🔧 BUILD 1971 Nova - Work in Progress

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1971 Nova - Insanity in Progress

I bought this Nova last year when I sold my mustang, I was a active member here when this was CSVT so all the info of my old car is still on this site. Some of you know me from other sites as well as some of the old CSVT members who are still around. I apologize in advance for being a little long winded.

I was looking to get back into a classic muscle car that I could restore and modify to my liking. I choose a Nova since they are cheap and my wife wanted it to be a chevy. I enjoy all makes/models domestic or import which is why I enjoy TCG.

Specs:
1971 2 Door Nova factory v8 auto

Engine
350 block 383 stroker
Cam - unknown (I have several cam cards from the previous owners not sure which one is installed)
Rods/pistons - unknown
Heads - stock
Edelbrock intake - unknown which model
Holley 750 double pumper

Trans
700R4
3200 Stall
Shift Kit - Jegs brand

Rearend
10 bolt 8.5
3:56 gears

I knew the car needed some work before I bought it....I just underestimated how bad some of it was going to be. When I got the car the owner I purchased it from had just primer bombed the car and splatter painted the trunk (was still fresh when I went to look at the car). I would have still bought the car but would have negotiated a better price, but hey live and learn. The guy I bought the car from purchased the car from an elderly couple in Ohio who had a binder of documentation which was a huge selling point to me. Unfortunately I didn't look closely to see that the receipts didn't have much specific information. So the documentation only shows dates and what parts were replaced not what they were replaced with (for the most part anyways.) Again no biggie.

The car had 3 paint jobs in it's life plus the primer the guy I bought the car from put on it. Under the primer was a Suzuki gold that was applied in 2002. (what a FUGLY ass color) under the gold was a red. Whenever the red was put on the car it also had extensive body filler applied but no rust or sheet metal repair, more on that later. Under the red was a factory correct blue. The cowl tag says the car should be Sandalwood, while I did find it on a few parts of the car this leads me to believe someone painted the car early on in it's life or worse someone swapped the vin and cowl tag to another car :dunno: . Also there were a few spots where Green was found, I'm assuming a donor car or junk yard parts replacement. To be honest with all the documentation I have it just confuses things even further. The car was also in a few fender benders, the worst being the passenger front fender.

In 2001 the whole suspension was replaced with stock equipment minus air shocks, this was also when the whole drive line was overhauled and the engine was turned into a 383 stroker. I'm just guessing and based on some info I've accumulated from Steves Nova Site SNS, everyone seems to agree this theoretical combo should be around 350-400hp 400+tq.

I drove the car for a few weeks and fixed some legal and safety equipment such as putting on the rear bumper, side mirrors and attaching the seat belts. The car actually drives pretty good, has some good low end torque and the trans shifts firm. These were all the reasons I purchased the car as I didn't want to blow the budget replacing the mechanical's right away while I concentrated on restoring the body and getting it in paint. I was originally hoping to have it in paint in early spring of this year. Currently it may see paint by spring summer of 2015. (crosses fingers)

Goals:
For now I want a nice cruiser that's got some decent hp/tq. I'd like to drive it around town and take it to a few cruises/car shows. During winter I always like to tinker and do upgrades.

My unrealistic dream goal would be to turn it into a pro-touring car. Sitting low on 18x10 or larger wheels. I would also drop in a LS series engine maybe a LQ4 on a tight budget or go wild with a LS3/6 variation. The car will stay an auto, I know some people won't understand that but I love a good auto as much as banging gears in a stick car.

Short term goals that are more realistic is to just restore the vehicle to good quality, I will keep the drivetrain as it is for now as it's in good shape and if anything blows up take it to the next level at that time (budget pending of course). The body will be fully repaired and painted by myself. It will be painted a blue (unsure of which specific color code at this time) but it will be a medium to dark hue.

Bottom line is all work will be done by me, in my garage with whatever tools I currently have or acquire. Hence the whole reason for purchasing this car.

Now to what's happened since I started work along with pics.

