Looking good!!!:thumbsup:

John

Thanks. No worries about taking the idea. As stated earlier, I took the idea from 72novadriver :D That's the nice thing (and sometimes bad) about these forums...so many great ideas.

Thanks Wayne.

Thanks John.

Not much of an update, but it's one anyways. After looking at where I have the gas filler panel, I thought it might be sitting too low once the bumper was on. I put the tail lights on and measured and found that the bumper likely would have been right at the bottom of the filler cap so I decided to move it up slightly. I also spent some time cleaning up the welds. The area that has some crack/lines/whatever you would call them is a bit indented so I will need to do a bit of mud work there so I'm not really concerned. Next plan is to get some exhaust the same diameter as the filler neck and figure out where I need to drill a hole through the floor. Here's the pics:

You can see how much I moved it up. It's about 1/4".

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000290.jpg

All cleaned up

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000292.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000293.jpg

Nice work Mike!! That will add alot to the overall look of the car. Now get it painted and on the road would ya?:D

Thanks Eric. I wish I could be at the painting stage. It's hard watching the other cars get painted and finishing up. If I hadn't found these websites, my car would have been a long time ago, oh well the wait will be well worth it :unibrow:

The extra time will make the wait worth it for sure.

Thanks Wayne. I think if anyone can speak from experience....it would be you. Can't wait to see your project start the next phase.

Just a quick update...Unfortunately the 'budget' at work has been shot for quite a while now and with the costs of the security of the olympics, they have been very stingy with overtime and as my project name states....I've been relying on overtime to get parts. As there has not been any overtime shifts in a while, I'm going to start working on the tedious stuff....the body work. My plans for the spring/summer are to get all the panels hung and fit, get the car completely stripped and in primer and get the interior painted with some type of rust protection...likely POR15 as I still have about 3/4's of a gallon left. I hope to pick up a few overtime shifts whenever I can to add to the parts list, but I also need to concentrate on getting a few bills paid off. So with no money for parts right now, will get closer to the paint stage sooner than I originally planned. Oh well....not the worse thing that could have happened. Thanks for all the support guys, it is what keeps this project going.

Thanks I can't wait to get it back either. Mike should be back at it soon. Your still making some nice progress.

Body work early? Sounds like a good thing to me. :thumbsup:

Nice job on the whole thing so far Mike. And that you are doing it all yourself is awesome!! I have learned a lot from you and it will all come in handy when I get back on my own dust collector project.:D

Thanks Wayne. Can't wait until you get yours back and see some progress pics.

Thanks Eric. I think it will end up being a good thing getting at the body work early. Atleast the gaps all the tedious stuff will be out of the way.

nice ride!! you have given me some cool ideas for my 70 Nova, good luck with her. Hope you don't mind if i "borrow" some ideas for mine :unibrow: keep up the good work

Thanks. Don't mind at all if you borrow some ideas. Most of the ideas I got for my build I borrowed from other cars on here and other forums. Good luck with yours. Can't wait to see some pics.

Well it's been a while since I had any updates. To be honest, I haven't been all that motivated to actually work on the car. There has been zero overtime at work so no new parts coming in and I feel like I'm in over my head with this build. As I stated before, I've decided to do as much as I can without having to get new parts. This update is also going to have quite a few questions, so if you can answer any of them that would be greatly appreciated.

After welding in the rear fuel filler panel, I decided I was going to work on routing the filler tube through the trunk. I tried working around the trunk latch but the filler neck wouldn't fit, so I decided to remove it for the time being. I welded in some support braces

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000304.jpg

After taking a bunch of measurements, I cut the latch out

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000306.jpg

Unfortunately that's still how's it sitting. I was trying to figure out how to run the filler neck. The one that came with the Alston filler cap is designed for a Camaro so it goes off to the right instead of straight down. I can get a universal one that comes straight out from the filler cap and then I would have to run it down somehow. My first question....if I decided to get the straight one would I be able to use exhaust tube for the rest of the filler neck? Would there be any issue having gas gown down exhaust tube? I was thinking about drilling a hole though the trunk floor and running the exhaust tube with different bends so it came out where the filler tube on a stock tank would meet it. I was then going to weld the exhaust tube to the trunk so it doesn't move. I would then put the trunk latch back on to cover all this up. I would likely have to use a 90 degree piece of rubber tube to join the filler cover and the exhaust tube running down. Does this sound like it would work???

