Beautiful car. You are changing my mind about big wheels on x bodies. For a while there I thought only 15's could look good. Please more pics of the stance and wheels!
Micah

Introducing Project Nuckin Futz
 

I am Jamie and fairly new to this forum, but have been reading nonstop since I started. Now I feel it is time to contribute something and hopefully not bore everyone to death.

I am currently garage-building a pro-touring 1970 Nova with my friend, Travis (street3285). It is a 50/50 build, which would make you think it should take half as long and cost half as much. I assure you this is not the case in this situation, but it is more fun.

To begin this thread we need to go back in time a little. Back in August the two of us bought the Nova at the Good Guys show in Pleasanton, CA. This is interesting because we live in Orange County - which is over 6 hours away. We did not have a truck or trailer to pull the car home, but bought it anyway. (Not sure if Nuckin Futz better suits the project or ourselves)

Nonetheless, I present to you Project Nuckin Futz:

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0347.jpg

Luckily, we met up with Jon from Drivers Inc. at the show and he offered to tow it back for us. (I am not sure why he does not offer this service on his website)

The Nova had a straight six with a Turbo 350 and ran… Barely.
We figured we would caravan back with Jon and try making the drive down the 5 through the ridiculously hot Central California…

We made it about 10 miles.

Didn’t realize the gas gauge didn’t work and ended up coasting into a gas station. We figured why push our luck and had Jon tow it. Here she is en-route:

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0359.jpg

Got the car back safely and started ripping it apart and to our surprise was it kinda straight, fairly rust-free and in pretty good shape… so far:

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0367.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0376.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0379.jpg

Here are the plans for Nuckin Futz:

Custom belly pan and front valance
Camaro taillights and bumpers
Offset cowl hood that runs into the dash
Procharged 572

Ok, I’m joking, that car is ridiculous and we will have to live and build in the shadows of Notorious, but I am ok with that.

Here are the real plans, nothing is concrete, just plans…

468 BBC with a DS-1 ProCharger
4L80E
Chassisworks subframe and suspension
Chassiworks G-Bar
Vari-Shocks all the way around
DSE Mini Tubs
Currie 9”
18” Schott Americana’s

Plan is to do as much of the building ourselves as possible with the limited fabrication tools in a two car garage. We both have fairly moderate experience, so hopefully won’t ask too many dumb questions.

We have made progress since we have been working of this for 7 months, but I am going to break it up over a few posts.

I look forward to the comments, advice and opinions and glad to be part of the community, just be careful with the opinions because Travis is a very insecure person.

I hope you enjoy…

Is everything Ok? Do people like it? I am not that insecure, am I?

Congrats guys on the project! Like the word play on the title and you really had me going with the initial project outline! I was like "what the hell?"!! :rofl:

Very cool project! These Novas are really starting to take off in popularity.

Welcome to the site and the car looks like a fun build, if you guys run into anything let me know as I am building a 1970 Nova right now as well and have run into issues that we have worked through like fitting the

19X9.5 with 285/35ZR19s front and 19X12 with 345/30ZR19s rear. This is a super wide tire and looks just sick on the car and can be done with not that much extra work.

Good luck and keep the pictures coming

We will be building a set of billet hood hinges for this car so if you are intested let me know.

Nice starting point. 3rd gen Novas are starting to get popular around here.
Enjoy the build guys.

Thanks for the welcome guys.

It is funny you mention the tire/wheel sizes. We were just talking about that this week. I would love to fit 12's on it. Do you have to replace frame rails? or is it the body that hits? I was told by DSE that 315's were as big as we could go on the Novas.

I think the 3rd Gen Novas are becoming popular is because there are no more '69 Camaros left. :rofl:

Welcome aboard. :cheers:

Welcome, we will be waiting for updates.

Very nice, I will be looking for progress posts on this one!

Welcome to the site. Very nice project. Gotta love a Big Block!

