The end is near

Well the end is near ...no I'm not some nut toting a sign on the street announcing the end of the world ! ha ha !I'm talking about the Nova. It's all details and the buff out now .detail, details ,details!the beast will soon hit the streets . Been kidding Mike and Sindy they need to go ahead and buy a new set of rear tires because all Sindy wants to know is how fast it will go !,and when can she hit the nitrous button !SO we started driving it and tuning on her its sweet and sounds nasty too !

mikes nova

Gettin a bit more done on the Bruiser ,started on the console and its coming around rather nicely.I had a problem with the new brake lines i had made up the flares were leaking, seems my tool is making bent flares for some reason , time for a new tool or I'm gonna find me a Snap-on dealer and get me some warranty . We'll fix it some how, it always happens.I think Mister Helton is gonna fix this problem on the Chevy 2, that stands for fix it twice ! ha ha!Also got a new wiper motor installed and wired, its a nice piece from Detroit speed and has 3 intervals and 2 speeds makes it a bit more modern .oh yeah we also got the glass installed !

Nova -Pain

For some reason the ole Nova is causing us much strain and discomfort ,on each little detail it is fighting us tooth and nail !I told Mike that the poor car spent so much time abandoned in a field that now that it is sheltered in the garage it just doesn't want to leave for fear it will be returned to the field ! We've now decided the rear wheels are the incorrect size they are too tight a fit in the wheel wells.A 7 inch wheel will replace the 8's along with some what smaller tires !
Our latest endeavor has been the designing of the console, I'm just scared its gonna look too homemade !, but To the rescue is Mr. Lucky Hanks and he help guide the design to a smaller scale that looked much better and will appear much more custom with an aluminum or stainless metal top . cool !

Little added fluff for the nova

Got a good start in the trunk area making covers for the battery and wheel well areas. The battery side will have two separate pieces , one for the battery and one for the stereo amp mount. Both of these were made by building a frame work and stretching tee shirt material over it then fiber glassing the shirt much the same way speaker enclosures are made.After that drys more glass and mat are added then a little bondo to smooth it out. It really did not have to be to smooth because we intend to carpet it all. On the drivers side Mike is building a cover with a small storage unit in it that will be carpeted as well. Then the fun of wiring up the stereo begins !

More shiney stuff

Here's a little look at the new chrome master cylinder and brake lines and the new braided stainless lines with "AN" fittings from Godman racing. The wheels are polished tork thrust from American Racing wheels ,pretty nice ,huh ! Mike has been wiring up the trunk area and the carpet for it should be finished soon ,well let's get busy !!

stripes,embelishments, or what ever !

Got the stripes, laid out and sprayed. I used a silver base and scuffed it up with steel wool and scotch bright pads to give it a roughed up aluminum look.Then i added some kandy blue streaks and some transparent black shading just to give it some volume.I think this looked a little bit better than just plain silver stripes separating the two colors , it added interest and a custom touch. We will decide if it needs pinstripping after the blue is done and cleared.

Insulating the Nova

A little bit of insulating is now the job at hand .We are using a product that is used in the airconditioning industry to insulate ducts . The big boy Albert found it and it works great looks like Dyna mat . It has a sticky backing and a foil side to help sound and temp .We use two layers and it really quites it down .Also you'll notice the battery in the trunk and the NOS bottle for a little more umph !He'll need it for all those hungry Mustangs that will want a piece of him. After the paint is on we will paint the inside of the trunk and carpet it also.

Metal Mike

Mike "Metal"Marek ,owner of Auto Ac Hose Repair did an outstanding job of helping with the air -conditioning install .Mike has all the equipment to form hard lines as well as making up the high pressure hoses , and his service is mobile which makes it super handy.I really admire his work and eye for what will be ascetically pleasing to the eye so the job looks really well planed out .Mike does plenty of custom work as well as just making hoses for every day cars so give him a call for your needs @901-542-0509.While we had him in the shop ,Helton opted to have the heater hoses made by Mike also and they were then polished and threaded to the nice billet bulk head fitting in the firewall, below that is the cool looking billet areomotive fuel regulator to keep the fuel pressure right .