As I purchased it, as you can see the body doesn't look bad at all. Looking at it very throughly I could tell there was bondo/mud applied and I did notice some rust in the rear quarters and in the trunk area (which is common for these cars) I also noticed the body bushings were bad again another common problem with age.



IMG_1489 by Chris Watkins, on Flickr

IMG_1490 by Chris Watkins, on Flickr


Engine Bay, looks can be decieving, the whole front accessory system is a redneck engineer mess along with the fan and rad shroud.
IMG_1487 by Chris Watkins, on Flickr

IMG_1503 by Chris Watkins, on Flickr


IMG_1504 by Chris Watkins, on Flickr

Pics of the interior, the seats are trashed and the carpet doesn't fit right as it's either a universal or not the correct for this make/model/year.
IMG_1499 by Chris Watkins, on Flickr





I'll break this up into a few posts.
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cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
So I checked around and couldn't find any welders that I was looking at in stock or available to deliver that wasn't 3-4 weeks out at the minimum. So I bit the bullet and went back to Eastwood and bought the Mig 180, I had a coupon and luckily I got one of the guys who looked at my old 175 so he gave me a discount on top. I bought some supplies while I was there so I think I got the welder for $430.

So far I'm pretty pleased with how well this thing lays down welds, much better than the old 175. I still have it plugged into my 220 outlet but I think I'm going to get better results plugging it into one of my 20A 110 outlets. I think the biggest reason why I was getting inconsistent welds on the old 175 was it was trying to weld sheet metal (20 gauge) with a 220v transformer welder. It never had a problem welding thicker materials, spot welding sheet metal it was very difficult to get it to just do a consistent tack weld even without changing any of the settings. It would either be too hot or too cold unless you were laying a tack every 2-3 seconds. You had to get into a rhythm and add more wire speed or else you'd burn through.

This 180 was dialed in and laying both nice beads and tack welds within a minute of playing with the amperage and wire speed and expert level looking welds. I didn't grab any pics because I was in the zone and just knocking shit out. I think I'll actually do a review video comparing the old 175 to the new 180. While I am pretty pleased with the performance of this new welder there are a few little things I could nitpick at.

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Here are the driver side patches I burned in, it's all metal finished in these photo's.

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Here's what I'll be painting all of this with when I am done metal finishing and prepping the undercarriage.

IMG_0957.JPG

I grabbed Por 15 bed liner, was low cost and it's Por15 so you know it's good shit. I also picked up a gallon of etching primer which will be the base. I'll use the rubberized undercoating in the wheel wells.

So it will be 2 coats of etching primer, 2 coats of Por 15 bed liner and then I will put the rubberized undercoating in the wheel wells as it will soften impact from road debris (burnouts, rocks etc) so it doesn't chip the bed liner.
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
Worked on the car all weekend, the majority of it was cleaning up old welds and welding up some pinholes in the trunk and interior area. Not very interesting so I didn't take any pics of that. I did grab some of a block off panel I made for the DSE cross member and a section of the passenger rocker.

Here is the cross member area, for some reason the instructions from DSE didn't have you weld this area closed on the drivers side. This cross member connects the trunk floor to both inner wheel tubs and eventually the upper shock mounts will be put on this cross member. While I was addressing welds inside the trunk area I noticed a large gap between the cross member and the driver tub. I don't want debris or any exhaust inside the car so I decided to make my own closeout panel. The DSE cross member is 1/8th plate. Here is the new eastwood Mig 180 making short work of it.

IMG_0967.JPG

I also started getting the car cleaned up for painting, I started cleaning the floors and vacuuming up everything I could and then using the air gun with the regulator wide open to blow out the car/garage. This meant blowing out the frame rails as well and when I did the rockers I noticed a bunch of crap coming out of a rotted section I hadn't gotten to yet. This is the passenger rocker cut open where the rot was.

IMG_0969.JPG

Not sure if you can see inside it that clearly but this is everything I pulled out.

IMG_0970.JPG

Fuckin rats, I did this on the drivers side at some point but must have forgot to get the passenger side. I finished cleaning out that rocker and welded in a new patch, forgot to grab a pic. I'll be injecting a frame sealant into the rockers and the frame rails along with the floor cross members so prevent any further rust.

