1975 El Camino

[shaunmza]

Heres a few pics of the El Camino I recently bought.

Intention is to get it through the test, use it for a while, and them maybe at a later stage rebuild it.

[shaunmza]

Anyhoo, things I have done so far:

Paid a visit to ElCamino (also in Kempton Park) to see what an El Camino should look like, and I left with gifts! Thanks!
Did even more damage to my already broken crash pad (think that's what its called?)
And started repairing the cubby's plastic (pics below)

Started out by cleaning the plastic with degreaser, then made the area around the cracks and the bit broken off, rough with sand paper.
I used q-bond, the stuff you buy at spares shops and hardware stores etc.

I also bought the little door knobs that screw on the top of the threaded rod used to lock and unlock the door, no idea what they are called. The one's I got were for a golf, and did not need any alteration to work, this was possible thanks to some of the tips I got, again from ElCamino.

[dreamer]

Cool.

Pls keep posting what you're doing.

[paulusvrotius1]

Hi Shaun, overall the Elky looks very good.

Those plasics can be a right bugger to repair and I suppose finding a good replacement would be pretty difficult. It might be an idea to fibreglass around the outside to give it some more strength, if there is clearance to get it back in, that is.

Keep us postrd on your progress.

Cheers

[shaunmza]

Hi Shaun, overall the Elky looks very good.

Those plasics can be a right bugger to repair and I suppose finding a good replacement would be pretty difficult. It might be an idea to fibreglass around the outside to give it some more strength, if there is clearance to get it back in, that is.

Keep us postrd on your progress.

Cheers

Hmm, 'mooi van ver af, maar ver van mooi af'

Looks good from a distance, unfortunately the quality of the paint job leaves a lot to be desired.

I was also thinking of a bit of fibreglass, just one or two layers, the plastic has a taper from front to back, so I should be able to get a bit of strength back into it. Hopefully in a discreet manner.

[Elcamino]

Way to go
Keep it up and soon it is just

[shaunmza]

I guess it's like this with all new projects.

When I got home I could not resist the temptation to try and fix the crash pad, which like a real plonker I managed to break.

Seeing as I like threads with pics in, I took a few of my progress on fixing it.

When test fitting it, I managed to break 1 of the parts I had glued back on, and that was only after being heavy handed. Point is I will be taking it off again (it's warped) so I think the glue will hold quite well. When I re-install it , after hopefully getting it a bit more presentable, then I will make sure to be more careful.

[shaunmza]

So after months of doing almost nothing to my car I decided to fix the handbrake.

While popping round by Elcamino's house to make sure my handbrake cable was not bodged, he reckoned the brake shoes that were worn, and that was causing my handbrake to not work properly.

Incidentally the elkie's handbrake has only the cable, no outer protection like the clutch or accelerator cables. I thought someone had bastardised the setup, but thats how it came from the factory!

Saturday I took the drums off both side of the car to inspect the material left on the shoes, and took a few reference photos.

You can see in the first photo there is something wedged behind the brake shoe

[shaunmza]

The piece of metal behind the brake shoe should have been activating the self adjuster for the brakes, lying wedged behind the shoe means it obviously was not working.

So whoever assembled this brake setup last did not install that correctly, meaning much of the handbrake cable was used to take up the slack in the drum.

Seeing as the rubbers were perished I decided it was best to replace them, so bought a kit on Sunday.

The left brake setup was fine and needed no adjustment, the rubbers also look ok, however I now feel I should have bought 2 kits and made sure both sides were 100%

I will try get the left side sorted this weekend.

Anyhoo, I stripped all the parts of the right side, got stuck in with a wire brush, some sandpaper and finally rust converter and paint. End product is the whole assembly now looks tons better!

Not forgetting why I took the drum off to begin with I replaced the seals and assembled it all correctly. Not 100% sure the auto adjuster works correctly, but will check again after driving it for a bit.

Piccies of the progress,

[Johann65]

My compliments to you and your appy on a job well done !!! You won't be sorry!!