1967 L34 El Camino

[Bad67300]

So I've owned this El Camino about 25 years and really haven't done much with it other than new exhaust and tires. It's sat around long enough, time to do something with it.

I bought it at the Iola WI swap meet - had to choose between this one and an original engine '67 L79 El Camino that was in primer (originally white), but ran. Since this one was a little less work and a big block I went with it. Wish I could've bought both of them! The intent was to use it to pull my '67 Chevelle 300 drag car to the track. On the 800 mile drive home I decided it was too nice to use as a tow rig. Unfortunately, I've rarely driven it since.

It's pretty well loaded with 4 piston disc brakes, power steering, buckets, console, AM/FM radio that still works, M21 4 speed, and 3.55 posi rearend. It was also white, but the original owner didn't care for it and after a mishap with the passenger rear quarter panel sometime in the 70's so decided to paint it Grenada gold. Interior is still original, motor has never been out of it, and it's got 69k miles on it. However, the 396 is tired, uses oil, and smokes. Think I used a quart and a half on the 800 mile drive home.

The plan is to pull the motor, complete rebuild with perhaps a little more cam and balancing. Any one have recommendations for basically a stock rebuild with a few tasteful performance improvements? Not going to repaint it or do much in the way of restoration other than a good cleaning and making sure the suspension is in order. May also put a tilt column in it - I'm 6'4" and have a hell of a time sliding my leg around the steering wheel to get in it.

Anyway, thanks for looking and giving me any advice on it. Appreciate it!

[roadster]

Some original seat covers and what you said and it is perfect . Awesome truck ! Also might be fun to see how it drives with M20 trans just for fun .

[EZ Nova]

Nice congrads.

OK as far as build, look for a GM 163 Dual plane intake. Any alum dual plane is a step up in performance and less weight and better thremo characteristics then the iron. Could try a Holley Sniper EFI for better drivability. Only thing I would look at is get Gaterman or Johnson hyd roller lifters, (NOT Johnson Hylift) and look for a cam your comfy with. Like comp 270H or even 280H. Headers help, but could stay with manifolds if you really want them.

A good rebuild with cam and intake swap, good valve job should put this in the 425+Hp range fairly easily.

[1967 4K]

Stick with stock specs on the engine build if you just want a driver. Get Eric to build you a stock Quadrajet carb and it’ll start n run just fine.
Maintain factory appearance under the hood and that will help on the value of the vehicle if you want to sell later. Anyone can buy JC Whitney chrome stuff and there’s a million of them out there. I don’t see many big block Elcy’s in my area. Just my take on it, enjoy n have fun with it.

[jeffschevelle]

Nice project. Seat covers are not the originals, they have the wrong pattern. Trim tag indicates the car came with factory headrest bucket seats, quite rare. Are the head rest attachment holes / bezels still on the back of the seat, or were the entire seats changed?

[Bad67300]

Was out in the shop tonight making preparations to pull the motor on the El Camino and get it to the builder by end of the month. Looked at the seats and they've been changed out entirely. Believe the seats in it are actually 68s. They have plastic backs and lower sides, but button is still on the side.

While this is a bit of a pain, it's actually not altogether horrible. I need a pair of 68 buckets for an SS project (original black car with red interior and red stripe) and I have a pair of 67s that came out of a GTO. Was going to sell them and am glad now that I didn't! No headrests, but it looks like kits are available for black 66/67 headrests.

[olredalert]

----Back about five years ago I bought an absolutely loaded 67 big-block El Camino. It had headrest seats and the headrests hit the shlf before the seats were all the way to the rear. I know I could have just not used them, but I wasn't happy with that solution, I'm only 6'2" and try as I might I just couldn't get even remotely comfortable. Ended up moving it out of the fleet to a great guy from Long Island that was about 5'9" or so.....Bill S

[Lynn]

I am a long way from 6'4", but the steering wheel on my 68 El Camino was just way too big.

Lots of mods to mine, but one of the best and easiest was installing a black leather survivor steering wheel off of a later 70's C3. 70 bucks on ebay. You may have to wait a couple months for one that is usable as is.
Seeing that you also have PS, that would be a good mod, and a lot cheaper/easier than a tilt column.

[olredalert]

Originally Posted by Lynn

I am a long way from 6'4", but the steering wheel on my 68 El Camino was just way too big.

Lots of mods to mine, but one of the best and easiest was installing a black leather survivor steering wheel off of a later 70's C3. 70 bucks on ebay. You may have to wait a couple months for one that is usable as is.
Seeing that you also have PS, that would be a good mod, and a lot cheaper/easier than a tilt column.

----Lynn,,,Mine had a tilt column and I changed out the wheel to a 69 Corvette style. Didn't help enough!....Bill S

[67since67]

This a cool El Camino!!
I also have a '67 L34 El Camino with headrest bucket seats. As Bill said, the headrests keep the seat from sliding back the last couple notches, I am also 6'2", so I remove the headrest for driving.
Mine has a tilt column and I had a C3 wheel in it for a while, IMO the tilt wheel helps a whole lot more than a smaller wheel.
If you look for a tilt column, since '67 Chevelle columns are one application only, be careful, there are cobbled up clones marketed that don't fit.

As far as engine build, I would recommend a Hyd roller cam with about 212/218 duration at .050 and .480-.510 lift, that would give you great low and mid range torque. 218/224 duration would start to get a bit lumpy.
Your pic with the chrome fuel line suggests it may already have a 3310 Holley carb, that is a good choice as the original L34 carbs are a bit smallish.
A little more cam and carb really wakes these engines up!
You might consider setting the compression at about 9.5 so that you can run a good advance curve on pump premium.

Are your wheels DA 14x5 or DG 14x6? By chance is the original spare tire present?

Keep us posted on progress!
Bill W