I'm going to give the car another once over and if I don't see anything else that needs addressing I'll be doing a final wipe down and start masking off the car. Right in time for the weather to heat up so it will be hotter than hell in the garage laying down primer and bedliner.
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
2,763
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Bolingbrook IL
Been slackin, toooooo friggen hot in the garage the last couple of weekends, I've been breaking it up to a few hours either early in the am or late in the evening when it's cooled off. I finished up the seam sealer and then started scuffing the primer to get the bedliner ready to spray. This weekend should be cool enough to spray that on. That should end the work on the undercarriage.

I've got to start ordering suspension parts in hopes they will be here when I'm ready to bolt it all back together. Sorry no pics/videos this time all boring crap.
 
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cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
Finally, almost a year to complete what I thought was just going to be a few weeks. Bedliner is on and it came out pretty good. I wasn't able to get it sprayed on with my HVLP gun even with a 2.0 tip, the gun just couldn't handle the PSI I needed to spray this thick of a fluid. I broke out the Schutz gun and pumped my pressure to 60 PSI. I didn't want to go that route but I had already mixed the bedliner and reducer and didn't want to waste material or a cool enough day. I had a few runs on the trunk pan, my old Schutz gun was just sticking badly after the 3rd coat.

I caught it all on video and uploaded it to youboob.



For those that don't want to watch 10 mins of these shenanigans. Here's a few pics.

IMG_1040.JPG

IMG_1041.JPG


Now I need to get crackin on the parts especially the suspension components. I first have to figure out what I'm doing with the rearend, being that's it a 8.2 I doubt it's going to hold up to bigger tires and hopefully a little more hp than it had. I need new leafs and bushings and mounts regardless if I keep this assembly or a new one. Anyone have suggestions of what to do here? I can think of no less than a dozen options to go with here.
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
I spent over 3 G's with Detroit Speed to get all the suspension components I would need. Some of the parts are on backorder but only 3-4 weeks out. Here's what I ordered.

Front:
Upper/Lower Control Arms with bushings and ball joints.
2" drop springs
Standard Replacement shocks

Rear:
2" leaf springs
Offset Shackles
Front and rear bushings
Leaf Spring perch with lower shock mounts
Upper Shock mounts
Standard Replacement shocks

This weekend I took I wanted to get everything stripped off the rear axle and subframe so I could get it all cleaned up and ready for paint. I got the rear leaf's and caltracs off along with the brake lines and their mounts. I am leaving the current leaf spring perch on so I can do mockup.

I then attempted to tackle the front, I got the driver side minus the LCA fully stripped down. With no weight on the subframe it was a long process of using a ratchet strap and a chain to relieve the spring pressure from the ball joints. For the life of me I can't get one side of the LCA to drop out of the subframe. I had a 2 ft prybar trying to spread the pocket and no bueno.... So next time I get out there I will try and get that and the passenger side done.

First pic, let me know if something catches your eye.....

IMG_1043.JPG


This car must have been a drum brake setup all around, I don't know who made this kit so I'm gonna be a bit lost on finding discs and pads.
IMG_1044.JPG


Just documenting the shims.
IMG_1045.JPG

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For anyone who watched the video I made, this is what I was talking about regarding previous owners welding on the subframe. I've got to clean this all up and see what was going on here. With the shit work done on this car I am hoping they didn't fuck up the subframe. I tried to get measurements but without knowing the factory measurements and their measuring points it isn't going to help me.
IMG_1046.JPG
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
I just looked on SNS, I'm torn between it being a factory rotor or the right stuff conversion kit. The rotor hat has a large dish, I need to go out in the garage to measure the one I pulled off the car. I'll see if there is a part number on the calipers.

Did everyone miss how burnt up that spindle was in the first pic? :eek:
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
Looks like it's a Right Stuff conversion kit, rotor and calipers all look like their components? The spindle, steering arms all look the same between stock and Right Stuff. Of course this is all going off their online pictures which is always a crap shoot on if those are right.

I hate trying to figure this shit out... I wish they had done just a later model F body or C5 conversion kit because I can just order that shit from the normal parts stores.
 

