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Looks really good..... this is motivation to get working again on my project Nova.
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I was able to get the center section of the rear end in today. The one I'm using is a Strange pro nodular case with 3.70 gears. It has a half billet posi unit and I've upgraded to the black aluminum (nodular) pinion support with a 1350 yoke. I know I've gone overkill with this, but better not to have any weak links. I got the Moroso race anodized blue ujoint caps to go along with it.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00344.jpg I also got the rear brakes and axles in. I sure like how easy Wilwood makes it to change the brake pads. Pull out a cotter pin and the pads come out. The brakes have a drum brake parking brake. Once I figured out how to install the safety wire with the safety wire pliers, it all went together quite nicely. Tomorrow I hope to get the rear sway bar back in and I'll do some more grinding on the firewall so I can get the subframe back on. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00364.jpg |
keep up the good work and the progress, what is your expected finish date??
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love this thread. keep up the great work and l look forward to all the progress.:D
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Thanks guys. I appreciate it. Not really sure when I plan on having it done Blake. I guess it all depends on how much overtime I get in the next while. We're so short at work that I can get a shift every week so far so hopefully will have the money for LS soon. Realistically with everything I want to do to it, probably another 2 years for everything including paint, interior, etc. Once the weather stays nice, I'll be able to spend more time in the shop. I was hoping to spend a few hours out there today, but with -12 degree weather, I don't want to have to crank up the 240 heater everytime I go out.
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Today I finally go the rear sway bar in for good. It looks awesome back there now. I can't wait to get some 315's in there. After I got the sway bar in, I spent about 3 hours grinding, welding, grinding, welding, grinding, etc, the firewall. Once I get all the welds ground down I going to put some metal to metal filler and get it looking all nice. Here's some pics:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00293.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00304.jpg |
That rear looks sweet in there. The firewall's coming along too, looks good.
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Thanks Wayne.
I haven't had a lot of time since the last update to work on the car, but got a little bit done. I've been spending most of the time I have had on the firewall. I went to install my new Flaming River steering column with the installation kit that I bought from them, but....it's doesn't even come close to fitting. So I sent them an email with a bunch of pictures explaining the issue and they told me I needed a another part, so I ordered it directly from them as no one in Canada has the part and it would have taken them about 6 weeks to get it. The new part cost me $40US and $30US shipping, so about $90 CDN. When I finally got the part, I was charged another $40 for brokerage fees. So now I'm at $130 for the new bracket and $200 for the installation kit. I go an try the new bracket...guess what...it's doesn't even come close to fitting either. So now I've spent $330 on parts that don't even fit. In the end, I ended up using a $10 piece of exhaust tube, had it welded onto the steering column. I need to get one more piece exhaust tube and wrap it around the other piece that was welded on and it will fit in my car just like stock. Glad I spent the other money, but enough venting. Today I cut out the area on the firewall where the steering column goes and put in a piece of sheet metal to get rid of the big ugly stock hole. I have probably a couple more hours of grinding and cleaning up on the firewall, then I'm going to put some metal to metal filler on to make it look better and spray some primer. Then I need to decide if I'm going to paint the firewall black or the same color as the car (which I haven't 100% decided on yet). Here's some pics. Where the steering column fits http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...columngoes.jpg Bracket that came in the installation kit that doesn't come close to fitting, oh well now I have a nice piece of billet aluminum to do something with http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...verbracket.jpg Bracket that I needed off stock steering column. I had to drill out all the plug welds to get it off. With the 69 and up is nice cause they bolt on. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...ithbracket.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...toffcolumn.jpg Bracket I got from Flaming River that doesn't work with a 68 http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00404.jpg Bracket I made to be welded onto the new column. I'm going to weld one more of these on top of the one already there and it will fit in the stock bracket nicely http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00412.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00423.jpg On the column (it's a polished stainless steel column, I just have electrical tape on it to protect it) http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00444.jpg Area of the firewall I wanted smoothed http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00206.jpg Out with the old http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00464.jpg And in with the new http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00453.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00473.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00514.jpg |
Cool glad you came up with a fix. To bad you had to spend all that money.
