66 Nova SS Project

[byndbad914]

got a little further today - took about 5 hours but I worked and worked until the car was perfectly level, then the main frame section, then got is squared up in the car, plumb bobbed like a freak, and finally cut two of the tie tubes that will go between the rockers rails and the main frame and tacked them in. That should be the hardest part of the build - getting things square and level - especially when I am dropping points off of a nearly 50 year old body = a major PITA.

I took one of the wheels I used to run on the front of the Porsche a few years back and tucked it up in the rear to get an idea of overall ride height. For those not in the know, "2 by" and "4 by" chunks are completely scientific. Actually it measured out to be within a ±1/8" of what I expect the height to be so this should be close. And those 245s barely fit up in there, my 275s were close but no cigar, so going to a 13" wide tire is going to take a fair amount of cutting in the rear. Good thing I won't need the rear subframe anymore

Hard to tell from the somewhat uneven floor (in Colorado the ground moves a fair amount so your garage is level for about the first month) but the frame is level here and the rocker rails are leveled as well and set for ride height, so you can sort of see the rake that I put into the body. Without front fenders it is a bit tough. Rockers at the front should end up about 3-3/4" ground clearance with the setup I finalized on using the 16" wheels and 24" front tire, 25" rear tire. For the street I will likely go 18" wheels as mentioned which will push front to 25" diam and rear around 25.5", raising the rocker to 4-1/4" on the street. 'Course, that is probably ±1/2" until I finish it and actually measure it hahaha. This is a garage project after all.

Oh yeah, I had those tires stacked on the front because I found the cg of the body with the jack at one point. The front was rather light while I was messing around getting things in place. Now everything is pretty solid but I figure I would rather stay safer than sorry.