Are you talking about the smaller white connector with the two wires? If so, is that not the power and ground? I can double check later tonight.

Thanks Joe. That would be a great help. The white plug that I'm talking about is the one that is attached to the side bracket, just above the yellow plug. It looks like there is atleast 3 wires in the plug, a red and two blacks. I know there is also an orange and black wire that are together that has been cut. I read on another thread that the orange is for power and the black is a ground.

I'll look tonight and maybe take a few pictures of what I find. I'm pretty sure none of my wires were cut, so it should be pretty easy to figure out.

Nice progress Mike, its coming along nice.

I forgot that I separated my seats from the mounts :wow:
I went up in the attic and looked at both assemblies. They both have a white plug, the only difference is that one of them is the tree prong plug you described with the red and two black wires and the other assembly is a two prong, just one red and black. I'm pretty sure that those are the power and ground wires. I would hook up a battery and try them out, but like I said the mounts are in the attic and the seats are in my spare bedroom. If you hook up a battery to yours and have any concerns, put a small amperage fuse between the + side and the red wire. That's how I would do it, but proceed at your own risk here... Let me know if there's anything else I can look at for you :lateral: :cheers:

I started working on getting the deck filler panel off. Overall it wasn't in that bad of shape, except for where they meet up with the quarters. If I didn't have this one laying around, I likely would have just cut out the rusty sections and welded in new pieces.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000433.jpg

Old deck filler panel

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000434.jpg

And it's off. Took about an hour and a bit to get the old one off. Just had to drill out a bunch of spot welds.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000436.jpg

It's in pretty good condition, just a bit of surface rust underneath. Nothing some por15 won't stop.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000437.jpg

New panel sitting in place, not welded in yet though as I ran out of 2" prep discs. Going to see if I can get a good deal on a case of them.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000435.jpg

One question I have though, where the filler panel meets the quarter panels, does the filler panel sit on top like it is in this photo or does it go underneath the quarter. I put it on top when I put the quarters on.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000438.jpg

A buddy of mine came over today and we tried aligning the doors. Unfortunately we hit some issues. We also got the subframe aligned and it's within 1/4" of the factory specs so I'm pretty happy with that. Back to the doors. We started with the passenger side and I got the quarter/door gaps to 1/8" and the body lines matched up nicely and thought it was good. Then I realized some other issues.

Gap to quarter panel. It's about 1/8"

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000441.jpg

The top part of the door is hitting the screw along the frame

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000442.jpg

I didn't take a picture of it, but the gap along the bottom is between 1/4" and 1/2". I know I can fill it in, but that's a lot to fill in isn't it? If I try and move the door down, the body lines won't match up. What about if I cut into the quarter panel along the gap and welded it back in place about 1/8" back?

The passenger side wasn't a whole lot better. The gap with the quarter panel was tight and the body lines match up pretty good.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000444.jpg

Along the front/top of the door, I have a gap that's about 1/4" to 1/2".

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000445.jpg

The rocker gap is good, but it's sunk in at the front. I kept trying to adjust it, but when I align the door to the quarter, this happens.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000449.jpg

Any suggestions?? Tomorrow I plan on finishing up the deck filler panel.

Mike -- unless you're prepared to do a complete weld and grind - and add and fill.... REMEMBER that working with what you have is about SPLITTING the distance -- so it's half of what "would be" perfect... you can't expect an old stock body to have gaps that are like a high dollar custom build... just get them "good" - and splitting hairs here and a little there...

I helped with a 57 Limo -- 4 doors PER SIDE... we split the window frames to get the gaps at the top "right" --- and had to add welding rod to the door edge to close gaps up etc.... it's A LOT of work to get this old stuff "right".

Check out the way these had to be done:


http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/DSC00759.jpg



http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/DSC00609.jpg



http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/DSC00761.jpg

Look at how far this one was off:


http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/DSC00614.jpg

Thanks Greg. To be honest, I don't expect to have perfect gaps. I just want to get them so they look good. I just found that doors seem to be so off in some areas that I'm worried that I may have screwed up the quarter install. If I can get the doors to look good, I will be happy.

Mike I don't envy you alining the sheetmetal. I helped a friend do his car and we drove ourself nuts. Greg is right split the difference. We did the door and set it to rocker and quarter first then the rest of the door. We didn't have to deal with the top frame on the door like you do. After seeing what you've already done you'll get this done.

Thanks again guys. Last night I kept looking at the pics of the gaps and you're right, it's an old car and this isn't a high dollar build. I'm doing it in my garage and it's my first attempt at something this big. And as I've read over and over again, the aftermarket stuff does not fit like the OEM stuff. With that in mind, I have aftermarket quarter panels and aftermarket hinges so I'm battling the aftermarket stuff on either end. I was looking at the driver's side and if I can get the door to come forward a bit, other than the bottom which I'll work on, I'll be happy. When I was looking at the hinges yesterday, I noticed that they won't go further any more. I'm just going to ream the holes out a bit to bring the door forward. As long as the doors work and look good I'll be happy. Here's some more pics of the doors as they sit now.

