Awesome, i think 70 Nova's look best in Hugger Orange!

No plans yet on a color, but I do love Hugger Orange.

Funny story on this car.. it's actually a 1971 model car. It was first titled in November 1970, so DMV says it's a 1970.

Nice progress, John. Engine looks great in there.

Mock up continues. I'm lucky to be able to work from home. So, when the work day is done, it's garage time :)

I'm impressed with the Holley/Hooker LS swap mounts and transmission cross member. My car has stock height Global West solid body mounts. If you look close at the pictures, transmission fits, without major surgery, just a couple places to "massage" :D

John I love this car and love the build.

Keep posting pictures please.

Mock up continues..

1) For those interested in where the motor sits with the Holley/Hooker mounts, here's a shot of the engine/firewall clearance.

2) Quick shot of the interior before I started digging further. Getting an idea on the seat/shifter placement. 2002 Camaro seats, Pro 5.0 T56 shifter.

3 & 4) A little interior bling :D Lokar shifter boot picked up from PT.com member.

5 - 7) Shots of the ATS clutch master cylinder and the DSE brake booster setup. If you close, you can see the Lee power steering box.

Note that I elongated the hole for the clutch master cylinder pass through. I noticed that you couldn't remove the master cylinder without unbolting the brake master cylinder... so did a little more clearancing. I'll make it look better when I clean up the firewall.

So, after reading back through the thread, I noticed that I haven't updated on the mods to the LS2.

I had the guys at Texas Speed & Performance do their CNC porting to the stock LS2 heads and went with a TSP 228R (112) cam/matching springs. Added roller trunnion upgraded rockers, and a Romac crank pulley/dampener.

The plan for the weekend is cleaning up the interior floors and firewall. There is a Vintage Air order inbound :)

John
Is there a trick to welding the Detroit Speed firewall plate on in the top seam? I am going to do a Camaro and wondering how to weld the top in the seam. Not sure how you grind the weld in there
Thanks
Bill

Car looks good

Bill,
Thanks!

Although it sits on there pretty good, the plate isn't welded on yet. I just have it covering the heater hole during mock up. I don't want to weld it in place until I have all the Vintage Air and wiring figured out.

Maybe I better do that too! Good idea

Over the weekend I got the floor cleaned up. The great thing about working on a car that lived its entire life in the desert, very little rust. Worst thing... the dust that is caked on almost as hard as paint :D

I used a paint stripping disc and chased anything that looked like rust (most was dust :D) then scrubbed everything, and lastly wiped it down with solvent. Once cleaned up, I used POR-15 primer and Top Coat to ensure the floor is sealed.

I'm really impressed how well the Holley/Hooker setup works. Here's another example, the clearance to the wiper motor.

This is a great build!

I am looking at the Holley mounts as well.

With the motor trans mounts, do think the trans can be removed by its self?
Is there enough room to rotate the motor down and get to the trans bolts?
In other words, can you do a clutch change without pulling the motor?

Thanks!

Randy,
I haven't tried, but if you look at post #39, you'll see a picture showing the firewall clearance. There looks to be enough room, and even with the poly mounts, the motor does swing down with the weight of the transmission.

Looking great!

I just first started mine up this past weekend. Been a long time coming.

I used a lot of Dirty Dingo stuff and over time, I think I am going to switch to Holley/Hooker everything on my car as the fit and finish looks fantastic.

I went ahead and did the speedtech tunnel though on the car. I have a ton of interior work left and right now looking over what I can do to retrofit the 2015 z28 recaro's into my car.

Good deal, I wondered how far you had gotten. The DD stuff works. I figured I would have to do major surgery to the tunnel, but it looks good so far. You'll get a kick out of shifter/tunnel closeout I'm using. I'll post a picture.

:superhack: So.. about the shift bump, does it look familiar to anyone? :D

This is what happens when a foxbody guy works on a Nova :knokwood:

Okay, that was funny.

