:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Coming along nice.

Very nice John. Keep us updated.

Im sure we could read a couple "How to"s and figure it out :yes:

Any updates?
Nice looking Nova.
I will have a Nova soon so I'm subscribed!

looks like a real good build , good job.

Thanks guys. Not much notable progress lately. Combination of lack of both time and money :).

Got some vacation time coming up soon so hopefully I can make headway then. Right now I'm just trying to get parts lined up for that time.

I'm contemplating selling off my BBC stuff and going with an L92. Probably be more enjoyable and less expensive in the long run. Also would take care of my current pain point which is fitment of a radiator/shroud combo with a serpentine accessory drive. I've spent more than a few hours measuring, building templates, talking to different radiator shops, etc.

I'm also starting the process of lining up a paint/body shop. Boy oh boy is that fun and heartbreaking :faint:

That is easy
 

Just don't paint it, hit it with some primer and off you go. Get it up and driving first as it always seems there will be something you need to change or a few problems to chase down. Once it is sorted, then you can paint it.

Same goes for the interior.

Have fun, looking forward for it being complete.

Updates, dammit!

Ha! Wished I could say I'm having to keep the updates under wraps before the big unveil to preserve the marketing value. But... uhm, yeah, no...

Been a fairly slow summer for the car project. Have a newborn around the house now too :wow: .

Most of the last few months has been the typical 2hr task turns into 10 due to fitment issues here and there. Then 2 months wait on a steering box, indecisiveness on my part, etc. Why these things are labors of love I guess. That or we all just have a high tolerance for pain :) .

I bet I have 10hrs in getting the trans, block, headers and steering box all mocked up. It's all in there now though and appears to fit nice. Few hours in I finally decide to try another set of repop big block frame mounts. That made all the difference. Can't say enough good things about the Lemons headers. It's tight just because those real engines take up a lot of room :rofl:. Per their instruction I had to trim the back of the driver's side engine frame mount but otherwise they fit awesome. They are hand's down the nicest headers I've ever dealt with.

I also spent some time on the driveline angles. In order to set it up without such a severe "working angle" I shimmed the back of the trans up about 3/4". Coupled with the low rear ride height I'm fairly certain this will put the driveshaft into the tunnel up near the trans tailshaft. That'll have to be dealt with.

I never did come up with a solution for an accessory drive and radiator combo to work with the factory style radiator support. The AutoRad setup has been on order now for a few weeks. I expect it shortly. Not an expense I had planned on that's for sure. It *should* yield the clearance I need though. If not, I'm gonna cry :( .

I've had the front suspension on and off a few times. Ended up going with the Ridetech tall drop spindles. I'm still working through some issues with steering linkage and front fender to tire clearance up front.

Lastly, I have wheels and tires now. I went with 17"X8" and 18"X11" VWW V40 wheels. Exactly the look I was after. Oh, I also did some horse trading (screwed on another forum in the process) and moved up to the 12.2" rotor size up front from the 10.8" size I did have.

Unfortunately I don't have pics right now. Soon I hope to roll it outside where I can get some good side shots. I'm pretty stoked about the look. After a few years it is FINALLY SITTING ON 4 TIRES greater than 7" in diameter. When i was taking it off the stands in the rear and lowering the jack I started wondering if it was gonna stop. I love the look.

Congratulations on the newborn.

Inquiring minds want to know...........seeing that "real engine":D

I'm not sure what the final outcome of this will be but I needed to get some tie-rods on the car. I ordered up some "high strength, extra thick washers" from McMaster-Carr along with some .5" longer hex flat head bolts for the steering arms. The washers measure about .2" each so I went with a stack of 2. The front bolt is the one that came with the Ridetech spindles. It just barely gets into the nylon "lock" after installing the spacers so I'll probably go ahead and replace those with the longer bolts as well. The rear bolts are the new longer ones I ordered.

The above combination achieves much needed clearance between the steering arm and the rim lip. The tie-rod itself is still only 5/16" or so from the tire. Under side loads I could see this rubbing. Adding the spacers also put the limit stops closer to the stops on the control arms thus limiting steering. Not a huge concern of mine at the moment given the tires almost get into the fender lips anyway. I need to install the swaybar to make sure nothing gets into the end-links.

