72 Nova - C5 Corvette Suspension Swap Project!

[nickcornilsen]

Originally Posted by Ketzer

Very cool project!

What are you shooting for on ride height? (rocker to ground in inches)



Jeff-

4.5 to 5" at the front end of the rocker panel, with maybe an 1 to 1.5" of rake. On the fixture as it sits, it's set at 4" at the front and 5" at the rear end of the rocker.

[frojoe]

Awesome work and ingenuity. It's good to see someone else raise the front fender lip vs just widening, as that's what I've been thinking of doing on my build.

I just barely get tire sidewall rub (275/40/18) at full mechanical steering lock (25* as measured, I believe) with the below ride height.. my front fender lip is 22-5/8" off the ground.

[jarhead]

very cool build, just read everything from the beginning.

[nickcornilsen]

So shortly after my last build update, a big life even occurred for my family!



She was a bit early... 10 weeks to be exact. Looking back, its shocking how small she was, but one by one, all of the risks and potential issues went away.
She was a willful little thing, deciding she no longer needed respiratory assistance 2 weeks before the doctors said she could come off of it. (She ripped it off in the night,
and her vitals never missed a beat. Still, we were in NICU jail for 6 weeks. It was a stressful time that certain put some things into perspective.

She's coming along fine now. She seems to be showing an interest in tools!



Anyway, I was able to get an hour or two here and there, and finished the trunk and floor pans.






At this point I primered and seam sealed the trunk and the floor, however I did not get pictures of that freshly done. I also didn't get any pics of replacing the
deck filler panel. The AMD panel I got did not fit AT ALL. The radius of the arch in the panel was about 1.5" off in the middle, and there were no releifs for the trunk hinge
bodies. I got a Golden Legion panel, and it dropped right in.

On to the quarter panels. I thought I'd see how the AMD repop trunk fit. Answer: Not good. The counters were not right, the mount points seemed to be offset
to the right by 3/4". It is savable, but I decided to put the stock trunk on as an alignment tool for the quarter panels.



Sawzall time!





Tire fitment Check:


Driver's side:


All cleaned up and ready for primer




I had a little bit of rust that needed repaired on the driver rear corner of the trunk pan.

[nickcornilsen]

Tire mocked up. The steel beam the tire sits on represents a 1.5" of wheel compression upwards. I am going to install the QPs without the inner wheel well, and will hand-fab a new one
that gives me more tire clearance after the panels are installed.



I had always heard AMD panels were the best. I question that now, at least for Novas. I actually wondered if someone ripped me off and put another brand
of panel in an AMD box. Nope, the second set of AMD panels I bought from Summit were identical. Maybe I'm too picky, but I have about 4 hours into each panel for fitting, and
will have a few more for some post-install adjustments.

Fitment was OK at the top. comparing to the trim piece, the contour is correct.



However, the Pass side trunk rail was stamped 5/8"of an inch to far forward on the panel. That caused fitment problems at the tail panel and at the front, where the deck filler lays into it.
I also had to spent a bunch of time rolling the trunk gasket rail upwards, and tightening the trough that the trunk weatherstrip goes in. It is still about 1/8" too wide
compared to OEM, but it will hold the weatherstrip now. A little adhesive will make sure it stays.




The driver side panel had the same issue with the shape of the trunk weather strip, but at least it was in the right place.


Not to say the driver side QP didn't have it's issues. It seems that the flange on the bottom of the panel was stamped 3/16 too far forward. Once welded on, I will slice into the
QP to widen the door gap, and move the back edge closer to the rocker panel.



I also had to slice and dice the top area of the panel to make it fit into the B-pillar. I also needed to hammer the pinch weld flange back about 1/4" in the middle to make it align
with the inner QP piece. Both side QPs also had the door latch peg hole in the wrong place.

The AMD tail panel, however, fit PERFECT. I adjusted NOTHING on it. Same goes for the pieces that go in the corner where the QP meets the tail panel.



I was in the shop until 10PM last night doing the first round of welding. It's exciting to see the new QP's on!

The next steps are to build the wheel housings to clear the tires... then I might cut the car free of the chassis jig for the first time since 2011!