The next thing I started to do was to get the subframe aligned and push the motor back. The subframe was pretty close and I didn't have to do a lot of moving it. I can't remember where online I found the diagram with measurements, but I used a hole on the rear frame rails and measured to the alignment hole on the subframe beside where the firewall body mounts sit. I got the subframe so it was within 1/4" of the factory measurements. Is that close enough??

Once the frame was aligned, I pushed the motor back as far as I could. There's still quite a bit of room to the firewall

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000318.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000319.jpg

I then started hanging the sheet metal. I fought with getting the doors aligned. I have new Goodmark hinges and now I've read I would have been better off rebuilding the old ones. Oh well. I was told to take the strikers out...that helped. I also ripped out all the old weather stripping..that really helped. Here's the passenger door. The driver's door gap is almost the same. Will have some fixing to do.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000316.jpg

I started to hang the fenders and found that things weren't fitting very well. I ended up needing to find a stock set of body mount washers to put on top of the body mounts. Called Dave at Tin Man's and got a pair for $25.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000322.jpg

Without them in

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000324.jpg

With them in

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000326.jpg

Started hanging the fenders

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000330.jpg

Which brings me to some more questions. I know I'm supposed to align the doors first, then the fenders to the doors (I think that's right) but how do I know I'm doing it right? How do I know the driver's side and pass side with match up when I got to start putting everything else on? When should I add the hood? Any advice on aligning the sheetmetal would be greatly appreciated.

Looks good Mike! Who says you need parts.....

I agree with Greg, it Looks good to me too.

Looks great bro---you are getting closer---can't wait to see it outside with the sheetmetal on it and the tires and wheels----you've done a great job on it:thumbsup:

Doug

Nova is looking really good. When you say that you feel like you are in over your head, what is somethings that you would have done differently? I'm still in the very beginning stages of my Nova build and I would love to go the route that you are going but, the budget doesn't allow it. I'm planning on a fairly simple build with the right stance and a killer set of wheels.

Keep up the great work and keep making progress with what you have! I've missed seeing the updates!

Mike --

Sometimes during a project - when I get an "overwhelmed" feeling - like "there's so much left to do... " I revert to just breaking it down to a LIST - and then I just put my head down and do ONE THING AT A TIME. Check it off the list. Suddenly the list is shrinking and it's much more organized - and putting it down on the list - clears it out of my pea brain. I generally post up the list on one leg of the lift -- cross them off with RED pen.... it looks better. :yes:

A buddy has an erasable white board - same thing only fancier...

Usually we leave obscene messages on it.


:cheers:

No way to know until it's together. You may have to put it together and take it apart several times to get it right.

And when you think you have it correct, the next time it goes together, it won't be , ;) .

Thanks for all the support and tips guys. I just need to get into the shop and make some good progress to get me back into the swing of things. I have to do a bunch of leveling work in my back yard also so that has been taking away my shop time. I know the car won't be done for a while so it will still be there when the landscaping is done.

As for feeling in over my head, I think it's the fact that I have taken on a full body restoration and when I sit back and look at what still needs done, that's when it makes me feel in over my head. On the other hand though, when I look at what I've accomplished for someone who has absolutely no training in any of these areas.....it makes me feel damn good. I know if I took the car to a good shop they would find things wrong with what I did, but hey if it works and turns out okay...I'll be happy. If I stuck to my original plans of a fairly low budget build, it would have been done. Would I have been as happy though...probably not!

Greg..good idea on the list and setting more short term goals. I already have a white board in the shop for making notes, but I should get a bigger one to put a list on. Thanks.

Well enough of that....on to better things. Once I'm done digging up my yard, I'll get my a$$ into the shop and get some work done. As usual, will post pics as I go.

Thanks again for all the support guys. That's the great thing about these forums. I know I'm not the only one that gets motivated by you guys.

Unfortunately I haven't been back in the shop to do anything else. Last weekend I rented a mini excavator and re-graded a big chunk of my back yard. Now I have a giant litter box in the back for all our cats. Hope to get it all seeded this weekend, then back to the car.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000347.jpg

As stated, not much to update. I did end up getting a set of bucket seat brackets from a 74 SS from Dave at Tin Man. Thanks again Dave. Now I just need to get them cleaned up and weld them in. New parts coming May 15 :D Going to see the Eagles the night of the 14th, then pick up new stuff on the way back. Will post pics of the goodies when I get them.

