1969 Chevrolet El Camino 383ci Small Block 400+hp/Chevelle

1969 Chevrolet El Camino SS Trim Description

This is an El Camino you are drawn to as soon as it comes into view. It’s a fact that this Gun Metal Silver El Camino never looked this stunning coming directly from the factory in 1969.Take a very close look at the pictures and description of this El Camino and you will see the term “Total Restoration” clearly applies to this beautiful vehicle.

While this El Camino involved more than 10 years of restoration, performance building, and spared no expense to complete, it is priced well below what you’d spend to buy an unrestored El Camino and start from scratch to build one of this caliber.

This El Camino needs nothing but a new owner to appreciate its quality and enjoy all the performance improvements which were not available in 1969.

Here are the details of the work completed during the restoration period to deliver this classic and stunning El Camino that will make the potential new owner the envy of anyone who lays eyes on it.

Body:

1. The main components of the body are original: Cab, doors, fenders, bed. No reproduction on the above parts, real 1969 steel. An aftermarket SS hood replaced the stock hood.

2. The El Camino was disassembled, taking the front end sub-frame completely apart, doors were taken apart, and all the glass removed. Next the El Camino was assembled and body parts fitted to perfection to get all the lines and gaps just right. There were close to 300 hours spent on preparing the body and parts for paint. Factory fitting could not compare to this El Camino.

3. The engine compartments in these 1969 El Caminos, like all cars of that age, had all types of things mounted to the fire wall, so with hours of work the firewall was smoothed of all that old 1969 stuff and painted. A new Detroit speed wiper motor was mounted to replace the old stock unit.

4. Next was paint, Color is 2006 Corvette Gun Metal Silver base coat/clear coat. Note: paint was not just done on the parts that show, many parts were painted on both sides which takes considerably more work but makes the job a real restoration. Examples: front inner fender wells were painted on both sides; same with the rear wheel wells, inside the hood and core support were painted to match the exterior paint.

5. The body work and silver Gun Metal paint make this El Camino really stand out. Factory Black SS stripes were added to the sides. They completely make the right look for the exterior, you judge for yourself. All the stainless on the sides, around the windows, the grille frame, headlight and taillight rings, side mirrors, door wind wings brackets, door handles and internal hardware to operate both the windows and doors are all brand new, the wiper arms/blades are brand new, and all tailgate stainless to include the exterior door handles are all brand new.

6. The window glass and rubber around windows and doors are all new. Driver tint on side glass and limo tint on back window set off the silver paint.

7. Front and back chrome bumpers and a chrome grille complete the clean fresh exterior of the El Camino.

To recap, the efforts put into the body and exterior of the El Camino demonstrated that this was going to be one hell of a classic when the entire El Camino was completed.

Suspension, Drivetrain, and Body Mounts:

1. Every part of the sub- frame was taken apart, cleaned, and painted. All the old 1969 front suspension was removed and replaced with Edelbrock performance tubular upper and lower arms mounted on 2” dropped spindles.

2. Mounted on the spindles is Baer calipers with 13” drilled and slotted rotors. All the front suspension and back is supported by a power brake master cylinder, power booster, and Baer adjustable portioning valve for balanced control of braking.

3. New brake lines and an AGR power steering close ratio steering box. Finally, to ensure that the El Camino sticks to the road at any speed KONI adjustable shocks were mounted on all four corners.

4. Selecting tires and wheels can be the most important decision made as it affects the entire look of the car. When you look at this El Camino you will see that the Rush-Forth 2 piece performance series with a polished stepped lip design with satin centers are the best you can buy. Fronts are 19”x 8” with Toyo Proxes 245/19 tires, backs are 20’X10’ with Toyo Proxes 305/20 tires.

5. Moving to the rear, the 1969 rear suspension was replaced with a factory 4-link set up with upgraded boxed lower control arms. Mounted to the rear suspension is a Chevrolet 12 bolt narrowed rear-end with Moiser axles, Motive pro 4.30 gears, and Eaton posi-traction for needed control of power in a classic El Camino built with today’s power train.

6. Completing the drivetrain to the engine required a custom built drive shaft with Spicer u-joints to support the power of the engine, next a Tremec TKO 5 speed manual transmission was chosen with a .62 overdrive so the this classic El Camino could run all day long in the freeway fast lane with no strain on the engine.

7. New bushings were installed. In the front core support, new cab mounts and bed mounts were installed. These mounts are made from modern materials versus the old 1969 materials, which gives the El Camino a more solid feel going down the road free of that 50 year old rubber support system.

