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Project 67 Nova Sedan LS1TT
Now i will start a thread for my project. Is has been "on" more or less a year or so, but not much has happened because of different circumstances. But now i have a deadline for when the car should be running. Or atleast when i would like to have it running. Therefore if everything goes according to plan there should be quite alot of progress the next couple of months. I recently bought i new house, which has an nice garage that i am also upgrading along the way.
The car is an 1967 Chevrolet Nova Sedan. I bought it a year and some months ago on ebay, and it arrived to Denmark propably a year ago. This is how it looked when i picked it up: http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f..._Nova07025.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f..._Nova07026.jpg The car was bought without engine and transmission. But it had got an minitub, 9" rear with detroit locker and an aluminum fuel cell. Everything was with the car except for engine and transmission. Later on i bought an LS1 with 4L60E of ebay. My first plan was to mate the LS1 up with an TH350 or TH400 but half a year ago i came across an T56 on ebay with everything from clutch to pedals. This was much more suitable with my plans about building an Pro-Tourer. Very early in the progress i also decided to go for twin turbo's for the LS1, and i have 2 GT35r turbo's that i also bought of ebay. But the twin turbo build will be part of "stage 2". First of all i will have the car running and approved with the LS1 engine. Here are some pictures from when i moved the car to my new garage: http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008006.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008010.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008023.jpg I will be building a new front clip around an mustang II crossmember. At the moment i have the crossmember and all the suspension components are ariving to Denmark in the beginning of March hopefully. I could might have been cheaper to buy an entire frontclip but the transport of an entire frontclip to Denmark would have been very expensive, therefore i will be building one myself. I have not really decided what wheels to go with. My original plan was Foose Nitrous 2 polished. In 7-8X17 in front and 10x18 in the back. But i would like to run some wider rims on the back. Therefore i am currently with Boyd Timeless 5 17x8 front and 17x11 rear. These will still be in my budget. But if you have any suggestions please feel free to speak up. I would not mind going for 18x12 but there arent that many in those sizes that do not exceed around $600 a piece. Not that i have found nevertheless. This was an short introduction, i have propably missed out on quite alot of information, but more will come along the way, and otherwise please feel free to ask any questions. |
Here are some pictures from when i took apart the frontend:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008031.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008033.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008038.jpg |
Got started on mocking up the front framerails yesturday. Need to do a little more adjustment before they get some more tack-welds. Then i will mock up the entire front and fenders in order to make sure that everything fits perfectly before welding them solid. And then it is on to the Mustang II components that needs to be welded in. Hopefully it will not be long before i have the controlarms etc. Then i will be able to put the car back on the ground and see how it looks.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008044.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008043.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008042.jpg Will also be ordering my new air compressor one of these days. :) |
Awesome, keep this thread going. :cheers:
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A little progress from yesturday. Was a bit excited to mock up the front fenders and radiator support to see if i had done my maesurements properly. But it did fit very nicely! Also adjusted the framerails a bit so that they now point excatly straight ahead and are parralel. Hopefully i will have the framrails done in the weekend and maybe mocked up the crossmember. When that is sorted out i can start thinking about putting in the engine and making a new transmission tunnel for the T-56.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008049.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008048.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008047.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008046.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a022008045.jpg For now everything is going according to the plan and i have not run into any mayor obstacles that i have not foreseen yet. By the way, does any of you now where i can buy an weld-in cage for the Nova where i will be able to get people in the backseat? |
most of the weld in cages ive seen fit like crap.. and shipping to DK will be cost prohibitive... you have two options IMHO, renting a mandrel tube bender and doing it yourself, i have seen some that bend up to 50mm tubing for about 100-150 DKK/day, or have a rally shop do it for you.. they have the aprovals that you will need to get the car thru "bilsyn" also considder that a cage might look cool.. but you will need to get the tubes as far away from your head as possible, i assume you dont drive arround with a helmet, and hitting your head on a rollcage will crack your skull and kill you like nothing,
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Go Brother Go!