Here are some before and after pics.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...mClearance.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ArmSpacers.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ranceAfter.jpg

Here are some pictures of the engine mocked up. These are Lemon's headers with 2 1/8" primaries. There clear everything fine but it is tight. The steering box and header basically have to go in at the same time. That was a trick ;) .

The headers are nice and tight with great ground clearance. The 3 bolt flanges are about 1/4" or so from the floorpan. I have raised the tailshaft of my trans about 3/4" for driveline angle reasons. That helps get the headers up nice and tight as well.

I have also confirmed they will not clear the TruTurn though without a tube being moved. At least not using a traditional tie-rod on the inside. I'm undecided on this header mod at the moment. If I do this I'm gonna go ahead and switch them to v-band clamps too.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...gineMockup.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ineDrivers.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...enginePass.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...dClearance.jpg

So one of my bigger concerns now is ensuring I have adequate fender/inner to tire clearance. Everything clears at ride height. At half way to full-bump the tire starts to get into the fender when turned to the stops.

Visually it looked like I had positive or neutral camber. I've been told I need -1 degree at ride height. I only previously had ~1/4" of shims in place. Today I threw in some additional washers to get ~1/2" total of shims. This visually - I don't have a gauge - seemed to put a little negative camber in at ride height. The additional camber gain helped with the tire to fender clearance issue some to.

I'm still thinking I may get someone to do some sheetmetal work on those fender lips and inner fenders. With that I think I'll be ok.

I'm not thrilled about that huge stack of alignment shims. I *may* move the control arm tower over some if I go ahead and install the Chicane brackets after I tear it back apart for paint.

And finally here are pics of the stance. The front is actually slightly lower than this when level. The driveway slope threw it off some.

This is mocked up with the front crossmember 5" off the ground. Down at 4.5" looks much better but the oil pan would be awfully close since it will hang below the crossmember some.

The front fender lip is 24". The rear is 22".

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ct/stance1.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ct/stance2.jpg

Looks great! Good luck sorting out the wheel and steering issues. At least you found it early like this.

You can clamp the steering arm down heat it up and bend it in the half inch you need it to clear. That would be better than a stack of washers

The other option would be to order a set of Baer Trackers

http://baer.com/products?page=shop.b...egory_id=15956

I had a similar problem with my front wheel ( wrong back space with drop spindles )

yep...put it together and enjoy, then worry about the paint later. Love the stance. Hang in there. Life has a way of getting in the way of our hobbies. It is a really cool car- oh and congrats! :thumbsup:

Marty, do you have any spacers between the steering arm and rod end in that photo? I had been looking at Baer Tracker and other bumpsteer type kits as an alternative. I think the rod end is a little smaller than a tie-rod and that alone will help the clearance issue. I'm gonna try and crudely check bumpsteer today or tomorrow and see where it is.

Thanks

John shoot me an e-mail and I will send you and extra set that I have on my shelf. Test it out and see if it works and then order yourself a set.

The one I have is for an s10 but you will be able to see if it helps your clearance issue

mr2879sy @ aol.com

Can anyone tell me what Dan charges an hour for his beautiful work?

I must admit, I have been a Camaro bigot for some time and have overlooked many of the great builds on here. This is a great build and am loving the direction you are going with this car. You have a very similar build to my Camaro. I look forward to seeing more progress!

Are you going to utilize the Truturn and the Chicane brackets? I vote you do:thumbsup:

Big head, just give Dan a call and talk to him. He'll want to have an idea about the project anyway. With that he can provide some type of ballpark estimate. BTW, Dan's paint booth was just installed last month so Holohans can do it all in house now.

Thanks for bouncing this to the top. Subtle reminder for me to get off the iPad, away from football on the tube and out to the garage to fit up the Autorad...

Here we are on 1.1.2013 for the year's first installment of Expensive Mistakes and How not to Build a Car :willy: .

