1963 Nova project "Rocket"

[colt6920]

I had originally became hooked on autocross a handful of years ago when I was in high school at the GoodGuys in Scottsdale looking for some parts for a 63 F100 I was building at the time, and at that point I had never seen autocross before. So I just saw some amazing cars and trucks going through at the time what looked like a sea of cones wondering how they knew where to go. Since that point I knew I wanted to be apart of it, and did everything I could to be, from attending racing schools such as Bondurant,going to several events through out the South-West, as well as talking with several drivers, and other companies in the protouring world.
So almost a year ago I picked up a 63 Nova shell, with the goal to have a car that can be competitive in events such as GoodGuys, Optima USCA, LS Fest and NMCA events. The plan I set out for myself is to have the car done and running in events while I am still in college, so hopefully the Optima event in March will be my first event. Yet to get to where I am on the car took the willingness and others wanting to help me succeed with my build. I have had a tremendous amount of help from Jason and Evan from Total Cost Involved on any part they can, and helping me put together an AMAZING suspension setup using their protouring front clip and torque arm rear suspension. Then Currie has been a big help in getting me setup with one of their new Turn 9 rear ends that look amazing. As well as my friends who have sacrificed much of their free time and late nights to help me out! So I wanted to start this thread to document as much as possible of the build as I could, and to thank all those who are helping along the way. Then to get all of your thoughts and opinions on different things on the car. So over the coming weeks I will be posting pictures and going through what I have done to this point on Project "Rocket", and then documenting the rest of the build as it happens.

[GRNOVA]

Welcome, Sounds like a great project!

[Rebob]

Welcome from another Phoenix member. Good luck on your project, sounds like it’s gonna be fun !

[colt6920]

So when I started the Nova the couple things I wanted to have when it came to a fabricating stand point was having a shaved firewall, as well as a flat floor. So I would be able to mount the engine a little farther back and mounting the seats and pedals would be easier for me. Which led to the entire firewall and the floor all the way to where the rear subframe starts, because I wanted to leave it intact making it easy to install the rear suspension, and not having to mess with modifying anything to make it work. On the firewall we ran a 16 gauge steel to make it a little stronger, and to help avoid firewall flex. Then when it came to the floor we used 18 gauge, and each panel is a little over 8 inches in width and we welded the fins together on the bottom side. Lastly when it came to the trans tunnel I made it a little bit bigger so I would be able to access the transmission if needed.

[colt6920]

Once we got the floor installed the dilemma became do we try to fabricate a new mount for the front clip or cut the old floor off of the original mounts and weld those ones up onto the new floor. So after messing with a few ideas we came to the conclusion that the original had the best strength so we welded those ones back on. Yet before we did we mocked up all of the TCI suspension up to it, to have any idea of what it looked like before it was up under the car. So once the factory mounts were back in we mocked up the whole suspension front to rear to make sure there wasn't anything I had to tweak from changing so much on my part, luckily somehow everything fit near perfect in the car. After that we took all of the suspension components off, and I took them to the powder coater up in Flagstaff (Flagstaff Power Coating) I went with a red very similar to TCI's red on the front clip, torque arm tube and the Currie Turn 9 housing, then I went with a dark gray on the remaining parts.

[colt6920]

The next dilemma I am having is how to setup the brake booster and the pedals, which I would love to get some input on. So where I'm at currently is the car did not have the factory pedals when I purchased the car, so going with aftermarket it was for me. Then back at LS Fest West I spent a decent amount of time talking with Jake Rozelle and what setup he runs on his cars, and why. Which is what led me to buying a C6 Z06 brake booster and master cylinder, as apposed to just having master cylinders. But now having the brake booster to work around, I'm trying to figure out a mounting solution as well as using a Wilwood pedal with it I need to have a few inch gap between the booster and pedal since the rod on the booster is longer. Then the next thing I am trying to figure out is how to mount the clutch master cylinder/pedal because I don't want it to far from the brake pedal and what to do when it comes to mounting on the firewall. So any thoughts on, or suggestions anyone has would be greatly appreciated!