Dash board

Mike got the dash and gauges all wired up nice and neat. He used a super good looking bezel that is carbon fiber and white faced gauges to set it off. Now all we need to do is find the time to re wire the whole car with the 21 circuit Ez-wire harness ,it will replace the 30 year old harness so Mike can drive another 30 years with out problems . Yeah right... it's a Chevy hopefully it'll make it a year or two .This will all look great with the freshly painted dash and the new dash pad.Just throw in some fancy interior work and we got a hot rod!

fuel system upgrades

Well we anticipate the big ole 427 might need a lot of high test fuel, so the new fuel tank had a sump welded in and braided lines are run to the filter and pump. The 1/2 inch aluminum fuel lines run up to a 4 port regulator and then on to the very hungry 850 Demon carb ,all this octane is pushed by the 220 gph. fuel pump. This is all in symphony with a big shot of NOS ...just in case!!! I'm not gonna tell how much NOS hit was installed maybe you'll know after he smokes ya on the street! Mike will be spending a lot of time at the tire store buying back tires, maybe he can buy them in bulk !

bling bling for the big block thing!

Some really nice parts have recently been acquired for the 427 . You just can't hide money ! ,thats what Albert tells Mike constantly .Billet March serpetine pulleys and brackets support the chrome alternator and power steering pump . Wow they look great ! The chrome small Sanden A/C compressor will fit nicely too . Once we have big Mike "Metal " Marek ,who owns Auto Ac Hose Repair ,build us some really cool hoses and hard lines for the A/C system, we will get it all charged up." Metal "Mike does really great work making up special custom hoses for A/C systems . His truck is outfitted with crimping tools and tubing benders and he is mobile so he goes to the job site .More on Mike's business later .

Albert is always thinking of ways to make the mighty Nova project better .We both felt the addition of a Ford emblem on the valve covers , as a joke ,could not be passed up .Albert taped the emblem on the valve cover and awaited the owner's disgust.

lil playing with words

Mikes Nova is a true SS ! , and it's a rat motored SS ! , so using a bit of artistic license i decided it really was a ....RATS aSS !! The glove box seemed like a great spot to declare this truth , so Mike and passenger could not forget this little factoid !!

the mighty Nova

Mike and I are plugging away at the nova ,with the motor installed all the accessories can now be added.Mike will take care of that as I finish up the wet sanding an fix the small stuff that appears with close inspection .Then I hope to install the fenders to line up my tape stripes on the body as the paint job will be a two tone job with black on the bottom half and blue on the top.Then with the tape all equal and even i can start the paint process

I did have a major set back with the hood the last few coats of primer would not dry! I was given the wrong hardener and mixed it up with the 2k primer ,sprayed it and went to bed. The next day the paint was still wet ,the fix was to put paint stripper on it and strip it to the metal ,bummer !!Oh well its a learning curve I guess .

Bobby Harris keeps a watch full eye over Helton's engine as they prepare to add the stud girdle, just to keep it all tight during the high revs .That dam big ass cam is gonna shake up every thing !And as usual we found Albert doing what he does best!....Supervising from afar , all those cubic inches just wore him out.

stuffing the pig with big block

The 427 is ready to stuff into the Nova, and it is kicking and screaming cause it doesn't want to fit !We are having a bit of a problem with the correct motor mounts the measurement of the stock frame mounts is 2 5/8 inch and the motor mounts are much smaller so on this night things were a no go!This left us all scratching our heads , so to the parts store we must go !! again!! It's been a constant battle between the engine shop and the body /fab shop.The engine shop guys are such primadonnas with such complaints as , you cant be sanding and shooting paint while I'm adjusting valves , stuff will get in the motor !! Such whining

the fab shop and the paint shop did a good job on the firewall all will fit nice and snug 1,but the motor shop sez ,heck we can just take a hammer to it if it needs clearence!!!!! Oh no!!

happy new year to all !