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Well time for another update. Not a whole lot done, but it's getting there. The other day I was feeling a little destructive so I ripped out the rest of the dash. It really ticked me off, once I had the gauge cluster out, I put it on top of a cabinet for safe keeping. When I went into the shop this morning, everything that was on top of the cabinet was lying on the floor, including the gauge cluster. Unfortunately it has 3 big cracks in it and the radio area broke right off. As most of you know, the 68 gauge cluster is rare as it is one year only. I was thinking about getting a Covan's, I guess I'm committed to that now. Here's some pics: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00615.jpg Wiring harness out http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00664.jpg If you've read the rest of my thread, you'll know that I had a little fire when I was welding the firewall. Here's the inside of the dash where the fire was http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00683.jpg What ended up on fire....my defrost ducting. Guess I need to find a new one of those now too http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00625.jpg As I was taking the dash apart, I found this. Add this to the list of strange things found in a car http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00743.jpg I did some more work on the firewall and since I used sheet metal that I had laying around, it had some surface rust on it. I found some of these 3M pads that fit into a die grinder backing plate and they work great for taking off surface rust, paint and even POR15. They are not cheap, but well worth the money. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00554.jpg Here's how the firewall's looking. I'm getting almost to the point of putting primer on it, but then I got thinking. I want to put in a Vintage Air kit and I don't want to weld studs on the back of my firewall and ruin the primer/paint so will be ordering a kit from Frank at www.gpsuperstore.com and get it mocked up before I spray any primer. I've also decided to paint the firewall the same color as the car. I think I've decided on Viper Red for the car. It still needs work, but here's where I'm at: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00703.jpg Area around steering column http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00732.jpg |
killer project looking good:hail: :hail:
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Cool I'm glad they credited your account and viper red should look good.
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The firewall looks great nice job.
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So I ordered a Vintage Air Gen IV from Frank. He said it shouldn't take too long to get to me, but after hearing a lot of the horror stories about how long guys are waiting, I thought I'd put my Speed Tech subframe on and start working with the gaps. I hope to get the brakes on later this week or next. Here's some pics:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00017.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00038.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00059.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...PICT000410.jpg |
This is one nice build I have been checking this out form the begining:thumbsup:
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Very nice project. I just read the whole thread today. Nice work! Can't wait to see more progress.
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Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments. Here's some more progress.
I finally got going on the front brakes. Not without issue though. I started putting them on last week when I found that Wilwood sent me too many of the bolts that attach the hub to the rotor and none of the bolts to attach the rotor to the adapter plate. I called them and after spending a few minutes convincing him that I knew what I was talking about, he agreed to send me the bolts. They were to me in Canada in about 4 days. Very impressed. So now that I had the bolts I was able to start attaching every thing. When I got to putting the entire hub assembly on I realized that when I bought new spindles, I never bothered to get new spindle nuts. Thankfully I called one of the local GM places and they were able to over night it. I went and got the nuts this morning and was able to get the passenger side finished. Here's some pics. Rotor with adapter plate on and showing the safety wire. At this point I still needed to run safety wire around the bolts holding the hub on. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...ackofrotor.jpg The aluminum hub. Very nice piece of work. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...herp69/hub.jpg The brakes are on :D http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...p69/brakes.jpg Close up http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...kescloseup.jpg I know some of you are wondering about the black coating. Apparently it will wear off with braking. I've been tracking my Vintage Air Gen IV kit and it should be to me by Monday or Tuesday. Next week I'll likely start mocking that up. |
Today was a good day. I got a knock at the door and my stuff from Vintage Air showed up. Thanks again Frank. It's a Vintage Air Gen IV Magnum universal kit. I didn't order a A/C pump yet as I haven't decided what serpentine kit I'm going with. I also didn't order any of the vents. I'm going to put a custom centre console into the car and am leaning towards putting an air vent on either side of the console. This kit came with all the mounting brackets, new defrost ductwork (thankfully as my other one was melted) and all the wiring. I also ordered one of the streamline 3 knob panel controls. I'm going to put it into the custom console so all my controls are central. I'm also going to end up getting one of the Prodigy Custom LS aluminum radiators that has an attached condenser. Here's some pics:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00077.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00086.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00097.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00108.jpg |
Wow this is a great build!!
