Cindy Crusco's '67 EL CAMINO
This new addition to our family was first seen at the 2012 Good Guy's show in Pleasanton. Steve Fox and I decided to take a walk around and check out the car coral. I had in mind to some day to get an El Camino and if I were to get one, a 1967 was my favorite year. So what do we see just off to the left, a 1967 Marina Blue, w/factory A/C El Camino. This car was very original with the exception of the motor, originally it came with a 327, but now it has a create 350. The owner told us that the original 327 was replace with a 350 at 87k miles when the car was restored 20 years ago, he also said that the car mostly sat in his garage putting less than 9k miles on it. The odometer now reads 96k miles.
"SO LET THE NEGATIONS BEGIN"
I was unable to get the price that I was willing to pay, so I took his name and email address and said that I would call him later to see if he had sold the car. Several weeks had passed and I decided to call, sure enough, the car was still available and I was able to negotiate my price.
Well, it was a bit tight in the garage but looks pretty good next to the 69 Chevelle and the Harley.
So, as the story goes, the El Camino was going to be a family vehicle, if the kids needed to do some light moving or pick up a big box or what have you plus Cindy could take it to some of the local car show. Then I got to thinking (which usually gets me into trouble). How would a big block look under the hood?
Oh Ya, there she is. Her first cars show, shinning up her new Elky.
So, getting back to that Big Block idea, I was thinking Old School. Why not a 427? Although the Chevy 427 was not available for the 67 El Camino but many of the 67 Corvettes were orderd with this motor, so I guess we could say it's period correct.
LET THE FUN BEGIN
Since this particular car was born with a small block, I knew there would be a lot of work to be done before I could even start to think about putting a BB in.
The first thing that had to go was the old 10 bolt rear end, that was replaced with a 12 bolt posi with 373 gears. Next was the trans, swapped out the two speed Power Glide for a freshly built (for 650 HP, just incase) 700R4 overdrive trans. Suspension was next, yep, out with the old and in with the Hotchkis, front and rear everything. Ready for the BB now, not quite. I know that if I wanted this vehicle to stop in a reasonable about of time, it would need disk breaks. Fortunitely, it was already equipt with front disks so I added them to the rear as well.
Hey, who is that shady character next to my new 427?
Well, it was no picnic getting this motor in. Both valve covers and the passenger side motor mount had to be removed for clearance, once we got the motor in, we found out we had the wrong oil pan because it would not clear the cross support. Out with the motor.
Thanks to Smitty and his crew at Country Automotive, it's Finally done.
A brand new GM Performance ZZ427 Big Block. This motor originally came with a single Edelbrock carburator but keeping with the Old School idea and why not a few extra ponies under the hood, I went with the Edelbrock Dual Quad manafold with two 500 CFM Edelbrock carbs.
Additional details -
Specifications: Bore x Stroke: 4.25" x 3.75"
Block: One-Piece Rear Main Seal Cast iron with 4-bolt main caps
Crankshaft & Connecting Rods: Forged Steel
Pistons: Forged Aluminum
Camshaft: Hydraulic Roller
Valve Lift: .527 Intake/.544 Exhaust
Camshaft Duration @ .050": 224-deg Intake/234-deg Exhaust
Cylinder Heads: Aluminum oval port, 110cc chambers
Valve Size: 2.19 Intake/1.88 Exhaust
Compression Ratio: 10.1 to 1
Rocker Arms: Aluminum Roller, 1.7 to 1 ratio
Distributor: HEI
Water Pump: Short Aluminum
Harmonic Balancer: 8" Diameter
Flexplate: 14"
Maximum Recommended RPM: 6400
Balanced: Internally
Recommended Fuel: 92 Octane
Be Cool Aluminum Radiator with two 11 in Electronic fans
Sanderson Custom Built Headers with 1 7/8 long tubes
Flowmaster 70 Series Mufflers
Pumping out 550 Horse Power
NOW LET'S GO OUT AND HAVE SOME FUN AND BLOW AWAY SOME MUSTANG'S
Great Cruises, Great Food, Great Friends - That is what Nor-Cal ChevelleCaminos is all about.
Join us at our next monthly club meeting. Visitors are always welcome.