Part 3
10/15/07
When we last visited that merry band of miscreants that mufti Jeff Burk conned into working on Team MC’s '67 El Camino for cokes, smokes, and the occasional barley malt, they had just finished the installation of the nitrous oxide kit that Burk had scammed out of the unsuspecting folks at Holley's NOS company.
That was several months ago and although the '67 El Camino is 95 percent ready, it still isn't finished or ready for the track. Part of the delay can be blamed on excessive testing of the NOS purge system which caused several key members of the crew be placed in rehab for a couple of months. Happy to say that everyone is much better now and the Camino gets worked almost daily as part of the team's work-release agreement as condoned by the editor and the authorities. We continue.
While on the lift installing the headers and QA1 shocks, we inspected the drive train to see what, if anything, needed replacing. Amazingly the 30+ year old springs, ball joints, and universal joints all appear to be in excellent condition. One of the things we wanted to know was what the axle ratio was and what type of rearend we had. Using the tried and true chalk-mark on the driveshaft and rearend housing method, we determined that the gear ratio was somewhere between 2.50 and 3.00 to 1--a 2.73:1 to be exact. We also discovered that the El Camino has a Posi-Traction differential and, according to one of the crew who may have still been suffering from the side effects of the excessive nitrous purge testing, it was a 12-bolt housing.
Armed with what we thought was good information, we adjourned to nearby O'Connell's Irish Pub to discuss the possibility of putting more gear and a bigger nitrous system in the
El Camino, over a couple of jars of barley malt and Irish whisky. We concluded sometimethat evening that 3.73 gears were hideously needed, which would allow a larger jet in the nitrous system. We also came to the conclusion that, even though we would stick to treaded tires, a drive shaft loop was mandatory.
Once again I was given the only job I have proved that I can do: dial the phone and plead for free parts. I found a couple of willing participants in Rick Moroso and Strange Engineering's John Mazzarella. After I promised to destroy the incriminating evidence, Mazz agreed to provide 3:73 Pro Street gears from U.S. Gear and Rick opened the Moroso catalog to us.
When the gears arrived at the second story offices of MC, located high atop the Phlegm Building in beautiful downtown O'Fallon, Missouri, I immediately informed the staff that sidekick Chris Martin and I had to drive over to Bill Weckmann's Granite City, Illinois garage to work on the El Camino. As we departed, one of the staffers muttered "If we need you, we'll call O'Connell's." Oh, ye of little faith!
