1969 Nova v1.1

[69Nova]

Giving this build thread thing a shot. This is the starting point...



Owned since October of 2002. Daily drove for the first few years of ownership till I got a truck. Extremely basic car, 350/350, Hotchkis TVS, manual drums all around, quick ratio manual steering, Corbeau seats(put the bench back in about 2 years ago). In this form the car saw TONS of miles. Mostly street driven but saw lots of autox's, few trips to the drag strip, and half the Power Tour in 06. But in December of 2013 we purchased a old house and between that a other hobbies this took the back seat.

So here is where we are at today. Over the past month I have ordered a few things to upgrade and get this thing back on the road.

-Front discs brakes from SSBC
-HQ shocks from ridetech
-New bushings
-New dash pad
-New arm rest
-Black Widow Venom mufflers

On top of that we are going to spend time cleaning the and painting parts like the a-arms, subframe and some under hood items.

[no go nova]

Welcome, why not do the ls1 brake swap are the corvette brake swap? then you can even do the rear at the same time even price wise. Can't see pics at work. That black widow muflers should make that car sound awsome.

[69Nova]

Welcome, why not do the ls1 brake swap are the corvette brake swap? then you can even do the rear at the same time even price wise. Can't see pics at work. That black widow muflers should make that car sound awsome.

Thanks, I went with the SSBC stuff because from what I have seen they looked like a solid choice for a complete kit. I'm assuming with the Corvette brakes Id have to source everything myself. Also after a 25% coupon the price wasn't bad.

I'm very much looking foward to the black widow mufflers. Will be nice getting rid of the flowmaster drone and having something slightly different that every other muscle car around.

[69Nova]

Pressure washed the motor and front suspension. Knocked off about 13 years of dirt and grime, will defintly make disassembly easier/more fun.



Next step will be taking the front brakes and suspension off. Then we can figure out what is going to to either painted or powder coated.

[Jimmypetersfit]

Looks like a solid car to start with!

[69Nova]

Removed the front suspension. Still need to remove the center link and tie rods. Going to clean and paint them them since they don't have many miles.



Also painted the new front spindles. And took the control arms to have everything removed so they can be cleaned and painted.

[Jear3030]

Very nice Nova...Good luck!

[vaughn3031]

Nice!....subscribed!

[69Nova]

Thanks guys. Been swamped with work and family recently. Did paint the control arms and dropped them off to a buddy who will press the bushings and ball joints in. Then re-assembly should begin.

[instro84]

nice work i'll be wathing my son wants a nova.

[69Nova]

This is how the car is as of today. Got the control arms, springs, shocks, sway bar, spindles and brakes on. Everything went smoothly, but I did have to file the lower control arm shock opening for the ride tech shocks. Otherwise they did not fit. Only other issue is the passannger side dust shield rubs the control arm.

[David Sloan]

Glad to see your given her some love
Andrew

[69Nova]

Back on the road!

We got the front end back together. Only drove about 10 miles in the rain yesterday so no real driving impressions so far. As you can see in the picture the car is super dirty from sitting around and needs a good detail job. Also need to install new dash pad a other interior bits.

The only negative thing to report on is the studs that came with the SSBC kit were too short. They didn't even reach the end of the lug nuts. Was hoping they weren't pulled all the way through, but they were seated fine. So when the car was at the shop for a final inspections and alignment they had to install new studs. On top of that I called SSBC on 9/17 and explained everything, the guy was nice and said they would send me out new studs. He told me to email pics to them and have not heard back yet. AND on top of that I called Classic Industries(who i ordered the kit through) and spoke to them, they have been trying to contact SSBC and have not heard back anything as of yesterday.

[69Nova]

Slow progress.. But progress non the less!

When we were getting the car back on the road it needed new tires. I went with 255/70's in the rear which rubbed fender because of the 4 in backspace. I was already planning on switching to plain steel wheels anyways so I picked up this set with 4.25 inch backspace from wheel vintiques. Had them powder coated to match the car and here we are. Still has a very slight rub on the passenger side.

Also regarding the SSBC issue. After a long process of trying to get ahold of somebody I had the best luck Facebook messaging them. They ended up giving me 100$ back(basically the value of studs plus one hour labor) which was great.

[cbpldc]

That is a very nice looking car. Love the steelies!

Chris