A lot of nice work going on here. Nice job fitting the quarter for welding.

that plus allow me to cleco the panel during fitment, plus help eliminate blow through with the welder. It's been my experience that sheet metal butt joints need 1/16" to 1/8" gap between them to stitch weld without excessive warping. The only way I have ever been able to meet that requirement is with a flange and lots of cleco pins.

Thanks Wayne. Appreciate it. It feels pretty good to have it attached to the car permanently. I can't even begin to estimate the hours I have into fitting those quarter skins but I know its a lot!

Gotcha.

PS Quarter Skin is on the car
 

I got the PS quarter skin on the car over the holiday weekend. That is a milestone for me.

I hate bodywork but in order to keep costs reasonable I am going to have to do it. You make it look easy with just one picture.

Front Subframe - Part 1
 

I did this work back in November of 2019 but have not posted it here yet. I had taken my complete, rolling front subframe out of storage to begin prepping it for paint. In the process I discovered some significant rust on the engine cradle/crossmember that required repair.

This was a little more difficult that it appears in the pictures because I had to perform this work in sections in order to keep the suspension geometry as close to original as possible. This repair involved the structure that supports the lower control arm mounting pockets. For most of this work, I left the OEM control arms installed to help with stability. I used three, 3/16" steel ribs, shaped to the existing cradle. Two of them were welded directly to the control arm pockets. The steel I used to cover the bottom of the cradle was also 3/16" thick. As I said, I did it in sections to help keep the structure dimensionally stable. This also allowed me to use T-fillet welds between the cover pieces and the ribs, allowing full weld coverage of the joints. The center rib was welded in place first to allow two additional brace plates that would connect internally to the front rib.

Front Subframe - Part 2
 

I basically replaced the lower section in 2 steps. The front and then the rear. After I completed the cradle section, I went to work grinding out the porous factory weld sections around the spring buckets and re-welding. After that, I stitch welded the frame channels together on the top and bottom. Following that work, I sand blasted and primed the entire assembly. Then it went back into storage. Hopefully, I will be bringing it out again soon to paint and assemble.

Awesome build

What is your plan for updating the front suspension geometry to match the rear half refinements?

I really like your approach for this build. Very relatable using/tweaking what you have vs. the expensive (& usually faster) route of purchasing new/aftermarket suspension bits.

I'm replacing the front suspension with CPP tubular control arms, Viking coil over shocks and a CPP C5 wheel kit. The wheel kit includes the steering knuckle, ball joints, unitized hub, GM type twin piston calipers plus rotors. I believe the steering knuckle has a raised upper ball joint for improved geometry. The spindle height is listed as stock I believe. The control arms, shocks and springs have arrived. I'm waiting for the wheel kit and I still need to order the front anti-sway bar, steering box and linkage.

The race shop finished up my engine last week so I took a ride up on Friday to see a couple of pulls.

https://youtu.be/X3A7kLBLRVU

update - Both quarters are fully welded and prepped with and 1 skim coat of Duraglas filler. I'll put another coat of the duraglas on each side then finalize the inside seams. For those, I'm planning on brush coating with EW rust encapsulator paint then applying seam sealer.

Kudos on the bodywork. I am dreading the stuff I have to do and its nothing compared to your stuff.

What did the details/specs end up being for the motor?

• 4.030" bore, 4" stroke, Forged crank (eagle I think), Forged H-beam rods, ARP-2000 rod bolts, ARP main studs, I believe zero decked.
• -12cc inverted dome pistons, 10.5:1 static CR
• TFS GenX 220 cathedral Heads with Ti retainers (assembled), 65cc, 2.055" intake vlv., 1.57" ex. vlv.
• Holley UltraXP 750 Carb
• Comp Ultra Gold Rockers
• Edelbrock LS1 dual-plane Intake Manifold
• Cam Motion 231/237 duration @ .050'', 116.5 LSA, 113 ICL (116.5+3.5) , .621''/.612'' lift with 1.7 rockers
• Hamburger 1" carb spacer
• MSD LS Ignition

About $12.3k on the dyno.

Finished up a little more body work around the trunk area. Patched up the gutter channels and welded up the tail light panel body seams plus a coat of filler over the welds.

Bit more progress to report. I've got the dash repaired and back in the car, which was a good bit of work. I gave the dash and firewall the same treatment as my inner quarters. Also finalized the cage. Added a few more bars and gussets. I'm working on the transmission cut-out now.

short update - Still working on the old girl. Lots of prep, making and spray-work.

Progress is nice. Thanks for sharing the updates.

It's looking good. Keep up the progress and thanks for sharing.

Body work & Epoxy Prime
 

I took my first "swipe" at body working before primer. Literally, my 1st time ever. Definitely a steep learning curve but managed to get the panels much better before the epoxy went on. it took me about 3 weeks and I could have easily went another 3 weeks. I just didn't want to leave the poor gal naked any longer. I would have liked, and tried to accomplish, getting the car off the rotisserie a couple weeks ago but it didn't work out. Now my plan is to leave it on there a while longer, at least get that body much closer to high-build and blocking only before I take it down. It's just so much easier to work on it on the rotisserie. I'd be shooting myself in the foot if i take it off and try to work through the remaining issues. I'm even considering fitting and working the doors before i take it down. I'm pretty sure I want to base and clear the car assembled. I don't think I want to paint this car in pieces and then assemble because that pretty much means assembling it, taking it apart, painting it and then re-assembling it. It feels like assembling it and then painting it is the right move for me. I do think I will try to paint the jambs early though.