[CamaroAJ]

When I started dating my currant GF she has a 7 year old. I told her my car is a 2 seater and that we're gonna have to get another project car so we can all cruise once my car is done. Start prepping your wife for that now so it can happen later lol.

[nickcornilsen]

Originally Posted by CamaroAJ

When I started dating my currant GF she has a 7 year old. I told her my car is a 2 seater and that we're gonna have to get another project car so we can all cruise once my car is done. Start prepping your wife for that now so it can happen later lol.

I had to re-do the rear frame to make room for some rear seats. The seats will work until the kid(s) are teenagers, at which point I'll float that possibility!

Also, holy invasion of Novas! There's like 4 built threads actively being updated right now!

[CamaroAJ]

Originally Posted by nickcornilsen

I had to re-do the rear frame to make room for some rear seats. The seats will work until the kid(s) are teenagers, at which point I'll float that possibility!

Also, holy invasion of Novas! There's like 4 built threads actively being updated right now!

No, its a new member bumping posts from 2015 lol.

Also AMD panels for Camaro's fit really well. It must just be a Nova thing.

[nickcornilsen]

Originally Posted by CamaroAJ

No, its a new member bumping posts from 2015 lol.

Also AMD panels for Camaro's fit really well. It must just be a Nova thing.

Must be. It's been 8 years since they built their tool I guess, it may be that it's due for major overhaul or something. The other AMD stuff I have fits really well.

I also may just be overly picky!

[nickcornilsen]

Quick update

My how fast the summer goes! Around the first of this month, I got the quarter panels welded in, and the welds ground down. After this, I fabricated the inner wheel wells to clear my tires.

I then epoxy primered the inside of the trunk, the underside of the back of the car, and the wheel wells, and did the seam sealer. I also applied a layer of uPol Raptor liner to the trunk and the wheel wells.

It's stupid how much time went into those wheel wells, but I can clear a 315 tire if I want, and it won't be tucked so far under the car that it looks funny.







The raptor liner doesn't hide the spotwelds and such as well as I'd hoped, but it still looks good. If I'm worried I'll make a carpet for the trunk.



Made a cover for the shifter linkage access plate... I lost the one I made before. Thank god I keep a journal of my hand sketches for parts made like this.



I decided I didn't like the brake booster setup I had. So I bought a Wilwood 60 degree Master Cylinder mount. Turns out I don't like how that fits either. So I made my own housing for the MCs and the bias bar pivot, which puts them somewhere I can live with. I spent a bunch of time changing the design, and ended up with something cool - the pedal ratio is 5.5:1 for the first 1/8-3/16" of MC stroke, so any slack gets taken up quickly. Then the ratio increases to about 6.35:1 at 1/2" of cylinder stroke, and sort of levels off there. I'll be interesting to see how that feels in practice.

All of the parts are at a shop being laser cut now. If you look carefully, you can see little tabs and other interlocking features, that will make fixturing it much easier. I'll take some pics of the finished thing!



I wanted to keep the noise and engine smell out of the cabin, so I found this rubber bellows after scouring every catalog I could find. Next to it is a DSE bracket I modified to hold a Tilton 75 series master cyl for the clutch.



I decided to work on the front fenders, and finish the metal work with them. My plan is to do the front fenders, the door shells, and trunk lid... then send them for sandblasting. This will reduce my time spent getting them that far.
I did NOT expect to find any rust, but figured I should look in the common places. Loand behold! You can see where I welded up some pin holes back in 2003 when I first painted this car. I couldn't tell this was present under the 3M rock chip guard stuff I had along the bottom of the car.





I found some more along the door opening. I had welded up individual pinholes instead of sectioning out the bad metal. Luckily, a wire wheel took the rust off the inside structure, and I was able to primer it.







Patches are welded up. Just need to grind them down! I think these fenders spent some time leaned up against a tree with the top in the mud, as the folded over area at the very top of the panel was a bit soggy. I cut the rust out and made a patch for this. I need to tweak the welds a bit, then I'll fold it over the inner structure, just like new.

Next update: Other fender, doors, trunk lid!