[colt6920]

156895156896156897I know it has been a while since I have been able to post on here since I have been busy with school and work. Yet since the last time I posted on here I got the entire suspension back from the powder coaters, and it all turned out pretty great and the colors look good together. So I have been able to reassemble the suspension so that it's ready to go back on the car as soon as the roll cage is completed. We've also been able to go through the car in the mean time and clean up all of the welds that we still needed to clean. So going forward the plan post SEMA will be to have the car reassembled rolling around, and to be installing the steering, fuel system and radiator.

[colt6920]

On another note I decided to make my own pedal box that will accommodate the Z06 booster, as well as bring the pedals farther back which is ideal for me since I prefer to drive with the pedals closer to me, I added a mockup of what the box should look like when it is completed.

[NorthFalcon]

Looks like you got yourself a good size project and you definitely have some good parts on the car. I'm in college too and just this past summer I got to really experience the car. Thousands of hours went into the car and I couldn't be happier. With that being said, keep your head down, its all worth it in the end. Excited to see the rest of the build.

[colt6920]

Looks like you got yourself a good size project and you definitely have some good parts on the car. I'm in college too and just this past summer I got to really experience the car. Thousands of hours went into the car and I couldn't be happier. With that being said, keep your head down, its all worth it in the end. Excited to see the rest of the build.

Thanks haha it's kinda crazy thinking about the number of hours I have into the car just getting to this point. Yet even when I'm super frustrated with the car I still enjoy myself! Thanks again and i hope you follow along for the rest of the build!

[colt6920]

Well I wasn't able to get the most done on the car this past weekend since I had my friends wedding all weekend. Yet I was still able to get all the plates bent and cut for the pedal box, which let me mock it up in the car to sort of get an idea where the pedals would sit. Now I'm just looking forward to SEMA to see what direction I want to go on a few things on the car!157313157314157315

[colt6920]

Since its less than a week until SEMA I figured I'd get one last update in before the show. The first one being most of the roll cage has been installed in the car, and I should be installing the mini tubs post SEMA, along with the steering, suspension and rear end once I get the entire under side media blasted. So I'm hoping to have the car rolling around before Christmas. Then the other thing I'm excited about is a good friend of mine was able to throw together a quick rendering of the car to put my idea of the car into an image, as well as having it for SEMA. I'm also hoping to have the time during SEMA to post any exciting news regarding project Rocket!

[colt6920]

Well it has been a crazy week for me, it started with leaving Flagstaff after class on Monday to head out to Vegas for SEMA. Then having to hurry back here Friday morning for my friends wedding rehearsal and wedding on Saturday. Even though it has been crazy week it was amazing the entire time. Then while at SEMA I couldn't be more stoked able to have Rocket Racing Wheels onboard as a sponsor for Project Rocket! Project Rocket will be running the Rocket Attack wheel in their bronze finish. Which I feel is an amazing fit for the car since I am still in college and cost is something that's really important, and to be running the Rocket Attack wheel that's quite a bit less expensive than multi piece forged wheels. Yet it is still incredibly capable due to being a dual-direction, flow-form, semi-forged wheel plus the wheels will look pretty amazing on Project Rocket.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Looks great and I really like that wheel choice!

[RocketRacingWheels]

Well it has been a crazy week for me, it started with leaving Flagstaff after class on Monday to head out to Vegas for SEMA. Then having to hurry back here Friday morning for my friends wedding rehearsal and wedding on Saturday. Even though it has been crazy week it was amazing the entire time. Then while at SEMA I couldn't be more stoked able to have Rocket Racing Wheels onboard as a sponsor for Project Rocket! Project Rocket will be running the Rocket Attack wheel in their bronze finish. Which I feel is an amazing fit for the car since I am still in college and cost is something that's really important, and to be running the Rocket Attack wheel that's quite a bit less expensive than multi piece forged wheels. Yet it is still incredibly capable due to being a dual-direction, flow-form, semi-forged wheel plus the wheels will look pretty amazing on Project Rocket.

