My new 68 El Camino project

[Lynn]

Made one of the dumbest purchases of my life. The "heavy load" I was referring to was an old Hunter aligment lift. It wasn't the model I was thinking of when I put in a low ball bid. Sucker must weigh 5000 pounds. My trailer weighs almost 2k. So, my twin 3500 pound axles were at the max. On top of that, the load was not centered very well on the trailer, so had too much tongue weight, and only 90 psi in the air shocks.

Good news is the El Camino performed flawlessly on the 300 mile trip. I honestly think this little El Camino could haul a 9k load without issue with the tongue weight about 600 lbs and 180 or so in the shocks. Rock steady at 65 mph all the way home even with the 40 mph cross winds. I think all the mods helped (boxed lower control arms in the rear, bigger sway bars, front and rear, frame stiffeners as used on the later big block cars, and boxing the rear of the frame rails).

Had to get up at 5 a.m. and get it hauled back in time for a 1 pm appoinment yesterday. Real fun loading in the cold rain with 40 mph wind. You would think I would be old enough to learn by now.

Checked the oil level on the way home and it hadn't moved even a hair off the full mark. Towing is a great test to see if your rings seated. This is my first highway adventure since the engine build.

Only complaint is the fuel pump. I will start another thread on that issue.