63 Nova

RoddingRon · Mar 23, 2013

Well, it's not really as cool as a Model A stuck in a hanger like DMW found, but I've always had an affection for the early Novas. My first car was a 66 Nova, so I think that had something to do with it.

The previous owner had new floors, trunk pan and quarters installed, and started gathering other parts and pieces for a restoration, but then he found a finished 63 SS hardtop and shoved this in the other side of his garage and forgot about it. He recently bought another project and needed room, so I was more then happy to help him make room in the garage.

Dirtyrat · Mar 23, 2013

I'm a Nova guy too, nice find, looks like it should be in pretty good shape... cept for the one quarter panel?

Dr Crankenstein · Mar 23, 2013

Congrats! [clLooks like a half-quarter on the passenger's side, no?

327 4-speed.

.

Snake Farm · Mar 23, 2013

Very cool! That's my all time favorite Chevy II body style. I know a guy who drug one of those home about 12 years ago........

......and shoved it into the back of his garage a couple years ago to make room to work on an old Willys

What are your plans for yours? Please tell me it will have three pedals. [dr

Nice score, keep us posted on the progress.

Mike S. · Mar 23, 2013

Nice! I love, love, love first generation Novas/Chevy IIs!

RoddingRon · Mar 24, 2013

Dr Crankenstein said:
Congrats! [clLooks like a half-quarter on the passenger's side, no?.

Yes....The passenger side is only a half quarter (that still needs to be finished).

This car is a 6 cylinder with a 3 speed (like my first car was), but.......I do have a 327 that just may find it's way into this and yes Snake Farm, I do plan on keeping three pedals

What I would like to do is find a 70s style Camaro or Nova front sub frame. I've seen it the past where guys have cut the back of the subs off and welded plates on to adapt to the first generation body. Easy way to get rid of the first gen front suspension and get disc brakes along with the ability to drop in a V8 without the need for the front sump oil pan setup. Oh yeah, the later sub frame gets rid of the 4 lug front hubs too. Obviously I'll have to slide in a different rear to get rid of that 4 lug set up too.

3 years ago when I first heard about this car (yup, took that long to get the car), I had just picked up a Corvette front and rear suspension from JFG455 on here, and I thought it would be cool to adapt that to this car, but after lots of research, I found out that they would have to be narrowed to fit. As cool as that would have been I'm not that ambisious so I'm going to go with the easier route and start looking for the sub and rear I mentioned above

HOT40ROD · Mar 24, 2013

Nice find Ron. Sold my 36 pickup and been looking for a Chevy II/Nova project too.

HOT40ROD · Mar 24, 2013

Ron they do make a real nice bolt on front clip for the Mustang II setup.

Old Iron · Mar 24, 2013

HOT40ROD said:
Ron they do make a real nice bolt on front clip for the Mustang II setup.

Yep I would go this way too.
The 70's style front subs are a little too heavy and too wide for the Chevy II in my opinion

I had a 62 Chevy II post car, in the mid 70's I put a 300 hp 327 in

The rearend pumpkin from the 55 to 64 Chevy's will bolt right in the housing on these cars. Axle splines are the same too.

Mike S. · Mar 24, 2013

HOT40ROD said:
Ron they do make a real nice bolt on front clip for the Mustang II setup.

Agreed. The bolt-on suspension options for Novas has really sky rocketed in the last few years. Heidts, Chris Alston and Detroit Speed (to name a few) make some really nice front clips and a few companies offer some really nice bolt-on rear options too. You can really get them to handle for a reasonable amount.

I love road race cars and for years I've dreamed of building a full boogie, tube chassis road race car out of a first gen Nova. Maybe the next project after I finish my '40.

johnny rotten · Mar 24, 2013

I love my 63 chevy II.....I hear that from alot of people too......
Seems if you take a high dollor car(shelby,vette,) and make a hot rod out of it, it dosnt look rite..........now do the same treatment to a cheapie (nova,vega,pinto) they look great..........
Cut it, slam it,chop it and ENJOY it........ thats whats its all about
O yehhhhh, abuse it time to time too

RoddingRon · Mar 24, 2013

Yeah guys, I know they make the bolt on kits, but the cheapest complete set up I've seen is $2500 and change, and as much as I like the Detroit Speed set up (I go to their open house every October), that starts at $6000.

Old Iron...your "to wide" comment made me go back and check some info (since my "forgetter" gets better every year). The first Gen Novas are 58" front track width. The info I have says that the 68 through 74 Camaros and Novas are 59.5" wide. Yes the later (76 on) Camaros and Novas are 61" wide, so THANK YOU for making me go back and check.

I'll keep digging through information and see what I can come up with. I really want to ditch the stock front suspension set up (but don't have $2500 laying around). So worse case is for a couple hundred bucks (more in my budget) I can upgrade the stock front end with discs and 5 lug wheels

Johnny Rotten....COOL wheels up shot!!!