What a great build! Looking forward to following the progress on Project Rocket! Thanks so much!

[colt6920]

What a great build! Looking forward to following the progress on Project Rocket! Thanks so much!

Thanks a ton again, I can't wait to see the car on your wheels! School has just been crazy but I'm finishing finals up this week and then I should be able to make pretty good progress on the car over the coming weeks!

[colt6920]

Well this post is both hopeful as well as disappointing. It's disappointing because I have only limited time to spend working on my car with a good amount of time dedicated to college and work. So I have been waiting a while for the roll cage to be completed in the car, and a few weeks ago it was finally completed. So when I went to pick up the Nova I was super excited to see it, only to have my excitement quickly taken away. Upon inspecting the cage I come to find several issues, the first one being where they located the A-pillar bars the bend is above where the windshield sits. Then the next more annoying thing to me is several of the welds are bad with zero penetration, yet the other half are good, and this is the same shop who helped me with the floor and firewall. So I don't know where things went wrong but, thankfully Ron Sutton has been a tremendous help on me with my build and I was able to order new A-pillar bars and have them shipped out in a very short amount of time. As well as having a friend from high school who is a tig welder, and is willing to help me fix the cage. Then on the hopeful side of progress I have been able to work on installing the Detroit Speed mini tubs and should have those fully installed in the next couple days. I have also been working on the pedal setup I want to use and Tommy (@myramotor his Instagram) who has a 67 Camaro runs a Corvette pedal box so I was able to pick his brain on how he installed his and everything that went along with that. Allowing me to understand how to use one of these well enough I decided to do the same, so I bought a pedal box setup out of a C6 Z06, and should have that installed soon!

[colt6920]

Well tonight I felt like I made a decent amount of progress on the car, and enjoyed myself while working on it! I was able to get the front down bars installed which allowed me to start to see how the color scheme works together on TCI's suspension. But the part I'm more excited about is I got the C6 Z06 brake booster and pedal box into place. With the booster only being a quarter inch off of the down bar it was a perfect fit which honestly surprised me how well it turned out. As well as the pedal placement on the inside, I just have to modify a section of the trans tunnel once the engine and trans are in to allow better room for the gas pedal. Otherwise the pedals are almost exactly where I want them to be.

[colt6920]

There has been a several month gap since my most recent post, it hasn’t been for a lack of effort or time put into the Nova but, due to the shop who had been doing the “welding/fab” work on it. When I was told they had finished everything on the car which took much longer than what it was supposed to, and I would’ve been okay with that if it was done properly. When we went out to go pick it up we noticed parts of the cage didn’t look right but it was already dark out and hard to see what it truly looked like. It wasn’t until the next day when we really started to look at it in sunlight and noticed how bad it really was. Working from the firewall back, the firewall was warped from too much heat getting into the metal. Then the floor and trans tunnel welds mixed between almost no penetration, blowing through the metal or just incomplete welds. The roll cage was pretty similar with several incomplete and bad welds, along with the cage not even having the bars in the correct places, along with them using MIG rather than TIG.

Which left me in a tough spot, and I felt the only correct way to do it was to cut everything back out and restart. Thankfully in that time my brother had become a certified welder, so between him and a couple great friends we have been able to do things correct with proper welds. We also had a much better design this time one that actually strengthens the car (hopefully allowing it to handle better paired with the amazing TCI suspension). The design this time around makes the car much closer to a full framed car rather than a subframe. In the mean time I have also been able to get an engine and transmission for the car (a LS1 from a GTO and a TR-6060 from a ZL1) So sadly due to having to back track so far because of a “fab shop” messing so much up on the car causing me to spend so much more money and time on the car; neither of which I have a lot of being a full time college student. Now after all of that and being forced to back track the updated timeline for the car is to have al of the fab work done on the car by SEMA and going off to paint around the end of the school semester.
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[jc70chevy]

Subscribed

[colt6920]

Well I was able to have the weekend to go down and continue to work on my car. Which was incredibly helpful, we were able to get the entire bottom side of the floor welded up. As well as getting almost all of the floor panels fitted and Tig welded in. Then the way we did it, it allowed us to have a super strong way to bolt the seats in and weld the cage to the floor. Then the underside of the floor is completely smooth and looks incredible in my opinion. We also had some time to get the mini tub frame rails started. So next chance we have we'll be able to weld the rest of the floor, finish the mini tubs and get the cage started. With the cage actually being done properly and safe this time, with welds that don't look like a dumpster fire.