I have a '72 Nova down here in Vancouver that's also getting the pro-touring thing, just not quite as nicely as yours! I just ordered the Speedtech control arms, coilovers, and the Wilwood brakes that you have, and your thread is a great inspiration!!! I'll definitely have to keep watching your progress, great job. -Joe |
Thanks frojoe. Always nice to see another member from BC on here.
So today I got the front sway bar mounted. My buddy confirmed and even gave me part of the money, that he's going buying my Foose Nitrous wheels and Falken tires. Now to figure out which new wheels and tires to go with. Still leaning towards Billet Specialties Fast Lanes, 10" in the back and 8" in the front with 315's back and 245 or 255 in front. Next Friday or the following Monday I'll be going across the line to pick up some new exciting parts :cheering: Will post pics of the parts as soon as I can. Before my buddy comes and picks up the wheels/tires, I thought I would mount them on my car to see how it's going to sit. This is the first time my car has been outside in over 7 years. Here's some pics: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00166.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00157.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00218.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00207.jpg |
Project is looking good! Definitely gives me some motivation to get back to work on my own.
What are your plans for the drivetrain? |
Thanks. That's part of what's coming next week. I'll update when I get it :D
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So I know many people decide to name their projects, well I've finally come up with a name for mine which I feel is appropriate. My build will now be known as project 'Overtime'. The reason I chose this name is in order for me to get this thing done sometime in the next decade, I'm going to have to work a bunch of overtime shifts. I already have 5 ten hours shifts planned for the next month, so it's a good start.
After much debate on what I was going to run for a motor...I finally made a decision. I am officially part of the LS group. I ended up going with one of the L92's that Frank at www.gpsuperstore.com had. For those of you that don't know what the L92 is, here's what Pace Performance has about it: Standard equipment on the 2008 Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon Denali, the L92 has brought Corvette technology into the truck market. The L92 engine brings you the same 403HP @5700 RPM effort from a 6.2L Vortec V-8 small block that borrows from all of the features that have made our LS family of engines world renowned for thier efficiency, design and performance. Now the L92 is available to you as a crate engine from GM Performance Parts. The 6.2L L92 engine features an all aluminum design: deep skirt 6 bolt main LS block, variarble valve timing, coil on plug design, high-flow L92 heads designed with influences from the LS7 Corvette head, true 4-into-1 exhaust manifolds, hig volume intake plenum, beehive valve springs, cast aluminum rockers on needle bearings, and a large volume throttle body. Here's also a good thread about it on www.ls1tech.com http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/genera...-l92-info.html This engine is 403hp and 417tq stock. The displacement is 378cu in. It is basically a truck version of the LS3. If I was to take out the VVT cam and put in a LS3 cam, they would be almost the same (from what I understand). Here are my plans for the motor: - Get rid of the truck intake and put on a car intake, either the corvette one or the new FAST 102mm intake - Cam, springs, water pump and 3 bolt timing gear upgrade. Will likely go with a comp cam: 231 / 239 at .050, and 616 / 623 lift - Vintage Air Frontrunner or Billet Specialties serpentine kit - I plan on keeping the VVT technology. Right now Mast Motorsports is the only one that is producing an aftermarket computer to run this set up. I will likely go this route unless by the time I need it, there are more on the market - Speed Tech/Stainless Works polished stainless long tube headers http://www.speedtech-performance.com...rod/prd183.htm - Autokraft oil pan and motor mounts - polished valve covers with some type of coil relocation set up With the cam upgrade, I've been told I should be at around 525hp. I'm hoping with the intake and headers upgrade, I will be closer to 550hp when I'm all done. Anyways, enough yapping and onto the pics: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00234.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00252.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00243.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00313.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00262.jpg I already bought the Autokraft oil pan and motor mounts. For some reason though the motor mounts were in the package. Need to make a phone call this morning. Amazing work though on this oil pan. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00335.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00347.jpg And I also decided to get new Goodmark door hinges for both sides. I didn't like the Classic Industries ones. These ones look more like the original ones I took off so am much happier with them. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00355.jpg |
Well definitely not as exciting as the last update, but I did get some work today. I had to take the subframe off again so I could get the firewall done and painted. Once that's done, the subframe will be back on for good.
