Project Live Wire

[69-nova]

over the weekend got the motor and tranny out of the car. now its time to sandblast the firewall. after pulling the motor i noticed the frame appears to have been hit and is tweaked. so im not sure what im gona do about that yet. :/

[69-nova]

now that the motors out im prob gona do some suspension mods. what mods should i do thats the best bang for the buck? i was thinking just use the stock control arms with prothane or del a lum bushings. i want to do a rack and pinion but thats kind of pricy so i was thinking of getting a new gearbox with a better ratio. help me out guys im only 17 and dont know all the lil tricks to the trade. ANY info helps. building on a budget sucks.

[69-nova]

i stripped most of the firewall down and its kinda rusty. so im thinking im prob gona smooth it. while looking at my car i noticed my frame appears tweaked so i grabbed a tape measure and sure enough looks like it got smacked on the passenger side at one point. so i think im gona try and fnd a stock replacement off craigslist. so once the firewall is smoothed and the trunk is done and frame problem fixed the body panels go back on and shes gona look like a car again ill post pics when i get a chance.

[69-nova]

heres an update since its been awhile. i smoothed the firewall and pulled my frame off. bought one with power steering and power disc brakes for 200 bucks. now im cleaning up the frame and gona paint it and finish up the firewall and paint it. now ive been working on the rear end. i found a rear end and rear suspension from a 97 trans am for 150 bucks. the trans am and camaros have a similar torque arm design to the speed tech nova. so since its a budget build im cross breading the trans am suspension into my car. ill post pics tomorrow of all the progress!!!!

[Rick D]

Wow great job on cost savings and doing yourself! Now let's see some pictures

[69-nova]

old rear end.


most of the new rear end.


test fitting in the car.


baremetal firewall.

[69-nova]

the new used frame got stripped and painted today. went with a PPG single stage gloss black.

primer.


GLOSS BLACK

[69-nova]

got the firewall all primered up and its looking GOOD!!!!!!



10.5 wide z06 wheels

[Royalworks]

Hows the clearance on the rear wheels?

[69-nova]

they stick a tad bit to far out... so im gona have the backs of the rims shaved to suck them in. other than that they fit realy good and i DIDNT mini tub it.