Pics of the bucket seat brackets:

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000340.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000341.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000342.jpg

The best way to get re-motivated................NEW PARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000363.jpg

Decided to get a new filler neck. This is Ridetech's universal one. The other one that I have is for a Camaro. I thought this one might be easier to use as now I can run the rest of the filler neck straight as the Camaro one slants to the passenger side.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000371.jpg

One for Camaro (if anyone needs one of these let me know as now I have an extra)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000372.jpg

Hotchkis subframe connectors

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000378.jpg

Billet Specialties 3/16" line clamps for when I start running the brake lines.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000373.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000374.jpg

AMD inner fenders

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000368.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000369.jpg

AMD 2" cowl hood - damn this thing is going to look sweet

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000375.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000376.jpg

Don't worry....I have towels underneath

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000380.jpg

And finally.....I decided to go with leather seats out of a 2005 GTO. I got fronts, back and seat belts for $525 + shipping. Can't go wrong with that. They are in great shape too. I'll have to clean up some of the metal and re-paint it. Damn are they comfy. Now the fun begins trying to make these things fit.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000366.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000364.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000365.jpg

I plan on spending quite a bit of time in the shop as I don't go back to work until Thursday. Watch for updates, hopefully daily.

Nice stuff....:thumbsup: I picked up the same set of seats for my Firebird. What are you planning to do about the height? The fronts seem a little tall. I was thinking I would get rid of the power brackets on mine.

Thanks. I haven't had time to figure out what I'm going to do about the height. I see there are a few threads where guys have cut down the rears. After just quickly looking at the brackets that are on the front seats, I'm going to have to do something with them as right now they won't work. I'll post pics when I have some updates on that. I'm just in the process of putting in some SS bucket seat brackets so once I have those in, I will work on getting the front seats mounted.

SWEET! Those are some nice parts. The quality of the front inner fenders looks good. Those seats look comfortable. You must have extra head room than a Camaro. Maybe they'll be close. Nice parts.

Cool parts :) . Glad to see the AMD stuff getting out there. I've heard nothing but good things so far. I'm gonna be going that way for their new fenders I think. Hood looks good too.

John

Thank Wayne. Yeah the quality of the sheet metal is very nice. Feels way more sturdy/strong than other parts I've bought.

Thanks John. I'm really happy so far with the AMD stuff. The final test will be how they fit.


So I made it into the shop. Didn't get as much done as I was hoping. It's amazing what a couple crappy sleeps will do to you. The couch feels so comfortable. I started by putting the rear seats in just to see how much work they are going to be. Going to be some work!!! Didn't take any pics yet. With a car without mini tubs I don't think it would be as bad.

I got the bucket seat brackets welded in. I tried to get them as far apart as they would go, but could only get the bolts to be 11.5" apart from the hump to the rocker. They are 14.24" apart front to back. The worst thing about putting these in now is that if you've been following my build, you know that I had the bottom of the car already done. Haven't looked underneath yet to see what it did to the bedliner.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000390.jpg

I then started on fitting the front seats. I decided the easiest was to take off the tracks first. Very easy to take off. It is held on by 4 nuts. There are a few wires that need to be disconnected, but pretty easy to figure out.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000387.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000388.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000389.jpg

I then put the track into the car...damn this thing is wide. If I remember correct, the holes are 16 or 17" across from each other.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000394.jpg

First thing to go...the stock mounting brackets. They were pretty easy to get off. They are held on by a pin in the middle of them and some welds on either side.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000395.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000396.jpg

When you are taking these off, don't do like I did originally and pound the pins out. They appear to actually serve a purpose. I had to fight with them and get them back into the holes. I then welded them to the frame.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000397.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000398.jpg

Once the stock mounting brackets were off, I put the whole thing back into the car. Fits much better now, but still need to mock up some new mounting brackets.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000399.jpg