Now that I have the motor and I know that I will be using a drive by wire throttle, I decided to smooth out the throttle cable hole and the throttle pedal mounts. Two areas to smooth http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00424.jpg Throttle hole smoothed http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00434.jpg I posted this in the Body section also, but since this is my thread, I thought I'd post it here also. I know there are lots of great fabricators and body guys on this site, none of which would ever need any advice from a guy like me, but I thought I would share a tip a discovered today,all because I was lazy the other day. This is for anyone who had a hole in a panel that they needed to fill in with more sheet metal. I'm sure a lot of us have sat there cutting and testing, cutting and testing until finally the filler piece is the right size. Sometimes it may take several attempts, but eventually we make it. Today I was doing some more work on smoothing my firewall now that I now I will be using a drive by wire throttle. I cut out the area I wanted to smooth and started looking at the hole I had to fill trying to figure out the best way to make a template. I happened to look over on the floor and saw a roll of masking tape that I was too lazy to pick up the other day and it gave me this idea. I thought of taking pics after I had the tape on, but you'll get the point. The area I wanted to fill in was the pedal holes to the left of the steering column hole. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00424.jpg Once you have the hole cut, cover the entire hole with masking tape. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00445.jpg I used an exacto knife to cut along the sides of the hole http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00454.jpg I then stuck the newly cut piece of tape to some sheet metal giving me my template http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00465.jpg If you cut it along the side of the tape, it will be the about the same size of the hole. Since I wanted to butt weld it, I cut a little smaller than the tape http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00474.jpg Take the tape off and you have your patch http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00484.jpg Tack it into place. The nice thing about trimming a bit smaller than the tape was it left me nice gap to fill in with weld http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00493.jpg Finish your welding http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00503.jpg And finally after some clean up http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00515.jpg I'm also going to smooth out the two mounting holes for the emergency brake. I'm going to fab something up to mount the new Lokar unit when I get it. I had smoothed it out, but forgot to take my camera back to the shop with me so will post pics later. These will be filled in http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00523.jpg |
Nice project. I like the new power plant too.
Thanks for posting the tip on patching holes. I am a total rookie with the body work and could always use this kind of info. This one of the reasons I like this site so much. Everyone sharing ideas and experiences. Keep the updates and pics coming.:thumbsup: |
I just sat here and read this whole thread.... What an inspiration!
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Hi Mike how's the car going. Post up some pictures when you get them. I live Vicariously through other peoples progress. lol I hope all is well. Wayne
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Thanks for the comments guys. I know how you feel Wayne. I too live vicariously through others....especially when I see cars on the street. Unfortunately no updates right now. A few weeks ago I decided I was going to extend our 3' x 5' porch to about 8' by 3'. Then I got the Home Depot flyer and saw some new railing I like, next thing I know I was planning a 400 square foot deck. So the past couple weeks I've been doing that. Even my wife was surprised when I spent a week while she was away on a course working on the deck and not in the shop working on my car. I think I'm getting domesticated :rolleyes: Here's a couple pics of the deck transformation:
Before: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...PICT0023-3.jpg After: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...ICT00282-1.jpg |
nice view.
