EngineLabs‘ Homegrown Horsepower segment is quickly becoming one of its most popular features by offering readers a chance to show off projects from their garages, and nearly every one has a unique story behind it.

This build, undertaken by Rudy Garcia and his son, Rudy Jr., has the younger Garcia assembling the engine to be used in a ’70 Chevrolet El Camino SS. The car was purchased by the elder Garcia back in 1983 in Hollywood, California, for the princely sum of $300 – a nice chunk of change in those days, but a sum that will barely return a well-used carburetor from the classifieds today.

The car languished around the Garcia household for a while, needing restoration. As seems to be the theme in many of the Homegrown Horsepower articles written so far, it’s become a father-and-son project.

“He was planning on selling the car about two years ago until I told him I was interested. We are currently having fun restoring the car. And yes, I can’t wait to drive this car to high school in a year or so!” says Rudy, Jr. 

The engine is based around the original 396 block from the car, punched out .030-inch over stock bore dimensions to come in at 408 cubic inches. Due to its age, the block was magnafluxed to check for any issues that might crop up and found to be in excellent condition, so they had it decked to square up the dimensions. 

A forged-steel crankshaft was selected to spin the factory connecting rods, which have been topped with a set of Wiseco 10.0:1 forged pistons.

On the induction side of the engine, they picked out a set of 110cc Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum cylinder heads, an Edelbrock Torker II 2-0 intake manifold designed to work with the oval-port cylinder heads, and a Quick Fuel Technology 780cfm carburetor.

COMP Cams was selected to provide the valvetrain – a set of the company’s steel-bodied roller-tip hydraulic roller rockers and hydraulic roller lifters found a home in the engine, and one of COMP’s hydraulic roller camshafts with .625-inch lift was picked out to actuate the valves.

The engine was topped off with a complete offering of ARP‘s hardware, a Professional Products harmonic damper, and a cowl induction air cleaner assembly. The engine was covered in a fresh coat of Chevy Orange paint and has had all-new freeze plugs installed as part of the build process.

The rest of the car has also been worked on, with an eye towards giving Junior the coolest car in his high school’s parking lot when it’s completed. The original Turbo400 transmission has been retained; supporting gear has been upgraded with a B&M Racing 2400-stall torque converter and a deeper transmission pan along with a shift kit to give those tire-barking shifts when the hammer is dropped.

The original 12-bolt rear is also in place underneath the Elky’s flanks, complete with a 3.31:1 rear gear ratio and limited slip differential to ensure that both tires get rocking at the same time.

Rudy, Jr. has been hard at work assembling the engine and learning the mechanical processes necessary to keep it in tip-top condition – a chance that all youngsters need to have in order to keep the hot-rodding tradition alive.  The knowledge of how to fit the rings, measure all of the appropriate clearances, and handle the time-consuming process of assembling the engine properly are skills that will serve him well throughout his adult life.

Thanks for sharing your build with us, Rudy, and we hope you have as much fun with your project as we’ve had learning about it!