Transforming A Grocery Getter '83 El Camino Into An SS Elky - Trucks! S5, E8

[Music] welcome to trucks the show where it is okay to get dirty matter of fact we've raised it to an art form now one question that i get a lot is what is a good project to get into something that you can do on a budget that won't take forever and that you can drive every day and enjoy not necessarily a full-blown show truck just something really cool well in the world of trucks you've got a lot of choices anything from the late 70s all the way up to the early 90s because they're relatively cheap they're all over out there and the aftermarket is full of parts to make them really cool so doing a body makeover on one is pretty simple and that is what we're going to show you today what we've got here is a 1983 el camino that's actually in really good shape very little rust very little damage it's just a little tired now most of these late model el caminos came fully loaded with power steering and power brakes and power door locks and air conditioning which means you don't have to put it on that keeps the cost of the project down and also gives you a reliable vehicle that you can drive every day that's two of the criteria that we talked about now you can pick up one of these things from anywhere from fifteen hundred bucks all the way up to around thirty five hundred bucks depending on the shape of the vehicle and of course your bargaining ability the body style of these particular el caminos is very cool and they're a little rare so you're not going to see them just anywhere and that is good that gives you something that's a little bit unique however there are some things about these trucks stylistically that kind of looks like something that your grandmother would drive and that is not good so today we're going to turn this into an ss el camino and let it start to become the hot rod that it needs to be the first thing we're going to do is deal with that front end and that grill and for that we went to the legendary honest charlie speed shop and got one of their one piece ss el camino noses now this thing looks just like the original ss el camino nose but there is a big difference this is made out of strong fiberglass the originals were urethane plastic and they got soft out in the sun warped all up looked terrible in a couple years these will hold their shape now all the mounting flanges are built right into the molding and this nose is completely assembled with headlights turn signals the spoiler even the grille now this nose does not go over the top of the old original front end this completely replaces it we'll get started by breaking out the penetrating lube unbolting the bumper and setting that aside to be modified then we'll come in here to these aluminum mounting plates and get those now we'll also need to take off all this plastic and this spoiler now make sure that you're organizing all your hardware because you're going to have to reuse some of it pull off the headlight trim then remove the outer headlight and the lower marker lights finally just unbolt the old nose and get rid of it okay to put on that new nose this tab here has got to come off so the front nose will sit back flush against this fender so we're going to break out the sawzall and say goodbye to that next up are these factory aluminum bumper mounting brackets now these need a two inch hole punched in them right here so you can run wiring through them now a few minutes with a hole saw is all it takes to take care of that the original bumper will be reinstalled because without it well we're not going to have any crash protection now the bumper will bolt on and then the nose will go over the top of that and it'll sit behind the nose unfortunately the bumper is going to be too wide to fit inside the nose so we're going to have to cut it down and also we're going to have a problem with these lower turn signal lights so we're gonna have to modify the bumper and this is how to do it the first step is to whack four inches off of each end now i'm using a plasma cutter but a torch or a sawzall or even a jigsaw will do it too just a little slower then we'll cut slots in each side according to honest charlie's measurement and finally put the mounting plates back on the bumper and then loosely put the bumper back on the vehicle so you can adjust it later on the last thing that we're going to take off is this trim that goes around the wheels because it's going to be in the way of the nose here and also we're eventually going to shave all of the trim off this vehicle give it a nice smooth clean look now if you do this shave all the trim off your rig make sure that you don't just throw it away because this stuff is like gold to a restorer so take it to a swap meet put some money back in your pocket now we're ready for this ss nose and all you do is just set it in place line it up here with the top of the fenders and clamp it on now you'll notice that i have the headlights and the grille out that is because they got some mounting holes that we have to mark in here you can't do that with the headlights in with the nose back off drill out the mounting hole now just bolt on the nose using the supplied hardware and make sure that you're spending some time aligning and fitting this thing because nothing looks worse than a bunch of gaps or overhangs and don't think for a second that you're going to take any fiberglass part and just bolt it on and it'll be perfect and it doesn't work that way be prepared spend some time with a file work in some of these edges and seams to make them perfect that is just the nature of fiberglass also when you bolt this down make sure you don't over tighten the bolts or you can crack the glass now once it's all on go