1969 Chevy Nova - LS Swap / Pro-Touring Build

[craigs73]

wow very nice car....... super clean i think i liked the vette wheels on it better tho....but still a nice car either way... nice work

[johnny68]

nice to see more novas good job
john

[1fastssnova]

wow very nice car....... super clean i think i liked the vette wheels on it better tho....but still a nice car either way... nice work

I do have the Vette wheels on her now. Those Torque Thrusts were the old ones, I'm just going through the stages of change since I've owned her.

[1fastssnova]

During the Procharger install, I also pulled the factory dash bezel and found the speedo housing was in bad shape. Most of the mounting tabs were cracked and broken. I was never really crazy about the big sweep speedo anyway so I modified the bezel to hold a 5" Autometer tach and electric speedo (figured the TKO came with a VSS - might as well use it)








Here's the finished product with boost and a/f gauges on the column (this all gets changed again when I do the LS swap).

[1fastssnova]

I was looking for a place to mount the MSD boxes under the dash. The flimsy original cardboard glove box wasn't going to cut it so I made a new one, copying the old. I used 18 gauge aluminum sheet metal and a brake.







And the finished product - much more rigid



MSD boxes (timing control, boost control and 6AL) mounted under dash to new glove box




Just as a side note, the engine wouldn't fire at first. What I found troubleshooting it was that the LAST box in the "chain" has to have the white wire loop cut when using a magnetic pickup (from MSD: If you are using a distributor with a magnetic pickup, such as an MSD, to trigger the ignition system the White Wire Loop needs to be cut).

So I had the 6AL connected to the Boost Timing Master, connected to the Timing Control. The magnetic pick wire for the distributor gets plugged into the Timing Control box and that is the ONLY box to have the white wire loop cut (I had it cut in the Boost Timing Master also)

[1fastssnova]

Last post for tonight. I finished up this Procharger install with LED tail lights and Halogen H4 conversions for the fronts.




I had to open up the headlight buckets a little in the center because the new housings had an extended pocket in the back to hold the H4 bulb.




I also added some fog lights in the bumper slots (some people like'em, others not so much)

[craigs73]

your last two post the pics are not showing up in....

[1fastssnova]

your last two post the pics are not showing up in....

Really?? I was organizing the pictures on Photobucket, maybe there was a delay?

I see them now - did you try refreshing the page?

[craigs73]

i can see them now...... nice work...

[Nicks67GTO]

I dont see them. Anytime you move a picture on photobucket you make a new tag for it and the address changes from my understanding. So if you moved them folder to folder you killed the link to the pics.

[1fastssnova]

I dont see them. Anytime you move a picture on photobucket you make a new tag for it and the address changes from my understanding. So if you moved them folder to folder you killed the link to the pics.

Yep - that's what I did. Working on fixing that today.

Done!

[sebtarta]

What head lights are those? do you have a link?
Love this build , thank you

[Razorhead]

Funny you should mention that. When I had the leaf springs in the car and drag raced her at the track I had to use an 1/8" spacer on the driver side so the slick wouldn't rub on the inner fender. So yes I guess the rear was slightly off to the passenger side. Once I had the g-link installed the rear was centered side to side.

Hmm well I have the same problem and I'm looking for different options for it. It's with my Nova a bit more that 1/8" and when there are more than 2 people in the car the tire will rub the fenders...
A g-link is a bit too expensive for me (student) at the moment.

[1fastssnova]

What head lights are those? do you have a link?
Love this build , thank you

Thanks, this is the kit I used for the headlights:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-899250/overview/

[1fastssnova]

Hmm well I have the same problem and I'm looking for different options for it. It's with my Nova a bit more that 1/8" and when there are more than 2 people in the car the tire will rub the fenders...
A g-link is a bit too expensive for me (student) at the moment.

Is it rubbing on only one side and on the inner wheel-well?

If so you're best bet would be to run a spacer on that side to move the wheel out a little. Are you talking a 1/4" or less?



If it is rubbing on the outer fender then you'd need a deeper offset wheel and possibly a spacer on the other side.

[1fastssnova]

In the spring of 2011, I started gathering the parts for the suspension upgrades I wanted to do.

First thing I did was read "How to make your Muscle Car Handle" by Mark Savitske. It gave me a good basis for understand suspension geometry and what would work best for me.


So I called up Mark and ordered the SC&C Stage II for the front and the Chassisworks G-Link for the rear.


I was going to do the install myself and figured the front would be a bolt in deal and the rear wouldn't be too bad even though it needed some welding.


My welding skills at this point were ok but I didn't feel confident that I'd weld the rear cradle to the unibody without screwing it up (possibly not the correct weld setting or not enough heat penetration). So I spoke to Mark's dad, Chuck and setup an appointment to bring my car over to Savitske Classic and Custom for the install.




I really enjoy doing my own work, as well as saving the cash on labor, but I felt this was worth it considering these guys have been in the business for a long time, and Mark is a suspension guru among the members here on the forum (besides Chuck's labor rate is half of what the shops get here on L.I.)

[1fastssnova]

Once I got her home I took a good look at all the new stuff and made some changes to shock settings and ride height.

SPC Upper Arms with screw-in, tall ball joints:


SPC Lowers with adjustable ride height kit:


Varishock single adjustables and Global West Springs:


Rear Chassisworks G-Link:



Varishock single adjustable coil-overs with 200 lb springs:


Slide-a-Link Sway bar with 3 settings:


I dropped her down about another inch and was pretty happy with the stance:


I was actually experiencing a decent amount of wheel-hop - which I thought I was weird because there are no bushings in the G-Link set up (no delfection). I set the upper and lower rear arms to move the instant center further back and it was still doing it, so I looked at the rear shock settings and spring rates.

Cranking the shocks all the way up gave her a really harsh ride quality, so after discussing it with Mark, I went with a heavier 250 lb spring. That did the trick and eliminated almost all of the wheel-hop.

I also feel that the weight distribution may have something to do with it also, seeing as a steel-headed big block put my front/rear split at 56/44.
approx.

We'll see how it is now with the LS swap. Looking on LS1Tech, I believe an iron LQ4 with aluminum heads is approx. 200 lbs lighter than a steel-headed big block. And, the front of the LS engine is almost 2" further back in the chassis than the bbc.

[Razorhead]

Is it rubbing on only one side and on the inner wheel-well?

If so you're best bet would be to run a spacer on that side to move the wheel out a little. Are you talking a 1/4" or less?

If it is rubbing on the outer fender then you'd need a deeper offset wheel and possibly a spacer on the other side.

It's about 1/4" yeah. Its only rubbing on de outer fender on the right side. Yeah but that actually don't solve the problem, I'm looking to put de axle itself back to the center. Probabely just install new leaf springs wil to the job..

[hookemdevils22]

Doubtful that new leafs will do the trick. These cars weren't exactly known for their quality control, so a good number left the factory with offset axles in relation to the body. This could be due to the mounts at either the axle or rear subframe. The axle in my '71 was offset from the factory...

Side note, I love the SC&C shop! I assumed that they had some wicked garage based on all the (deserved) praise they receive from the PT community.

[no go nova]

Nice third gen