Hope you coated your wood before installing it as it looks plain. |
Nice job on the deck. Where were you when my front porch got fixed last week. lol After a tuff day on the car you can chill out there.
Oh another thing the good will you get from the wife for building that will go a long way.... |
Nothing major to update. The past couple months I've been pretty busy with other things. We spent 5 days in Vegas, I built a deck in the back yard (as I already mentioned) and with all the forest fires in the area I've been working a bunch of overtime shifts making sure no one is looting in the evacuated areas. I've spent a bit of time on the car. I'm hoping next week to get the firewall primed and then to figure out the paint. I also bought a few new parts. Here's some pics:
When I was stripping the windshield channel, I found some rust http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00348.jpg Out with the rust http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00356.jpg In with the new http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00435.jpg Other than that, I've just been getting the firewall ready for primer and paint. But did get new stuff Autokraft motor mounts http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00485.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00494.jpg Lakewood LS scattershield http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00524.jpg Keisler hydraulic actuator kit. I went with this kit as I don't have to modify the firewall to mount the master http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00504.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/PICT0107.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00516.jpg And finally some of you may saw that I ordered new wheels. I decided to go with New Gen Splitters wth the brushed centres and polished lips. I'll be running 18 x 10 with a 5.5" backspace on the back with Nitto 555R 305-35-18's. On the front I'll be running 18 x 8 with a 4.75" backspace with Nitto 555 245-40-18's. I was hoping to run 315's in the back but with and 18" wheel it just wouldn't fit. I could have ran 315-17's, but wanted to stay with the 18's. Here's a pic on Jon's (from Driverz Inc) Nova. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../Splitters.jpg |
Nice choice on the wheels I like them. It looks like the parts are coming together.. Wayne
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Thanks Wayne. Yeah I hope I end up being happy with the wheels. I'm bad for changing my mind all the time. I think I'll like them.
So I finally got some primer on the firewall. I did it in black to see how my body work would look and was told it would make a good base under red. Guess I need to do a bit more on it before I lay the paint. Thankfully I'm not painting the car black and the red paint should hide some of the blemishes. I also need to fix the orange peel look to it. Anyone have any suggestions. To be honest I'm a complete idiot when it comes to body work, especially using the spray guns so any advice would be great. I'm using these guns from DiVilbiss: http://www.eastwood.com/paint-equipm...ng-system.html Here's a pic: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/PICT0108.jpg |
In regard to using the spray guns, I have ZERO experience with automotive finishes. But 20 plus years of cabinetry type finishes. In my experience it all comes down to fan pattern and flow rate. Both of those require practice. If you have anything to practice on try changing the spread of the "fan" and you flow rate (make sure your line and gun pressures are set accourding to your material needs) and your movement speed.
I am sure someone else here can chime in with line and gun pressures for your materials. Prctice and consistency are key. Keep at it and good luck.:thumbsup: |
Thanks for the advice 70rs. Well a quick update..so after speaking to a body shop owner, I'll be stripping the primer off the firewall and will starting over. I found out that the primer I used is not the best for what I'm hoping to accomplish. The parts guy sold me PPG DP primer/sealer. Apparently not the best to do block sanding and not designed to be laid on heavy at all. So with this in mind, I'll be heading back to the store and getting some Nexa high build epoxy primer and laying that down next week. Then I'll do some block sanding to get it looking nice.
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have someone how is good lay the paint on!!! bring it down when it is all ready and we can just mask and spray it.
nothing worse than trying to sand out orange peal or runs and then polishing it |
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Another quick update, I'm not going to use the Nexa primer...I just ended up ordering BASF's high build epoxy primer. I got a gallon of grey and a quart of black to tint the grey. Will be nice, can spray it on and block sand it. Less spraying and doing the same job. It's not cheap, but it's a good product. If anyone wants parts numbers, they are EP569 for grey, EP769 for black and PA897 for the activator. Will hope to spray the firewall again next Wednesday and will let it sit for a while. |
Nice build.
I was glad to read you are not going to run those Foose Wheels. |
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