ahead and hook up your headlights and that takes care of the nose what do you think that's quite a difference isn't it now this hood this hood is ticking me off because you don't put on a nose like this and leave an old nasty rusty hood we're going to deal with that after the [Music] break [Music] welcome back to trucks we are in the process of showing you just how big of a difference a facelift can make not the hollywood kind the trucks kind now what we're doing is an 83 el camino turning it into an ss getting rid of the old stock look now we've already got the ss style nose on here it's looking good fit and right now it is time to move on to the hood now for that we went back to honest charlie speed shop got one of these good mark all steel cowl induction hoods now not only is this all steel but it looks like something that you would have gotten from the factory you got all this original style bracing got your opening for your air cleaner heck it's all there now to put this thing on all you do is take the spring and the latch off your original hood bolt it on in the stock location then bolt the hood to the original hinges spend a little bit of time getting it all lined up and close the hood down look at this all your creases all your body lines are exactly where they need to be you've got a two inch tall cowl induction scoop going down the center and this is functional now as cool as this is the best thing about a good mark hood is the way it fits check out these seams in these lines that is awesome now we got to have something cool running down the side of the truck we're doing a makeover so we went back to honest charlie's got yet another accessory that they call the ground effect style side exhaust system now this is for the el camino but you can also get them for s10s and other trucks now the piece is a big tapered piece of fiberglass runs down the side of the truck then you've got this opening here in the back now what goes in there well check this out big rectangular stainless steel tip tucks in there for a slick side exhaust system to mount the shields clamp them in place they come up underneath with the drill drill through the shield into the rocker now you want to make sure that these things are sitting level you don't want them to tip down because well that'll look kind of dorky now once you have your holes drilled take the supplied hardware and bolt them on now we are ready for the tip now the first thing that you need to do if you're going to make these functional and you are going to make these functional is make sure they fit the opening now you're going to want a good quarter inch of clearance all the way around the tip this will make sure that the fiberglass doesn't get too hot and warp on you now don't be surprised if you need to come in with your trusty file make a little more clearance once that's done take the brackets that come with the kit mount them to the pinch weld then we are ready for the tip now don't be surprised if you need to do a little bending and fitting here to make this tip just right remember the more time you spend here the better this is going to look you don't want to just hack this together right there that looks good well that finishes up the installation of our ground effects with the side exhaust dumps the only thing we have left to do is run the exhaust down to this tip and we will be in business simple easy and it looks great especially if you slam this thing down on the ground now i'm not done yet still have a lot more to do if i'm going to finish up this truck today and i'm already on my second dirty shirt so take a break get something to drink and i'll see you back here just can't get enough of trucks check us out online at truxxtv.com welcome back to trucks we are coming down the final stretch of this el camino build-up and what we're doing here is showing you just how much you can change the look and the attitude of your truck just by bolting on some aftermarket parts now we've already put on an ss nose cowl induction hood got some side pipes down along the side now we come to two of the most popular upgrades that you can do to a truck a tonneau cover and a rear roll pan the stock el camino bumper is not bad it's actually got the tail lights already mounted down into it which means you don't have to come up into here remove a tail light weld in a filler panel and finish that off these trucks already come from the factory this way but this they had the right idea here this can just be a little smoother and a little cleaner and a roll pan is going to do that for us so what we're going to do is pull out these tail lights take off this bumper remove this plastic everything follow that with the tailgate then we'll flatten this pinch weld so the new roll pan will lay flat okay now it's time to take a look at this new roll pan now once again we went to honest charlie's got this nice thick fiberglass piece that's got the tail lights molded right into it now i know you're thinking oh that looks just like the bumper no no this is much better the bumper set out here this tucks the tail lights right underneath the tailgate very smooth now to mount this just set it in place then just check your seams now if you need to do any tweaking or fitting now is the time to do it now once you have it fitting exactly how you want take the supplied hardware and just bolt it here along the top you still need a little bit of adjustment here follow that with the tail lights put on the tailgate and that takes care of the roll pan that is how the back of an el camino should look okay okay i know we're running out of time but i'm down to my last part and that is the tonneau cover because we don't want a bed full of water every time it rains that