[jc70chevy]

Killer work.....

[colt6920]

Killer work.....

Thanks haha it wouldn't have been possible without my brothers welding along with my friends help. As well as me drawing and then re-drawing how I wanted to build the car.

[nickcornilsen]

When I saw that giant flat slab of a firewall and floorboard, I thought o myself: I hope he doesn't have to weld much to it - it's going to warp like crazy! The frame layout you ultimately went with will add alot of rigidity to the car.

[c91x]

I think I know what fab shop you used just. Hope you got some of your money back from that hack job they did

[colt6920]

When I saw that giant flat slab of a firewall and floorboard, I thought o myself: I hope he doesn't have to weld much to it - it's going to warp like crazy! The frame layout you ultimately went with will add alot of rigidity to the car.
Yeah the original firewall was a 14 gauge which was fairly thick but it still ended of fairly warped especially since they didn't take any breaks while when welding it in. As well as the original floor they blew through it in several spots and never bothered to try and fix them. Then the new floor design I drew up I honestly took a lot of the idea from the second gen Camaro Viking performance has.

[colt6920]

I think I know what fab shop you used just. Hope you got some of your money back from that hack job they did
I think the fab shop is the only one in Dewey Arizona? Sadly I never got any of my money back, so along with not getting any of my money back it cost me several months, and a lot more money to redo it properly the second time around.

[jc70chevy]

Yeah friends and family are a must when building a car.... especially if you don't have all the skills in one person.....I happen to be the friend who's a welder by trade..... Keep up the good work and check out my build if u get a chance

[colt6920]

Yeah friends and family are a must when building a car.... especially if you don't have all the skills in one person.....I happen to be the friend who's a welder by trade..... Keep up the good work and check out my build if u get a chance
Haha no kidding they've helped me on way more things than i thought possible, and I will for sure check out your build blog!

[colt6920]

Thankfully between school and work I was able to find time to be down in Prescott to spend some more time working on the Nova. Since the last time I posted we managed to completely finish the floor outside of one small section on the passenger side. We also managed to get a good start on the roll cage by getting the head hoop in, A pillar bars, dash bar, and the harness bars. Which all have turned out pretty amazing and the cage has been entirely Tig welded unlike the garbage Mig welding job "the professional" shop did. When it came to the cage mounting points we fabbed together some boxes out of 12 gauge, and cut them to be able to fit up well with the car. So it was welded to the car, floor and frame rail we had installed. This is where my brother had a pretty good idea rather than just welding the cage to the top of the boxes we drilled holes allowing us to put cage down into the boxes before welding them in. With the idea of having much better strength in the event of wreck. It was just a struggle getting the cut angles correct for the a pillar bars, it is much tougher than I thought it would be trying to think 3 dimensionally when it comes to trying to think of how you need to cut welding onto curved tubing. We would have been able to complete more of the cage but the tube notcher locking nut managed to shear itself causing us to try to shape the tubing by hand.Regardless in the next few weeks I probably have much of a chance to dedicate a lot of time to the car with finals but the plan is to get the motor and trans into the car to see where everything will sit so we can get the transmission tunnel built and in. Along with finishing the tubs and cage we plan to also mock up the steering and pedals, we should also be getting the custom core support for the car which will be built very similar to Viking's gen 2 Camaro. Once that is done we'll be getting the whole car media blasted and deciding on what color to paint the car. I'm leaning towards destroyer gray that Dodge has on a few of their cars, but I am open to any suggestions (it doesn't matter how wild of color it is.