I guess everyone will live in the shadows of Notorious! I bet alot of people would like a good project car. Nudge Nudge.

Had to sell this before we could really start working on the Nova. (Needed the space and money) It is difficult having two ladies in your life. Sad to see her go, but just didn’t use it as much as I would have liked, but building it was more fun anyway.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_3297.jpg

Nova is stripped and ready to go out to sandblasting:

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0444.jpg

:thumbsup:

Got the car back from the sandblaster, pretty happy with the results. Couple pinholes in the trunk floor and it is overall pretty thin. We are leaning towards cutting the floor out for the tank anyway. Couple other little rust patched we need to repair.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0979.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0981.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0982.jpg

Lucky for us the drivers rear quarter panel was perfect.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/IMG_0976.jpg

Not sure who decided rivets were the best approach for body work. Obviously, we'll drill these out and weld it back together the right way.

Started working on smoothing out the firewall, will post pictures soon, also ordered the Chassisworks subframe and suspension from Jon and Drivers.

What a P.O.S. <---------------- That's for Travis!

That picture of it on the tow rig is funny... we were NOT going 45 that's for sure. :D

The Chassisworks stuff is going to look great on that car. Looking forward to more updates. And as said before, just glad to help in any way possible. Let me know if you need anything else.

Hmmm... www.wetowyourgarbagehome.com, I'll look and see if that one is available. :thumbsup:

Looks like it is going to be another great Nova. To answer your question on the 12's yes you would have to replace the frame rails or backhalf the car. My car has 10's and almost all of frame was cut out and reinforced back with plate. Little bit of work but well worth it. Fesler I would like some more info on the hinges and some pics.

What size tire are you using on the 10"?
Do you have mini-tubs?

Nice project, I wish I could have started with something as solid as that. Keep us posted!

Ok, so it has been a little while since an updated post. Got the Chassis Works complete subframe and rear g-bar from Jon @ DriverzInc. The subframe is a very nice product and am very happy with all of the components and how everything fits.

http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/subframeparts.JPG
http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/gbar.JPG

We have the custom flat-black rattle can paint job on the subframe right now for test-fitting. Subframe connectors are also in the works.....

Got the subframe together and ready for the big block. It is a 468 that will eventually get a pro charger, that will be matched up to a 4L80E. We had to use a TH400 trans mount and move it back in the subframe about 4" to fit the 4L80E.

http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/engine.JPG

The subframe is under the car, and back on the ground finally! The trans seems to fit in the tunnel with no problem.... only the cooling lines being tight.

http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/subframecomplete.JPG

Got the mini-tubs mostly installed, just have some finish work to do still. Ok..... quite a bit left. Still have to weld in the g-bar and smooth out the work done to the frame rails.

http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/minitub1.jpg
http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/minitub2.jpg

We welded the brackets for the g-bar directly to the axle, to clean things up and get rid of the u-bolts.

http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/gbar2.jpg

Great looking project.

Keep the pictures coming!

Ordered some Rushforths for the car..... the front does need to be lowered and the side shot has been photoshopped.

You can probably guess the next step is moving forward with the body work, the quarters and tail panel are banged up quite a bit.

Wheels are 20x10 & 19x8 Rushforth Fuels. Smoked Titanium Centers with polished outer.

http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/wheels1.jpg
http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/wheels2.jpg
http://www.tdulgerian.com/webpics/wheels3.jpg

Nice progress :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :cheers:

Nice work the car is coming together . It looks sweet with those big meats on the back.

jason
 

if your smart you wont shave the side moldings most idiots do though

Should be really nice when complete.
Keep us posted.:thumbsup:

The plan is to shave the moldings..... but now that you mention it, it wouldn't look bad with a nice trim down the side. Something to think about.

Also may be hot with a factory color on it aswell like the light green they made!

looks good if you are need some aftermarket guages I have some for sale. Pm me if you would like some photos:thumbsup: