1968 el Camino Malibu - V8 Speed and Resto Shop

This topic has 45 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 4 months ago by V8 Staff.

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05/17/2018 at #9298

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

Thanks Steele10, I’m doing the front end sheet metal over the next couple of weeks so hope to post some pics, stay tuned

06/30/2018 at #9328

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

Hey everyone,

Just got my motor back from the shop, rebuilt with flat top pistons, alloy heads/manifold etc, which I’m really happy with. I also ordered a new 10si internally regulated alternator which requires bracket modification due to the new intake manifold which I’m doing myself. 😛

06/30/2018 at #9329

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

Starting to get in to electrical now as well. I couldn’t find any info on how the blower motor gets grounded so I just added a ground wire to the firewall myself, I can’t see how else it was done unless the original ducting was made of metal. (I am converting from an A/C setup and that was a mess so I’m not sure how that all worked btw)

09/09/2018 at #9359

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

Rebuilt engine and gearbox finally go in….:cheer:

09/14/2018 at #9362

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

All the hard work coming together

09/14/2018 at #9363

V8 Staff
Keymaster

All the hard work coming together

Looking great! I spy some good upgrades, too. Those American Autowire harnesses are top-notch, and the Dakota Digital gauges will provide miles of reliable readings and look clean, too. Great work, thanks for the updates!

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11/26/2018 at #9400

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

Thanks Kevin, good spotting!

Yes the American Autowire harness and Dakota Digital Dash has worked out really well, I had a great time learning about and installing these products. The car is coming along nicely now, and who knew a full size spare wheel fitted in behind the passenger seat!

Ben O’Donnell

11/26/2018 at #9401

V8 Staff
Keymaster

Thanks Kevin, good spotting!

Yes the American Autowire harness and Dakota Digital Dash has worked out really well, I had a great time learning about and installing these products. The car is coming along nicely now, and who knew a full size spare wheel fitted in behind the passenger seat!

Ben O’Donnell

Wow, the car is looking fantastic! Love the red and the black bucket seat interior. You are doing great work, thanks for keeping us posted! Please keep the pics coming as you make more progress!

Check out:
V8 Radio Podcast: https://www.v8radio.com
V8TV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/V8TV

12/03/2018 at #9403

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

12/03/2018 at #9404

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

Installed the American Thunder exhaust package from Flowmaster over the weekend, man a proper car hoist would have made this job a lot easier!

Thanks again Kevin for all your feedback and support.

…photos in previous post…

12/17/2018 at #9405

V8 Staff
Keymaster

Installed the American Thunder exhaust package from Flowmaster over the weekend, man a proper car hoist would have made this job a lot easier!

Thanks again Kevin for all your feedback and support.

…photos in previous post…

Looks like it’s all coming together. When is the first startup?

Check out:
V8 Radio Podcast: https://www.v8radio.com
V8TV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/V8TV

01/09/2019 at #9434

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

I can’t believe I’ve just repaired these two front fenders! I didn’t even know how to weld 18 months ago. Engine start will hopefully happen soon Kevin, will let you know 😆

01/10/2019 at #9435

V8 Staff
Keymaster

Nice work Ben! Thanks for the progress update!

Check out:
V8 Radio Podcast: https://www.v8radio.com
V8TV YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/V8TV

01/19/2019 at #9438

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

Thanks Kevin, she’s finally starting to look like an el Camino again!

03/02/2019 at #9442

Ben O’Donnell
Participant

Hey Kevin, I was almost there!

My mechanic who’s painting the car and starting the engine asked me to wet sand the panels to 800 grit so more work to do there, he also suggested installing Air Conditioning now if I was ever considering it so down the rabbit hole we go again B)

I went with an underdash setup from Old Air, unfortunately the brackets for the compressor wouldn’t line up with one hole in the head and with no other solution apart from drilling/tapping another hole (which I wasn’t prepared to do) I made up an adapter plate from some aluminium I sourced from a local supplier. Job done 😛

Next was the addition of some thermofans for the radiator as the old flex fan is not ideal and I think they look pretty neat too.

The installation of the condenser was a tight sqeeze but we got her in there and check out that 130 db horn!

So still a fair bit to go with the AirCon installation but I’m really enjoying it which is the main thing. Looking forward to that tea party with the Mad Hatter when this is all done.
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