66 Nova SS Project

[byndbad914]

I hope so The inspiration, as I am sure for many of us, is the car in your signature. I still recall seeing the blurb in Hot Rod Magazine when Big Red hit the scene, I was either a senior in HS or just graduated, after it ran the Silver State Challenge. My friend mail ordered a VCR tape (recall those days!) of the event and with seeing that car in action and it was all over for me. That and shows like Glory Days that Dave Despain did back in the 90s with a lot of SCCA Trans Am footage.

I am always sort of learning as I go so the car will definitely be a work in progress, hopefully not for 17 years like the 914 was, and one of the things I am going to have to learn is fabbing and MIG welding really thin steel. I still blow holes thru thin stuff Well that and learn how to TIG - I gas welded really well about 15 years ago, you would think I could pick it up, but so far practicing with TIG has not been so promising haha.

[Rick D]

Originally Posted by byndbad914

I hope so The inspiration, as I am sure for many of us, is the car in your signature. I still recall seeing the blurb in Hot Rod Magazine when Big Red hit the scene, I was either a senior in HS or just graduated, after it ran the Silver State Challenge. My friend mail ordered a VCR tape (recall those days!) of the event and with seeing that car in action and it was all over for me. That and shows like Glory Days that Dave Despain did back in the 90s with a lot of SCCA Trans Am footage.

I am always sort of learning as I go so the car will definitely be a work in progress, hopefully not for 17 years like the 914 was, and one of the things I am going to have to learn is fabbing and MIG welding really thin steel. I still blow holes thru thin stuff Well that and learn how to TIG - I gas welded really well about 15 years ago, you would think I could pick it up, but so far practicing with TIG has not been so promising haha.

Tig welding takes lots of practice. What welder are you using for mig and tig? I love Miller that's all I have mig and tig, but the HTP unit is really nice as well. The newer auto set mig welders are really nice, you just set the wire size, metal thickness, and it sets up the welder for you. Once get used to how it works you can fine tune the setting from there.

One of my fab buddy's just picked up a new Miller unit that will do both mig and tig and stick. It's like and XTM unit from Miller but more mobile, compact. If I remember correctly this new unit has the auto set feature as well?

I'm thinking of selling what I have getting the same setup. I only have a 20x20 attached garage at home so anywhere I can save space I do, plus this new machine is nice.

Can't wait to see your fab work on the Nova, I really love these cars.

[byndbad914]

Actually I bought the very Miller all-in-one you are talking about, only 29 lbs without wire and comes with a carry strap. So far I have set it to pretty thin but I think I am tacking too long and need to do a bit quicker. The auto settings have been awesome for welding tabs for example, if I futz with the settings, it gets worse. Use what it auto selects and I am fine.

The next trick I have heard to try is using the 110V setup for thin stuff - leaving is set on the 220V is supposedly a bit much.

Pics of the new wheels on the Vette and then I mocked up the left rear to measure out suspension parts to keep ordering. What I like about using wheels with a lot of backspace is then when the car is on the ground it looks a bit more of a sleeper - people would likely assume stock-ish widths at first glance and just think the car is a bit of a classic upgrade... until you get down and look at the width of the tires

Also seeing how the 295 and the 335 fits a bit narrow IMO is promising as well for running a 320/355 race slick setup down the road.