Hahaha. I knew what it was immediately! My old ‘93 Feature Car that went from auto to T56 (& mod motor and ‘03 IRS).

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...449be1d8fe.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Funny :D I bought a Yellow/White 5 speed car brand new in 1993.

Got the pedal house and parking brake release cleaned up and rebuilt. New bushings, pedal pads, and switches.

The column came in today, bolted it up to get measurements for the steering wheel and adapter.

Mocked up the Speedtech Performance/ATS clutch master cylinder setup.

Knocked out cleaning up the drivers side of the firewall. Followed by some rattle can resto :D

Turned the Holley accessory brackets black. I have a black alternator and plan to use a black a/c compressor.

Cool things you find when pulling old cars apart. This was on the back side of the dash panel.

Installed factory replacement brake lines over the weekend and started making close out panels for holes that are no longer going to be used.

Today I started figuring out how to get the brake lines connected to the master cylinder. Which included bending and flaring some new lines. Waiting on a couple fittings before tackling the rear brake connection. Small steps forward :)

Started test fitting the Vintage Air unit today. This car is being built as a driver (Power Tour, etc) so A/C wasn't an option.

More mock up of the Vintage Air. Installed a stop for the clutch pedal.

Got the steering column hub adapter in, had to see the Momo on the car. Seems to work well.

My DSE bling for this week :D

Did the "Stielow" (LT5) :D plate mechanism. It's from a '90's Caprice. Basically it allows the plate to flip down and stay down while refueling.

Nice project , where did you source the plate frame from , that I also see is sporting a made in canada sticker lol

It's a new GM part (14083879). I ordered it through Tasca Parts.

Great updates and that is the steering wheel that I want for my car.

Thanks! I was actually looking for a montecarlo and liked the feel of this one.

Spent Sunday morning on my back :D Routing the (Hot Rod Fuel Hose) fuel line, looking at it.. adjusting, looking, adjusting, repeat, etc. Once I had the layout, I put the ends on and hung it in place. Finally got the fittings to finish up the brake lines.

Today after work (from home) I mocked up the ac compressor and alternator. Liking the blacked out look. Then got to work and knocked out the power steering high pressure hose (Earls) and buttoned up a few hold downs for the brake lines.

After doing PTFE and then high pressure AN lines.. my hands are very sore :D

All in all, I feel I've made good use of my "quarantine" time so far :)

The current Nova Vintage Air kit calls for the mounting plate to be bolted on the outside of the firewall... which if it covered all the sins would be good.. but not the case on this car. Plus, I'd rather use the DSE cover I already have. Solution, move the mount plate inside :)

Still tinkering with the shifter hump. Really waiting on my welder (electrical) connection to be finished to move forward with this and a few other small projects.

Spent the day cleaning up the A/C mount plate and permanently making it part of the car. The firewall side will get some work later when I weld the cover plate on. Hung the A/C unit and drilled the final mounting holes. Closed out the day laying down sound deadener.

Nice progress John...

I just followed you on IG...I hope that’s wise.
:D

Seriously though, enjoying your pics.:thumbsup:

Thanks for the follow! Only wise if you like a wide range of cars :D

I do!

Btw-I may have missed it earlier in your thread John...how do you plan to use the Nova?

Skip,
The Nova will be my car for local vintage car events, Goodguys, GNRS, etc..., and if things go as planned, my ride on the Hot Rod Power Tour in 2021 and beyond. I usually drive my cars out from California to the Tour (7k+miles).. so I need a solid, reliable, and comfortable car.

I will have to get a copy of what all you did with the A/C as I am basically going to be doing the same exact thing. Probably the one item I have not touched with the car.

Setup is looking great! I have been busy doing a suspension changeout on my Wife's Firebird, otherwise, I would have been tidying up everything on the Nova currently.

Not much for pictures over the past week, mostly fitting things, planning out the engine wiring harness, etc..

Today I did a very scary thing.. I cut a near 50 y/o dash :confused59: