Project 'Overtime': Pro-Touring 68 Acadian (Nova) with L92 swap

[scherp69]

Today I was able to get the G-Bar/Air Ride rear suspension mocked up. It took some cursing and swearing, but not too much. Now I can get this thing as a roller and start putting the body panels on.

Bottle Jacks to help hold brace in place


Bottle Jack attached to main brace


Rear suspension is in!!!

[scherp69]

[tones2SS]

That is awesome.
The build seems to coming along quickly. Keep us updated.

[awr68]

rockin'!!!!!!!

[waynieZ]

Looking good keep the pictures comming.
Wayne

[scherp69]

Thanks for the comments guys. Today I started to do some more cutting. I guess there's no turning back now.

[scherp69]

Well I haven't had a lot of time to work on the car since my last post, but I did get a few opportunities to get in the shop. I started doing the deep tubs install, but has taken longer than it should have. I originally cut a piece out of the floor and was going to stretch the wheelhouse, then I decided to do the deep tubs. I'm doing a lot of guess work as I can't measure from the stock wheelhouse location. My welder has become my greatest friend. Along with a sheet of metal to fill in when I cut too big. I've got the passenger side deep tub and new outer wheelhouse mocked up. I also put in a new trunk drop off. Now to mock up the quarter panel to make sure my outer wheelhouse lip is right. I did find though that with the deep tubs and the 285/35/18 tires I have....I have almost 2" more that I can go. May have to get some 12" wide rims. Anyone looking for a set of 18" Foose rims and tires?? Anyways...here's some pics.

I had to cut a rusted piece off the rocker panel. Will be an easy patch.




Frame notched.



Wheels mocked up.

[supernova70]

WOW, Mike you are an inspiration. You have given me the confidence to mini tub my 72. I am trying to figure out how much to narrow the rear end. I didnt read in your postings it you did. If you dont mind could you go back over wheel dimentions and how much you narrowed the rear end. I am looking to get a min. 15 x 10 or wider corvett rally inside the wheelwell.
By the way your Nova is looking awsome. Looking forward to more postings.

[scherp69]

Originally Posted by supernova70

WOW, Mike you are an inspiration. You have given me the confidence to mini tub my 72. I am trying to figure out how much to narrow the rear end. I didnt read in your postings it you did. If you dont mind could you go back over wheel dimentions and how much you narrowed the rear end. I am looking to get a min. 15 x 10 or wider corvett rally inside the wheelwell.
By the way your Nova is looking awsome. Looking forward to more postings.

Thanks. Glad my project has helped you. Checking out all the builds on here is the best way to get inspired. It helps show that a lot the work can be done by anyone. I know if I can figure it, anyone can.


Haven't gotten anything done on the car, but still have a quick update. Last week I found a set of 73-74 doors on Craigslist. Unfortunately they were in Tacoma (south of Seattle). Talked the guy and he told me that they were in great shape. Took Friday off work and the step daughter and I hit the road. What I didn't realize was that apparently Friday is not a good day to travel as the traffic is horrible. Found that out really quick. Glad we decided to make a night of it and had already booked a room in Bellingham. Left at 9am and didn't get back to Bellingham until 7pm. Total round trip back home was 1100 kms. But he was right, the doors are in awesome shape and I traded him a couple parts and some cash. Worked out to $125 a side and they have glass and all the regulators. The ones that I had found in my province were going to cost me about a grand for just the shells. Well worth the trip.





They still have the stock weather stripping on it





Very little rust. All surface rust







Even the stock decals on still there



That's it for updates on the car. The gentleman I bought them from has a huge 68-74 Nova parts collection and is always trading, selling and buying parts. He showed me some of his collection. He pretty much has everything you could think of. I think he said his storage shop was 20 x 40. He's also building a 68. I told him about the site, so hopefully we see him on here soon. If anyone wants his contact info, pm me. He was okay with sending guys his way.

I decided to do some work on the shop. For a while now, I have wanted to add cupboards in the shop. I had storage shelves, but it still looked so cluttered and messy. I picked up two cupboards a few months ago but never got around to putting them up. Princess Auto had some other ones on sale so I picked up four more. So the past 2 days I have been reorganizing my shop. Here's some pics.

Here's two before pics





And as it looks now.



I also added a spring loaded air hose reel. I'm going to move it a little higher though. It's a little too low.



I'm still going to add one more on the left



If anyone's looking for new cupboards, the ones from Princess Auto are quite nice. And they were only $69 each. The Black and Decker ones were $99 each and they don't feel as sturdy. I added a bunch of screws to them and they feel way better.

[scherp69]

Here's a few more shots of the shop







There's still a few things I want to do to the shop. Eventually I want to pull down all the interior walls. It's basically a 1/4" plywood and is cracked and has holes all over. Plus I hate the yellow. I'd like to redo all the walls with gyproc and paint it white. This summer I'm also going to get a new man door. Right now the door is an interior wood door. It's seen better days. I'm going to get a 6 panel steel door and add a dead bolt. The only problem is it's an off size (29 1/2" wide) so it will be a custom door. I would rather order the same size door cause if I went any bigger, I would have to cut the cement base to make it fit. Too much work. Hope to get some work done on the car next week as back to work tomorrow.