fuel level.
I figured 5l plus what was already in the tank (fumes to be fair) would be fine for the ten miles or so round trip I was planning on doing, so rather rashly I didn't take an additional can with me - something I regretted when she spluttered to a halt after about 8 miles! Fortunately Mrs 99t was willing(ish) to bring me another can full. 8 miles from 5l is a little less than I was expecting from a small block though!!
First stop was to pick up some chicken food. Hmm, either I need a smaller pickup or we need to get more chickens!!
First impressions are good though, she drives well, quite soft on the suspension and a little more play in the steering than I would like, but comfortable, easy to drive and tracks straight and true with sufficient power to make its handling and braking abilities feel interesting!!
The rubber hose joining the fuel filler neck to the tank is rotten, so that is an urgent to-do item. I put a 5l can of fuel in for local pottering around and in doing so the joint at one end of it had a little weep, so I daren't fill the tank at the moment as that joint would be below the fuel level.
I figured 5l plus what was already in the tank (fumes to be fair) would be fine for the ten miles or so round trip I was planning on doing, so rather rashly I didn't take an additional can with me - something I regretted when she spluttered to a halt after about 8 miles! Fortunately Mrs 99t was willing(ish) to bring me another can full. 8 miles from 5l is a little less than I was expecting from a small block though!!
99t said:
I figured 5l plus what was already in the tank (fumes to be fair) would be fine for the ten miles or so round trip I was planning on doing, so rather rashly I didn't take an additional can with me - something I regretted when she spluttered to a halt after about 8 miles! Fortunately Mrs 99t was willing(ish) to bring me another can full. 8 miles from 5l is a little less than I was expecting from a small block though!!
That's roughly 1 gallon, so 8mpg?You should definitely be getting more than that, even with a carb.
I would expect 12-15mpg with a properly setup carb.
That's exactly what I thought as I set off on a ten mile round trip without any extra fuel!! 
The plugs are very black and sooty, but to be fair it has only shunted back and forth on choke for the last few months so that isn't too surprising. Does smell quite rich even once the choke shuts off though.
Once it has had a full service and the fuel pipe is fixed I'll probably take it to a place I've used before for a rolling road tune, they know their Chevy V8's and carb setups pretty well - think it will be a good investment...
The plugs are very black and sooty, but to be fair it has only shunted back and forth on choke for the last few months so that isn't too surprising. Does smell quite rich even once the choke shuts off though.
Once it has had a full service and the fuel pipe is fixed I'll probably take it to a place I've used before for a rolling road tune, they know their Chevy V8's and carb setups pretty well - think it will be a good investment...
Fantastic 99t what a lovely old truck, it was interesting to read the whole importing process and keeping track of it! My dad has just bought himself a 1977 Dodge W200 Power Wagon, sort of the predecessor to the Ram I believe. It's on a Q plate at the moment as apparently it was used on American airbases around Europe and in this country until the late 80s when it was released. Great old thing, I find it astonishing how simple these old Yanks are mechanically, so much space to work. I'm planning on taking the engine out over winter for a bit of remedial work as both crank seals seem to be leaking pretty much as fast as you can pour the oil in!
Yes they are nice and Meccano-like to work on compared to modern stuff, no concealed clips or fancy fastenings, just good old nuts, bolts and screws - designed to be assembled by humans on the production line so access is generally decent without needing to be triple jointed or have reptilian hands!
Are you going to put a thread up on your dad's Dodge? Not enough DIY Yank threads on here IMHO (though some might disagree!!)
The Elk does have a couple of minor fluid leaks, one is ATF from the steering box. I'll add some seal restorer to the fluid to see if it helps as it leaks enough to leave some large drips when parked. Must say i have tried leak stop products before without success so not holding out great hopes...
The other leak is engine oil and is running down and forming an occasional drip on the bottom of the power cable between the battery and alternator. Not investigated to see where it is coming from yet, but it isn't much.
Are you going to put a thread up on your dad's Dodge? Not enough DIY Yank threads on here IMHO (though some might disagree!!)
The Elk does have a couple of minor fluid leaks, one is ATF from the steering box. I'll add some seal restorer to the fluid to see if it helps as it leaks enough to leave some large drips when parked. Must say i have tried leak stop products before without success so not holding out great hopes...
The other leak is engine oil and is running down and forming an occasional drip on the bottom of the power cable between the battery and alternator. Not investigated to see where it is coming from yet, but it isn't much.
Following on from my earlier post:-
This should be read as F0601EC since "I" was often used instead of "1" in engine stampings for some reason.
This decodes as:
F - Flint engine plant
06 - June build date
01 - 1st day of the month engine build date
EC - 327 cubic inch, 275hp, powerglide transmission, A.I.R.
This all looks good as the 1st June engine build date ties in rather nicely with the vehicle assembly date of mid-June. The old girl is badged as a 327 and the badges are old and appear original, not repros. The transmission is undoubtedly a 2-speed Powerglide.
A.I.R stands for Air Injection Reactor system (smog pump as required for the first time in California in '66) as below and long since removed, thankfully!
So assuming the engine block has not been restamped at some point to make it appear original, then it might just be the original engine...
99t said:
Body trim tag
It decodes as follows:
06B - body manufactured second week of June, 1966
66-13680 - 1966 model, Malibu (base) series El Camino
BF07926 - Freemont, California plant and body production series number
710 - Medium Fawn interior, Light Fawn imitation leather (bench seat)
TT - Sandalwood Tan paint upper and lower (i.e. not two tone)
079897 - body broadcast sheet number
I finally got around to finding and decoding the engine stampIt decodes as follows:
06B - body manufactured second week of June, 1966
66-13680 - 1966 model, Malibu (base) series El Camino
BF07926 - Freemont, California plant and body production series number
710 - Medium Fawn interior, Light Fawn imitation leather (bench seat)
TT - Sandalwood Tan paint upper and lower (i.e. not two tone)
079897 - body broadcast sheet number
This should be read as F0601EC since "I" was often used instead of "1" in engine stampings for some reason.
