New Project: 1970 Nova....SoCal

[bs46488]

Quick update:

After doing a bunch of research I determined that modifying the center link was a bad idea and I should just suck it up and move the engine back.



The current ebay ls swap engine bracket I bought only has 3 holes of adjustment. (Stock SBC, .625 inches forward, and 1.675 inches forward)

Well the 1.675" is too far forward and hits my center link. And the .625" is too far back and the intake hits the firewall.

So I saved myself the $150 on the Dirty Dingo sliders and decided to drill and tap a 4th set of holes. This will move the engine back about 5/8" and give me plenty of room on both the center link and firewall. The engine mount will share the bottom left bolt of the block and the two new holes I drilled.

I'll also have to cut and modify my trans crossmember, cause that will not fit.

And incase your wondering, I'll use my newly saved $150 and invest it towards shortening the driveshaft...cause now its too long!

[bs46488]

Mmmmm......wiring, wiring, and more wiring.

Finally got the engine location issues resolved. Had a slight header interference with the steering rag joint, so I had to move things around a little more.

Now that every thing is in place, started working on final wiring. Getting the fuse block wired up and all the wires in the car for the OBD2 port, brake signal, tach, etc



Now that I got the stand alone harness resolved, I need to clean up the birds nest of wires that the previous owner created. He relocated the battery to the trunk with just a large power cable, then its piggy backed a few times for power distribution, alt feed, etc

[ixfn]

Subbed... its a Nova, can't help it. Look forward to seeing more

[bs46488]

So close!

I almost got everything scratched off my list this weekend to start it up. Just 2 things left....so maybe next weekend!

Here she sits loaded with fluids (and nothing spilling on the floor)

[bs46488]

So Sunday was the official day to start the car. Everything is done, no leaks, fuel pump relay seems to be working correctly, I even ran exhaust on the car.

Decided to crank the engine over (pulled the fuel pump relay for a no start situation) to see what the mechanical oil pressure gauge would do and ran into 2 problems:

1) There is a nasty clunking noise when the starter cranks. Inside the car it feels bad, it sounds like a loud clunk almost like the driveshaft is hitting the floor pan (its not moving, I checked). Outside the car, it does not sound as bad. It just sounds like the starter is not meshing correctly or engaging enough, or maybe just hitting he flywheel.

2) I didn't crank a lot because of issue #1, but I didn't see any movement on the oil pressure gauge

Looking for suggestions on issue #1.

A little of the background: 2002 Silverado 5.3 with 4l60E (supposed to have 87k on it). Got the engine, trans, wire harness and ecu as a pull out. Didn't separate the engine and trans. I only removed the starter to put in the new Holley oil pan, then bolted it back in place. Used the LT1swap.com for harness modification and he flashed my ecu.

I'm running a battery in the back with 1/0 welding wire, using a ford starter solenoid in the trunk and have a little jumper wire from the battery lead to the "S" start wire on the starter. Brand new battery. Battery is grounded in the trunk to the body. Engine has 3 grounds up front from the block to the body and chassis.

[bs46488]

Quick update.....IT'S ALIVE!

I got a little advice from people about my questions in the above post and pretty much the answers were to just start it up.

Push it out of the garage, turned the key and vroom! Oil pressure jumped to about 45psi after about 3-5 seconds. The weird clunking noise is no longer there.

I didn't have much time this weekend so I only drove it back and forth a couple of times, but when I did the trans felt really really sluggish. I haven't hooked up the tcc from the swap yet, any chance that could be contributing to the sluggish trans?

[bs46488]

Quick update:

I finally wired the TCC switch, CEL light, and the OBD2 port. Once they were live, the CEL was on. Pulled out the code reader....only 8 codes stored! All of them trans related.

After a little research, I ended up putting 12+ to the pink wire on connector on the drivers side (I believe it is called the PRNDL switch), instead of the round plug on the passenger side, so that explains a lot. Got the power switched and now it feels like a car again!

Rumor on the street is that I have to re-do our kitchen, then all my posts will be paint and body related updates.

[bs46488]

Have been busy with a quick kitchen remodel for the wife and spending time working on competing the C10 project I'm also working on, but started to tackle this big cancer spot over the weekend.

Didn't want to replace the entire quarter and inner wheel well, but now I need to find a way to fabricate the lower 6-8" of the inner wheel housing.

[bs46488]

No actual progress, but bought these quarter panels for dirt cheap locally. It will make my time and effort on all the other metal repairs much better.

I've also been having starting issues with the battery in the back. Went to rockauto and bought the sheet metal to bring the battery back up into the engine bay to see if it fixes my starting issues.

[bs46488]

No major updates.

relocated the truck mounted battery to the factory location to see if it would help with the start up speeds (it didn't)


Pulled the car out of the garage and I have some sort of driveline/rear end clunk. Not sure what the issue is. The clunk sounds like a large hammer is hitting the floor, consistent with rotation. It also almost looks like the left rear axle has a large amount of play in it, moving in and out.

The reason for pulling the car out of the garage was because I got a good deal on a HVAC unit, so I ran this flexible duct across my garage. Who couldn't use climate control while they are working!

[bs46488]

Its been a while, but I thought I'd start to tackle the rust issues and burn in some patches.

Hopefully going to get the car in high build primer in the next couple of months.

[bs46488]

Got the driver's side sheet metal work done. Time to turn it around and do the other side.

[bs46488]

Body patchwork on the passenger side. Getting excited to get some progress on the Nova.

[bs46488]

Its been a year, so it must be time for an update.

After all that forward progress with the sheet metal and rust issues, I set myself up for a slight set back.

I ended up finding a deal on a T56 Stage 2 rebuild and started to collect parts for a 6 speed swap.

After a lot of ups and downs with the install, its finally in and back on the ground. Now its time to start prepping for paint.

[bs46488]

Finally got some progress and got fresh epoxy paint on the body. It feels good because there was a lot of metal fabrication, sanding, grinding, and scraping to get to this point.

[bs46488]

Wish I had something more exciting to post but still slowly working on paint...

[bs46488]

Feels good to get some paint on this project.....

[Project Bike Truck]

Feels good to get some paint on this project.....

I saw someone talk about San Diego people getting together, I’ll be down here this Sunday if the trucks are running or y’all just want to grab a coffee.

Where in SD are you? I’m over in La Mesa.

[bkbkbk]

Awesome Nova! That LS/T56/12 Bolt drive train should be a lot fun and a solid combo with room to grow into. Are you planning to autocross it? Looks like you've made a lot of progress in the last few months. Keep up the momentum!

[bs46488]

Here is a better pic after the paint session.

After I get it back together and get a few shake down miles on the vehicle I'm planning on updating some of the suspension for some more spirited driving.