Good to see you got everything sorted out and can now really dig into the car! As far as a cage, I don't think it's doable and still be able to have an accessible back seat! John |
deuce: I could imagine that the weld-in cages would fit rather badly. But i should be able to get it to denmark rather cheap nevertheless.
Where can you rent such a bender? I have not yet asked what the requirements for the cage should be in order to get it approved. One of my main concerns is to rigid up the car a bit and if i attend any streetrace it will most likely be required with the ET's that the car will pull. John: It is really nice to finally make some great progress on the car. I have studied your car quite a bit, and really loves the details. Thought about doing something a bit similar for the front but i am not sure yet. It looks cool on your car nevertheless! If I could make or buy a 6-point rollcage then I should still be able to have a functional backseat. Or at least that was what I had in mind. |
The car is going to be nice went you put the front end on, love the sedan chevy II
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Jim |
You would probably want to make sure that if you had Rodger bend you one up that it was based on the '66 or '67 post/sedan like yours. John's is a hard-top. Brian's is a post, but the early body style - and I think they already chopped the top on Brians??????
I'm sure they could find a post/sedan to base it off of though. |
Shoot you're right - they already did the top chop on it.
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As far as I know, the sedan and hardtop have the same front end although the difference from car to car is what's going to make the difference. I would think that Rodger would need to have the actual car to truly optimize the front end but then again Rodger has a knack for being able to pull off these types things and make it even better!
John |
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I saw the bender in a hydraulics shop in ishøj.. shoot me an email if you want me to look into it.. |
It was actually an ok idea to have one bend the tubes and then ship it to denmark, but i think it would propably be cheaper to do it in Denmark. I know quite alot of qualified welders and i better hear some of them if they have any access to an mandrel tube bender. Then i could make a cage that was as close as possible to the posts and roof.
John: I think that the HT is slightly lower than the Sedan. I would guess some thing like ½ inch or so. But i am not sure about this. I picked up nearly all the suspension components to the front at the start of this week,so hopefully i will be able to get alot done this weekend. It is some really nice stuff. I also ordered an +800hp clutch yesturday, so hopefully everything will come along nicely and i will end up with a running vehicle in a little over a month. :D That is nevertheless my optimistic plan. |
the only thing that is a bit of a problem is getting Chrome moly tubing in denmark.. it has to be ordered specially from aircraft supply stores.. or from race shops in sweeden.... but its not impossible
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Yes i know it propably could be kind of hard to get, and propably rather expensive as well. But then i could settle with mild steel instead. In will be a bit heavier but i can live with that, then i just give it few PSI more in the intake instead. ;)
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the DOM mild steel tubing also has the big advantage of being easier to weld and a MIG/MAG welder will produce excellent results, whereas CroMo is Tig or oxy/acetylene only!
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Got some progress on the front end this saturday. My idea behind is, is to have the rails appear as stock as possible, this might help me get it approved for the streets, otherwise i have to bolt up the old front end to have it approved and then swap to my home fabricated again, but i take those worries later on, for now it is very fun to fabricate everything myself. My initial plans was to have the entire front welded together and the suspension bolted up and on the ground in order for me to have the measurements to order my new wheels. :D But the first hurdle was that i did not get my spindles with everything i ordered, but they should be on the way now. And then i was home kind of late saturday night so i was not that productive sunday. :cheers:
Hopefully i will make a bit progress during the week, and then next week i am off from work, in order to make som mayor progress hopefully. http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008003.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008004.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008005.jpg |
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Made a little progress yesturday on the Nova. Worked for about 1½ hour so not that much, but it gets me further.
