Love that you are back on this!

:RunninDog:

I so dig this build--good to see it back in action, so a "me too" is in order. It's so cute that you're thinking of interior styling at this point . . .:weld:

Congrats on not giving up on it. Glad to see progress, too.

Hey guys, yeah glad to be back on it...

Not much to update, got the rack in with the new adapters, all fits pretty well. Ordered Ujoints and DD bar for the steering and some swaged tubes to make tie rods and the rocker struts.

Here is an adapter shot after install... the too short tube hanging out is the tie rod angle

Down shot showing Ackermann angle. I can space it back for more once I see how it is on the track. I am a bit amazed when I see guys use a drag setup for street use or especially track use as most put the rack way out in front which totally jacks the Ackermann up. Not a problem for straight line use of course so fine for drag racing. Anyway, I always run some amount of Ackermann to get the car right for tight corners or it will just plow like crazy.

That said, it is a bit interesting to go to the Indy car museum and see the crazy variations over the decades on Ackermann including negative but most run some amount of gain

Just ran through this whole build over the last 2 days. Great stuff and good to see you've stayed on it over the years and all the moves! Keeps me excited to get going on my project. My '66 Malibu's been permanently in the garage since about 1996 as I've been collecting parts through 2 rear suspension build ideas, drag to track, and collecting parts for every system under the sun. Your design, engineer and build ideas are way ahead of what I can do, but the whole idea is to get it running, on track and having fun driving it. Amazing how fast time flies when life gets in the way! Keep at it!

Thanks for the encouragement Ric. Hope reading it helps to keep you moving along as well. I think I eluded to this before, but the past couple years I came across Full Custom Garage and actually really like that show as it's just Ian, mostly focused on actual work on a car or project, and no fake drama like the other shows with stupid people saying stupid things with about 10 mins of actual fab content. Unfortunately the latest season is starting to turn as he brings in side kicks but long story short... got me super motivated to just get rolling and trying my own sheet metal work.

So, as such, the joys of buying a used car that had floor pan work... I have NO idea what this tunnel is out of but I don't think it's 66 Nova. The tunnel cover sure as hell isn't. I had no idea it was wrong but the console just would not sit right so I started searching the net for floor picks with a 4 spd. Not actually that easy to get detail but it became clear the hump was totally wrong so I ordered one online. The floor was so hacked I have basically had to graft this new hump to the old one. DAPO strikes again.

Also relocated the mechanism again as I raised it higher now the tunnel makes sense. Getting a little closer each weekend!

Oh, and as for ideas Ric, most of what this build is I have never done before so this is all a bit of "hold my beer" so I say get on the Malibu! I really dig those and like the Novas, love the 66 and 67.

bring out your dead!
 

I'm not dead.... I feel happy! (always need a Monty Python reference)

So, let's see, bought the Nova as a roller about a decade ago, then moved to two different states for a total of 3 moves since then, refurbed a house in one, lived in another a couple years here in Tejas, ended up building a custom house now, so after all that nonsense, finally have room to spread out and get some stuff done. Had a ton of PTO saved up at work and the hammer came down this year to use it, so I took a month off from Dec 6- Jan 9th and made this a full time job, only took off Xmas and the first week for another project I started a year ago on a Pantera. That is a whole nuther deal and I am traveling to CA about every other month and working that deal.

But, during that first week of the thrash in CA I also worked on an all alum Rodeck block setup I started for the Nova. Bought the block 3 yrs ago so that's how that progress has gone as well. Sneak peak but honestly really simple combo with the same solid tappet cam I have in the current engine, just a bit bigger with 3.5" stroke instead of 3.25" like the current engine.

I will be putting a belt drive on it when I am out there next week and hopefully get the heads fully installed and the shaft mounts lashed and ready. Rumor is my intake may be ported and ready as well... we'll see. I have had a hell of a time getting the engine to this point cuz nothing aftermarket actually fits anymore - it all takes a crap ton of work to make fit.

not sure why it shows up sideways here, so just do the confused dog thing and cock your head to the left - it is normally how I am looking at it while I try to get stuff to bolt together.

best purchase ever is the 2-post lift. Here is where I started back around Thanksgiving getting ready for the push. then primary goal was just getting the thing hotwired to fire the engine after it has sat for a decade. so throw some gauges on the cowl, drop a battery in front of it, make noise!