To summarize what has taken place with the suspension, driveline and body mounts, this El Camino is an example of what you need to do to take a 50 year El Camino and bring it to the driving standards of today’s vehicles. Anything less is just new paint on a very old El Camino.

Engine Compartment:

1. The goal for the El Camino engine was to build a motor that had 400+ HP to the rear wheels and was fun to drive but had plenty of ponies when time to play came around. Starting with a new factory 4-bolt main 383ci small block, then the build began with a Scat crank, Scat rods, SRP pistons, Dart Pro1heads 215cc-fully ported and polished, Comp hydraulic roller cam, Comp roller lifters, Comp roller rockers, and Comp stud girdles.

2. Completing the motor several important pieces were added like a Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake manifold with a Pro Systems 780cfm carburetor, MSD distributor, blaster coil with MSD 8.5mm spark plug wires. Battery is an Optima with all new power cables. Starter is a custom mini-torque unit, Fuel pump is mechanical capable of 10psi, also running a Aeromotive fuel regulator, air cleaner is a KandN filter with a KandN Lid. Finally all the pulley belts operate on a March front pulley system with serpentine drive.

3. Knowing that the new motor would need more than just a stock radiator a Mattson all aluminum double bi-pass radiator was installed along with dual Spal 14’ electric fans to keep the motor cool and also support the Brand new Vintage air conditioning system mounted in the cab for cruising comfort.

4. The motor is running well and now it is time to Dyno test the work, here are the results, 443HP and 409lbs at the rear wheels with final compression at 10:5 finally for reliability every part of the motor was assembled with all ARP bolts.

5. To support the motor, transmission and rear-end a Center Force aluminum flywheel and clutch were installed.

6. Choosing the right exhaust system for this power train can make or break the car, we got it right with a set of ceramic coated long headers, Magnaflow mufflers, and black coated tail pipes that reach out the back of the El Camino.

Closing thoughts on the engine compartment: It is the heart of this El Camino and should show you that this El Camino is not just a pretty car, this engine and components will allow you to go anywhere at any speed and clearly not feel like you are driving a 50 year old El Camino.

Interior:

1. When we think about the interior of a car and the amount spent on the exterior, suspension and engine compartment it was important that the same level of updating was applied to the interior so that you have today’s technology and comfort built into the interior of the vehicle.

2. With that in mind and knowing this was originally an A/C car a modern custom fit Vintage A/C unit was installed, instead of rebuilding the far less effective 50 year old A/C unit.

3. The entire interior of the cab was painted Satin Black with the same exterior silver painted around the glove box door and to include the glove door allowing the inside to tie into the exterior.

4. Sound and heat are a concern in older Classic vehicles as they had very little insulation to keep out heat and sound from the interior of the car. Today we have several materials to address this issue. The best is Dynamat, so the entire floor, firewall, and back of the cab behind the seat have been completely layered in Dynamat to keep exterior sound and heat out of the cab.

5. El Caminos can seem tight with bucket seats so the choice was a bench seat where you can seat 3 people if you choose. The bench seat was built and covered with all custom black leather upholstery with the door panels covered in the same leather with a small emblem centered in each door panel. When you look at the pictures I think you will agree with this choice.

6. Dash gauges are important and must match the other updates in the interior. The stock gauges didn’t do that. So a modern Covan instrument bezel was chosen with all Classic auto meter gauges with silver backgrounds.

7. The steering column is a tilt column painted to match the interior paint, a Classic industries 3-spoke wheel wrapped in black leather. Petals are stock replacements with chrome trim around them,

8. E-brakes are important to ensuring that your car stays where you park it so the Factory e-brake is run back to a modern Baer rear caliper e-brake system.

9. Finishing off the interior: a) high quality black carpeting with floor mats to match, b) power windows for driver and passenger with period correct window cranks that work the power windows with a switch on the driver’s side that allows the driver to raise and lower the passenger window c) new aftermarket rearview mirror, d) a Bluetooth stereo with USB ports for cruising sounds.

Attention to detail is what you see when you look closely at the pictures of this El Camino and read the description above. All the work has been done to make this a great 1969 El Camino. This means plenty if you were to just buy a driver El Camino and then invest your time and money to get that El Camino to the level of this El Camino.

If you are in the market for a 1969 El Camino I encourage you to inspect this El Camino as you do your search and homework. You will not be wasting your time. Should you have further questions or want further detail give me a call or text. 209-627-5672 ask for Tom