Mr_Roboto

Doing the jobs nobody wants to
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Feb 4, 2012
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Yeah, she seemed to have gotten a bit of heat I was kind of side stepping it. It may behoove you to make sure your wheel bearings aren't loosey goosey on that.

Any chance the calipers themselves have markings on em? That'd be the best way to look, I think you could probably reduce it down to 5 or less options for pads:
1-Small size pre 78 GM (say 71 Nova)
2-Mid size pre 78 GM (say 71 Lemans)
3-full size pre 78 GM (Say 71 Catalina)
4-78-88 Monte Carlo
5-78-88 Caprice

For in store pads I like the Napa Premium ones. The last ones I got were Ceramics and they had great friction coefficient (GG) as well.

How big of diameter is the rotor? That may further let you narrow your choices down.

Also, it's probably not worth getting frustrated they didn't put "newer" brakes on the car. Mods like that are best reflected on within the frame of time they're done. The 383 I got from you is a great example, that was a super nice engine in the early 00s now everyone does LSes. The fourth gen brake swaps likely didn't even exist at that time.
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
I'm going to be replacing all the wheel bearings, and rubber components on the front and rear of this car. All the boots are shot, there was water in the dust caps of the bearings. The bearing grease was milky so water has been in there a while.

I'm not going to be ordering brakes soon as the car will still be sitting for several months (or years). No sense in letting the rotors rust sitting there. I'm just trying to figure out a low cost solution to replacing the spindles and brakes so I can plan this all out. I don't want to buy stock spindles if I need to switch to a different rotor setup that needs a different spindle.

I originally wanted to turn this into a true pro-touring car and throw it around some courses. Now I think it will just be a nice driver so I don't want to dump too much into components that won't benefit the car. Some 3rd or 4rth gen F body brakes or C5 brakes would be more than enough for this junk.
 

Mr_Roboto

Doing the jobs nobody wants to
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Feb 4, 2012
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Nashotah, Wisconsin (AKA not Illinois)
Can you tell me if these are about 11" diameter, 1" thick for the rotor and about 4" from the wheel mounting face to the back of the rotor? That'd mean they were probably OEM.

Besides that I'd give REAL serious consideration to going to 1/2" wheel studs especially with aftermarket wheels. I used Dorman PN 610-395 which is $9/10 from Rockauto for the Lemans. Odds are good they'd do you right too but check to be sure. I don't trust 7/16 studs on newer wheels with larger holes after what happened to me in the Lemans. If I wasn't trying to move and had the lathe up I'd offer to cut up your rotors for you. It's likely if you looked through my build thread the majority of what I did would work for you as well. The abutements are different for C5 Calipers but supposedly other than that you just slap on the 13" rotors, calipers and abutements and they'll work with those adapters too.
 
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cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
2,763
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Bolingbrook IL
Can you tell me if these are about 11" diameter, 1" thick for the rotor and about 4" from the wheel mounting face to the back of the rotor? That'd mean they were probably OEM.

Besides that I'd give REAL serious consideration to going to 1/2" wheel studs especially with aftermarket wheels. I used Dorman PN 610-395 which is $9/10 from Rockauto for the Lemans. Odds are good they'd do you right too but check to be sure. I don't trust 7/16 studs on newer wheels with larger holes after what happened to me in the Lemans. If I wasn't trying to move and had the lathe up I'd offer to cut up your rotors for you. It's likely if you looked through my build thread the majority of what I did would work for you as well. The abutements are different for C5 Calipers but supposedly other than that you just slap on the 13" rotors, calipers and abutements and they'll work with those adapters too.

Rotors are 11" and 1" thick but it's only 3" and some change on the hub mounting surface to back of the rotor. I also can't find any stampings on the calipers so these very well may be oem brakes.

The current cragars are universal fits without a hubcentric ring. In my experience that's been more the problem than the wheel stud size. Although it wouldn't hurt to upgrade those as long as the newer wheels will accept a 1/2 stud. I never planned on keeping these wheels but now they have to go before the car ever rolls again.
 

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