HALEY'S HOT ROD

Greetings!

Today was cold and foggy outside, but it was clear and dry in my laboratory where I spent part of today working on the El Camino. Have I mentioned that it's for sale? Here's a picture of the El Camino right front headlight in 2008 when I was driving it around on a daily basis. 

Right next to it is my '91 Camaro RS. It was a gift from my best buddy Kevin in Vancouver, WA. He bought it for the engine and offered me the rest of the car because it was so well preserved. My daughter Haley showed an interest in it so we rebuilt a 350 V8 and put a throttle body injection setup on it. She drove it around until she moved to Arizona a couple of years ago. Haley is very capable and had no problem getting greasy in the lab with me as we rebuilt the engine together.

The 2X4 in the engine bay was holding up the transmission and everything except for the engine was still there. I had to replace the fuel pump and while I had the gas tank out of the car I should have cleaned out the tank thoroughly. I think there is still some residue from the disintegrated rubber from the first fuel pump because sometimes the car will just stall and then after a few minutes it will run again. 

We put some hypereutectic pistons in the block, a high lift cam with a Holley ProJection throttle body in the mix and bolted some tubing headers on it. Our friend Chris at the local muffler shop set us up with dual exhaust. It's fast.

Haley was no shrinking violet, she put the crankshaft in the block, staggered the piston rings around the pistons and installed them and torqued everything down according to the shop manual. She wore exam gloves, of course, but she didn't insist, I did.

She lowered the engine into the chassis while I jockeyed the block around for the best fit. Whenever I was in the shop working on it, she was there with me, with few exceptions.

It took us a few nights after school to do the job and she learned a lot about how an engine works. I think this is important for a woman to understand. Now days, if she hears a noise in her car, she has an idea already of how things work under the hood.

Until last month she was driving around in another Camaro that came out of our shop; a '97 convertible that she had lots of fun driving. Now she's driving a 2008 Mustang that doesn't need a great deal of maintenance, and she's having a ball. 

When it came time to move up to the "nearly new" car she agonized over what to look at. She wanted something nice and stylish because she is a big shot paralegal working in a swanky office in downtown Mesa, Arizona. We suggested a Solara because they're well made and economical. She came back with, "How about a Mustang?" She respectfully apologized for not choosing a GM product, but after looking at the prices of the "nearly new" Camaros (which she really liked) she backed off and jumped brands.

By the way, the engine in Haley's '91 Camaro is pretty much how the engine will look and perform for Gary in his '51 Business Coupe. We'll be using this GM throttle body injection rather than the more modern-looking Tuned Port injection that I've used in so many of my cars. And instead of using the serpentine pulleys, I believe it will look more appropriate if I use V-belts and fewer of the bulky aluminum brackets. I'll need an A/C compressor, alternator and power steering pump, but I'll try to make it look more like a '50s hot rod than a '90s rig. The red valve covers and air cleaner box would look great with all the black in the engine bay. Haley will be home for a couple of weeks during the Christmas holiday. Maybe I can enlist her expertise dressing up and installing Gary's engine and transmission. Think I should tell him?

Doug