63 Nova

[RoddingRon]

The passengers side floor still needs to be welded to the supports underneath and since it was never primed, or coated, I will have to clean up the rust and get it coated soon.

They're not the best pics, but at least I don't have to deal with any rust around the windshield or rear window areas

This was something I wasn't impressed with...filling in the trim holes by just shoving some mud in them...that will get corrected, since I'm kind of leaning toward not putting side trim on...that may change, but that's what I'm thinking at this point

The one thing I did get accomplished this weekend was to get the rear wheel and tire off of this so I can get a new tire mounted...

I think I'm safe to say I got the most out of the rear tire, but I'm not so sure how safe it was to go this far...

 

[Neverdone]

That's what you call replaced in the nick of time...........

 

[HOT40ROD]

Ron I never ran a bike tire that far. Most have felt a little funny in the turns.

 

[RoddingRon]

After some time thinking, researching and budgeting, I'm gotten a game plan together.

As far as the frontend goes, I'm going the upgrade route....going to get 2" drop spindles and a disc brake kit. Then I'm going to spring for one of the "mini subframe" kits from either CPP or Church Bros Racing. The mini subframe is a bolt in unit that reinforces and utilizes lower A frames similar to a normal car. What convinced me is one of the guys on Steves Nova Site has an early Nova that he rally races, and he is using one of the mini subframes. I figure if it holds up to racing riggors it should be just fine on the road (again this route is going to be A LOT cheaper then one of the complete bolt in subs mentioned in an earlier post and within my budget capabilites).

I'm staying with the 6 for motivation. I have some "goodies" I can ad down the line, but it's going to be 6 powered. I am looking for a 5 speed trans to hang behind the 6 (mostly for the over drive gear and highway rolling). For the rear end, I have a posi rear out of a Trans Am, but if I use that I'll have to get it narrowed a couple inches (which may still happen), but I'm probably going to throw a 2 wheel drive S-10 rear in it (again something guys on SNS have been doing to gain a little (2") extra wheel and tire room).

BUT....For now I've started cleaning. The floor pans have been replaced, but the passengers side was never finished up, so that's where I'm starting. I'm going to clean up the rust and paint and seam seal everything. Then the plan is to use the Peel and Seal on the whole interior...help keep the noise and heat out of the drivers compartment.







Once the interior is finished up, I'm going to utilize my new wiring kit to completely get rid of the 50 year old wiring.



Staying with the interior ideas at this point....the factory gauges are roughly 3-5/8" diameter...I have a set of 3-3/8" new gauges.....I'm pretty sure I can make one fit the other. I'll probably just take a piece of aluminum into work and cut a new plate to put in the factory bezel. I think that will be the easiest.





As I get back at things, I'll take pics of the process and try to document everything as I go. Hopefully I'll get the wire wheel out tomorrow and start getting serious

 

[bob w]

I like the way you are going. It might be a decent Autocross machine.

 

[jfg455]

I like it! Reminds me of my buddies 63 hard top he had in highschool with a 400 SBC in it. Fun ride! [P

 

[Undercover Customs]

Sweet! I think you'll be happier with one of the bolt in kits for sure.
Those 6 cyl's run pretty good with a little tweeking. I had a 62 nova with a mildly built 6 - cam, same intake as your's and headers, it ran great and got decent mileage. Have fun! [cl

 

[RoddingRon]

Sweet! I think you'll be happier with one of the bolt in kits for sure.
Those 6 cyl's run pretty good with a little tweeking. I had a 62 nova with a mildly built 6 - cam, same intake as your's and headers, it ran great and got decent mileage. Have fun! [cl

Yes the 6's can be fun. I have one in storage that was actually the back up motor for one of the local circle track guys. I had it in my 67 Nova, but with an automatic, it was a pain to drive in traffic. After two weeks I pulled it and put the stock 6 back in. I really don't think I'm going to put that one in this car, but maybe the head will find it's way on this motor

I have a set of truck headers that I'm going to try and modify to fit the Nova, and I have both a Clifford and an Offenhauser intake, so I will be putting those on.

The mini subframe kit I'm going with is one of these...



It eliminates the strut rods and corrects the suspension geometry short comings of the factory set up.

Bob W....The only autocross I'll be doing is with the traffic on my 45 mile ride to and from work....well maybe some old back roads might make me "play" a little[ddd

JFG455...My first car was a 1966 Nova two door sedan...with a 6 cylinder and a 3 speed. Heck John...maybe I'm going back to high school days....nah...once was enough

 

[RoddingRon]

Time for a little update...

I got the CPP front mini subframe kit. It was a heck of a deal on eBay, and included the tubular upper A frames as well





I'm going to take some of the overtime I've been working and grab 2" drop spindles and a disc brake upgrade in the next week or two. Then the front end will be about where I want it.

In the mean time I started on the interior. Got the floor cleaned up and used some of Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator.





Once that was done I seam sealed the passengers floor pan since it wasn't done yet...YES! I did go a little crazy with it, but Eastwood sells the seam sealer as "Brushable"...I had to "brush" it with a paint stirring stick



Anyway, after all that was done and dried, I got out the rat rodders Dynamat....Peel and Seal from Lowes. I didn't do up over the trans tunnel yet, because I have to fix the hole where the current shifter comes through and cut a new hole for the T-5, 5 speed I picked up today. I also didn't get chance to finish the passengers side ...ran out of time, but I hope after work this weekend I can get a few hours to finish the floor up

 

[RoddingRon]

I also started looking at what it's going to take to make headers. Yeah, I could go buy a new set for $350 (or there about), but I probably would still have to modify them to fit around the clutch linkage and steering......Soooooo, I decided I can buy a heck of a lot of pre-bent tubing from Speedway or Summit for less then $350, and make what I need from the old truck headers. It's going to take a little thought and planning, but I'm pretty sure I can route the pipes the way I need for everything to work.