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[jc70chevy]

Keep up the good work

[colt6920]

I figured the best way to do this post is to split it up into a couple different posts the first one is some cool updates regarding sponsors and Project Rocket's first event. Then the second post will be an update on the car and hopefully where the car will be at in the coming weeks. So backing up to SEMA I spent a decent amount of time talking with Baer brakes which continued after the show and as of a couple weeks ago I was lucky enough to now be sponsored by Baer! Along with that since they are based out of Phoenix I had the time off from work so I could drive down and get a tour of their amazing facility. Project Rocket will be running their Track 4's in the front and SS4's in the rear. The second exciting part to me is I registered the Nova for LS Fest West in the Grand Competitor class, which puts us on a tighter timeline but we should be able to make it happen!

[colt6920]

Since the last update I had on the car we finished up the firewall along with the recessed center section which has allowed us to set the motor farther back. Along with that we built a few crossover braces that help tie the floor together through the center. From there the plan is to hopefully have the trans tunnel bolt onto the crossover tubing pieces but we may just end up welding it to the floor. Then towards the rear where we cut out the center section the shop who messed the car up originally left us with the already tough to weld on factory sheet metal even thinner. So rather than trying to weld something onto it, we decided to build a box that would cover over the opening and bolt through the floor. Which is also setup for the center section of the tunnel to be able to bolt into it. So hopefully this upcoming weekend we will be able to finally finish up the fab work, and start taking off all of the suspension and any other removable pieces to get the car ready to go to media blasting.The only issue we have ran into is with the brake booster interferes with the front down bar when we have the pedals placed where I would like them to be. So thankfully Baer has been amazing to work with and were planning to switch over to using one of their Remaster master cylinders and proporting valves.

[colt6920]

This last weekend we were finally able to get the fab work done on the Nova outside of a couple small spots we have to finish welding. Along with that this week we are going to run a cover pass over the roll cage to make sure its as strong as it can be, and to look pretty as well haha. Then getting the last few parts of the trans tunnel in was a little difficult to create space to fit the Sparco Evo seats which is partly why a couple sections look a little goofy to make sure we had the room. Which just always goes to show how often I forget how small of a car the Nova's are on the inside. The plan going forward is to take the car to media blasting next week and off to paint on the following week where we decided to go with the SEM Trim Black to save a decent amount on paint.

[colt6920]

Quarantine Update part 1: This has been a crazy past couple of months now for everyone, myself included. It has had plenty of up's and down's I finally graduated from NAU but without an actual graduation ceremony or any jobs to be able to apply to I'm stuck in limbo just hoping and waiting for job opportunities to come up. Yet all of this time off has allowed me to finish up a lot of odds and ends on the Nova. I have all of the cover passes completed on the cage and and other welds we needed, we've also managed to get the actual seats mocked up in the car. Which was a pretty great day for myself I just sat in them for a solid 20 minutes. We also briefly put the motor with the headers from TCI in to check clearance and it turned out nicely.

One of the other downsides due to COVID-19 is several companies having extended lead times or being closed for awhile which is no fault of their own. I was looking forward to having the car running for LS Fest next month but it looks like were going to be waiting a few weeks longer for the fuel system from FuelSafe, radiator from C&R Racing and steering from Sweet mfg. Has put us into the spot where we should have everything in, just in time but it wont have all of the lines ran to be able to run and it won't be painted. Regardless I'll be bringing Project Rocket to LS Fest in hopes of winning builders car of the show since we won't be able to compete in the Grand Competitor class.

This week the OBP throttle pedal will get here so we can finally get the final set of pedals in haha with the Wilwood clutch/brake pedal, Baer master cylinder and OBP throttle pedal. Once I can get that in and as parts continue to come in I'll have a few more posts prior to LS Fest and can hopefully win builder car of the show.

