| Chevy Nova - page one |
 |
 |
 |
| We took these pics the first night we had the car, and I admit, it's no beauty, yet. The wife didn't like it when she first saw it. Didn't like it at all. But after a half hour cruising around, V8 engine gently rumbling away, windows down, slowly wending our way around town, she started to enjoy the prospect of having a Nova in the family. |
| Here we will chronicle the rejuvenation and customisation of our recently purchased '68. Pictures and info will be added as we progress with the project. Money is limited, so it won't be a credit card and telephone, parts by mail rebuild. Most everything will be done ourselves. When we bought the Nova it was basically a hack runaround, with a th 350 fitted, and a disc brake conversion up front. Other than that, it's old, tired, and a little worse for wear and tear.. |
| The story of a 1968 Chevrolet Nova 307 |
 |
 |
| We bought some Jap surplus seats and fitted them, to replace the rather tired and broken bench seat. It was just a quick repair so we could use the car for a comfortable runaround. Little did we know, but this was only the beginning........... |
| As the bench seat came out, so did half the rotten carpet and underlay, which left the floorpan looking kinda rusted and sorry for itself. This is Paul wire brushing all the crap and rust out of the floor. No point laying new carpet over old rubbish. |
 |
 |
| Having fitted decent front seats, the rear bench was looking pretty shabby, so that went to the tip too. We built a lightweight angle iron frame to support some plywood replacements. Hopefully saving a little weight, for the off chance we might race the car one day. |
| The floor pans had all been replaced at some stage, and there was only one small patch of terminal corrosion, so we 'glassed over that. Red oxide went down, then a coat of black enamel. There's no fancy paints such as Rustoleum in the Philippines. Also in this pic, you can see the holes in the dash frame, near the ashtray slot,where a variety of switches had been fitted at stages. |
 |
 |
| After several days trying to sort the wiring out, and getting extremely frustrated with the 'local' rewire that had been done ten years before, it was decided to rip the lot out and start from scratch. The whole car is too far gone to consider restoring, and I'm not really into that thing either. |
| This was the joyous site that was hidden under the hood. At some stage in the near future the 307 will be put out to pasture, and a freshly built 350 will be slotted in, and maybe a little paint and polish to the engine bay too. |
 |
 |
| The original Powerglide tranny had been yanked out by the previous owner, and a TH350 fitted in it's place. The 'engineer' who did the installation decided to use a Jap shifter mechanism, with the indicator markings and button on the wrong side! The sides of the frame will be covered in carpeted panels eventually. |
| The same genius who fitted the Jap shifter had made a crappy looking 'glass console to hold the shifter, and that was one of the first things to go to the garbage bin. Seeing as most all of the switches didn't work, were melted, or missing, it was decided to utilise the new centre console as a switch panel. The console frame was built of 1" lightweight angle iron. Crude, but effective. |
 |
 |
| At some stage in our Novas life, a radio and several gauges had been hachet fitted into the original plastic dash moulding. It was decided to remove it completely, and manufacture our own wooden version. The original sweep speedo workings will be mounted to it, and plexiglass used to keep sticky fingers from pulling the needle off. The dash looks a little big and overbearing in the photo, so may be trimmed down a touch before final finishing. A good coat of polish, and it'll hopefully blend in well with the grey leathercloth that will be used to cover the rest of the dash frame. |
 |
| Bearing in mind that we may go racing one day, we decided to fit the battery in the trunk before we started the rewire. The live line runs through the car to the centre console, while the ground is bolted to the body, through the floor and one seam of the frame, just behind the battery. The body is then solidly jumpered to the front subframe, and then that to the engine block. I wanted a good solid ground to all parts of the car, for reliable wiring and starting. The live also runs through an isolation switch mounted in the centre console, with the alternator hot wire connected to the battery side of it. Nothing else is connected to that alt wire. When the main safety switch is turned of, the whole car goes dead, engine too. We've tried to plan ahead, so that if we choose to go racing one day, we have a lot of the important things already done, apart from a roll cage that is!!! Have to talk to the wife. The screw in type fuses are no more, as they were real bad quality, and we took the plunge to scrap that switch panel and make a new one with those modern wafer type fuse blocks in. |
| January 2001 |
| March 2001 |
|
| Since I loaded these pics, on march 27, 2001, there have been: |
| Visitors |