Rat Packer Nova Question

[iBorg]

This is a kit that is sorta mixed blessing for me. I love what I see the finished car being but struggle with the details of the kit. In my mind I see something like the Instant Funny cars, but struggle with the chassis. I'd really like to build the type of weekend warrior car that a couple of guys would buy the early Nova and swap in the high performance goodies off another car.

Doable but.....

But the chassis should be a unibody unlike the generic tube chassis of the kit. I've thought about possible options, Miss Deal seems to come to mind but that's not the unibody chassis this car should have. I've looked at both Revell and AMT early Camaros but those chassis are too small. Any suggestions as to what might work?

Thanks,

Mike

[RAT-T]

WHAT ABOUT THE '66 NOVA KIT? THAT SHOULD HAVE A UNI-BODY CHASSIS PLATE.

 

[iBorg]

Its an option.....need to find one.

 

[RAT-T]

THERE'S A BUNCH ON EBAY

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=&_osacat=1188&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.X66+NOVA.TRS0&_nkw=66+NOVA&_sacat=1188

[Outlawracing]

the Mustang drag car chassis might work or the trumpeter kit but that's if you can find a a cheap one

[iBorg]

The Mustang shares the lackluster chassis. I'll pick up a Nova in a few days.....I'd forgotten they were reissued.

[Snake45]

I feel your pain. I'm gonna do one of these someday, and I think I'm gonna use the unibody chassis from the '72 Nova , even though it's not right (I have several copies of this kit just for parts). I'll do my own subframe from the firewall forward, like the bolt-on straight axle kits of the day (and I think they're still available, too).

I'm gonna be un-chopping the wheelbase a bit, too, moving the rear wheels about halfway back to the stock location. The kit's wheelbase is altered a bit too much.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yeah, the '66 Nova should have the correct unibody, stock-wheelbase chassis. '62 thru '67 Novas would be on essentially the same chassis stampings with a bolt-on front subframe.

                                Not the pro-street version, though.   

Edited July 12, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[iBorg]

I looked at one of my nearby (less than an hour drive) for the Grumpy Nova version. All they had was the pro street. Guess I'll keep looking. 

[Johnt671]

I picked up a second Bill Jenkins Nova on clearance at Michaels a couple of weeks ago.

[Mark]

You might have to try a hobby shop for the Round 2 Jenkins issue.  Hobby Lobby broomed that kit out in their last inventory reset, and Michael's is clearing them out of their stores now.  That said, the '66 underbody is THE way to go.  It fits the '65 body really well.  It should, being that the '66 is a reskinned '65.  But the two kits were designed 20 years apart by different companies, so the interchangeability can't be taken for granted.

The '66 underbody likewise fits the '63 (Boss Nova) wagon body provided you grind out the wagon's molded-in engine compartment.  I've got one of those bodies cleaned up with the rear wheel openings filled back in, to stock spec.  I need to knuckle down and scribe the panel lines back in, and get back on that one.

[Snake45]

 I need to knuckle down and scribe the panel lines back in, and get back on that one.

The thought of rescribing all those door lines--and into the window frames, too--has kept me from building that kit. Thinking of doing it as a phantom 2-door wagon or SD, which would cut the work by at least half.

[Mark]

The thought of rescribing all those door lines--and into the window frames, too--has kept me from building that kit. Thinking of doing it as a phantom 2-door wagon or SD, which would cut the work by at least half.

Mine's going to be a two-door wagon, with the "B" pillars slanted at the same angle as the rear window.  I've got a couple of other Nova wagons in good shape, so I don't need this one to be stock.

[Snake45]

Mine's going to be a two-door wagon, with the "B" pillars slanted at the same angle as the rear window.  I've got a couple of other Nova wagons in good shape, so I don't need this one to be stock.

I've actually got a Jimmy Flintstone phantom SD body, but the bottom of one side seems to be bowed out. Not sure if it can be fixed or not--or if it would even be noticed once built. Of course, then there's still the typical JF thick resin in the windshield area thing to deal with....

[Mark Brown]

The AMT '66 Nova chassis is an excellent swap for the old Rat Packer.  Here's a couple of pics of a project I've had going on for way too long.  I chopped off the front clip and added plastic rails as was so commonly done back then with commercially available kits.

 

Edited July 15, 2016 by Mark Brown

[iBorg]

That is so spot on to what I want to build. Even the injected motor is right. 

