Okay, so I have a chance to be GIVEN an 87 El Camino. It's the 305/auto. In good shape, body-wise. Needs some work, water pump, hoses and such. It was my grandfathers, he passed away about 6 months ago and the uncle who has been keeping it is moving and just needs to be rid of it. I'm looking for ANY help with this whole idea. What do people know about these cars? Good websites? Issues (other than it's not a Mustang...)? And yes, I know I'm posting this on a Mustang forum, but with all the help I got from you guys on my 69 over the last couple years, I can't think of anybody better to ask, you all are the best. Thanks, I appreciate it. -Tazer
that el camino is a nice body style, not my favorite though. but you can have some fun with the car, like putting the SS nose on it(if it doesnt have it already), and chevy small block parts are widely available. i wouldnt mind owning one as a daily driver.
The 305 is a dog. Don't expect it to work like a truck, because it's not a truck, more like a car with a big trunk.
El Camino's are pretty highly sought after cars around here. You don't see them very often anymore, and they usually go for a lot when they are sold in my area. I assume there are websites out there for those cars and probable a few forums like this that are specific to the El Caminos. You'll probable have a lot of fun with it.
I agree, the SS nose and if it doesn't have EFI, a Z-28 350 TPI motor would make a nice parts "beater". I'm not a Chevy fan by any means, but a free car is a free car and with Chevy parts being so plentiful, making Lemonade out of a Lemon seems very plausible. Heck, I own a '94 Chrysler LHS I gave $50 for and a '90 Isuzu Amigo I gave $300 for. Granted I have about $1000 in each of them now, but I've put 30k on the LHS and a little over 10k on the Amigo. Throw on some IROC 16" wheels and it'd be a nice looking ride, especially if the paint color was one offered on a IROC.
87 was the last year for the elky and they are pretty highly sought after. i've always wanted an elky but haven't been able to find one i can afford to drive and fix up at the same time, like jikelly said they are pretty hard to come by around here. if memory serves 87 would have been a tpi motor instead of carb'ed, may or may not be a bonus there are actually quite a few things that can be done to a tpi motor like larger throttle body from a 454 ss truck, etc.and basically everything else is standard small chevy stuff. good luck with it and just know that i'm kinda jealous.
Well, I've found out a bit more about it... went up to my uncle's place to look it over today, though the trip was cut short due to a combination of pollen allergies and a whole bunch of yellowjackets that came out of nowhere... Anyway, it's NOT the SS, it's the "Conquista" model, whatever the hell THAT means. Two tone, with the darker blue on most of it and the lighter on the strip across the top. The 305 started right up, idled and sounded real nice, but started making some really odd banging noises when I got it past about 3k on the tach. It would need all new exhaust, it's rust-ified. Water pump too, I suspect. My uncle said that when he was running it a while ago, all of a sudden allthe coolant blew out all over the ground... but then, my uncle doesn't know cars at all, so who knows what he saw... The problem is that I have no space for two cars, and at this point I don't think the El Camino is reliable enough for a daily driver/project (which was my intent). Also... Geez! That car looks like a PAIN to work on! Anyway... still tossing it over in my head, but it's sounding less and less likely... we'll see if I can talk myself into it. EDIT: Oh, and bnickel, it is carbed.
The California model carbed 305 Chebie had solenoids everywhere for pollution controls, not fun. Not that I hate GM, but I had a few Chebies. I'd rather have a Ford bodied vehicle like the Ranchero. The early ones are really nice, IMO.