I went thru a whole list of things you should do when something has sat that long and in the end she fired up instantly.

then the fun stuff - started working all the sheet metal which is something I have never done before. Peanut gallery can feel free to sit this one out - I figure this out as I go and when I feel it is good enough, that's as far as it's going to go regardless of whatever snarky comment could be made. I bend things on my leg, over a tire, tack it in at whatever temp and speed won't blow holes thru it, so forth. I am considered a pro at some things, this isn't gonna be one of 'em anytime soon.

started on the wheel tubs in the rear to widen the factory stuff enough to fit the 335s. it looks as good in person as the photos so good thing it is in the trunk ;) filled in all the areas I hacked out as well.

BTW, there will be a ton of seam sealer purchased at some point in the future haha.

Interior floors are a mix of screw in panels and welded panels. The main "floor boards" in front of the seats I will keep removable in case I ever need to do some surgery on the car or get under the dash with it up on the lift. Firewall has all welded in panels, some are thick like where feet will be since I like having them should things go wrong. Panels under the seats cuz I like my testicals as much as I like my feet, maybe a bit more ;) Pulled off keeping the factory center tunnel so the console will still fit and look stock-ish.

more pix

started on the dash. Some may recall I had built the chassis to be able to lift the body off to final weld the cage and paint the chassis separately, but frankly I decided that ain't gonna happen without it taking another 10 years, so I just decided to start finishing it and will just cut holes in the roof to final weld the cage or reskin it like everyone else does.

So in goes the dash. I noted back in 2019 I was going to set it back and wrap it around the cage. Yeah, I warped it a bit welding it back together cuz it's so thin, but that can be "fixed" when it comes time to paint it. No matter what, bondo cures all ailments if it can't be heated and hammered out by a better skilled body guy.

I did the cut thru the glove box so I could use the glove box door hinge to reset the gaps and make sure it would fit right after install.

s'more of the dash. between my knees, a spare tire, and whatever random tubing I had laying around, got the endcaps to blend pretty nicely around the roll bar and left enough gap that the door seals will still fit onto their lip/seam.

there still needs to be a little work to tightly close out to the cage and so forth, but that is minor stuff I will deal with just before I am actually ready to paint. Main focus now is to just get this thing blasting up and down the road in the next couple months. will have to wear my helmet without a windshield so the neighbors will likely think I am "special".

if there is any random shots with underwear in them, hey, rags is rags and I have no shame

rear seat area - I am hell bent to keep the option open to install a factory rear seat when that day comes. will have to be modded for the wheelwells or just all made from scratch, but I have kept the lower pan and the rear package tray (or whatever it's called) with the seat hangers. Made creating a removable closeout panel a total PITA tho'.

the first pic shows a couple sh!t panels that are what happens when it's late after 10hrs of thrashing, making it up as you go gets a bit hustled, then you see later pics with a much better idea the next morning. People scoff at the little tacks, but it was a complete MF'er to get those little panels cut out, so bad ideas make bad mornings.

then a couple shots of the shop after a solid 2.5 wks of thrashing (pix taken Jan 3rd) and go back to that first shot I posted with the car up on the lift around Thanksgiving. It isn't getting any better as I keep going... anybody think I can salvage that wheelbarrow?

threw the front together a bit with the bumper and got it on the scales to start doing the frequency math to pick springs to then be able to order shocks from Penske that match that spring selection. This little piggy may need to go to market - fricken tubing adds safety and rigidity but it adds weight in equal amounts. Good news is with the big engine setback and rear mounted transaxle, it is right at 50/50. Reality is it might get a bit heavier percentage on the nose because the hood was off (carbon fiber, so not burly like the stocker, but not zero either), the grill, etc. But interior is going to all go right in the center.

That said, this is going to hit 3200 lbs pretty fast and likely keep going. That Porsche I had was just under 2800 lbs complete with fluids and track ready, so this car is going to feel sluggish. But I ain't getting younger so prolly will be a welcome change - that car was a blast but a total handful at the same time with the power to weight ratio it had and much shorter wheelbase.

pay no attention to cross weight - that will all get sorted once the adjustable shocks replace the solid rods it sits on now

so the first step for weight savings in this round of work is to get a lithium battery and start thinking about the wiring. I need to be a bit careful on wiring since I will need to strip this car completely to finish weld, paint, etc.

I bought an American Autowire kit for the car back when this all started. It is not quite as advertised which I will get to. We have a spare bedroom where I can jam without firing up all my studio equip which is now where I exploded wiring everywhere. There is a fair amount of wiring that I will be deleting but I knew that and that is easy to deal with. The engine harness is laying around the corner but that is one that will get pared way down since my ignition stuff is inside the car for example.