Driver's side. You can see on the driver's side quarter where I've already had to cut it to make it fit better.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000461.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000460.jpg

Passenger side

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000459.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000462.jpg

Today I got the deck filler panel finished

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000452.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000454.jpg

Looks way better now. Still needs to be cleaned up better.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000456.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000457.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000458.jpg

I really like the look of new sheet metal. I'm so tempted to buy new fenders and doors. I'll wait and see how these ones looks once I get them down to the metal.

Next thing ya know Mike -- you'll be opening a custom fab shop!:rofl:

Looks good... real good. :cheers:

Thanks Greg :cheers: :lol:

Well I've gotten around to getting some done on the car. I want to try and have it in primer before this winter so have been working on stripping the car. I also have most of the driver's side quarter done.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000502.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000491.jpg

Found a few areas of concern in the rear tail panel. I'm leaning towards getting both sections new from Auto Metal Direct. A new tail light panel is $150 and the rear trunk crossmember is $130. Better to get rid of the trouble areas.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000496.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000498.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000499.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000500.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000501.jpg

I also found a couple issues on the passenger door. Should be easy fixes though.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000506.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000504.jpg

I've also been trying to figure out how to run the gas filler neck. I went and looked at all kinds of pieces of exhaust tubing and all the bends weren't tight enough or weren't a mandrel bend so they were flat. In the end, I think the original filler neck I got with the gas cap will work. The one thing I didn't like with it is that is designed for camaros so it is slightly off to the right. I wanted mine to be through the middle. So I figured I would cut it in half and I'll just get it rewelded to be straight. I'll still need to run some exhaust tube through the trunk, but this will fit quite nicely under the rear trunk lock support.

The original filler neck

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000283.jpg

After I cut it. Just need to get it welded back together. I'm also thinking about cutting the neck part of it to make it a bit shorter.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000505.jpg

I also picked up some weather stripping for the doors and trunk so I can get them aligned properly.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000507.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000508.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000510.jpg

Bare metal looks great. What did you use to strip paint? If you don't care to go into details for your method.

Yeah there is something about bare metal. It looks pretty sweet. For most of the areas I'm just using 80 grit sand paper on a DA sander. The car was painted in 1995 and was taken to the metal then too, so it's not too bad. For the tighter spots and places I don't want to use the sander, I've been using a 3M Scotch-Brite clean and strip roloc pads. I usually use the purple ones, but also have some of the black ones as they were out of the purple ones. I found the purple ones lasted longer. These things last quite a while and go a long ways for stripping. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...beRJ5GMFSMV0gl

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../PICT00554.jpg

The other thing I'm using is a Nyalox wire brush. Both the 3M and the Nyalox fit onto my air die grinders so are easy to use. http://www.summitracing.com/search/b.../?autoview=SKU

This one's warn down some already

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000531.jpg

Awesome build, my Nova is heading to my buddies shop for mini tubs and some other mods soon, I can't wait. Did u spot weld the filler panel on the interior side similar to the factory? Also, how did u attach it on the corners where it meets up with the quarter channel? Thanks for any advice, ur car is giving me major motivation to get my ass in the garage and get started again(I may "borrow" the fuel filler idea though) I really like that look, it breaks up that huge open space between the taillights

Thanks!! Make sure you post some pics when you get the mods done. I just plug welded the filler panel from the top. I figured most of the areas won't be seen anyways, so I'll just grind all the welds down and put a bit of filler in. As for the corners, I also just used plug welds. Yeah moving the filler neck does look a lot better. I actually borrowed the idea of it from Billy (72Novadriver). Seems there are so many different ways it can be done, it's just trying to figure out which way to install the filler tube that's the hard part :lol:

Were there spot welds on the trunk side of the panel where the weatherstripping fits, or just on the corners and on the interior side? Thx, just making sure I don't miss any and f something up

I used plug welds. You can drill holes or I used a hole punch to run holes along the sides. I welded in the seam where the weatherstipping sits along the back and the sides. There also a couple spots right above the trunk hinges where I welded. They were stock weld locations.

In this pictures, where the clecos are is where I ran the plug welds along the back

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000452.jpg

In this picture you can see where the welds are along the side

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000456.jpg

Time for a bit of an update. Last week I started stripping the driver's side door and did not like what I found. I found the entire front section of the door was all bondo....and thick. Looks like it was almost 1/4-1/2" thick in some spots. I also found bondo all over the rest of the door.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000532.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000534.jpg

So this morning I called up Frank and ordered new door skins for both sides. I thought with the door skins, I also might be able to cheat with them and help align the gaps a bit better. I also ordered a new tail light panel and the rear cross rail. I also decided to get some Vintage Air proline louvers in a brushed aluminum look. They weren't cheap but will look so sweet. I'm just waiting to hear back from Jon at Thunder Road and I will also be ordering an instrument panel. Will post pics once I get all the stuff.