I've got some other things to work on and honestly, I need a break from the body work/paint stuff for a bit. Planning on fabricating some wheel stands, getting the front tires mounted and dropping off the seats for upholstery next. I've also got to dust off the engine, squirt the cylinders and turn it over a few times per the builder. I've really got to reorganize my garage and make some changes there too. I've officially accumulated more tools and parts than I can reasonably store in there, and in my house! The collection of paint and body tools put me over the limit! There is likely a storage shed project in my immediate future.

Looks really good. :thumbsup:

x2.
Nice work.... Especially for someone that doesn't do it regularly.

I'm overdue for an update. Haven't really accomplished much on the car but have been busy preparing for working on the car. I ordered my front tires after figuring out what size to get and had them mounted. I did finish modifying my OEM (Chev express van) bucket seat frames plus had an upholsterer lined up to cover them for me...that fell through. I spent entirely too much time (like 2 months of free time) fabricating telescoping wheel stands.

Now I'm scratching my head trying to figure our what to do next. The long overdue goal of getting the car off the rotisserie is conflicting with the numerous places on the car that still need detail type body work. I'm also wrestling with the idea of painting the jams of the car before I take it down. I really wasn't planning on putting the car back on the rotisserie once I take it down, but now I'm wondering if I'll be able to avoid it. More than anything, I would like to start putting parts (which have taken over my garage and home) on the car.

Right now I'm thinking I will address any body work fine tuning on the lower sections of the car where it would be unpleasant to do after its on the ground. The rockers for example. Next paint the jams (front and back glass channels, door openings and maybe even the bottom of the rockers. Then take it down and get it on its suspension on the wheel stands. Follow with the engine and trans into the car continuing with the endless list of things to do to get it back together and running. At some point down the road, when it feels right, I'll finish up the upper body work details followed by primer and paint. Simple right? What am I overlooking that is going to screw everything up?

Those stands look solid! I guess you built them to be adjustable in height?

Yes. I'll use a scissor jack to raise/lower when the car is on them. 11" to 18" off the ground with one position in the middle. They turned out good but were a lot of work for what they are. Each one weighs 61#. Had to make the dolly so they could be moved without getting a hernia!

Solidly built w/heavy wall material = SAFE in this instance.
That's good weight. Your work on the car looks outstanding!

Excellent work!
I'm at the same point in my project so I cant tell you what will work out best...but I plan to keep mine on the rotisserie until fully painted.


Jeff-

Cool stands!

The car is in epoxy and off the rotisserie. I mocked up the front and rear suspension plus the engine and trans and I'm working through some fitment and clearance issues currently. I was very happy to see that the narrowed rear fit correctly. I dumped a bunch of oil on my garage floor on my 1st attempt at installing the drivetrain. Turns out the flywheel bolt holes on my aftermarket crank are not blind.

The CPP tubular arms are nice, they went in easy and fit nicely. I did have to open up the round hole in the subframe at the top of the shock on one side of the car. The top of the shock body was interfering with the subframe. The biggest issue I've had is getting the driveline angles correct. The Hooker stuff left my engine/trans at about 5 degrees slope which is not what they advertise. I've been in contact with Holley support and they are unable to explain it at this point. I've had to shim my T56 Mag and additional 1.5" on the crossmember to get it down to 3 degrees. This puts the transmission quite high in the car and will likely create a clearance issue with the driveshaft next. My shifter is looking a bit tall also. Thankfully, I was able to get a measurement to order my driveshaft from Denny's. It was a pleasure dealing with them.

Another issue I'm dealing with is my hand built 4-link crossmember. I'm in the process of cutting the center section down a bit to give the driveshaft clearance at full rear droop. While I have the rear out of the car, I'll button up the brakes, brake lines and install my Moser cover. When it goes back in, it will also get new 1.25" link bars with bigger FK rod ends.

I've got all of my fuel and brake lines to run front to back also. Planning to run full size (-8AN) supply and return fuel lines with a bypass regulator under the hood. I really wanted to run hard lines but ultimately decided to use Jegs Pro Flow Extreme braided. It's not PFTE lined but is supposed to perform like PFTE lined. We shall see. That's about it for now.

Nice work!!!! :)

Going to be a sweet ride, nice work!

I like the wheel stands too, what brand are they?

Thank you. The stands are DIY brand. Way more work than I care to remember at this point. I have graduated to a small hyd. bottle jack to lift/lower them. They work great now. They came in really handy when I installed the motor/trans. I had the rear on the stands and the front on the ground. It made a huge difference in approach angle.

Hello again!
 

I'm still alive and have been continuing to work on my Nova as time and money allows. Thought I would add a quick update post of things I've done since my last post so long ago.
1. Fender flares! This was a big job which took me about 6 months. Still not done, need to finish the inner fenders.
2. Wiper cowl cover louver delete.
3. Door skins. Rebuilding the doors, adding power windows, locks and mirrors. Still working on the mirrors.

Retrofit power mirrors and doors back on the car The mirrors were a little custom side project. I think they fit the body quite well. I'm happy with the result... at least until I start body working them. Can't seem to post any pictures, sorry. I'll try again later.

Pictures.

Blown away by the detail you’re going to on this build !!!

The car looks fantastic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

what kind of tube bender is that i would love to invest in one for my own project

I got the JD2 Model 32 I believe. It works great. Would be better with hydraulic power though. If/when I ever need to do it again, I'll add the hydraulic power to it.