Unfortunately I didn't have any metal to start fabbing up the brackets, so the seats are on hold until I get some stuff. I'll head in tomorrow and grab an assortment of angle iron, round bar, square tube, etc. so I have a good selection. In the mean time though, I put the seat back onto the base to see how it would look in the car. It fits fairly high up on the floor, but that's because of the all the power stuff. I like the way it looks. I'll probably take off the headrest and see how it looks without it and decide from there which I like better.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000402.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000404.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000403.jpg

Since I couldn't do anything else with the seats, I thought I would start working on the filler neck. Yesterday I bought a new pipe bender:

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000400.jpg

What a P.O.S.!!! I tried bending a 2" piece of exhaust tube. It bent it some, but actually flattened it out more than it actually bent it. Think I'll be taking that thing back. A buddy of mine was supposed to come over yesterday or today and help me finish aligning the doors, but he got stuck all day in court only to have the case adjourned before he got on the stand. The joys of our job!! Spend your time off sitting in a court house waiting to put rats in jail. But, at least it's all double bubble :D I likely won't get back into the shop now until Monday or Tuesday as I go back to work soon. Will post more pics when I get something else done.

I am glad to see you making more progress Mike. I like the seats, they will look great in the car.

Thanks Eric. Where have you been. Haven't seen you online in a couple weeks.

Thanks for the pictures of GTO seats. I'm still trying to squeeze those in to a 69 Nova :thumbsup:

Hi Mike,

What solid body bushings are you using... are they SpeedTech? I installed mine just for mockup, and I'm pretty sure that they're supposed to be stock height because I couldn't see any drop bushings on their site at the time, but the radiator core support is definitely a lot higher than it was even with saggy squished rubber bushings, and I can't figure out why...

It also looks like your bushings are short, are they the drop bushings? My bushings definitely look taller, and I can't figure out what, if anything, I'm messing up on the quarterpanel re-assembly.

PS all the rest of the work looks killer... I might have to make an interior BC roadtrip when my car is finished (whenever the heck that'll be)!!!

Cheers,
Joe

Thanks Joe. The body mounts are Speedtech's. I spoke to Roger at Speed Tech and they said they were finding issues with their mounts on a Nova. They are not drop mounts, they are the standard ones that Speedtech has for the novas. Once I got the stock bushings and put them in, everything fit way nicer. Definitely let me know if you make it down this way.

i will be installing the sub in the shop nova this week end, but with no bushings. also moving the motor back 2.5 inches, htis will require removing the entire tunnel, but hey why not??? it's not like it has to be finished by July 20th for a track day or anything like that.
i will post up some pics after the week end

Can't wait to see some pics of you Nova Blake. I'm sure it will be amazing.

I finally got the passenger seat mounted. I sat beside the car staring at how to get these damn seats in and I found that the bolts were just too close to the bracket and a pain to try and use them, so I solved that issue.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000415.jpg

Once the bolts on the floor were gone, I could put new ones anywhere I wanted. I finally decided on a very easy, but time consuming, set up.

I started by welding in a small piece of steel onto the ends to give some area to weld into.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000411.jpg

Once those were in place, I made some brackets.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000414.jpg

And welded it into place.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000419.jpg

Did the other three corners.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000418.jpg

I then put some bolts into the bracket holes and put it into the car. After some measuring, I tacked the bolts, removed the bracket and finished welding the bolts into place. I wanted to get the bolts as flush to the floor as possible, but found that welding the bolt, with the heads, to the floor was the easiest and probably stronger. I plan on welding in some washers around the bolt heads so the brackets are not just resting on the bolt heads.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000421.jpg

Attached the bracket back to the seat and tried it out.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000422.jpg

When looking at the brackets, they are set up quite high right now. I'm almost positive that when I get some power hooked up, the seats will come down putting them closer to the ground. Right now, the bottom of the seats are just under 6" from the floor...way too high. I was looking at a bunch on ebay, and they all look quite a bit lower.

Here's how high they sit right now.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000423.jpg

Next week I hope to get the driver's side done and then onto the rear.

I just got an email back from the guy I bought the seats off. He confirmed that they were shipped in the raised position so will come down quite a bit :)

Nice progress Mike. Glad you got it figured out. The back should be some fun.

:thumbsup: Looking great Mike!!

Thanks guys.