Are the doors skins damaged or did they use the body filler to align them?

I'm not sure. The rest of the door had quite a bit of bondo on it also so another reason for the skins. In the picture you can see lots of black spots. Most of those are little dents. I'm probably going to strip the rest of the bondo to see what's going on underneath. Will post pics when I find out.

Thx for the help, it took a while, but I got the filler panel replaced. Do they sell the moulding brackets seperately? I noticed after I had messed with mine it didn't have them. Thanks for the help and motivation.

Which molding brackets do you mean?

I haven't gotten much done on the car over the past month. I blasted the passenger door, but the glass that I used was a bit too coarse so I'm going to redo it with walnut and see how it turns out. I might end up having to run the DA over it.

A couple weeks ago one our local pub had a draw for a free Coor's Light fridge. One entry for every Coors Light product you buy. Well that so happens to be the beer that my wife and I drink the most at that pub and guess what...the wife won it. Right away she gave it to me for the shop.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000536.jpg

Once I had the fridge, I decided to make a storage compartment where it was more at the right height to get at it. You can never have too much storage. The cabinet is 4 feet wide by 2 feet deep and about 6 feet high. Nice big storage on the bottom and I plan on moving all my paint into one of the shelves.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000542.jpg

A little bit for every occasion. Quantities change occasionally depending on how the time in the shop's going :devil: I know..Budweiser in a Coor's Light fridge.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000546.jpg

Tomorrow I plan on putting a spare 20" tv out there. I already have cable running to the shop for the stereo, so I'll just run a splitter.

Made a run to the border and picked up some more sheet metal.

Got some new door skins. I was hoping to get Auto Metal Direct skins but unfortunately they won't have their own ready for six months or longer. Not sure who's these are, but they are pretty thick and seem to be pretty good quality.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000558.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000559.jpg

The other parts are Auto Metal Direct. They are such good quality and quite a bit thicker than the other sheet metal that I have gotten.

New rear cross rail

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000554.jpg

New tail light panel

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000557.jpg

And not sure if I will need them or not, but I got them..new trunk extension end caps

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000555.jpg

And finally................

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000547.jpg

One of the first Thunder Road consoles for a 68 Nova. Even got it without the heater control hole so I can mount the electric controls in the center console (yet to be built).

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000549.jpg

They even come with the steering column cover. The neat thing about this part was I contacted John Covan a while ago to see if they were coming out with a 68 Nova panel. He said they were but he was looking for a steering column cover to make a mold from. Luck had it....my stock panel fell off a shelf and broke, but I never got around to getting rid of it yet so I still had the steering column cover. Shipped it off to John to make a new part. John was a great guy to deal with and he gave me a smoking deal on the panel.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000550.jpg

Next week I have 4 days off that I will get to spend in the shop, then I have to work 2 day shifts than I took all my night shifts off so will have 7 more days to work in the shop. Plus the wife will be away on two separate courses so will have lots of time. I hope to get all the new sheet metal on, finish stripping the car and get it into primer. Need to get it done before the cold weather hits. Will update as I go.

Looks good! The mouldings I was referring to were the ones where the window sits(I'll try to pm u a pic of what I mean). Also, did u replace the upper dash panel? I've got mine cut out and just want to see a pic of one done. Thanks for the update, it won't be long now

New parts thats always good. I like the storage you have there, and nicely stocked with liquid refreshments! :thumbsup:

Geezzzz they go and give you a fridge and then you fill it with BUD

LOL

Nice fridge!!

Thanks for the comments guys.

I made it out the shop and got some work done. I started cutting out the old tail panel and cross rail:

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000566.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000570.jpg

I will put some POR15 inside as well to stop the rust

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000571.jpg

If you're wondering how I went about removing the panels, here's how I cut out the tail panel. Need to cut out the fuel cap part and redo it in the new tail panel

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000572.jpg

As for the rear cross rail, you need to get rid of all the spot welds, which are quite big in size. I started to use my spot weld cutter, but broke it so need to get a new one. I ended up using my air cut off tool as a grinder and just ground down the area around the welds. Worked great. I then cut the panel into two parts to take off. Once I get another spot weld cutter, I will tackle the rest.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000573.jpg

I also started to fill up the new storage compartment. Got the TV hooked up too. :D

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000576.jpg

Nice progress Mike.

