father & son 72 nova project (GREY MATTER)

[johnny68]

hey all my name is john and ive been around car my whole life (im 40) funny thing is im the only car guy in my entire family im hoping my 13 year old jacob will clinge on to the fun. my wife has a 99 bonnivelle that i hate its the only new smogable car we own so i told (asked) if i could build here another car so she wanted another nova ive had a 65 sedan and she drove a 62 wagon year ago. so i found this 72 in great shape on ebay up in napa valley trailered it home drove it 2 mile ran fine no problems great car. so what do i do completly tear it apart. my plans are leave the 350/400 tranny in it add vintage air speed tech arms still stay coils up front Daily driver remember and dse tubs and connectors with a g bar rear 235/40/18 on 8 in front and 295/45/18on 10.5 in back. heres some pictures
thanks John


my son jacob got a yelling at for not having shoes on just a little kid 13 and a foot taller than me






well today i pulled out the gas tank and always thought id would cool to find a build sheet on a car ive built and i found the build sheet on top of tank california car its pretty deteriorated but you can see it was built in van nuys california it has pwr disk and pwr steering and a 350 motor and brown paint just thought it was pretty cool also a buddy is letting me use his rottisery which will help when i do the tubs any way should be ordering a bunch of parts by the end of nov.so will have more pics. to add
john



same motor just torn apart and cleaned

John

[Bryce]

Cool project welcome. Im in san diego too.

[Josue]

Nice project! A '72 Nova was my 1st car when I was your son's age!! Parent's paid $500 for it, they saw that I was starting to show an interest in cars, so they started me early. haha

I hope it works out for you and your son!

[ssmike]

Cool thread! I have a 72 Nova also, and am having it built with my pops.

Funny thing, Cris G. (of JCG Restorations) found our original build sheet in the exact same spot when he removed the tank!

[johnny68]

jacob my son getting nice and dirty cleaning off undercoat to drill out spot welds and cub out wells for tubs

[Motown 454]

Good place to learn. Nice progress and cool deal working with your son on this project.

[johnny68]

well we havent worked on car to much lately but have gotten some parts in dse tubs and connectors, door hinge rebuild kit half height body mounts and working on c5 front brakes from the forum thanks Wayne also got the frame back from powder coat not bad for 140 bones id say
John

[Bryce]

Nice progress, lunch at some point would be cool!

[johnny68]

got some work done on the nova started the dse tubs
john



also had frame powder coated

hope to have the tubs done by christmas
john

[johnny68]

thanks to carl for the speed tech arms bilstein shocks and coil set up super excited


and wayne for the brake set up


next parts will be speed tech torque arm set up hopefully in jan.
John

[Dalamar]

thats great you're doing this with your son.
my dad and I are building a 67 mustang.

nice looking parts, definately exciting.

[Bryce]

Nice score on the parts!

[CHAZMO1986]

I love ur projec!!!! I just wanted to give u some incentive pics of my 70 Nova, Keep up the great work, i cant wait to see more pics and progress!

[johnny68]

I love ur projec!!!! I just wanted to give u some incentive pics of my 70 Nova, Keep up the great work, i cant wait to see more pics and progress!

thanks chazmo im trying whole lot different than a 55 f100 so whats the details on your wheels size back spacing rear width ya know the whole 9 yards im going for a look of between yours and blakes/speed tech
john

[69projectKAOS]

very nice, me and my dad did the same thing with my car. keep up the good work!-Dom

[johnny68]

ok guys need some guidence the body is on the roto. still looking foward i intend to undercoat bottom after sub frame connectors and torque arm bracket is all welded in so what is the order i get it ready to do this. what i mean is in order to put connectors in ,,the subframe has to be in and straight than weld in connectors but not to sub frame pull sub frame under coat than reinstall subframe and weld to connectors?
doing the connectors should i have all suspension in car and on wheels or can i do it with just subframe on, on my 2 post lift?

[johnny68]

well what do you do if the kids are playing ther new video game ond wife is doing her thing on christmas morning ? you go out to garage and mock up front suspension, ive already done the gulstrand mod and painted some bolts and misc. parts i. i may not get to work on the car due to the 7 inch's of rain san diego got (phone lines hate water) they have use on 12 hour days from the 19th thru the 31st only day off is today but hey blake its mostly goint to your torque arm setup and maybe a housing then jon and justin drivers inc your up next for the wheels ill be calling you, well i hope all have a great christmas and a happy and safe new year
john

[opnwide]

I understand that dilemma about the subframe connectors. In order to get the best possible alignment with my DSE subframe connectors, I dropped the body, attached and aligned the subframe, then hoisted it back into the air with the subframe on before I cut the slots for the connectors. Its a bit of work, but otherwise you're just guessing where to cut.

[johnny68]

well called up blake and ordered the torque arm set and 51 1/2 inch wide 9 inch housing. slowly but surely im making progress next is the steering and wheels take care all
john

[Bryce]

this is coming along nicely John.