68 el Camino Resto-Mod

Ordered some floor mats from Lloyd's Floor Mats. Very nice!

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And got the seat belts installed. The SeatBeltPlanet mods were perfect.
Gotta be safe...
Based on tips some of you sent, I used a soldering iron to burn bolt holes. Much better than trying to cut them in.

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i was looking at lloyd mat. i really want the 1 piece rubber floor mat for 61-64 , but the front and rear set is over 400 dollars....
 
It moved under it's own power!
Got the brakes bled (after much trevail :oops: ) and decided to drive from the shop to the house, about 300 feet.
My wife came out to see it and said "will it always be this loud?" No, exhaust system coming very soon. But, she was excited to see that it actually moves and drives. And so am I! Unfortunately, I'll have to dial the coil overs up a bit, had some tire rubbing, which I kinda expected :confused:

My son shot a video, but I haven't received it yet, may post later.

I tapped the throttle just a bit, and whoops, sideways. LS3 with T56 Magnum and 3.89 posi-trac. Gonna have to watch that :D

Anyway, it was awesome to have it move under it's own power for the first time. Only took 4 years . . .
Reno in August, here we come!
 
Dean Jenkins said:
It moved under it's own power!
Got the brakes bled (after much trevail :oops: ) and decided to drive from the shop to the house, about 300 feet.
My wife came out to see it and said "will it always be this loud?" No, exhaust system coming very soon. But, she was excited to see that it actually moves and drives. And so am I! Unfortunately, I'll have to dial the coil overs up a bit, had some tire rubbing, which I kinda expected :confused:

My son shot a video, but I haven't received it yet, may post later.

I tapped the throttle just a bit, and whoops, sideways. LS3 with T56 Magnum and 3.89 posi-trac. Gonna have to watch that :D

Anyway, it was awesome to have it move under it's own power for the first time. Only took 4 years . . .
Reno in August, here we come!
Click to expand...
 
Rear is fine. Front rubs, at the top of the tire. I like the lower stance, but it has to come up.
Better planning and I would've modified the inner fenders, that is the rub point.
I really don't want to mess with the camber...
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Needs roughly -.5 degrees of camber by the look of it. Factory alignment specs don’t work with lowered cars on radial tires.

Buttonhead bolts on the inner fenderswill help too.
 
dhutton01 said:
Needs roughly -.5 degrees of camber by the look of it. Factory alignment specs don’t work with lowered cars on radial tires.

Buttonhead bolts on the inner fenderswill help too.
Click to expand...
Thanks Don. Spacers on the top swing arm will get me negative, correct?
I haven't done any alignment yet, just eyeballing it during assembly.
Now that all the weight is on it, it's time.

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Shims on both bolts will get you moving negative camber. More shims on rear will give you more caster and negative camber. So you balance the front and rear to get the camber and caster you want. Toe needs to be set at the same time.

If you don’t have any shims then your camber is likely positive and possibly the cause of the rub.

For a build like this a good goal is -.5 degree camber, 5 deg caster. 1/16 toe in. Dont use factory specs.

Don
 
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dhutton01 said:
Shims on both bolts will get you moving negative camber. More shims on rear will give you more caster and negative camber. So you balance the front and rear to get the camber and caster you want. Toe needs to be set at the same time.

If you don’t have any shims then your camber is likely positive and possibly the cause of the rub.

For a build like this a good goal is -.5 degree camber, 5 deg caster. 1/16 toe in. Dont use factory specs.

Don
Click to expand...
I installed the QA1 level 2 coil over suspension kit.
I went and found the instructions and their recommendation is spot on with yours I think:

1964-1972 A-Body Camber: Neg. .5° ±.5°
Toe: .1° to .3° toe in
(they don't give a caster number - but I'll go with yours)
 
Dean Jenkins said:
Thanks Don. Spacers on the top swing arm will get me negative, correct?
I haven't done any alignment yet, just eyeballing it during assembly.
Now that all the weight is on it, it's time.

View attachment 30673
Click to expand...
I have never seen a GM with no shims. Don is exactly correct on his advice. Find a trusted old time front end guy and have him do an alignment to what he suggested and see if that doesn't fix your rub. Car/truck sounds and looks great!
 
4 post lift is great until you need to do suspension work . . .
Yeah, the lift manufacturer makes a rolling jack, but it's like $2k.

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Dean Jenkins said:
4 post lift is great until you need to do suspension work . . .
Yeah, the lift manufacturer makes a rolling jack, but it's like $2k.

View attachment 30674
Click to expand...
Where you have your jack-stands placed---you might be able to use dunnage cants standing vertical to support. Use the lift to raise and then drop and let the cants support. Small utility poles with end butts about 12" in diameter are often getting replaced with the next larger sized ones. I stopped one day and talked to a crew doing this and they cut and gave me 4 pieces about waist height for free.
 
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