What blew my mind is that there is very little in this kit that was preassembled, cuz apparently there was crazy variation in the wiring of a 66 Nova from one to the nexst? Did the line workers build the harnesses for each car one-at-a-time? WTH.

now for the rant - I have to have at least one each time I work on the car. First thing I thought is I would install the instrument cluster wiring cuz that should just be plug and play for the most part. Or... not at all. I was losing my shizzle. Let's start with the fun stuff - check out the label on the bag in the first image. Let's pick out the things that are easy to poke at:

1. is it "Factory Fit" if I have to cut the wires to length and install all the end connectors in my spare bedroom?
2. Do you make wiring easy?
3. The bag says loose pc kit in the title... prolly not going to be something that is ready to install, which would be easy, and maybe even all built at a factory to the original wiring confirguration aka factory fit.

Interesting enough, when I went online to see if there were better wiring diagrams I could zoom for my old eyes to read, I found there were updates, which brings me to the 2nd image now: apparently they got enough feedback to remove anything about factory fit and them making wiring easy! This was the only chuckle I had during the cluster wiring process.

then we get to the little F'ing connectors I had to cut off a strip, get into my crimper tool with old hands and not sure it would have been much easier as a younger man, and crimp them successfully. This took a couple nights because within about 15 minutes I would go thru all the swear words I know in English, Spanish, and French and a mangling of those words together, and then would transition to the "make up words" phase. It was appropriate that "A Christmas Story" was on a month ago with the Dad in the basement. Yeah, like that.

Then finally when I got to the gas gauge: the 90deg connector to use was made undersized. Note the unused, different 90 on the left and the one I needed with the undersized holes. More cursing as I walked to the garage and got a couple solderless connectors to circumvent that problem.

Final image I assume is a factory fit wiring harness. I put bulbs in everything and used the battery to verify all the wiring worked and they lit up. I forgot there is 11 bulbs total when I bought a pack of 10 at O'Reilly, so the clock had to wait a day. Turns out it doesn't work, which I expected, but sucks cuz those ain't cheap. We'll see how the fuel gauge wiring goes once this gets into the car along with all the other wiring - I did buy a new gas gauge a decade ago as I knew I was going to care about that.

finally this weekend got a day to mess with starting battery and relay install while waiting on supplies. I will be running two separate 200A relays - one solely to drive the starter, the other as a "main" relay to power everything else. I am waiting on connectors and 6ga wire to show up at the gate.

I will be running 1/0 cable from the battery to the relays. Then the starter relay will run 1/0 to the starter. This long run will only be hot when the key is switched to start. otherwise, it will be dead which is the safest way to do this. Makes overall wiring a bit tougher, but mo' betta.

From the main relay I will run 6ga wire to a 175A mega fuse right by the battery, then another 6ga run up to the dash area where I will power the fuse box and a 6 relay panel (that I need to get in gear and get on order).

The alternator will run a completely separate 6ga wire back to the battery and go thru its own 175A mega fuse.

Kill switch will activate the low side of the main relay and will in no way be wired with the alternator. Even I have made the mistake in my younger days of wiring the alternator in with the main feed, which means if the car is running and you hit the kill switch, the alternator can keep the car running since it is wired in with the fuse panel and you don't actually need a battery to keep it running once it's running.

So here is a pretty rudimentary start to the battery tray that will hold the battery, relays, and mega fuses. That's it for now but I intend to keep plugging away over the next few months of weekends getting this thing going.

Wow, you've been busy!! Great work, progress is good.

Glad to see you're making progress! Keep it up.

thanks guys. Just keep chipping away. Here is the long block after swapping in the belt drive. Don't think I mentioned much about it - heads are some seriously ported 220cc dealios with the dogleg shaft mounts. I don't really need shaft mounts, but frankly they are so freaking stable, I always use them and basically never have to adjust lash. Everything required machining to get the valvetrain geometry to be correct. Typical, annoying deal with all the aftermarket stuff. Bought a Leash Electronics 6 relay panel and got that installed. Haven't powered it yet, but so far it looks pretty trick. All wired with 6ga coming from the master relay back with the battery subassy.

installed the kill switch and started on the rat's nest of wiring under the dash. hopefully this coming weekend I can get the main wiring stuff buttoned up and kick the relays on and start checking circuits. I won't get to lights for some time, but hopefully can get it to a point to fire and run v. the total Roadkill deal I had going a month ago