[colt6920]

Since the last post I have spent a majority of my time working and starting a stock pile of car parts in my living room haha. What I have had time to do was finally get the actual pedals into the car I'm running a Wilwood brake/clutch pedal assembly paired with a Baer Remaster cylinder, as well as an OBP throttle pedal. Once we got the custom pedal box into the car we were able to get the steering all sorted Sweet mfg was a big help in getting everything I needed for it to work; and Justin (gcompnova) has been a big help getting the steering etc into car or any other dumb question I can think of he's answered for me! In the rear of the car we mostly have the fuel cell and cage installed, the rear of the cell mounting points I have it setup to be able to put hood pins in for the trunk, and if i ever try to put a wing on I could hopefully use them as a mounting point for that. The front mounts I made the decision to cut out the rear mounts of the roll cage down bars since they were different side to side and looked kinda ugly. So the new front mounts will be much cleaner and look identical to each other. We have also welded up the core support doing our best to build it similar to the Viking Performance gen 2 Camaro's core support. Going forward this week we'll get the brake and fuel lines installed, and once the bolts for the new clutch arrive we can get the drivetrain into the car to get the rest of the exhaust welded up. Along with everything that is going on I have several other parts waiting to go in from the full chassis wiring, headlights taillights and a couple other unique touches.

[colt6920]

The past month has been a crazy one, starting a couple new jobs has taken away a majority of my free time haha. Yet we have been able to still make good progress on the car, we’ve put the fuel system along with the fuel lines into the car to know how we want all of that to run. On the outside we sanded the car down to bare metal and it was in surprisingly good shape, the only spots with bondo was on the doors and that looked to have been done professionally and fairly recent. The rest of the car is in pretty good shape just with a little dent here or there. So we spent the weekend circling back to some of the smaller items we still had to address such as making the fuel door and trunk latch holes flush, adding a couple little bars to the roll cage and any other small holes we wont be using. The other bigger thing we had to do was torch out all of the lead that was in there from the factory and then patch it back together with steel. In the next couple days we’ll have the car back on the trailer with all the suspension removed to make a quick trip to have it media blasted on the inside and any other spots we couldn’t reach when sanding. Then on Friday it’ll be over to the body shop, and I have finally decided that were going to paint it Destroyer Grey that’s on Hellcats. So hopefully we have a quick turnaround time to see if we can make the push to have it at GoodGuys in Scottsdale in November. To hopefully attempt a few runs around the autocross but, regardless of what shape the car is in it’ll be there!

As far as moving forward we should have the oil pan, new clutch, and throw-out bearing installed and the engine and trans bac together in the next week or two. We also have the Falken RT660’s on order and hopefully we’ll see them soon! Then with all the suspension off I plan to go through and clean everything and make sure every nut and bolt is correct and torqued to what it should be so it’ll go back as fast and easy as possible on the car. Along with the Baer Brakes and Rocket Racing Wheels! I have also been planning to re-powdercoat the front clip since it has been beat up so much from getting moved around and having the motor in and out a few times, I was planning to go with a purple this time around but if anyone has other suggestions I would love to hear them!

[colt6920]

It as usual has taken me awhile to get my blog up to date but, I have been able to get a decent amount of work done on my Nova. Once we managed to get the car down to bare metal, and all the lead melted out, and a good majority of the body work done we were a couple days away from getting the first primer onto the car but thanks again to covid Yavapai College cancelled in person classes. Which left us scrambling to try to get the Nova on a trailer and out of the school before they closed everything, leaving it locked inside and then trying to figure out a way to get it primered. It took a bit to get it all together, we got the new rear taillight section installed, and luckily I had a friend who's career has been paint and body work who was able to really help me out haha. At this point we just have a small amount of body work to clean up, and we'll be ready for paint. I've also managed to get the firewall and underside painted black, as well as spraying the raptor liner in the tubs and underside. So we can get the suspension and drivetrain cleaned and back in, and hopefully get it started for the first time. In the next week the Terminator X and Falken RT660's should be here. The other thing I'm looking forward to is hopefully start filming a Youtube build series in the coming weeks, and that should transition into racing this car later this year and keeping up with all of that!

