DIY Network

'66 El Camino: Engine Swap, Pt. 1 Our 1966 El Camino gets a major upgrade by swapping the old, worn engine for a newer, fuel-injected powerhouse. From "Resto Rides" episode DRRD-102

(Continued from page 1)

The new engine has been dropped into place and the automatic overdrive transmission is in the hole as well. Now Andrew will plug in the engine harness while Christie picks out a custom driveshaft for the car.

advertisement

	Installing the replacement engine

Plugging In the Engine Harness

• Hooking up the engine harness proves to be fairly easy. When the factory LT-1 harness was reworked to the specs for the El Camino the worker at the shop labeled all the plugs. Andrew simply fits the harness into place and makes sure to attach each plug in its proper place. Because the front clip is off the car, it's fairly easy to reach things as needed.

• Though most of the harness is ready to go there's still a mess of exposed wiring that needs to be tied into the El Camino. Today, however, Andrew just wants to do a minimal amount of wiring in order to get the engine test-fired. Once it's proven that both the engine and harness are working properly the wires can be run through the firewall and connected inside.

• Once everything has been plugged in for the engine test change gears and swap out the A/C compressor. The LT-1 air conditioning compressor won't work with the vintage air unit that was already installed in the car, so it's needs to be swapped for an older model. First, pull off the serpentine belt and unbolt the LT-1 compressor.

• In the project car, the new compressor is a perfect fit, so Andrew simply bolts it up to the factory mounts, reinstalls the serpentine belt and plugs it in.
  Now on to the custom driveshaft.

Install New Drive-Shaft; Rear-End Connections

• The new engine fell into place a little farther back than the original, so the old driveshaft needs to be replaced with a shorter one.

• To measure for the new driveshaft, Christie pulls out the temporary yolk, measures from the tail-shaft housing to the pinion and comes up with 55-and-a-half inches. Christie takes those measurements, along with the pinion and the yolk she wants to use, to the driveline shop where a new driveshaft was created.

• To install the driveshaft, first remove the temporary yolk from the transmission and insert the new driveshaft.

• Andrew unwraps the tape from the differential end that's there to keep the needle bearings from falling out. Then Andrew and Christie slide it into place, insert the U-bolts and tighten everything down.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4