1972 Nova Hotwhilz Special's Under the knife Take 2

[Hotwhilz]

Hi Guys, some of you may know about the sad story about my car last april, sold the car and wrecked it 3 days before he picked it up!

Well lesson learnt!

So here are a few pictures of the car in its second state, still going under the knife, and about ready for paint in the next month or so.

I'll post some pics as lots of you like that!

After the tear down, cleaned up the firewall to finally decide to redo it all



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Then an ugly spring weather forced to redo the engine, gaskets, home made porting, milled heads, degreassing, painting,home made baffled oil pan...

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The weather got better time to mock the engine back in for a garage built radiator support and subframe bracing, still need a few brackets and stuff but overall it fits and look good

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Then comes the Big Brake kit, 330 mm Brembo discs, Brembo 4 pistons calipers off of a BMW 740 IL, homebrewed bracket, modded some drum brake hubs to fit,ARP studs, Kore 3 braided lines and Voila
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Then the longest of it all... sanding the 8 coats of previous paint and filler, what a long process, but well worth it, no big surprises, very good condition body!

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Big thanks to my brother in law for being a very good help! Thanks Nick!

And this is how it sits as I left it last saturday at my buddy's Hot Rod builder for final body prep , body mods, and paint!

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A little bumper tuck
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Hope you guys like where I'm heading and I'll try to keep it up to date from now

[brownz]

Can you pm me the specs on te wheels and tires and what you did to make them work?

Thanks

[Hotwhilz]

Some more build pictures, I had to redo the radiator support in order to clear the bumper with the two pusher fans I'using

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Then built my own subframe connectors from scratch, I built them so they follow the visible subframe, now looks like the Nova is on a full frame from the side.
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Also installed a rack and pinion out of a Dodge Town & Country, now I got 3 turns lock to lock so it should improve the road feel, barely no bump steer ( 1/8" from full droop to fully compressed )

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More to come next week!

[Hotwhilz]

My build is not getting any comments? Doesn't help motivation!

Cheers

[Big Eddie]

Looks good so far....keep up the Good Work!

Whats the details on the wheels/tires?

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

It is looking really good. I love the body mods.

[LeighP]

I really like how it sits on the road....colour choice?

[MK69RSSS]

Cool ride

[srh3trinity]

I liked it the first go around so I like that you are pushing forward with it. It has the gas cap up on the quarter right?

[Hotwhilz]

Oh Man, thanks a bunch, sometimes you need some comments to keep you going, the gas cap is still on the quarter but will be flush with the body this time around, wheels are Cragar Soft Eights 4.5" backspacing, 8 inch fronts / 8 inch rears but will widend the rear an extra 2 inch on the inside as my rear 275 tires are swelling over the wheel and causing some funky reactions while driving.
The rear quarter are getting push out some (not much)to give it a wider Butt.

Tomorrow, finishing up the rear bumper and front one, and maybe a custom front grille bumper filler or something, will be determined when the front bumper will be mounted up.

As far as color, I'll retain the same but cleared this time, Satin or mat are to hard to keep nice and clean.

Thanks for the comments, keep em coming!

Ben

[srh3trinity]

I like the idea of a little more stagger to the width of the wheels. That will dial the look/stance in a little better.

[Hotwhilz]

Hi Guys, been awhile since the last update but got some to show since Sunday night, the body mods are done and the car got a coat of epoxy, tell me what you think!

Should I leave it satin white and black hood and cowl or go with a dray grey and black hood ans cowl? Or another color?

Let's ear it!

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The rear panel was so bad from a previous repair, we decided to start over and add a little recessed shape and also flush mount the taillights

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Cheers!

[LUV2XLR8]

like the way this is turning out!!!!... i would go with a dark graphite grey with black accented with an hugger orange pin stripe... who makes those hood clips... those are sweet!!

[Hotwhilz]

The Hood clips are Aerocatch, the model use is no supposed to be flus but we recesed them in, they do make the flush mount ones but they don't look as good!

Thanks for the good words!

[SSninja]

Looking good!

The wife really wants a 68-72 Nova, so I love seeing threads like this.

I'm a big fan of bright colors on Novas:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif (http://davenutting.smugmug.com/Cars/2012-GM-Nationals-Carlisle/23814139_Zk5x44#!i=1929838093&k=5jH5nQp&lb=1&s=A)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif (http://davenutting.smugmug.com/Cars/Bass-Pro-Shops-Foxboro-car/18377376_2j9hr4#!i=1416221244&k=2fs2KLQ&lb=1&s=A)

[coolwelder62]

Great project,FYI-I would go back to a steering box.(Iroc Z Box)You will really feel a .125 of Bump during drivng.Look into Ridetechs Tru-trun system.

[Hotwhilz]

Great project,FYI-I would go back to a steering box.(Iroc Z Box)You will really feel a .125 of Bump during drivng.Look into Ridetechs Tru-trun system.

Not sure to understand, do you mean the rack is misplaced?
Please clarify

[spoilersbyrandy]

What do you think of blue?
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[Hotwhilz]

I'm not a big fan of Blue cars eventhough I ride in a dark blue Bimmer!
Thanks for the input

[coolwelder62]

The unisteer rack works great for the 1st gens(But pricey).A 1/8 bump is alot.You will feel it just driving down the freeway.The ride tech tru-turn system has no bump steer.Just wanted to save some time later on.

[Hotwhilz]

The unisteer rack works great for the 1st gens(But pricey).A 1/8 bump is alot.You will feel it just driving down the freeway.The ride tech tru-turn system has no bump steer.Just wanted to save some time later on.

Thanks for the heads up, Unisteer is pricey like you stated even the Tru turn once shipped to France is pricey, will try to improve what I got, maybe work a bit on the steering arms that mount on the spindles and see if i can reduce the BS even more in order to get it close to 0.

Apreciate the input!

[Hotwhilz]

The unisteer rack works great for the 1st gens(But pricey).A 1/8 bump is alot.You will feel it just driving down the freeway.The ride tech tru-turn system has no bump steer.Just wanted to save some time later on.

Thanks for the heads up, but both are too pricey once shipped to France, I may have to play around with the steering arms that attached to the spindles to get closer to zero bumspteer.

Appreciate the input!