Well we took a little time off to celebrate with family and friends,but now we're gonna hit it hard!Hot rod air has been taking their sweet time getting all the parts to us for the air and heat system ,This week we have mounted the heater box and are putting the hose block on the fire wall, its a nice billet piece that's going to look great surrounded by HOK oriental blue .I got a test panel shot for Mike to approve the colors and design for the stripes,hope he likes it!

Mike has been trudging away at the big block and will soon have it all buttoned up,then we will slip it between the fenders. Not to say there have not been a few stumbling blocks along the way,getting the right parts have been a big problem,and the second is keeping Albert out of the bottle, just kidding !!

installing the front cap

Here we go installing the fenders and hood for its trail fitment .It seems as if these parts have a mind of their own one side fits well but the other is jinxed !these parts often times have to be removed and installed several times to make it all correct and make the gaps on the doors and hood appear right!The L-88 hood is a steel one that will really make the nova bad ass!!Once all the ftting is done we'll blow it all apart and then i'll paint the fire wall so we can install that beasty 427!

nova undercarraige and assembly

Well lets get back two the big Nova Ive, finally got the front sub frame and under carriage painted with POR-15 and their chassis black product.It is a nice satin black, similar to the factory look.I got all the new ball joints and control bushings installed and painted,and got all new brake parts.Mike and I installed all of these and it looks sharp! The big boy also sprung for the good Russell stainless steel flexible brake lines a really nice touch , no more spongy rubber lines! The rear mono leaf springs were re-arched and new big block coil springs , so the pig will ride nicely.Mike decided to get rid of the 10 bolt rear axle in favor of a 12 bolt with a nice posi -unit and he just had to have nice shiney c clip eliminators to help make it safer when applying gobs -o-torque .Now some new shocks to round out the whole picture and soon we will have a roller again !In between all of this mike has been trying to insulate the trunk floor with a rubber foil backed material .

waz next?

Still trudging along with the body work issues and when i finish that phase I'll get the last coats of primer done .Then i will start the under side of the car.Most of it has been sand blasted and now needs all the welding ground down and i will wipe some of those areas with "kitty hair ",a fiberglass product with small hairs of glass in side .This stuff sands like bondo,but will not absorb water ,just in case it gets it gets exposed in the future.This should not happen because I'll be using POR-15 and their chassis black paint which is very tough, i like this stuff but it gets all over me I'm a bit of a pig ! Albert hates it cause hes a pig also!You must clean it off quick because if it dries on your skin you can't get it off.We're gonna put 2 coats of POR-15 and one coat of chassis black ,semi gloss .But first the front end is going to be taken apart and painted before reassembling with new parts then Mikes Nova will start looking good !Next on to the rear end , which now has a mini spool and steep gears,we want a posi -unit and more street able cogs.For the axle rebuild we turn to KENNY GAINES ,of TWO BOBS RACING ,he's da main!and a great drag racer who just needs a bit more funds to better his racing program,don"t we all!!So any one out there who would like to sponsor us in a" Dixie Door slammer"come on down.Kenny has a great start on a tube chassis 55 Chevy that will be a bad tubbed drag /street ride with most of the slant to the drag side as it will be stuffed with a big cubed Chevy by Glenn Martin at "Custom Engines ", but i digress! Back to the Nova, we got some tubular sub frame connectors from Chassis Engineering that we hope to weld in before we POR-15 the bottom side of this pig.These will help keep the body from flexing when the right foot gets heavy!

One other member of our band of misfits needs to be mentioned here,the G-MAN..Garrett,shown here with the sand blast helmet on , this is to keep the traffic down on this site.If all the young honeys found out he was on here the total number of hits might over load the capacity of the system, and ID hate to have to call Al Gore and ask him to restart the whole Internet that he created!!Garrett is good help when ya can tear him away from guitar hero,the web games or his AXE, he is a pretty good picker.Also he has shown some interest in air brush work hopefully he will be a good addition for us. So when he is fabulously rich and famous maybe he could take a little time off from jet setting around the world to help us airbrush some goth skulls or something.