Great job Shane :) It does look good in one color even epoxy primer :goggles:

Looks fantastic! Feels like real progress when you see it all one color, even if only primer. Have been meaning to respond to your post from last week - I really like how clean that LT1 looks mocked up in the subframe! I also was going to mention that I noticed that Speed Tech came out with an Extreme front subframe for Chevy IIs, and they have LT and LS motor mount options for it. Not sure whether it’s something that could work for your LT1 (including, possibly, headers), but thought I would pass along the info. Looks awesome..

Brian


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I have been watching your build for a while Shane. Its hard to believe that's the same car you started with. Your fabrication skills are amazing. The LT1 is a great engine but the swap components are still a challenge to figure out. Looks like you are getting it figured out. My guess is the the headers will be the biggest challenge. Other than the flange at the head being different from the LS are ports in the same place?

Thank you, Sonar Chief...one of these days it’ll be as far along as your Camaro! You’re doing great work!


Hey Brian, thanks for the heads up! I had actually called SpeedTech before buying a front clip just to see what they had to offer as an option. They wouldn’t say much except that they had something in development. Sounds like they beat Holley to the punch with a complete suite of LT1 components for Second Gen Novas!

It’s funny how you have goals in your head that are milestones. I always tell myself I’ll be content upon reaching the next one but yet find myself chasing the one after about as quickly as I reach the one before. Now that it’s one color, I really wanna see it off the rotisserie and sitting on its own suspension!


Mark, thank you for the compliments, it’s definitely changed a lot in the last 15 months. The engine has been a bit of an unknown for sure but oddly enough, one of the biggest challenges at this point is getting the AC vents figured out. There’s no good spot to put the vents so it’s gonna take some effort (more to come on that). As far as the port design, the intake ports have been raised to accommodate the direct injection but I’m not sure if the exhaust ports have been raised. There’s basically nothing that’ll interchange between the LS and LT engines so it does make for some unknowns, however, they’re similar enough in their physical dimensions that it’s not totally unpredictable. I think at the end of the day I’ll have at least two and, thanks to bkswede for the SpeedTech tip, sounds like three choices in headers so I’m hoping to find one that meets my needs. Thanks for tuning in!

Shane the reason I asked about the similarities between the LT1 vs LS1 Header is Speedway Motors has LS Headers cheap for the 62-67 Nova with their sub frame if it’s just a matter of changing the flanges. They are on close out for less than half price. They have 1 7/8” primary tubes , O2 bungs and good clearance for the steering shaft. They are not stainless but at this price you can modify them and have them coated. I have a set that I changed the collectors to V-band style and had coated. They only have a few pairs, I can tell you that story another day. Let’s just say I’m the reason they have them. Here’s a link.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/G-Com...sh,205590.html

If you need any dimensions I can help.

Oh, cool, good information...I’ll check it out. The price is inexpensive for sure! Sounds like you were part of the development?

Not part of any development LOL. See post 22 in my build thread. After spending a decent amount of money on their products and originally being told they were on backorder, only to find out they were discontinuing production I was not a happy camper. I pushed them to have some more made.

Dash & Firewall Modifications
 

So, once the blasting and epoxy was complete, the plan was to bring it home and get the dash AC vents figured out, attach the drive by wire throttle pedal mount, fabricate the AC evaporator mounting brackets and get the firewall and dash ready for paint - basically, complete all welding on the dash and firewall so they could be painted. Since the body shop already had the car and since I wasn’t super happy with my patch job on the heater motor hole and since I also didn’t feel I had the skills to do the AC vents to the level they needed to be, I went ahead and had them handle those items for me. This will save some back and forth, give me a real boost on getting the car back to a rolling chassis faster and the quality will be much better, especially on the firewall and dash work.

I was really torn about what to do with the dash vent situation. I knew I didn’t like the look of the under-dash mounting that comes with the VA evap kit and I’ve seen other threads where oval vents were used on 67’s but my dash, for whatever reason, didn’t have the same available space between the raised areas for the switches and the sides of the dash (on the driver side). It’s frustrating and I searched high and low for a small vent that had a diameter that’d fit within the flat area of the lower dash. The only thing I could find were The “Nano vents” from Restomod Air. They use a small hole about 1.62” and the finished diameter of the vent is not much bigger then the switch bezels. They would definitely fit, however, they use a 1.5” diameter duct hose or an adapter to fit Restomod’s standard 2” duct hose. Vintage Air uses 2.5” hose as standard. I didn’t feel I could “shrink” the Vintage Air hoses down effectively 1/2” without making them leak and I was also afraid that these small vents would whistle when the airflow was on high which would be annoying. I was also concerned about the look of such a small vent and it’s ability to provide enough airflow as air will always take the path of least resistance unless you direct it completely (hence the possibility of leaking and/or whistling). Anyway, on top of all that, the vents are $185 each so I’d have about $800 in parts that I might not be happy with at the end of the day. So long story short, since I’ll have to look at this dash for a while, I opted to go the more expensive route and get the dash modified to accept a standard size (2.5” hole) vent. I think this will provide the best finished product and be the most functional at the end of the day. It was necessary to fill the ash tray location but I think it cleans up the dash nicely and to those who aren’t familiar with the dash of a Second Gen Nova, it may not even be noticeable.

Now that the metal work is complete, they’ll do the body work on the dash and firewall and apply some paint. When it comes home, I can finish some detail work, apply the bedliner, get the brake and fuel lines bent, and get the car off the rotisserie and get the front and rear suspension back under it and ready to move to the next stage. Anyway, here’s some progress pics

This is the firewall with all the holes filled. The fuse panel hole was relocated behind the inner fender and enlarged for the AAW harness that’ll be going in. The did a great job getting the passenger area super flat and smooth. The area around the steering column will be body-worked leaving an indention of the original hole...I like the shape of the firewall and wanted to keep as much of the character as possible

Here’s the DSE wiper motor mocked up to help position the evaporator. DSE’s instructions say to remove/close off the upper ducts from the evap due to interference with the wiper linkage - definitely Not an option!

Once the evap unit was relocated, we put attachment studs on the inside of the cowl area and firewall so nothing is seen from the outside. I hate putting screws into stuff that can leak, strip and look like crap. We test fitted to be sure to leave room for the duct hoses and I have enough room to mount the LT1 ECM in there as well.