Making my 70 El Camino a show car

[M.Brane]

The "truck" looks great! Looking forward to seeing the bed.

One Issue I've fortunately not experienced with my Super Dutys is the dreaded bad ground that causes the trans pump to weld itself into one piece. Unitentional welding is a thing.

 

[don long]

Well It's been almost a year since this thread was hit. So I'll try to bring youall up to date here.
The truck was sooo close to being finished when I took my son for a quick ride around the block.
We were past the point of no return when I remembered to *** air to the rear shocks to lift the body off the rear tires. It was too late the damage was done, Both rear panels had been heated up from the tires rubbing and the paint was bubbling up. I was sick to say the least. There were a few other small imperfections like when I started to buff the drivers door too soon and put a burn mark in front of the side mirror. The mirrors were a lighter color than the doors and the hood had closed too tighrtly and gouged the paint on the inner fenders.

With all that said I had made up my mind the the truck is my driver and I'm not going to worry any more over this unit.

2 weeks later my friend from P.P.G. came by to look at the truck. He saw all the blems and said that this will never do. He made me agree to let him send me a hotrod specialist that works for him over to inspect the truck. He now spends his spare time working with me to redo the El Camino and make it a show truck.

 

[don long]

We started by TOTALLY dismantling the entire truck, Engine and trans out, Glass out, Interior out,gas tank, bumpers and dash all sitting on the shelves as we started working on the tailgate and gaping it.
Next we moved over to the right side of the truck, Blocking the paint, and gapping the door.



Then to the fender gap



Then up to the head light door



And as long as we are at the front of the fender the marker light must be altered before priming the entire side with a sealing primer

 

[ChefRex]

That ***** to say the least, glad you changed course because the truck is beautiful.

 

[four.cycle]

Ohhhhh I'm so sorry to see that.
That orange paint job was so lovely.
Hopefully you'll get it back to right soon.

 

[don long]

While waiting for him to find time to come by I tackled the wood bed first a template to follow to cut around the wheel wells




A couple of problems arose
#1 the taper on the wheelhouse
#2 the gaps on the side walls of the bed
The solution for the first problem was to put wood under my pattern high enough to mark where the wood floor will sit. Then cut the pattern to match the height of the wood floor

The bigger problem was to raise the lower edge of the cut outs to be above the height of the wood so that was my job to fix that



Next I had to make the end panel 3/4" higher to sit above the wood when it was in the bed

With most of that done it was time to start on the wood itself

 

[don long]

The neighbor is a custom door and window guy that builds custom doors from scratch and he has offered his services to get the wood done




So it is almost ready now

 

[bugnut]

that wood is so fricking gorgeous! WOW

 

[stinkity stoink]

That’s heartbreaking that you had to do this over again, but it seems like you are making it better than before. I didn’t think it could get better, but the wood bed is really going to beautiful upgrade.

 

[jeffmoss26]

beautiful!

 

[Bill Bowman]

Looking great Don.

 

[Firstram]

I find it hard to believe you found someone more detail oriented than you to redo the El Camino!

Epic restoration !!!

 

[Swanny1953]

Sorry you had to do a step forward and several back to get on the right track! The gaps look terrific and I'm sure the paint will be even more spectacular the second time around. The wood bed and your attention to detail around the side panel indents will make all the difference in the world and make the truck truly a standout!

 

[WoodsTruck]

Stainless Steel D-rings in the corners of the bed for that occasion that you need to haul something?

 

[Swanny1953]

I found these and installed 4 of them in my '57 Cameo pickup. Put a moving pad on the floor, then tie down the lawn chairs so they don't move around!

https://yorkspeedshop.com/collections/bed-hooks/products/classic-truck-bed-rail-hooks

 

[don long]

I found these and installed 4 of them in my '57 Cameo pickup. Put a moving pad on the floor, then tie down the lawn chairs so they don't move around!

https://yorkspeedshop.com/collections/bed-hooks/products/classic-truck-bed-rail-hooks

Thank you Swanny
They'll be were Wednesday. Lawn chairs and an ice chest is all that will be scheduled for the El Camino too .

 

[don long]

Spent the morning working on the wood bed for the El Camino. Did a bunch of measuring and finally bit the bullet and cut the wood for the door of the smugglers compartment. Now I can cut the rails to length

 

[don long]

Worked on the wood for the bed today and finished fitting the front bar so now we can fit the smuggler door and get it all bolted down. So next we stained some wood to select the color we want for the finish on the wood. It's finally all coming together

 

[bugnut]

Don, can't wait the reveal!

 

[don long]

Don, can't wait the reveal!

"Reveal" That was a good party 10 years ago with the Zephyr