eventually turns into a bed full of rust so for the tonneau cover we went to yeah you guessed it on his charlie's and got a fiberglass tonneau cover specifically for the el camino now as far as tonneau covers go this is one of the easiest to put in that i've seen all of your hinges are already installed as well as your gas struts and you've got a nice thick piece of weatherstripping that runs all the way around this thing and you also have locks already installed so you can lock this thing people won't get in still your stuff now obviously this is the bottom part but the top is all finished smooth and slick as a baby's butt i'm going to show you that as soon as i get this thing installed as you can see a few body modifications can literally give you a totally different truck and you don't have to have an el camino to do this like i said before just about any truck can benefit from some body mods so what are you waiting for get out there work on your truck well you know wait till after the show [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome back there is no doubt that street performance trucks are popular whether you build it yourself or you buy it from the factory that way everybody wants to squeeze the most power that they can out of their truck and the manufacturers have been jumping into this game too and one truck that consistently stays at the top is the ford svt lightning but why what makes it so special well we're gonna take you on a ride and show you [Music] whoa the lightning remains virtually unchanged for 2003 and that's okay because why mess with success make no mistake this is a factory muscle truck pure and simple what does that mean well for the truck part it has the ability to comfortably carry an 800 pound payload in the bed and the hitch is not fake this thing will pull a 5 000 pound trailer without even breathing hard for the muscle part you've got a 5.4 triton v8 with an eaton supercharger ramming eight pounds of boost down his throat while a water to air intercooler removes excess heat and adds even more power this adds up to 380 horsepower and 450 foot pounds of torque a special four-speed automatic channels that power to 373 gears in a limited slippery end ensuring that you leave two cool black marks instead of just one dorky one of course all that power is no good if you can't handle it but the lightning can it's got quick ratio steering box along with svt's special springs gas shocks and stabilizer bars in front and the rear this not only lowers the truck but makes it extremely agile in turns with very little body roll rounding out the package are special goodyear tires for gripping the road so you can flog this thing like a sports car but you still have some sidewall strength if you need to do some towing obviously braking is important and the lightning shines there too with four-wheel discs with abs to stop this thing in a hurry however the awesome drive train and suspension aren't just for the drag strip or a twisty road course the lightning will also hit a blistering 142 miles an hour if you like running fast and of course you have a place to do it legally inside the truck the seats have enhanced side bolsters to help keep you in the seat during hard cornering and just in case you forget that you're in a lightning special svt white face gauges will remind you when you look down [Music] of course the lightning does have some weaknesses it can be a little expensive both in the 33 000 purchase price and in the area of tire wear and fuel consumption if you really drive this thing but if you want a factory hot rod that will run with the big boys and it has to be a truck your first stop should be a ford dealership to check out the svt lightning one thing that never ceases to amaze me is how a person can spend thousands of dollars on their engine or suspension in their street or off-road truck and then they put the stock seat belts back in guys a modified rig needs a modified restraint system and if you want to use what the pros use you need to look no further than crow enterprises and these guys have everything from a two-point harness all the way up to a serious five-point harness they've got a quick release so you can get out of there in a hurry if things go bad on you and you can get these harnesses in the two inch wide belt or the stronger three inch wide belt and obviously you've got a choice of colors got purple and black but you also have red and blue so if it's important that you stay in your seat you need to quit goofing around and get you some crow belts since today's truck gears are about safety what about your hands well a mechanic style glove is great obviously i use these all the time but they do have a serious drawback you can't feel intricate parts through the fingertips this is pretty important when you're trying to thread a blind bolt up underneath a manifold or something well ringers has a new glove called the ct glove and it not only has the fingers cut out for unrestricted feel but it also has special pads in the palm with an opening right here for where the nerves come through the carpal tunnel into the hand now this takes the stress of impacts or air tools keeps them off of the nerves and that can help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome they look cool too yet another glove option from ringers that you need to have in your toolbox that's going to do it for today we'll see you next week

Channel: Gunpowder & Gasoline

Views: 63,707

Rating: 4.8658347 out of 5

Keywords: powerblock, el camino, stacey david, trucks, truck, body mod, ss el camino, how to, diy, automotive diy, truck build, body make over

Id: onho2CHNUYI

Length: 20min 17sec (1217 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 27 2020