1970 Nova by Ambition Road
 

This is Michael's 70 Nova. It was his first car given to him by his dad, who purchased it in the 80's. Another shop started bodyworking it and hiding rust. Thankfully Michael had an idea that things weren't right, so he wasn't too shocked when we started digging out the filler. Michael gave us the green light to strip it and repair it correctly. We'll turn this into a solid roller for him with all the DSE goodies as well as one of our own firewalls.

Wow! Talk about starting from scratch! Great progress so far, looking forward to seeing the build.

Holy shnikies!!

DSE deep tubs, new floors, quarters, and roof

Looks awesome!

Looking good .

Do you sell these firewall filler plates?

Yes we do. They fit the 67-69 Camaro and also the 68-72 Nova. $450 plus shipping. The billet clutch bracket and pushrod are $95.

I'd say you chose a very fitting name for the business if you're taking on projects like this one. Good luck, Aaron. Any idea what is planned for the car beyond the DSE goodies?

The customer brought the car to get it solid, gapped and ready for paint. We will be tucking bumpers and maybe do a few other things. He's still undecided on which engine he's going with but possibly an LT4.

We are moving in a few months to a larger shop and putting in a paint booth to keep that in house now. We would love to finish it turn key but that's up to him.

Sheet metal fitment and bolt in connector joint

Nova
 

Nice build. Do you have a rendering?

We don't, not yet anyway

Great to see such quality work. :thumbsup:

X 2..........................

Incredible quality build.

A little more progress. Gapped and fit the deck lid, shaved the trunk lock, marker lights, and began a few cuts on the original bumper before chopping up the new one.

Loving this one. Been following along on Instagram for a while now.

Now Aaron is just "showing off" . LOL.

Thanks for sharing.

You know it! Lol

Aaron,
What brand replacement panels do you typically use?

I get most everything from AMD. Even if they don't have everything in their own brand (like the Camaro) they seem to offer the best quality. These are stamped Tri plus and were pretty decent.

Got to spend a few more days on the Nova. Reskinned and installed 73 doors. Fit and installed the front sheet metal.

Changed to 73 doors to get rid of the vent window?

Keep up the good work, Aaron.

That's correct.

Thanks

Tucked, shortened, and smoothed rear bumper with exhaust cutouts. Modified a DSE Camaro dash insert. Installed 5th gen door latches.

Looking good! nice work.

nice work love the firewall. any thoughts on making the 69 camaro bumpers and the side panels for them as a kit?

Nice metal work! I love Novas, looking forward to seeing more.

Why the latches? Also wondering if you thought of just using the windows and guts etc. from the 73-74 doors so you could still use the door panels from the 68-72 car? Maybe your not using stck panels so it doesnt matter.

The late model latches close smoothly without slamming, more like a late model car. Plus we convert them to electric so we can shave the stock lock cylinder.

We could've transferred everything to the original door but since we need to reskin and patch them anyway it made more sense to swap the whole door. The channels as well as the inner door frames with the regulator mounting would need to be grafted. We'll probably leather wrap the 73 door panels and build rears to match.

I was wondering on the doors because i have a 72 with perfect doors but I also have 73 doors because I want that vent gone. Sounds like a lot of work to keep the 72 doors instead of swapping. Was it hard to put the latches in and what year car are they from? Thanks a lot for the help. Sweet car you've got!

I was able to pull the pins and install the passenger door, but the drivers door sat way low so I had to separate the hinges and move it up. The customer supplied the new doors that didn't seem to need as much work (until blasting) so that seemed to be the best route.

I'd say if your original doors are solid and already fit then you may be better off looking at converting them.

I usually use a 2010 Malibu door latch, this time I used 2015 Camaro latches as they have a slightly longer interior pull cable. They aren't "hard" to install, just take time and patience. You'll need to fill the three stock screw holes and drill new ones. Then reshape the latch cutout. The stock striker hole will need to be filled and a new cage plate made for the new GM striker. You'll then need to install electric poppers and mount an electronic micro switch to the outside handles. Don't forget a mechanical cable hidden somewhere in case of a dead battery. All in all it takes about a day and a few hundred dollars for the GM latches. Well worth not having to slam doors over and over on a fresh build.

Hey Aaron,
can you source the poppers and micro switch? or know where I can get them from locally? Mechanically it doesn't work well with the standard handles, but the Lokar electronic handles are very tempting

The poppers are autoloc 10# available from Summit or Amazon but prefer to build better brackets so they don't loosen. I have a supplier I get switches from. The stock handles aren't hard to convert. It involves making a small small bracket and mounting to the handle with #4 button heads.

Perfect, thanks for the information as always

I'm glad this was asked. I don't necessarily want electric door poppers, but I've always been curious about the new latch and striker bolts. Especially now as I'm currently dealing with a loose door on the TA from worn out latch and striker components.

Thanks for the great info Aaron.

Yes, thanks for the information. Awesome stuff! I was thinking the same thing about the original doors which fit great. I guess I will just modify them since they fit perfect. I am not sure what is involved in that? Gosh I hate those VENTS!!

Tucked and modified front bumper.