I can't wait to get it back on the ground. And hopefully i can start on mounting the engine next week. http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008016.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008018.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008019.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008020.jpg |
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Now it is time for a little more updates. I have had vacation for a little over a week and i have made some progress on the car. Not as much as wanted, but nevertheless quite alot of progress. As always there has been a number of "problems" where i thought everything was thought of. I had planned on using the pedal assembly from the camaro, but this seemed to take alot of work to get in place and I instead decided to mate the clutch assembly from the camaro to the "auto" brake-part of the original pedal assembly. And then i might add the throttle-pedal from the camaro as well.
I have mounted the engine, but i am not sure whether i will raise it up about 1½-2 inches since i think the clearance under the transmission is rather low. And the car should sit as low as possible. But in doing this i have 2 issues at the moment. One is the engine and transmission, the other is that if it gets much lower i do not think there will be sufficient clearance under the crossmember. At the moment there is 2.75 inches of clearance which is enough nevertheless, but judging by the look i would like to get the stance atleast 1" lower in the front. And i do not think that i can go lower than 2" clearance under the crossmember. This means that i somehow needs to gain a lower stance without getting the crossmember lower. I will actually have 17" wheels on the front instead of the 14" there is on the pictures but i will have low profile tires on so the overall diameter will not change that much. So as i see it the only option is to raise the entire front clip this will also raise the engine and transmission. But then i have to adjust the radiator support so that the front and fenders will mount up properly. As always, there is no easy solution, but this is why it is fun to make everything yourselve. You have to figure out a solution to everything. But if you have any thoughts then please share them. http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008027.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008031.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008037.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a032008038.jpg |
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:beavis: :beavis:
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As you will see on the pictures, i decided to raise the engine and further more i moved i a little more backwards. But know i have it exactly where i want it, and after looking at the clearance and where it sits now i am glad that i took the time to redo the engine mounts and mount it a little higher. I needed to do a lot more of cutting to mount it higher and i still have a little cutting to do, but i think it will be as i wanted nevertheless. I also fabricated the supports for the frame rails. Unfortunately i do not have a tube bender so this is the way they are going to be made, atleast for now. They really put a lot of strength to the front. Before the fenders did not match up that good when the car was on the ground because the entire front clip "leaned" slightly upwards when on the ground, but now they just fit perfectly. That was very nice to discover.
I have a little idea that i might cut a bit of the bottom of the crossmember to gain a little clearance under there. After what i can see i can almost gain an inch of clearance with a little cutting and reinforcement. That would really help when the car gets lowered further. I also started working on mounting my door handles, unfortunately i did not take any pictures. But i got a quite nice idea on how to flush mount them, but you will se that later on. http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a042008006.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a042008007.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a042008018.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a042008005.jpg |
A little more pictures. As you can see the transmission now no longer is the lowest point.
Please note that the transmission mount is the old one for an TH400 that is stacked up with wood to support the transmission and not the final one. http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a042008009.jpg http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a042008010.jpg It sits nice on the ground but i would like to have it at least 1½-2 inches lower. And there is plenty of clearance everywhere else than under the crossmember, but that will be fixed. http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...a042008014.jpg |
Wow I cannot believe it has been 3 years since my last update on this site. I know I have not made that much progress on the car the recent years, but 3 years is quite a long time.
But then again now I have some motivation, and I am sure that there will be some progress made the next couple of months, therefore I will revive this thread. I can see that I have made some changes that has not made its way to this site, but i will try to post some pics the following days and explain what has been done, at least that will make me feel like i have accomplished something in the 3 years. :lol: First of a picture with the rims I am planning on running. I lowered the front another 2" as I could see, I talked about on the last update. This was done by moving the entire front-clip 2" up. http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5132/...b7d207c896.jpg Then today I finally started welding in my door handles after quite some time, figuring out how to mount them on the back, and connect them to the door mechanism. http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5020/...356b5d9f65.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5180/...ca844f68d4.jpg |
Cool home built project.I love those chevy II's.:thumbsup: Scott
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Got the door handle for the driver side welded yesturday. It is nice that the idea looks at good on the car as I hoped.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5012/...b873a20e21.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5059/...f99d9e2d90.jpg And finally a picture from last time it was moved outside to make room for a party. Have not decided whether to use that hood or the original. http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5051/...278ce8a423.jpg |
Stance is really lookin great.:thumbsup: Scott
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:thumbsup:
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Well time for another update. The last few weekends has sparked some progress on the old Nova. I am not all that busy at work, which makes me want to "create" something in the garage instead.