[c91x]

Does Yavapai have an auto body course at the airport campus?

I'm looking forward to seeing this thing finished.

[David Sloan]

Looks Great!
Thanks for sharing!

[colt6920]

PT.1- Reintroductions
It has been over 2 years since the last time I’ve posted an update on Rocket. So I’ll be splitting up the past 30 months of changes and build updates into a number of postings to do my best to cover all of the bigger pieces as well as some of the annoying issues that came up along the way.
Picking up from my last post I ended up enrolling into the auto body class with my brother to have access to a paint booth to do it for a lot less haha. As the goal has always been is for the car to be competitive around a track or autocross course to me it never had to look amazing so I just went with a Hotrod Flatz single stage flat white. After the car was painted it was noticeable to me that it was our first attempt at body work but there was a few spots that we could improve up the road. We were rushing to get the car together during the class since for the first time ever we had access to a lift and aren't stuck laying on our backs inside of a barn or in a garage. Throughout the class we bolted all of the suspension back on along with brakes and what ended up being our first attempt at brake lines… this one still kills me to this day.

I was desperately wanting to get the car to LS Fest West 2021 but clearly I struggle to get things done on time, as I only ever have time or a little bit of money. But between my brother ans a couple friends we were able to scramble to get the motor and transmission into the car just a day or two prior if I recall correctly. This would be the last time we were all able to do an event together, less than 2 weeks after my now wife and I moved to Las Vegas because I had always wanted to pursue a career on The Strip for some reason. So the car, all my parts, tools and belongings packed up and moved into a small apartment that had a separate garage for the Nova. My goal is to post a new update everyday for the next week catching up on everything that has happened these past couple years and where the plans for Rocket are headed.

[colt6920]

PT.2 Almost Quitting
The first year in Vegas in regards to progress on the Nova was incredibly frustrating to say the least. It was either always 100+ degrees or below 40 with virtually no in between. The garage had no lights but it did have a million bugs including a decent number of black widows… I slowly made progress on the car from getting the C&R radiator, driving out to Cali to get a set of front fenders (it was cheaper than shipping haha), and attempting to get the brakes to work and redoing lines multiple times with my flares, predone flares and a couple fittings failing. About the only upside to our apartments location is I had Phenix Industries less than 5 minutes down the street. It made getting any sort of braided line or fitting super easy. I’m pretty sure by the end they just assumed this guy has about a dozen cars or he’s just an idiot and can’t figure out how to actually build lines. The final point where I became incredibly close to calling it quits, selling the car and moving on after years, countless hours, memories with friends and family helping me build it happened when we came back from a week long vacation visiting my grandparents in Montana. We came back super excited because I had proposed to my girlfriend while in Montana and she said yes. The Uber had just dropped us off and I went down to my truck to get something out when I noticed the light from the garage door opener on, and when I attempted to open it with the clicker nothing had happened. I walked to the door and was able to open it by hand, when I lifted it up I see pieces thrown everywhere all of boxes of parts stolen including the Terminator ECU, all of the chassis wiring from Painless Performance, all of my tools, CVF serpentine kit, steering wheel, a ton of other random pieces half of the exhaust, door handles etc. We called the police filed a report but unfortunately with the apartments not having any cameras there and about a week long window when it may have occurred made it near impossible to narrow it down or track down any stolen parts. Then to top it all off our apartment insurance refused to cover anything stolen, pushing me back to square one. I remember one nightly shortly after getting through everything that had happened and a little over a year with minimal to no progress on the car just laying under the car for at least an hour or two trying to decide if thats it im finally done trying to build Rocket and just give up. Ultimately I decided that I hadn’t come this far, had my friends and family spend all the late nights early mornings, sponsors going out of their way to do so much for me when I don’t feel any of it was deserved. That I was going to no matter what it took finish my build and try to build it as competitive as possible.

[Peanut1959]

Wow, what a kick in the nuts! I'm glad you've had some time to regain your perspective. Carry on.