 

[jammersspeed]

Nice Chevy II !!! i have had a few of them in my past.... im sure there are a few in my future also. i have a good friend that is building a tubbed 62 hardtop... one of my old cars!

 

[RoddingRon]

As some of you know I put the word out for some Chevy "script" valve covers. Stovebolt on here came to my rescue and sent a couple out for basically the cost of shipping them...THANK YOU AGAIN Stovebolt!

So here is the deal....I saw this on Steve's Nova Site in a build thread for a 62 Nova by J.Z. White out of Nebraska. I thought is was such a cool idea, I sent him a message and asked if it would be ok for an east coast car to be running around with the same treatment. Not only was he ok with it, he sent me a bunch of pics on exactly how he did his.

First thing was to mark and cut up the valve cover



Then I took the cut out to work and blasted it to clean it up a little. I did have to tap it around a little to remove a small dent, but...



Then from there it will find it's new home





This is a pic of J.Z. Whites car and what I'm going to duplicate.



Hopefully I'll start welding soon...

 

[RoddingRon]

I'll get to welding on the door soon enough, but right now I'm working on a little up grade.
The stock front suspension set up on these cars is less then stellar. I mean it worked, but not the ideal set up with the strut rod....





So first thing is to strip it all out of the way



Then I cleaned up and used some rust inhibitor all around the mounting points





Then I started hanging the CPP mini subframe





And installing the lower A arms. They utilize the new reinforced bracket and the original lower A arm mounting point



Unfortunately, I ran out of time today to go any further, but I'm hoping I can get away for a little while tomorrow to finish putting the rest of the front suspension back together

 

[RoddingRon]

Wow...I didn't realize I haven't updated this since May. Well...I did have a heart attack to slow me down a little, but that wasn't the main problem. Work, work, work....has kept me busy 6 and 7 days a week for the last few months. Anyway, I've gotten a little time lately to play with the Nova again, so here's some of what's been going on.



In addition to the mini subframe with the lower A frame upgrade I also have the tubular upper A frames to match.



I got rid of the stock 4 lug set up and got a set of 5 lug hubs. I still have to get the disc brakes yet, but at least I have to right spindles and hubs on the front now. I also put in a set of springs that are supposed to lower the front an inch and a half. Not sure if that'll be enough, but if not I still have the stock springs I can cut down to lower it more if needed.






In order to get rid of the 4 lug rear, I pulled a rear out of one of my S-10 frames. The S-10 two wheel drive rear is roughly 4 inches narrower then the stock rear width. I've seen a pretty simple way to relocate the spring hangers inboard about 1-1/2" per side, and as I do that I'll take pics to show the way it's done. I'll also have to slit the wheel tubs and widen them about the same 1-1/2" per side....just a little more room for some wider tires.


I made a trip to one of the local "you pull it" yards a couple weeks back, and found the interior (or at least the seats) I'll be happy to settle my butt into for some extended cruises.

They came out of a 99 Acura LX. Tan leather, power and heated front seats.







The tan interior even matches the new gages...at least close enough






One of the other things I started doing was swapping the stock 3 speed for a 5 speed transmission. I have to modify the cross member for the longer 5 speed, and I have to pick up a clutch set up compatible with the 5 speed, but having the over drive fifth gear will be nice out on the road






Since that isn't enough going on at one time.....I also started measuring and planning on what's going to be needed to build my headers





That's all for now, but hopefully it won't be another 5 months for the next update[S

 

[Undercover Customs]

I hear that CPP kit is awesome. For the money, it seems to be the best and simplest suspension upgrades for these cars. Even the difference between the 4 lug drums and the 5 lug drums will be significant.

Definitely keep us posted. Wanna see that S10 rear install and mini tub as well as the t5 stuff you are gonna need.

 

[bob w]

What? Just a little heart attact got in your way? Sure glad you are okay and back at it.

The front end upgrade looks outstanding.

 

[jfg455]

Looks good. Glad your heart issue didn't slow you down too much. [P

 

[earthman]

Good to see you back at it Ron. Thanks for updating.

 

[RoddingRon]

Well...It wasn't 5 months since the last update (only 3 this time). With winter having it's way with most of the U.S. including the Pocono Mountains, I didn't get to my garage a whole lot, but I did pick up a few of the things I wanted / needed to start getting the car put back together.

First...The government gave me more of my money back then I expected, so I bought headers. I figure brand new compared to pieced together used and some new tubing would be better (plus the time it'll save).





I also used part of my refund to get a safety item for the car...LED lights




Then to top off the gathering...Because of all the overtime we've worked the last year and our company having one of it's best years in sales and manufacturing, we all got a decent bonus, so I spent most of mine on the disc brake upgrade and drop spindles for the Nova







And to finish it all off, a few months back I got the 11" clutch kit I needed to put the 5 speed behind the 6 cylinder



I now have most of the major stuff to start reassembling the car and all I need is some warmer weather to start putting things back together. I already told the boss that I won't be working all of the weekends this spring because I have other more important (and fun) things to do with my weekends for awhile.

Oh yeah, I did get the stock rear pulled, but didn't get the spring mounts moved. As I said before, when I get to moving them I'll update with pics

 

[05snopro440]

Awesome, those headers look good!

LED's are now a must on any of my vehicles, good buy! Great to see you also got the disc brakes and dropped spindles. I can't wait to see you make progress!