I actually tried to sell the car, but it never really came through and therefore i guess I might as well make some progress on it. It would be a shame to miss the first drive in a car I have build. First a picture of the car where i took off. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3258/...a7028b3e1f.jpg I was kinda at a point where further progress depended on a transmission bracket and for god knows which time cut off the engine mounts in order to make them removeable, since it will make for an easier remove/install of engine in the future. Transmission mounted. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/...0a3fc9a960.jpg Removeable engine mounts: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3249/...e28d3735c8.jpg The same day i also made a bracket for the clucth master and mounted the anti-roll bar in the front. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/...0405679377.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2560/...acece93161.jpg |
Moving on to the day after. With transmission and engine now in place where I wanted them, I could start fabricating the transmission and driveshaft-tunnel. I also needed to redo some work there had been done in the passenger feet area.
A little before picture: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5181/...9eebbe54ae.jpg You gotta go bad before it can be good: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5310/...d2803007eb.jpg Getting closer. Very fun to build tunnel in hand. http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5070/...7fb0934a54.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5197/...3e1813a7e2.jpg |
Now working Sunday, and as it always happens I ran out of something on a Sunday, right when everything was flowing. This time i had used all my sheetmetal. Fortunately i called a friend of mine who had some that i could buy.
Then construction of the tunnel could continue. And here is how it turned out. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2743/...082136f3_z.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/...f32b9813_z.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3078/...005cd1b0_z.jpg It was such a fun process, and it turned out much nicer than i thought. I almost do not want to hide it away. Some final welding is still needed but that will come. Then i could remove the engine and start to think about wiring up the Megasquirt box to the LS1. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/...06ed5e7f_z.jpg And Nova now again without engine. http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5026/...4435960b_z.jpg |
Late Sunday i sadly experienced that my engine no longer could turn a full revolution. I had bought it off ebay several years ago and had it shipped to Denmark. As I remember I tried to see if it could turn over back then, and it could.
Monday I opened the engine to see what was wrong with it. First I took of the oil pan and realized that the engine had suffered from water in the oil. Then I removed the heads and this is what showed: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/...e31c9eed_z.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/...e2691ce9_z.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/...c8e8d17f_z.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/...091b5487_z.jpg A very sad sight. Water had been sitting in the engine for probably a couple of years and had caused so much corrosion in one of the cylinders that it blocked the piston. My plan had always been to get the car moving without modifying the engine to much, just swap a cam and go. Then later I would upgrade pistons and rods, add turbo's and then really GO. It was quite depressing to see that I might had to do all this up front and then add a lot of cash before the car was driveable. But after a few days and some second looks I might be able to polish and/or hone the cylinder a bit to get it going. All I want is for it to drive a few months before upgrading it, and might be possible anyway. Then I can give it a complete overhaul in the winter. Finally I finished welding my engine mounts: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5304/...ff1a3125_z.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5066/...c45eb264_z.jpg |
Sorry to here about the motor trouble's.But the engine mount's look great.:thumbsup:
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I have not made that much progress the last couple of days, have been moving a bit around in the garage instead. But yesterday I measured the distance for the spacers that I will need to mount the rear wheels. Also took a couple of pictures - just for motivation. Though without the engine and transmission mounted the front sits quite i bit higher.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2707/...8945b5a0_z.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6004/...a83f59ab_z.jpg I will also run a considerably larger tire on that rim, it looks too skinny both from the side and behind. |
Keep at it. Its going to be a really cool car all finished.
Sorry to see that engine damage. |
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