1970 El Camino Drag Car
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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
My dad has a clean '68 and thought it might be a good car to go racing with (He won't let me take his '55 to the track 
) Anything we need to watch out for or are they a good platform to have some fun with?
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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Bob West said:
I was hoping more like 7.0's n/a and into the 6's with a 200 shot.... (we're talking 1/8th mile obviously)
I'm fixing to have to sell my C10 and my 496 will be looking for a home.
Can you hook up that kind of power in a Elky (without major suspension upgrades) or am I just wasting my time?
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Any particular reason why you wonder if El Caminos are any good at the drags?
Maybe you are thinking that El Caminos are too "light" in the rear? Let me dispel that idea first. My '65 Elky weighs in at 3,380 lbs toatal with a full gas tank. With 1,820 lbs of that being the front end only. This makes weight distribution 53% front and 47% rear. There are tons (pun intended!) of non El Camino muscle era cars with greater front weight bias. A lot of people do not realize how much an El Camino tailgate weighs, or that there is two layers of floor in the bed area, etc.
An El Camino problem from the past was that El Caminos came with air shocks. Guys would buy large tires that wouldn't clear the wheel opening, then they would pump up the air shocks to gain clearance. Jacking up the rear of an El Camino or any other muscle era car totally screwed up any chance of a good launch.
An El Camino advantage is that it has a frame that is boxed for the whole length.
I say that you should buy it and have some fun.
Thomas
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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
yes, light in the rear was my main concern. Thanks for clarfying that Bomber! Now it looks like I just need to convince my dad we need to be partners Bomber, if you don't mind, what is your 496 putting out?
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El Caminos are terrible for any form of motorsports at all...especially the 1968 model year. You should give that old pick up to me for a life of yard work.
I promise to take good care of it.
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I can send you some pics of an Elkie with a BBC / procharger combo running 10.1x all day long at my local track. I went and looked at an Elkie roller that was running deep in the 8.x range prior to blowing the mill. Think BIG cubic inches if it's a full weight car!
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Elky!!!!
I had mine since 1992 and yes, its a bad-a** car. Its a combination of Chevelle wagon, sedan, truck, 2 door coupe and whatever you can name it. The bed is way bigger than my 1987 Toyota truck too.
I am still running the original 350, now same motor rebuilt at my garage with modified camel hump heads and 12.5:1 compression. Its a car that is potential in any ways. Its sort of a lighter and balanced version of chevelle without the weight on the roof.
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Those cars definitely do rather well. I have always been an el camino junkie. It all started back when I was young and my dad drove out west to get a 67 4 speed 396 car. I hated it cause it was fast to the tune of low 12's after he worked on it a bit obviously. He sold it to his brother eventually, and shortly after he got rid of it, I all the sudden realized that I like going fast and I wanted that car back. Being that my first experience with a fast car was riding in an elky, Ive always been fond of them. Apparently my uncle grew to like them too, cause he has had numerous elkys since he first bought my dads. I think he has 3 right now(one was for sale, so he may only have two left). One of the ones he was keeping(its a 1970 year) runs low tens with a solid roller cammed, 12:1 NA 468. Thats respectable for a vehicle that "seemingly" should be traction limited. Dont let the "truck" appearance fool you.
Oh yeah, but for some reason, the 68 year elkys are terrible no matter what you do with them. You should give it to me to save yourself the headache....just dont expect any yardwork out of me....hehe. Just kidding. Thats actually my favorite year.
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My buddy has an 83 with mild suspension work,full cage,406 SBC,th400,and it runs mid 11's on motor,and mid 10's on spray.So,I'd say they make a nice drag car. :beers:
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Adam Loose said:
My buddy has an 83 with mild suspension work,full cage,406 SBC,th400,and it runs mid 11's on motor,and mid 10's on spray.So,I'd say they make a nice drag car. :beers:
the major drawback for dragracing with those g-body elkys is the extremely long wheelbase. it's like a schoolbus. pretty sure the wheelbase on those is 116". the driveshaft is like 62" long!
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One thing that we can not use in our Camino is the Anti HOP BARS they hit the bed floor .the floor is closer in the camino than cars .
The other thing is went you run lower than 11.5 E/T a 8 point roll bar is need it , the two tubes coming out of the rear window passing the bed floor to get the chassis are not very nice looking to me ,but maybe I will change my mind if I can get to e/t in to low 11's ,some tracks are not so demanding and you can run without it,but that will not be my case ,they are very demanding at our tracks .
Good luck and keep us updated with your project ,I guest I will have a good loking 68 El Camino running good E/T's to show to my friends , .
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Purs, when my '65 ran the time in my signature it was 640 hp and 602 tq on pump gas on the engine dyno. Since then I went up a couple of notches on the camshaft and added a 1.8:1 shaft rocker system, and a few other changes. My near term goal is to get it all sorted out to reliably run 10.60's - there is a SCEDA class for heads up 10.60 racing that I would like to join.
To be fair about the weight of my Elky:
1) Aluminum heads, radiator, etc.
2) Manual everything.
3) Wilwood brakes.
4) No inner fenders, or heater - including the underdash part.
5) Odyssy 13 lb battery, mini starter, etc.
All that weight loss partially offset by a 10 point roll cage.
Thomas
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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
thanks Bomber. I don't have a weight on the elky yet. I weighed my '69 SS tonight and it was 3600. My C10 was 3820. I'll try to weigh the camino tomorrow. It's a 327 powerglide car with a 10 bolt. I've got a bare fab 9" housing but not much else in the way of suspension parts.... I guess my 496/TH400 will bolt right in. Would I need a different tranny crossmember?
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I've never seen a dyno sheet quite like that - was that off a sim program?
Thomas
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rcatala said:
One thing that we can not use in our Camino is the Anti HOP BARS they hit the bed floor .the floor is closer in the camino than cars .
The other thing is went you run lower than 11.5 E/T a 8 point roll bar is need it , the two tubes coming out of the rear window passing the bed floor to get the chassis are not very nice looking to me ,but maybe I will change my mind if I can get to e/t in to low 11's
Good luck and keep us updated with your project ,I guest I will have a good loking 68 El Camino running good E/T's to show to my friends ,
as far as the tubes go, i'm not sure aboutall years, but if you find someone who is good enough, the bars on the 78-up elkys can be run through the roof and not have to go through the back glass.
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Discussion Starter · #18 ·
Bomber '67 said:
I've never seen a dyno sheet quite like that - was that off a sim program?
Thomas
no, I had input all my "pulls" into an Excel spread sheet and created a chart to go along with each pull. I then saved it as a .pdf file so anyone could open and view the file.
Source: https://www.chevelles.com/threads/el-caminos-any-good-for-drag-cars.103076/
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