This decodes as:
F - Flint engine plant
06 - June build date
01 - 1st day of the month engine build date
EC - 327 cubic inch, 275hp, powerglide transmission, A.I.R.
This all looks good as the 1st June engine build date ties in rather nicely with the vehicle assembly date of mid-June. The old girl is badged as a 327 and the badges are old and appear original, not repros. The transmission is undoubtedly a 2-speed Powerglide.
A.I.R stands for Air Injection Reactor system (smog pump as required for the first time in California in '66) as below and long since removed, thankfully!
So assuming the engine block has not been restamped at some point to make it appear original, then it might just be the original engine...
SPT28 said:
Always nice to find out.
Any immediate plans now you've lived with it for a bit or is tinkering and tidying the way forward for now?
Very much tinkering at the moment! I've got a list of things I want to do to make the old girl easy to live with and enjoyable to drive - not that she's in any way unpleasant to drive, just fixing minor annoyances, and tweaking things to personal taste really.Any immediate plans now you've lived with it for a bit or is tinkering and tidying the way forward for now?
For example:
As you can see the fuel hose between the filler neck and tank wasn't in the best of shape and I harboured suspicions that the red breather line above it wasn't proper fuel hose either
Once removed it looked even worse on the other side!
I wanted to drop the tank too, in order to try to resolve an annoying resonance from the tank straps when revving the engine.
Tank removal is dead easy on one of these, no need to jack up, just four bolts, 3 hoses and two electrical connectors, none of which put up any fight
Tank removed I loosened the strap tensioning nuts a bit and then copper-slipped them to death
Whilst the straps were loose I added some rubberised seam sealant between the metal of the straps and the metal of the tank, tightened the straps back down and removed the excess that oozed out.
Nice clean connections on the tank, this is as they were, I've not cleaned them up at all...
The big space that the tank had vacated - touch of surface rust but nothing much really. The fresh black paint is the new bed support Jim put in before I collected it, and a nice neat job it is too
New filler hose ready to fit, and found some proper fuel line to replace that red breather with - it was heater hose and was utterly destroyed internally.
All back together easily and I put a tentative £30 of fuel in whilst checking for leaks. All good and the annoying rattle / resonance from the tank straps has gone too. As a bonus, now it has more than 5l of fuel in the fuel gauge works too!
Oh eBay, you will be my undoing!
Just spent a totally unjustifiable amount of money on a 1966 AM radio that probably doesn't work! Granted a fair chunk of the outlay is shipping and duty...
It will look so much better in the middle of the dash than the (perfectly functional) 1990's slab of black plastic currently fitted.
I may consider a hidden ICE install at some point but for now V8 + fairly loud exhaust means "tunes" are not a high priority!
Just spent a totally unjustifiable amount of money on a 1966 AM radio that probably doesn't work! Granted a fair chunk of the outlay is shipping and duty...
It will look so much better in the middle of the dash than the (perfectly functional) 1990's slab of black plastic currently fitted.
I may consider a hidden ICE install at some point but for now V8 + fairly loud exhaust means "tunes" are not a high priority!
99t said:
Oh eBay, you will be my undoing!
Just spent a totally unjustifiable amount of money on a 1966 AM radio that probably doesn't work! Granted a fair chunk of the outlay is shipping and duty...
It will look so much better in the middle of the dash than the (perfectly functional) 1990's slab of black plastic currently fitted.
I may consider a hidden ICE install at some point but for now V8 + fairly loud exhaust means "tunes" are not a high priority!
I don't want to be telling you anything you may already know but there are a few companies (I've found) in the States that supply the old radios but brand new if you get my drift, with FM and AM bands, they are an unjustifiable amount of money at around $5-600. The original one in my Bel Air doesn't work although I think there are places in the UK that can remanufacture the insides to work with FM. My car also has a modern FM/CD slab stuck under the dash which sounds like it's connected to the original speakers and sounds awful and anyway I prefer listening to the engine.Just spent a totally unjustifiable amount of money on a 1966 AM radio that probably doesn't work! Granted a fair chunk of the outlay is shipping and duty...
It will look so much better in the middle of the dash than the (perfectly functional) 1990's slab of black plastic currently fitted.
I may consider a hidden ICE install at some point but for now V8 + fairly loud exhaust means "tunes" are not a high priority!
A colleague of mine has dabbled with fitting modern audio kit in classic radios (though currently just little kitchen-style ones), enabling stuff like USB connectivity or streaming via Wifi/device pairing via bluetooth. It might be possible to do something similar with that old radio...
jagracer said:
I don't want to be telling you anything you may already know but there are a few companies (I've found) in the States that supply the old radios but brand new if you get my drift, with FM and AM bands, they are an unjustifiable amount of money at around $5-600. The original one in my Bel Air doesn't work although I think there are places in the UK that can remanufacture the insides to work with FM. My car also has a modern FM/CD slab stuck under the dash which sounds like it's connected to the original speakers and sounds awful and anyway I prefer listening to the engine.
Cheers, yes I had looked at those and you're right the remanufactured ones are an even more unjustifiable (less justifiable?) price, especially given the acoustic environment concerned. This is a purely aesthetic purchase, I'll be happy if it lights up!! 
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