Tube chassis 63 nova

[ironworks]

We have started on a 63 Nova with a 5" ride height. We are going to put an Ls1 with a 6 speed in it with a Procharger. We will be using a Chris Alston front crossmember with a Chris Alston Billet triangulated four bar. We will be using Wilwood brake and I'm thinking 13 spoke Fikse wheels. We are looking at 245/17's, 335/18 with BFG. In this project we will be doing the Heavy fabrication and the New sheet metal work. I will also attempt to tell you how many hours are involved in each phase of the project to give an idea of the time it takes to build something like this.

In this project we are not going to fabricate everything, we want to make a high tech well fabricated car using smart parts. We have a handful of problems to over come in a small car with such a low ride height. The track width will be 51" so the tires can fully turn. The Chris Alston clip does not come with power steering so we are working to get a nice scrub radius with a 4.120 back space on a 7.5 wheel, we may run 8's but I'm not sure they will fit. We also need to keep the the flat hood, so engine height is important. Not to high, but not low. The location of the Procharger, How much of back seat we can have, these are some of the many issues to deal with.

We are budgeting 500 hrs to get a rolling chassis with rollcage. It looks like custom headers or block hugger shortie headers are a must already to improve gas pedal area. The cheap hooker swap headers are just not to friendly for space. The engine is set back into the firwall about 3". Wait until you see the rear frame rails

Current hours to this point are about 50, with 2 sticks of .120 DOM. And a Old nova floor in the scarp bin. The front suspension shows up on monday.

[awr68]

Nice outline Rodger! It will be cool seeing the time breakdown.

[deuce1963]

This looks awesome Rodger, I love following your work on John's car but I'm partial to 1st gens so this ought to be a treat. As far as 8" on the front I got this off of a Steve's post from Mike Weddle at Chassisworks when asked about the fronts on their clip:

a 17 x 8 w/ 4 3/4" bs with a 225-45-17 is an easy fit

18 x 8 could use a 40 series tire, maybe the 45.
a 235 -40 could be close, but have heard of that
going on.
__________________
Mike Weddle
Senior Sales Technician
Chris Alston's Chassisworks

Bob

[ironworks]

Thanks, Mike is my sales guy and I have been talking to him about the exact numbers. 4.75" is the max or the car gets darty. The fikse wheels come in 1/4" increments which translates to 4.125, 4.375, and 4.625. I need to see exactly how wide I can run on the front. The track width has to be much narrower because of the ride height. I believe the bolt on clips have 56-57" Track width. I had to remove the stock Ac compressor and the Camaro alternator. Good thing no power steering or Ac on this ride.

Rodger

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Looks like another great project. Can't wait to see more.

[Ricochet]

Looks like yet another nice piece to come out of your shop. Look forward to seeing this one come together.

Brent

[ironworks]

Some pics from Today. We will install the front crossmember and bend up the next section of the rear rails tommorrow.

Rodger

[jason@gmachine]

one word.

BADASS!

I like it. Jason

[Tom.A]

Very nice! Hey for us non-fab guy's is 500 Hours (3+Months of 40 HR weeks) considered budget? At $100.00 per hour for labor x 500 hrs = $50,000.00 for frame and cage (no materials included)? I am not sure what you actually charge per hour but I would think for your caliber it has to be at least $75-100 per hour. Maybe I read the thread wrong but if that is correct with smart parts the other '66 Nova your building must be twice the amount of hours
I think your doing some killer builds and fab work and look forward to seeing more progress.

[ironworks]

Thanks for the compliments. At this point of 10pm on january 2,2008 we have 97 hours in this project from the rolling chassis complete car we started with 2.5 weeks ago. Our labor rate just went to 65.00 per hour as of last august. I ordered all the rear suspension parts today and they came to a total of 3800.00. Which is Axle housing, billet triangulated 4 link, Double adjustable coilovers and brackets, 31 spline axles, and rear sway bar. The front should be about 3500.00 with brakes. When I say smart parts I mean affordable, avalible parts that we can use to make this cheaper but still good quality.

My plan with this post was just to show people how many hours it takes to build this stuff. I hope to have it on the ground by the end of the month.