Old Iron · Mar 24, 2013

The 67 to 69 Camaro stubs are rear steer 59.5" the 70 up Camaro is 61" which is 1 1/2" wider and are front steer.
If my remember is working the 68 to 74 Nova is 59.5" rear steer
The 75 up is 61" front steer
Easiest way to tell is if it's rear steer 59.5"
If it's front steer 61"

BlueNorther · Mar 24, 2013

find a complete Mustang II or 74 and newer Pinto, buy the whole thing and carefully cut the original front cross member out of the unibody, and you got your new front end.

make a sub-frame that bolts to the nova firewall mounts, add the MII front cross member and add a disc brake kit to change the bolt circle to 4.75.

I did this back in the 90's to my 57 Chevy, WAY cheaper than them store bought kits.

Undercover Customs · Mar 25, 2013

Nice project you have there. I've had 13 pre-65 Nova's. I'd consider the CPP line of front end kits if I were doing one now. Their kit utilizes some of the stock components and it's all bolt in. Allows you to ditch the Nova specific oil pan and such. I haven't used one myself but know a couple guys's that have and they all are very happy with the conversions. I think the camaro clip is too wide personally and the MII kits I've seen all put the crossmember too low to have the car sit low. Just my $.02.

http://www.classicperform.com/ Check it out!

Here's a shot of my 62

RoddingRon · Mar 25, 2013

Old Iron said:
The 67 to 69 Camaro stubs are rear steer 59.5" the 70 up Camaro is 61" which is 1 1/2" wider and are front steer.
If my remember is working the 68 to 74 Nova is 59.5" rear steer
The 75 up is 61" front steer
Easiest way to tell is if it's rear steer 59.5"
If it's front steer 61"

Thanks for the info. I had stuff written down from years ago when I had my last Nova, and I guess my notes weren't as complete as I thought (or I didn't write everything down like I should have...more likely)

BlueNorther said:
find a complete Mustang II or 74 and newer Pinto, buy the whole thing and carefully cut the original front cross member out of the unibody, and you got your new front end.

make a sub-frame that bolts to the nova firewall mounts, add the MII front cross member and add a disc brake kit to change the bolt circle to 4.75.

I did this back in the 90's to my 57 Chevy, WAY cheaper than them store bought kits.

This would be an option, except....finding a car around here would probably be tough to come by, and honestly, the MII front end is very similar to the Nova's with the strut rods for the lower control arms.

Undercover Customs said:
Nice project you have there. I've had 13 pre-65 Nova's. I'd consider the CPP line of front end kits if I were doing one now. Their kit utilizes some of the stock components and it's all bolt in. Allows you to ditch the Nova specific oil pan and such. I haven't used one myself but know a couple guys's that have and they all are very happy with the conversions. I think the camaro clip is too wide personally and the MII kits I've seen all put the crossmember too low to have the car sit low. Just my $.02.

http://www.classicperform.com/ Check it out!

Here's a shot of my 62

Nice convert! I'm actually leaning toward doing a disc upgrade with the stock front end. Like I said above, my notes on the subframes were probably incomplete and I guess I'm dropping those thoughts. I'll probably spring for the drop spindles as part of the disc brake package and I was looking at the CPP stuff

Thanks guys for the input.

I'm gonna get out to the garage this coming weekend and start taking inventory of exactly what I have and what I have to do and start gettiing a game plan together

BlueNorther · Mar 25, 2013

I dumped the stock strut rods and used Heim joints and tubing to replace them.

Undercover Customs · Mar 25, 2013

If you're gonna purchase a disc conversion - check to see if the conversion pushes the wheel out. Most do 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches. Depending on what you are going to run for wheels, that 1 inch can be a huge difference. I think CPP kit does not push the wheel out further.

Undercover Customs · Mar 25, 2013

BlueNorther said:
I dumped the stock strut rods and used Heim joints and tubing to replace them.

That's a great idea!

RoddingRon · Apr 7, 2013

Not really to much to update, but I did get chance to go through the stuff in the car and to take a little closer look at what I got to work with. The car has had a lot of sheet metal replaced, but most of it is only roughed in (at best), so I'll be doing a lot of sanding, filling and more sanding to get the body ready for paint (eeek....did he say paint? Yes I did). All things considered, its a much better start then the last Nova I had, so I guess I won't whine to much.

Here are a few pics of what I was uncovering as I started cleaning it out

I didn't get around to sorting out all the trim pieces yet, but I guess I should one night this coming week, just so I know what I might need to get

The drivers side floor was replaced and finished underneath, but I still need to seem seal up top and definitely need to redo the shifter area...it wasn't the smoothest cut on the hole and I'm pretty sure the speedo cable isn't supposed to go across the floor[S

63 Nova

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

A man in his natural habitat....a Studebaker

Got Fins?

Rocket Surgeon

Ol school snake charmer!

Well-known member

A man in his natural habitat....a Studebaker

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

A man in his natural habitat....a Studebaker

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

A man in his natural habitat....a Studebaker

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

A man in his natural habitat....a Studebaker

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!