[Mark]

I've actually got a Jimmy Flintstone phantom SD body, but the bottom of one side seems to be bowed out. Not sure if it can be fixed or not--or if it would even be noticed once built. Of course, then there's still the typical JF thick resin in the windshield area thing to deal with....

The bowed-out body sides are a common ailment with JF bodies.  With some of them, that affects hood fit.  The root of the problem is that the body was pulled off of the mold's inner core before being fully cured.  Easy fix: clean up the lower half of the body, assemble it onto the donor chassis and interior, pull the bowed-out area in, and hot glue it.  Set it back in the box for a while; if you procrastinate half as long as I do it will take a set in the right configuration.  The hot glue will peel off of everything when needed.  Don't wrap rubber bands around the body.  Those dry out and break up fairly quickly, and they might pull something else out of shape as an unintended consequence. 

[Snake45]

The bowed-out body sides are a common ailment with JF bodies.  With some of them, that affects hood fit.  The root of the problem is that the body was pulled off of the mold's inner core before being fully cured.  Easy fix: clean up the lower half of the body, assemble it onto the donor chassis and interior, pull the bowed-out area in, and hot glue it.  Set it back in the box for a while; if you procrastinate half as long as I do it will take a set in the right configuration.  The hot glue will peel off of everything when needed.  Don't wrap rubber bands around the body.  Those dry out and break up fairly quickly, and they might pull something else out of shape as an unintended consequence. 

Interesting. I was thinking of trying to un-bow it with hot water, or even steam. Ever tried that on resin?

Fallback position would be to just cut the lower body off, graft on the same section from the kit body, and then scribe the doors.

[Tom Geiger]

Here's the Miss Deal chassis for reference.  Note that both this one and the Rat Packer were considered funny cars. Back then they didn't sweat the details since kids were the primary market for these kits.  

[iBorg]

I thought seriously of the Miss Deal chassis but I remember the bolt on Instant Funny car kits.......I wanted one badly as a 12 year old. Going to get one in scale.

[Mark]

Interesting. I was thinking of trying to un-bow it with hot water, or even steam. Ever tried that on resin?

Fallback position would be to just cut the lower body off, graft on the same section from the kit body, and then scribe the doors.

Nope, never tried hot water with resin because I figured I might be doing damage elsewhere while fixing the area I intended to fix.  My first thought was to rubber-band the body/interior/chassis, but again there's the possibility of collateral damage like pulling the roof down or something.  By the time you get rubber bands tight enough to do what you want them to do, they're going to be tight enough to pull other things out of shape too.  Rubber bands don't seem to last like they used to; I use them at work (though less and less).  After the audit is done (usually around tax time), I'll start boxing up last year's files, and already I'm dealing with dead rubber bands.

[Snake45]

I thought seriously of the Miss Deal chassis but I remember the bolt on Instant Funny car kits.......I wanted one badly as a 12 year old. Going to get one in scale.

Those are still available 1:1, though I forget the source. Nickey, maybe?

Odd thing about those: They seem to bolt right to the firewall. Is the firewall a structural member in the first-gen Nova? Or something behind it?

ETA: Found this source. See what I mean about bolting to the firewall?

https://www.cachassisworks.com/c-119-nova-62-67-chevy-ii.aspx

Edited July 17, 2016 by Snake45

[Mark Brown]

The lower rails are attached to the subframe stubs, where you cut off the stock subframe and weld plates over the ends.  The upper supports bolt to the firewall but are just supports - the load is carried through the subframe rails.

[Snake45]

The lower rails are attached to the subframe stubs, where you cut off the stock subframe and weld plates over the ends.  The upper supports bolt to the firewall but are just supports - the load is carried through the subframe rails.

Ah, now it makes sense.

I'm more familiar with the 2nd Gen Nova subframes (same as first-gen Camaros), which bolt to the unibody from underneath with IIRC four bolts. So I gather that the "subframe" was welded in on 1st Gen Chevy IIs?  (Otherwise, why cut it? Why not just unbolt it and bolt in whatever new subframe you wanted?)

[Mark]

The section from the firewall back was welded in.  Everything forward of the firewall unbolted as a unit.  Someone had the stock forward section, rolling on its front wheels, for sale at a swap meet around here this spring (didn't think he'd sell it, but the next time around we saw a "sold" sign on it).  I've read that Chevrolet was experimenting with bolt-on subframe sections on that first generation Nova, as well as the monoleaf rear springs.  They went to the longer bolt-on subframe on the Camaro, which was designed alongside the next Nova.