[colt6920]

PT.3 Start of the Rebuild
When making the decision to recommit to finishing the Nova it was a rough starting point with our renters insurance essentially telling us to pound sand. Leaving me at square one for tools, about the only thing I had left was my angle grinder haha. This is where the car community and one of the big reasons I had been so interested in the protouring segment/ autocross and other racing events was how open and willing to help they are. Shortly after posting about everything being stolen, Painless Performance actually reached out to me, and went way beyond what I could have imagined replacing everything that was stolen along with throwing in some merch. Whoever runs their socials and reached out Thank You! Others also reached out from Total Cost Involved and Baer Brakes offering help. With having to go back and redo so much and have to wait and save for awhile to be able to replace everything else that had been stolen, I decided eh we’ve already cut the firewall and front half the car out we may as well do that to the back half. My brother had purchased a large frame table for his fabrication company 10 Past West making building a rear frame truly square way easier than we could have before. My idea to doing this was to set the car a few inches lower, add additional rigidity to the back and allow a wider wheel. During this time we had moved into our own house, and for the first time since we started building Rocket years prior I finally had a permanent spot to work on it. Not having to put it in a storage container at my dads ranch just to have to pull it out and put it in his barn to work on. Driving over 100 miles from college to spend a day trying to finish even the smallest thing on it just to have made some progress.Or on a trailer in my moms driveway because I was not allowed to have it in her garage for more than a day.

[colt6920]

As usual life gets in the way and I have had another long gap in posting an update.

To recap, I got the new rear frame in the car, and had almost put the car back together to a point the car would be running. Except as usual for me, I can't leave stuff alone and had the "well if I'm here, I may as well do it." At this point I was back in Arizona and had the help of my friends and family again, which was a big piece helping me build through the struggles previous which I did not have.

Along with that I had access to all of my brothers fab equipment including a frame table. So I made a handful of calls to Total Cost Involved, Baer Brakes and Ron Sutton. Pitching the idea of doing a true tube chassis time attack Nova. Ron was a great help with the frame and one of his Track Warrior roll cages. Jason at TCI has been beyond supportive of me and my car since the beginning, and was onboard with several things we could update to gain extra performance out of TCI's already amazing suspension.

Jason took a lot of his personal time, working on my suspension, shortening and lightening the Torque Arm by over 8 pounds, along with some other trick pieces. (I'll post pictures in the coming days) but cannot thank him enough for something he could've easily said no or I don't have time.

Rick over at Baer was awesome in helping setup a custom full floater on a larger rotor with twin calipers, because no matter how purpose built this car will be for time attack I want a handbrake just for fun haha.

[colt6920]

So with the groundwork set we started building the chassis, taking ideas from GT3 cars, Dusold's Camaro and Brian Navarra's Mustang. Blending them into this car.

Working from front to rear the car will be set a couple inches lower than it was before, the motor will be set back approximately 13 inches from factory. The PWR (C&R Racing) radiator was converted to -20AN fittings and modified to be laid down an roughly 40 degrees with proper ducting. The car will widened approximately 3-4 inches per side. The plan is to retain the factory body lines but just wider in the center of the front and rear fenders for the wider track width.

Viking Performance has also become a big supporter of the build, and project Rocket will be riding on Viking Crusader coilovers with their road course valving.

As the motor has been pushed back so far, I moved the seats, pedals and steering back to match and try to help with the weight balance. In the rear besides the modified TCI torque arm and Baer floater setup, the Nova is now a custom cantilever utilizing some pieces from Mike Maier.

The Nova itself has been gutted to just the bare body, no floor, firewall or lower rockers. I'm hoping to make an easier way to be able to remove the body from the chassis and not have the entire thing welded together.

The only small set back at this moment is the pedal for the Tig welder is out for repair, so as soon as it is back we'll be able to finish welding the chassis and have a roller soon.

***I forgot to mention previously but the entire car, and chassis is Tig welded.

[colt6920]

I was able to find a handful of images of the tube chassis at various points, and as grumpy as I look in the one I promise I'm having a good time haha.