So back in early December my Autorad showed up. I must say they are very nice pieces and well worth the wait for a quality fabricated component. Around the same time my V/A Frontrunner came in that I picked up from Matts during the Black Friday sale. Anyway, now that the holidays are over I made some time to try and fit it up. Radiator/fan and accessory drive fit is something I've been worrying about since summer. There just isn't much clearance on the Novas between the big block and core support. I needed all the space I could get for this setup and hoped that the Autorad would yield what I needed. This was basically my only bolt-on type option available.

Long story short, it isn't going to work. I have 6.5" from block face to the back of the fan motors and I need closer to 7" for the Frontrunner. As luck would have it the passenger's side fan motor is basically right in line with where the A/C compressor is positioned. That also happens to be the longest dimension with the Frontrunner. It looks like I only netted about .5" extra clearance with the Autorad setup.

I guess now I have to think this over and decide where to go from here. I think I have basically 2 options. Well 3 if you count pushing the whole project off in the river :wow: .

-Option 1 is to scrap the big block plan and go LSx. I'd have to sell off some parts and likely take a bath on those. I haven't opened the Frontrunner so maybe I could exchange it. This radiator is single pass which also presents a little problem for the LSx option.

-Option 2 is to build custom frame stands that move the engine back .5". There is plenty of header and firewall clearance to do that. It actually would help gain clearance for the headers around the steering box. This would require not only custom frame stands but also a custom trans crossmember. Another potential benefit with this is it just might get the header tube far back enough to also clear a Ridetech Tru-turn setup.

This big block is fighting me all the way it seems...

Here is a shot showing how much an Autorad gains you in radiator surface area. HUGE difference in opening size versus the OE style "heavy duty" core support.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ps77a364bb.jpg

Here it is with the radiator installed. The condenser mounts directly to the radiator.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...psafc61fe2.jpg

Here you can see better what I mentioned earlier in the thread about the Autorad radiator mounting surface not being so far back. The tape line is pulled between the center line of the rear most fender mounting locations on both the OE and Autorad support. You can see the Autorad radiator mounts .5" forward of the OE setup.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...6b27bc45-1.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...906906-1-1.jpg

Move the engine back. Or would it be possible to move the radiator forward and possibly down so it goes under the top frame work on the core support?

Another possibility, did GM make a serpentine system that would fit your BB and fit the subframe? If so, you could detail it like Nathan did with his LS3. I thought he did a fantastic job making factory brackets look great. That may not extend out as much as the front runner system

If you say screw it and go LSx, you don't need anything more than a single pass radiator. I'd stay with the BB though just because you already have it and they are cool to look at when you open the hood :yes:

By moving the engine back, would that introduce transmission interference to the tunnel?

My trans tunnel has been replaced so that will mostly clear. Probably have to move the shifter hole back but that's about it for tunnel mods related to this.

I'm thinking now about trying the small block frame mounts. It seems they'll move the engine back by 1/2" or so. Lots of conflicting info online about that. I have some mounts I can try though. Guess I'll tack on a few more hours working on engine/trans positioning this weekend. Just glad I'm doing this now with everything not painted.

Will the SBC mounts not cause interference with the steering box due to the extra width of the BB?

Have him make a custom set of frame stands and move that bad boy back. Very easy if you are only going back .5". SBC stands will make it sit too high.

I'd modify the firewall to go back farther.
Don't give up on tha BBC.

What fan set up did Autorad ship to you? See if there's maybe a more narrow fan set up available. I remember someone here had that issue w a BB (Ron Davis) and that was his solution.

Ron, that was me. The standard Spal fans sent with the Ron Davis rad were to thick.

John, I can send you the Spal model number if you want.

Good point. The headers are *supposed* to work with either. However, I did have much better fitment luck with the current frame stands than those I tried prior.

Yeah making custom frame stands is probably the answer. I'll have to think about how to approach it design wise but shouldn't be too bad. I want to go ahead and mount an intake and distributor since that will likely be first place to touch the firewall.

