'79 El Camino - DD SS1a is in

[Steua]

This build has been a long time coming. I purchased the elco in January of 2011 and it was is pretty rough shape; rust all over the underbody, floor, and pretty much anywhere there is metal. Luckily, the metal below the rear window wasn't rusted to hell like most of its unkept brethren. If it weren't for the apparently rebuilt 350 and the rest of the drivetrain being solid, it's probably be still rusting away it the previous owners' carport.
Keep in mind, fabrication isn't my forte like design on paper is.

First post will be getting the vehicle straightened out and ready for the system.
Second post will be system oriented and have final pics.

What is going in:
H/U: Kenwood Excelon X494
Mids/Highs: MTX TDX35 3-1/2" 2-ways in the front; MTX XT603 6" 3-ways in the rear (both off of H/U since RMS is 25-30 watts/speaker and I'm cheap)
Sub: Sundown SA8 v1.75 D4 in 1/4 wave transmission line, tuned to ~ 42-44 Hz
Amp: RE XT1600.2V3 (SA8 wired to 2 ohms on one of two channels ~ 350 watts)
Batt: Shuriken BT60
Big 3 in 1/0 CCA; only running 350-400 watts so not a problem.



Pics from the day I brought it home:


Best part of the truck. Engine runs smoother than I could believe (considering its condition).


Nice little bird's nest of wiring


Cargo area behind seats. Rusty in areas; not too bad.


Replaced brake pistons, calipers, and control arm bushings before anything else; none of which were visually documented. After that, me and my father continued to find things that needed attention.

Took the dash, seats and carpet out and we found:




I didn't like how the floor looked with all its rust so I had to do something about it.....


And it turns out that the floor was sagging to the point that the body mount bushing on the driver's side pushed through the rusted floor.


As you may have noticed, the mess of wiring is gone. I labeled each wire 3-4 times, documented what was labeled what in a notebook and cut each wire. I was able to get rid of a lot of the mess that was in the first pictures since a lot of it was for the courtesy lights and harnesses for the original carburetor. I double checked the wiring with two wiring keys I had for the g-body chevys and soldered each wire back together with a more proper length and neatly zip-tied groups of wires together. It'll be much easier to work with if I ever need to in the future.

New and well... not so shiny. Things get dusty quick when you live next to a busy road.


New floor with the old support/seat mounts cleco'd in place before being cherrymaxed to it. Don't worry, it's welded too.


New floor welded in; bead all the way around rather than spot welds.


Cargo area sanded down to bare metal and rust reformed. Hole in driver side was patched from both sides; gaps filled with expanding foam and then sealed as well (sealed after photo taken).


After the it was in, two coats of undercoat was sprayed on the underside of the floor and the top of it got two coats of bedliner. Got too into it to get pics of it before the carpet went back in; if the carpet ever comes out again, I'll make sure to get some.

After the metal work on the floor, we moved onto the dash which was dry rotted and cracked so we got to repairing it.
First thing we did was fill in the old 4x10 speaker hole in the top of the dash and laid some coats of resin and glass to fill and smooth the cracks.


Those cardboard tubes taped together were used to play with ideas for oil pressure, coolant temp, and volt gauges.


Ended up half-assing the rest of the dash since I wanted to get the truck on the road, yielding a surface far from perfect. I usually tell people I did it to match the rest of the vehicle.


Yes, the deck housing is permanently affixed to the dash.


After the last pic, the dash got two light coats of filler primer with sanding in between, three light coats of gloss black, and a coat of gloss sealer to top it off. The final product is pictured in the vehicle in another post.

[White Lightning]

Dang ... I love these "Ground UP" builds !!!

I'm tuned in Sir ...

[Steua]

As if you can't tell already, I'm not much for getting the camera out when I decide to work on something. I supposed I get too focused on one thing at a time.

Due to the mounting depth of the SA8, the transmission line was going to be a little bit more of a challenge to design to get the proper port area (~31.25"^2, achieved by a port that is 6"x5.25") so I tried something that seemed weird on paper.

And now to make a big jump to the finish.

It's not too photogenic with its primer that it's had for God knows how many years.

The stripe is to cover bare metal until I get enough money for real paint.

Cleans up pretty nice if you ask me.

Imperfections in the dash are obvious but I don't sit and look at them for hours so they make no difference to me.

Temp mount for the 3-1/2's

Engine bay after new batt, big 3, stainless batt case and minor clean up

I like how the wiring turned out for the most part. The old ground is now connected to the neg on the batt btw.

A second to admire the 350

What's this behind the seats?

All switched up; it's not as messy now as it was in this pic

The 1600.2 came with 3 40 Amp fuses from the factory when it's supposed to have 25's. Seen a lot of use with no problems though.

And behind that nice little curtain is...

Of course I had to ground to the frame. I'd appreciate if you'd ignore all of the rust

That's about all I have for pics on my laptop. If you want to see anything else on it, pm me with a request or post on here and I'll get it posted up.

[Noel989]

Sweet ride. Are you going to do a full restoration? Or what are your plans?

[Steua]

Dang ... I love these "Ground UP" builds !!!

I'm tuned in Sir ...

It's not necessarily a build at this point since it's all complete, it's more of a "look what I did" kind of thing until I decide the 8 isn't enough anymore. I'll definitely be adding to it as money allows.

Thanks for your interest.

[Steua]

Sweet ride. Are you going to do a full restoration? Or what are your plans?

Thank you.

A full restoration would be pretty far fetched with the condition I received it in and what I've already done to it. As for plans; first thing will probably be bodywork and rattle can paint so it's all the same color and not rusting too much more. I've got all the trim for the bed and windows, but not the clips for them. Other than that, I don't have much for plans.

If anyone has suggestions or ideas for anything on it, I'll gladly take them into consideration.

[Steua]

If anyone is wondering more about the design I used for the enclosure, here are some screen shots of it with some of the dimensions.

Without the cap on the near side:

Without cap and inner wall on near side:

[Steua]

Short vid of the truck. Yes, I know the quality sucks; our cybershot takes great stills but terrible videos.

Should be starting on the center console sometime this week/weekend, having no cup holders sucks.

[kandiman71874]

ummm, unless your camera isnt showing the excursion worth a shit, that little thing needs more power.

[Steua]

ummm, unless your camera isnt showing the excursion worth a shit, that little thing needs more power.

Like I said, the camera used is geared for still shots rather than video. There's plenty of excursion; you're just going to have to take my word for it until I get a chance to use a better camera.