Frodo- 72 Nova daily driver project

[medbali76]

Updates:
The front bumper mods are almost ready I am waiting for the new turn signal lights to arrive.
I will use the smaller 69 nova lights with a little mods around the lights to get “deep” look.
The hood vents are ready. It looks simple from the top but they have pretty nice pocket design underneath the hood.

[JRANGER]

wow that bumper mod really makes it aggressive. Very nice

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Very cool, looks fantastic!

[CSG]

I kind of hate checking this thread, I feel pretty inadequate after I look at that fab work.

[medbali76]

I kind of hate checking this thread, I feel pretty inadequate after I look at that fab work.

Don't feel like that.
These guys are very professionals and working on classic rare European cars all the time. They are happy if they get American Muscle to work on time by time.
This is one of their project I really like:
From this wrecked junk:




Created this Beauty:



And this is ALL steel/sheetmetal no plastic no bondo. 4000+hrs of professional work in 22 months as far as I heard.

[medbali76]

Rear bumper mods:






This is a very short exhaust tip because did not want to cut behind the bumper to get more space.
That horizontal piece in the tip is a necessary thing there to cover the round cut out for the exhaust pipe.
However I am not sure we need that there. Once the car is running everything inside the tip will be black due to the soot and that cut out would not be so visible.

I am still thinking what color to choose for this project. That is my hardest decision on this entire project...
Should I go classic black? I really like this.
Or custom grey that is so popular lately? There are so many awesome grey project out there. White? Green? Gold? Blue? Flat paint? matte? Shiny?

[medbali76]

The next step is to modify the rear bumper corners identical to the front bumper corners and put the 67-68 Firebird tail lights into the rear tail light panel.
There will be a special SS rear panel also that will be mated to those new lights.
I am trying to create a new look but keep all the Nova marks that are special to Novas. Will see how it goes...

[cornfedbill]

Looking good!

[JRANGER]

Very nice, keep up the good work

[medbali76]

Thank you!

Positioning the rear lights:

[medbali76]

Few steps closer to the end:

[medbali76]

What do you guys think about harley’s olive gold color?
Does it worth to consider it?

[NoNo]

Wow, great work on the rear, it looks killer !

I love this shade of gold, but maybe the flakes would be a little much for the car. The same shade, but metallic instead of big flakes would be awesome. (Just my 2 cents...)

[medbali76]

Thank you NoNo
I was in a Harley shop yesterday and there was a bike there with this color.
To be honest those flakes did not seem to much at all. It might look good on the Nova also.
It is pretty dark olive color when there is no direct sunlight on it and it is awesome strong gold and olive color when the sun hits it.
That pic above doesnt give back the real view.

This pic is from the Harley shop late afternoon with not much light.

Wow, great work on the rear, it looks killer !

I love this shade of gold, but maybe the flakes would be a little much for the car. The same shade, but metallic instead of big flakes would be awesome. (Just my 2 cents...)

[JayinMI]

Those Firebird tail lights remind me of an early Ventura. I like it. Great work so far!

Jay

[medbali76]

Thank you!

Yes, the 73 ventura/gto had these tail lights.

Those Firebird tail lights remind me of an early Ventura. I like it. Great work so far!

Jay

[JayinMI]

I like Venturas because you almost never see them. Is that one yours?

[medbali76]

No, but the idea for the tail light came from those cars.

[OregonianNova]

The plan:

Speedtech front control arms and ridetech SA coil overs with C5 type tall spindles using the factory subframe
Speedtech swaybar

ZX3R Forgeline wheels
9x18- 255/40-18
10x18- 275/40-18
Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires

What backspacing were your front and rear wheels? Also were the rear tubs stock? I plan on running speedtech arms up front and a torque arm out back but not sure if I want to shell out the money to have someone else mini tub my car when I could use that for something else

[medbali76]

What backspacing were your front and rear wheels? Also were the rear tubs stock? I plan on running speedtech arms up front and a torque arm out back but not sure if I want to shell out the money to have someone else mini tub my car when I could use that for something else

I used a Ford bolt pattern wheel that was made for the newer 2005+ mustangs so everything was pretty much screwed up from the beginning. Those wheels had high BS. Originally the front had roughly 6.8" BS ( ET44) and the rear had roughly 6.9" BS ( ET36). With the adapter spacers the BS changed on the front to roughly 5.5" and 6" at the rear as far as I remember. It was tight with the 275 tires but it was with stock tubs and did not have any issue.