Mike -- I'm no pro at any of this -- but look into what is called "weld thru primer"... for those rusty areas (SEM or 3M). If you start using "paint" -- it will just burn off wherever you're welding. The Weld thru primer will protect the metal and won't burn off.

Here's a video on using it!

http://www.ehow.com/video_2326972_ap...ru-primer.html


There is also "rust convertors" -- that will convert the rust and protect the metal. But If I'm welding around the area - I use the weld thru stuff.

Thanks for the tip Greg. I actually have a couple cans of weld thru primer and have been using it on most of the welded spots. I was going to use POR in the deeper areas and then the areas that I would be welding I will use the primer.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :woot:

nice update!

Looks good mike! A couple questions, again you've inspired me to replace my tail panel and cross rail (they need them anyway, and the new metal looks good) but did you have to brace the trunk when you cut the tail panel or cross rail out? Also,did you also replace the brace, and does it matter which order you put it back together? Thanks

Thanks

Thanks. Glad to know my work is making others do more work too :unibrow: I didn't brace the trunk at all when I did mine. Hopefully this update will answer your questions.

I spent every day this week in the shop and I still didn't get as much done as I wanted to. It's amazing how that always happens.

Got back to work on the rear cross rail. That alone took me a couple days by the time I patched some metal, cleaned things up, etc. One suggestion for anyone planning on doing this.....make sure to get a new rear cross brace: http://autometaldirect.com/ListItems...ossmember.aspx and cross rail extensions: http://autometaldirect.com/ListItems...Extension.aspx They will make the job so much easier. That's why it took me so long to do mine.

First thing I tackled were getting rid of the old trunk extension end caps. There were a pain, but can be done with the quarters on. I didn't have the quarters welded were they connect to the end caps so it made it way easier. Here's where the end caps connect to on the quarter panel

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000625.jpg

Looked like crap from the inside with the old ones in place

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000586.jpg

It's gone

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000588.jpg

New one in place. It's been sprayed with weld through primer that's why it's grey

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000595.jpg

Looks much better from inside too

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000628.jpg

Next was patching some of the cross brace

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000587.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000590.jpg

I bought myself a cheap metal brake a while back. Glad I did. Drilled some holes in my work bench and bolted it in place.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000589.jpg

Next were the cross rail extensions. Since I didn't buy new ones, I just made some.

Old one

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000591.jpg

New one. Was actually quite easy to make

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000592.jpg

New ones welded into place. I know...the second one is bent the wrong way. But it still does the job. When I put these in, I realized that I made the bottom tabs too long. When the cross rail sits in place, it slides under the extension caps. I just cut along the bottom so the rail would slide under. Hopefully that made sense.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000597.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000598.jpg

And finally...it was in

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000603.jpg

Next up was getting things ready for the tail light panel

First I spent time cleaning up the rear flange. When I took the old one off and the cross rail, I ended up with a few weak spots like this

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000600.jpg

Here's where a piece of copper comes in really handy. Mine has magnets on it but it doesn't hold very good at all so I clamped it to the bottom and filled in the holes

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000601.jpg

Got it all filled and in weld through primer

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000602.jpg

Put the trunk lid back on to get proper alignment

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000603.jpg

Putting the tail light panel in turned out to be a pain also. I had to tweak the quarters to make them fit better.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000607.jpg

I mocked it into place, but the gap between it and the trunk was quite big

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000608.jpg

One thing I never even thought of until it was brought to my attention was the possibility of the trunk sagging. So I had to persuade the floor a bit

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000611.jpg

Once I got things lined up to where I was happy, I used some screws and clamps to hold things into place.

The rear gap was better. I might still weld in a piece of rod to get it a bit closer

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000612.jpg

Side gaps..I can live with. Again, I might weld in some rod if I get picky

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000613.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000614.jpg

Along the back. It could go in a bit with some trunk adjustment

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000615.jpg

I welded everything into place and cleaned it up.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000618.jpg

One thing I found after putting in so much new sheetmetal...I've ended up with a decent collection of clamps. And I can imagine this is small compared to some guys.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000616.jpg

After I got that done, I started finishing up some of the little things I never got around to getting done. I finished welding the sail panel around the rear window. Then I got the passenger side wheel well opening all finished. I had a few tacks in there, but it wasn't all done. I also cut 1/4 - 1/2" off to give some more room for the tires. Still have to finish the driver's side.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000619.jpg

Then I wanted to do a 'just sit there' job so I worked on getting the passenger side door jamb stripped. I was going to blast it, but I found it went really quick with the scotch brite pads so I just kept doing it.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...9/P1000623.jpg

Not sure if I'll get anything done on the weekend as the wife is back from her courses and I'm back to work on Monday. Hopefully next weekend I'll get a bunch more done as my wife and step daughter take off for most of my days off.

You made some nice progress.