Thread: 500 Caddy/G Body Swap

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Well I’m still moving forward, the windshield and back glass are in and the seats have been dropped off at the upholsters. The seats may be ready Wednesday …….I won’t be ready for them quite yet but at least they will be here when I am ready.

I’m holding off putting the trim on the windows until I get all the glass in and I can take a water hose over everything to make sure I don’t have leaks. I’ll probably do the side glass tomorrow.

The big news is I got all the cooler and fuel lines hooked up along with the hoses so I was able to start the engine for the first time and break the cam in and fill the transmission. I don’t have the wiring or dash in yet so I just hot wired the distributor and hooked up and aux temp and oil pressure gauge.

It fired right off, ran at 190 (with a 190 degree thermostat), and carried 55 pounds oil pressure on high idle (30 at hot idle).

Only down side is the steering gear that sat for 15 years doesn't assist but I'll take care of that tomorrow.

It sounds………well kind of like just an old stock motor . If I was listening to it at a stop sign, I sure wouldn’t be intimidated by it. It idles smooth and the exhaust it almost too quiet (I suppose it probably has something to do with the X pipe) I do think the mufflers will get a bit louder with age, but probably not by a lot.

Can’t wait until I get some tail lights and a seat in it so I can take it around the block.

very sweet looking mike.

So, with the first weak link check will it be the driveshaft, the rear end, or it all stays together for one of them looooooong hi torque burnouts????? Great work, Mike!!!

"......So, with the first weak link check will it be the driveshaft, the rear end,....."

I'm thinking as long as I keep street tires on it there should be just a bunch of tire smoke (I’ve already pretty much written on the first set of rear tires as sacrificial anyway)

The recurring thought I’ve had though is how much I trust the 50+ year old axels in the 9”. I suspect I’ll be giving Currie or Mossier a call at some point. Some sticky tires on it I may be looking at better U Joints.

I'm at that point in the project where you do a bunch of work and at the end of the day and when you look at it it doesn't look like you accomplished that much.

I picked up a rebuilt quick ratio F41 steering box so I now have power steering.

I got the rest of the exterior trim cleaned up and installed, weather striping and windows in and then it was move to the interior. I got the insulation layed down so I could get the carpet in and then all the interior trim peices (most of which came from other cars so a few holes had to be re-drilled).

The 5th Gen El Caminos don't have much for stereo speakers, basically a pair or 3" speakers in the corners of the dash. The kick pannels and doors don't lend themselves for aftermarket speakers either. I came across a behind speaker system that does seem to be the lesser of several evils. It mounts under the rear window trim piece and still allows full access to the compartment behind the curtain (where the spare and jack are stored). It's notreal high end but when I bench tested it with the stereo I'm using it actually sounds pretty good. In spite of what the kids think, when you're that close to the speaker you don't need tons of volume

I got the AC unit in and am kind of at a stopping point until I get the AC hoses made from the unit to the bulkhead I have to install so I have access to the fittings. Once that's done then it's on to the dash and wiring. At least I have seats to sit on (and probably get in the way when I'm hooking up the under dash plugs.

Mike, that Monte front end is awesome looking! That was a great idea, Chevy should have built it like that.

More good progress, Mike!!! Know what ya mean on work all day and it doesn't look like you did a thing!!!! Happens around here quite often!!!!


What are you using for insulation on the floor and firewall? looks like some nice stuff!

Dave I'm not sure what it's called, It's about 1/4" thick and works really well. It's sold thru a few parts places, but the local ACE Hardware store sells the same stuff a lot cheaper. Going thu the local hardware store I can buy it in any legnth and 2' and 4' widths.

I also usually glue a piece in the roof under the headliner,

Great progress Mike!!

I used that same insulation in a '40 coupe about 15 years ago. Very effective, especially for sound. It's basically bubble wrap with foil bonded on both sides. A tad bulky, but if the space allows it works. The big box hardwares also carry it, usually in the department with the heating duct supplies.

I did another post about my short first test run with the El Camino on Christmas day (see the post 9" rear end failure).

Anyway it turned out to be a 31 spline side gear shoved into a 28 spline Posi. The new side gear along with a new set of clutches for it are here now but after some consideration I decided to go ahead and order a new heavier duty 4 pinion Trac-Lock unit for the El Camino and use the 2 pinion unit in the 64 Ford. The new carrier should be in (hopefully) tomorrow or Tuesday so maybe next weekend I can try the road test again.

I did get a not so good picture of the truck outside before it went into the shop so I could pull the third member out.

sorry for your trouble mike. keep us up to date on how it goes. you will be crusing before you know it.

Did great Mike! Most people will look at the truck and think it came from the factory that way!

Thanks Dave and Barb. Still have my fingers crossed for this weekend, but no UPS box today.

Well, last week was a bit different. It finally got where the politics and general BS of the job just wasn’t worth it anymore. I handed in my resignation on Monday and Friday was my last day. I’m fortunate in that even if I don’t work I have enough coming in to pay the bills. I really can’t believe how much better I feel being out from under the stress, I guess when you can’t leave work at work anymore it’s time to move on. I’ve already had a couple of offers for other work but I think I’ll spend some time decompressing and see what comes up in a month or so.

At any rate it gives me some more time to finish up the El Camino.

The new Track-Loc came in on Tuesday and if for nothing other than piece of mind I’m happy to have the heavier duty unit in the El Camino. I got the rear end back together Saturday and did another road test yesterday....it went a lot smoother this time.

The engine runs very well (I think it would like a bit more timing), transmission shifts nice and rear end doesn’t make any unusual noises. It pulls a bit to the right so the next stop will be the alignment shop........ hopefully this week. The speedometer also starts to wave at me above 65 MPH (hopefully that will smooth out after it’s run a little more...hey it could happen LOL). Other than that everything seems to do well. The temperature and oil pressure was good and no leaks.

Of course I really haven’t really put my foot in it yet.... tempting as it is.... but from what I can tell I won’t be disappointed.

Wish I could do that, Mike. You're fortunate to have another income source. The car came out great; is this a keeper or a seller?