I was gifted this El Camino

[Rob Cote]

I did some searching and I don't see any that have been done. So I feel it's my duty to do this donk some justice, crawler style. A cronk?

I come to you all because I've never really gotten too custom with these and I'm going to need some guidance. I typically stick to 1:1s.

At this point, I'm not even sure what I want the finished product to look like. Just playing with some mock up and trying to brainstorm. Feel free to drive the direction of this build. I'm totally open to suggestion.

[lonleycreeper]

Imo, you should do something like this, trim your fenders a bit and shorten the wheelbase on your crawler.

[Rodamis]

So here's an idea that wheel base is definitely not accurate on the Camino even quickly looking at that lifted 4x4 you can tell the model is way to far forward, so what I would do is cut the rear section of the wheel wells and lengthen the wheel base what ever you cut out you can use to fill the front of the wheel well. I would rake the front wells to minimize rubbing and try sink the body as low as I could get it. Would need so metal rock sliders from some sheet metal and some inner fender wells lol. I could go on and on .this will look pretty sweet when its done make us Chevy guys proud

[boosted4lyf]

Cut the bed and make that bitch a truggy.

[Big Worm]

X2

Originally Posted by boosted4lyf

Cut the bed and make that bitch a truggy.

[offroadace]

It looks like if you cut the bed section just in front of the wheel cutout near the rear roof slant and then just behind the tailgate and reverse it, the wheel well would line up with the tire. You could then expand the roundness of the wheel well to make it more off-roady looking.

[G-FORCE]

Originally Posted by offroadace

It looks like if you cut the bed section just in front of the wheel cutout near the rear roof slant and then just behind the tailgate and reverse it, the wheel well would line up with the tire. You could then expand the roundness of the wheel well to make it more off-roady looking.

Bingo ......that's the ticket!

[Rob Cote]

Originally Posted by offroadace

It looks like if you cut the bed section just in front of the wheel cutout near the rear roof slant and then just behind the tailgate and reverse it, the wheel well would line up with the tire. You could then expand the roundness of the wheel well to make it more off-roady looking.

Wow that's brilliant!

Edit: I think the proportions look different because they're two different model year of El Camino. In '69, the wheel well started just below the B-pillar. The model appears pretty accurate in this regard. I think if I keep the full bed, I'll have to shorten the wheelbase.

Originally Posted by boosted4lyf

Cut the bed and make that bitch a truggy.

I also really like this idea.

[Rob Cote]

I'm really digging this concept:



I want to try and modify the chassis to fit the body or maybe make my own frame. I've never tried it before but I've been itching to try it and just figure it out. I think I can handle it.

[Rob Cote]

I just remembered I have some axles I picked up a while back but haven't used on anything yet.





Makes me want to build my own chassis from scratch.

[Rob Cote]

I also have these 2.2s:



But I think they may be too big. Really wanna use 'em on something though. I'm gonna have to devise another build after this one.

[Rob Cote]

I took a bunch of photos to document the El Camino as is. I might try to preserve as much of the cheesy detail on this as possible. Or try to improve on it. I dunno yet, but I figure this might help later on. Probably boring, but let me know if you got any suggestions.

Hood artwork:



Mural on the tonneau:



I want to try my hand at replicating the bumpers with metal. The rear looks fairly easy:



Side art is custom:



Here's a crappy corner shot:



The tail light lens is busted. How can I fix this? I want to put lights in this rig.

I'm thinking about making an exo cage that doubles as a body mount. Essentially, it wraps tight enough to the body to hold it snug against the frame, and the cage bolts to the frame. That way I don't have to have body posts sticking out if it. Can it be done?

The rear tire carrier will hold the spare, angled to match the B-pillars, but swings vertically so I can open the tonneau to access the battery.

I can gusset the corners of the cage to hold the corners of the body down. Put a damper in there so it won't jiggle around when it's mounted.

I don't have my tools here yet. I sort of recently moved. But I'm gonna get set up hopefully this weekend. But for now I have to just sit and look at it. I'm pumped to build something.

More pictures are coming.

[Rob Cote]

I've seen people make incandescent headlights. Where can I find those bulbs? I want working headlights:



Is it possible to find headlight lenses and buckets? I got a lot of questions haha I'll be researching a lot, but appreciate any help.

A decent 3/4 shot:



I want to keep this green/gold theme. It seems so fitting.



And the approximate spare location:



I want to keep that awesome palm tree image visible hahaha

[lonleycreeper]

For your light buckets Axial sells a kit that has multiple sizes, I have stolen light buckets off roll bar lights.

[Rob Cote]

Ohhh yeah, I think I might still have some buckets from my SCX-10 build. Good call, I'll have to dig through that box.

[Rob Cote]

I made my first part. I dunno what it is yet. Might become a hinge for the tire carrier?





It took some work to clean it up, but I'm happy with the result.

[Absurd]

Originally Posted by Rob Cote

I made my first part. I dunno what it is yet. Might become a hinge for the tire carrier?





It took some work to clean it up, but I'm happy with the result.

Eye gouger?




Serious note there's a guy in my local group who uses a El camino or at least he did looked a little bigger then this one but no El camino is proper without gun holes!

[Rob Cote]

For some practice, before I start free-balling parts, I'm trying to make a metal replica of my SCX-10 front bumper.



So far, so good. I'm realizing this is going to be a long slow build because I like to be meticulous.

[Peli]

I am thinking this would look killer built up like Clexo,the Burbanator

Maybe not the full length cage like Clexo,but the roof chop then interior cage extended into tary a little would look pretty cool on the Camino lower,built in the same style as Clexo.

Without the Camino roof,you would be able to wheel it pretty hard too with out fear of breaking pillars etc..

[Rob Cote]

Getting closer:





The angle of the hoop around the lights is off. Mine is tipped farther forward, but whatever. I'm really proud of the rest of it.

I just checked out Clexo. That is a really cool build, but I think I want to keep the roof on this one. At least for the first iteration. I could be down to build this a few different ways.