The Autorad setup uses Maradyne fans. I looked last night for thinner fans but didn't see any that weren't different in other dimensions as well. I know when I was dealing with Ron Davis they did say they had thinner fans available. This Autorad radiator/shroud assembly is narrower than the Ron Davis even with the thinner fans. That was one of the reasons for going this route. At least that's what I convinced myself :).

MSD distributor and mini cap does fit much better.

I have a few pictures on my face book page of the frame perches I made for a project. They are in the shop projects page.

A little update. After having moved the engine back 3/4" I mocked up the Frontrunner setup today to check clearances. At first I was mega PO'd and couldn't figure out what had happened. The A/C compressor still hit the radiator fan motors even though previous measurements indicated it *should* fit. Anyway, I pulled a block-face to end of A/C compressor measurement to check against the V/A quoted dimension. It was off and then I noticed the pulleys weren't lined up. Turns out the V/A Frontrunner diagram in the instructions clearly has the spacer in FRONT when it actually goes in the rear. The text of the instructions states the rear too. I moved the spacer and the compressor clears. Still extremely tight though. The spacer fills the gap you see there at the rear of the compressor. There is a spacer on both sides. I just have one side in because it was too tight with the tape on this side :).

You can see from the pics that I don't have the compressor front cover or tensioner cover installed. Primarily because I didn't feel like taking the radiator back out again to put it on. The tensioner is the closest point at ~1/8" of clearance. The fan motor to compressor clearance is closer to 1/4".

I'd like another 1/4" but I've got to figure out where to get that from. One of the header tubes is close enough to the steering box that I think another 1/4" setback might cause it to contact. We'll see when I get the mounts build.

So I did run into another unexpected clearance issue. The PS pump reservoir tank is too close to the UCA. This is a Jones Racing aluminum pump with an extra capacity fab'd aluminum tank. Really cool piece. Too bad it won't clear :(. I'm gonna see about getting a tank made without the bung on the side. I think that will work. Otherwise maybe a less blinged out OE style PS pump is in order. This pump measures 5 1/2" from pump shaft centerline to the outside edge of the tank. I think the OE style plastic tanks are a little narrower.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ps8408a72b.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...pse16c15c0.jpg

Here are some shots of the firewall after the setback. Seems a little tight. That Unilite distributor is pretty small so I'm almost sure the firewall will need to be modified for clearance.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ps38fdf34e.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...psb35cded9.jpg

Updated shot of tie-rod to header clearance after pushing engine back. I think a Ridetech TruTurn might clear now.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...ps46959db3.jpg

Here is a before shot of the tie-rod clearance.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...aglinkPass.jpg

Status?
 

So whats the status of this Nova.
Is it finished already?

Was wondering the same thing ?

I spoke with John a couple of months ago and its still in progress.

And it will be pretty nice when finished. That's some nice sheet metal work that's been done there.

Hey Guys. I still have it and it is still in progress as Jay mentioned. Been a REALLY slow last couple years so I haven't been too motivated to post any updates. I've had two kids come along which was a game changer as I'm sure many of you can attest to. I have committed to keeping things in perspective as much as possible. They are big enough now that I've been able to carve out a bit more time to work on the car though so that's good. Bad thing now is my son (almost 3) has started asking when we can drive daddy's car. Doh!

I also was struggling with motivation. At every turn there were pretty big issues I'd run into. By big I primarily mean things that I can't easily do and really should be farmed out. Lots of frustration to go around. Spend $1000+ in labor cleaning up a firewall just to later find out it needs to be redone. Spend however much getting a trans tunnel redone just to have to have more work done (driveshaft raised to deal with drive angle).

While I haven't had much time to do fab work, I've worked in time here and there on the engine build. Last year I sent my heads off to be gone through and setup for the build. Told couple weeks or so. Well I sent the shop received them in July and I got them back in almost March (IIRC) of this year. Not a huge issue given my timeline but frustrating because I went with alum shaft rocker setup instead of stainless steel strictly because I didn't want the shop to be held up waiting the 8 weeks for me to get SS option built.

Anyway. I'll get some pics up here soon.