So after I got the passenger side seat put in, I sat in it and it felt like it wasn't square. I didn't think much of it until I was laying in bed a few nights later and realized that it wasn't square. When I measured the frame, I measured from the back points of it, not taking into consideration that one side was longer than the other. You can see it in this picture here. The top left frame rail is longer than the one on the right.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000418.jpg

So I ended up cutting out the bolts that I had welded in. This turned out to be a good thing anyways as I decided to put in 3/8" bolts instead of the 7/16" ones that I had. The 3/8" fit nicer and have more room to turn the nuts. Once I had the bolts welded into place, I didn't like the idea of the seat brackets sitting on the head of the bolts and off the floor. I took some washers and cut out the centers so they would fit around the bolts. I had to grind some of the welds, but they fit around the bold nicely. I then filled in the holes with more weld and the brackets had a more solid place to sit.

Picture of the washer. The two holes are just to plug weld to the floor. I thought I took pics of them welded in place, but I guess I didn't.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000425.jpg

I then got the driver's side put in. The passenger side is not bolted down that's why it's leaning to one side.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000427.jpg

I think I have most of the wiring figured out, except for two wires that were connected to the side of the seat. Does anyone know where these two wires hook up. It's the white connector and the yellow connectors that I'm wondering about.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000426.jpg

Along with realizing that the seat was crooked, I also started thinking about my steering column (had a hard time sleeping that night). I went out and checked my suspicion and was right. A while back in this thread, I mentioned how the Flaming River column bracket would not work. Well I couldn't have been more wrong (and if anyone from Flaming River is reading this, my sincere apologies for the emails I sent). When I was trying to fit the bracket, I had the stock bracket in there as well. No s**t it's not going to fit with the 2 brackets in there :awkward:

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...columngoes.jpg

So I cut off the exhaust tube that I welded onto the column. It left a few scratches on the nice polished column, but hopefully none of them will be seen anyways.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00433.jpg

Hooked up the bracket that Flaming River supplied and it fit quite nicely.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000430.jpg

:slap::slap::slap::doh::doh::doh:

Once I had the bracket in place, I want to see how the floor mounts would look. I realized that the hole in the firewall is not quite in the right spot as the inside floor mount doesn't sit flush, although it's not far off. I'm just going to grind the top part of the mount so the column fits through and the mount will sit flush. I'm not that concerned about the angle as I will be running two u-joints from the column to the r&p.

You can see where the top of the column is hitting the mount.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000431.jpg

One thing that was a pleasant surprise, I was cleaning up in the shop and found a Goodmark box. I looked at the side and it came back to me. When I ordered some Goodmark stuff off Nightshade, Goodmark shipped a deck panel to me also, which I didn't order. Nightshade checked his records and he hadn't been charged either. So we agreed that I will keep it. This works out great as I was looking at my deck panel and where it connects to the quarters, it's rusting through. So I have now added 'replace deck panel' to my list of to dos.

And finally, some of you may have saw the thread I had about wondering if I could remove the post in the center of my shop. The main reason for this was I was getting sick of working around it. If I wanted to work on the inside of the car, I would have to push the car forward and then back when I was done. If I wanted to work on the driver's side, I would have to turn the wheels, push car forward, turn wheels again, push back, turn wheels, and on and on. I'm sure you get the point. As I don't have the steering column hooked up, I had to literally turn the front wheels and since everything is new and tight, was harder to do while on the ground. So yesterday I found a cheap and easy solution. Not sure why I didn't do this before.

Car dollies:

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000432.jpg

Car rolls around quite easily now. Hopefully more updates next week. On a good note, my job will be changing in the next couple weeks. My new position will be more overtime opportunities and will be making more money. More money = more parts.

Looking good Mike. I believe the yellow connector is for the seatbelt retractor device. My understanding is that in newer. airbag equipped cars, the seatbelt has a little explosion of it's own to tighten down some more. If you follow these wires, they should go right to it at the seatbelt location. It's a steel tube. There should only be two wires since all the switches are on the seat - power and ground. Anything else should be internal. If you need more info, I can compare what you have to my GTO seats when I get home tonight.

Thanks Joe. Any idea what the white connector's for. I know the bigger white one plugs into the side controls, but what about the other one. You're right...the yellow wire runs back to the seat buckle on the side of the seat. I guess if I took the seat belts out, I might find some more plugs.