Projekt JunkNova 66

[Snake45]

Last year at the local toy show, I bought this unfinished '66 Nova Pro Street project. The paint didn't look horrible and it seemed like it would be an easy rescue/completion. 

When I got it home and gave it a good look, I was sadly disappointed. Although the paint is even and shiny, it's got a LOT of orange peel.   There's no rear suspension or rear axle in the box. No wheels or tires. There's no engine at all. The headlights are missing. The windshield is cracked. The front suspension is assembled to the chassis, but one of the front spindles is missing. Back in the box it went, and back into the depths of the Snakepit, and I promptly forgot about the wretched thing. 

Fast-forward to a couple months ago. I was re-watching all the episodes of Memphis Street Outlaws on Discovery on demand, and grew very fond of the two '66-'67 Novas on there, Heifer and Zip Tie. Then they started young Molly Gully out with a fast, cool-looking purple '65 Nova (Ugly Duck). Wheels began to turn in my head. Maybe I could dig this thing out and Snake-slap it into a passable street outlaw-ish beast of some kind. 

Tore up the Snakepit looking for it for two days with no joy. Gave up and moved on. About three days ago I just happened to look around and found the stupid thing about two feet from my favorite TV chair. DOH! 

So it's game on. Here's what I have to work with, (I also have the chrome sprue with all the body trim on it) and "the rules" are I can't use any "good" parts from my stash that would interfere later on with a "good" build. 

 

I can make a front spindle, and pretty sure I can make a windshield. I can take the rear axle, springs, and traction bars from an AMT '72 "Old Pro" Nova, which I've bought several of just for parts. I can take the headlight lenses from there, too. No problem coming up with a Big Block Chevy engine, if one will fit in without too much trouble. I'll see if the paint can be polished a little; if not, maybe a couple coats of clear will fill in the orange peel pits enough to be polished out. The parts box should cough up some suitable wheels and tires. 

I guess we'll see what happens. Comments and suggestions/ideas welcome. As JJ Da Boss would say, "Come and get it!" 

[Bullybeef]

Well it’s a good start, where are you at with it? 

[Snake45]

Still rounding up parts. Found a good rear end; will have to make springs. I have an unbuilt copy of this kit to use for patterns but the idea here is to see what I can do with leftovers, castoffs, and junk. Have figured out how to make the missing front spindle I need. Have found several possible BBC engines. Have found good rear wheels and tires and am narrowing down my possibilities for fronts. Am still deciding how to even out/shine up the existing paint. Hoping to get the chassis up on wheels in the next couple days, then I'll see where I am. 

I've since received a junk '65 Nova body and I'm gonna try to rehab that as a second body for the chassis, "Switchers" style. I'm a little bit amped about the whole thing at the moment. 

[wrenchr]

5 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Still rounding up parts. Found a good rear end; will have to make springs. I have an unbuilt copy of this kit to use for patterns but the idea here is to see what I can do with leftovers, castoffs, and junk. Have figured out how to make the missing front spindle I need. Have found several possible BBC engines. Have found good rear wheels and tires and am narrowing down my possibilities for fronts. Am still deciding how to even out/shine up the existing paint. Hoping to get the chassis up on wheels in the next couple days, then I'll see where I am. 

I've since received a junk '65 Nova body and I'm gonna try to rehab that as a second body for the chassis, "Switchers" style. I'm a little bit amped about the whole thing at the moment. 

I have a built one you can have for parts Snake if need be. PM me if you do. Finding it is the next hurdle.

[Snake45]

On 1/9/2021 at 9:03 PM, wrenchr said:

I have a built one you can have for parts Snake if need be. PM me if you do. Finding it is the next hurdle.

That's a very kind and generous offer! Don't think I'll need it but if I do, I'll give you the call! Thanks! 

Meanwhile, progress is being made. I decided to use JunkNova as a test mule for Rustoleum Clear Gloss Lacquer; laid on six coats and polished it out. Wow, what a difference! Was able to fill in nearly all of the original "orange peel" and get it fairly glossy all over. It's not an "A" paint job now (since I didn't do any of the pre-paint body prep), but I brought it up from about a C-/D+ job to maybe a solid B--maybe even a B+ or A- from three feet away. The gloss doesn't really show up in these pics but here it is anyway. 

 

I also came into possession of a junk '65 Nova body that I'm trying to rehabilitate, and decided it would be fun to set the chassis up so the '65 and '66 bodies could be easily switched back and forth. It took some adjustment of the tubs and the firewall, and I still need to take some length off the very rear, but it looks like this will work great. The '66 interior even fits into the '65 body with just some VERY minor trimming along the sides. Next task will be finishing off the suspension for the chassis. Fingers crossed! 

 

[wrenchr]

The offer stands just let me know. ?

[Snake45]

With the body sorted out, time to get busy on the chassis. First job is to make rear springs. I cut a long strip of sheet styrene, scribed a deep line right down the middle, and put some curve in it. Then I cut off a piece of it for the second leaf and glued it on, and then a shorter piece for the third piece. When the cement was dry, I sliced it down the middle along the scored line and had a pair of identical springs. Added a couple blocks of styrene and filed notches for the rear axle mounts.

To keep the springs parallel as I glued on the axle, I cut a piece of sheet styrene exactly as wide as I wanted the springs apart, cut this into two pieces, and securely taped the pieces to the front and rear of the springs. With everything lined up and in place, it was easy to glue the differential on.

The rear axle is starting to look like something.

I deliberately made the springs a little long at both ends so I could get the axle exactly where I wanted it.

Time to do something about the front suspension. I fashioned a crude spindle to replace the missing part on the left side, then added stub axles of Evergreen rod on both sides.

Now, with the rear axle narrowed and taped in place, JunkNova sits on four wheels for the very first time! And the sit/attitude is just about exactly what I had in mind.

I'd already trimmed the rear of the chassis in width, and taken material off the sides of the firewall to fit the junk '65 body. Here's what that looks like on the chassis. Note that the rear of he chassis will have to be shortened, too.

The new '63 wagon body would go on, too, if the front inner fenders/firewall were removed from the body.

 

I scratchbuilt spring front mounts/locators on the chassis so the axle could be located exactly and square.

This pic shows that the springs need to be shortened a little at the front for the tires to sit centered in the tubs. The wheels and tires came from a Nova Junkyard I bought off eBay. I'm not sure what they're from but the size and looks are right.

With the springs trimmed to proper length at both ends, I added the mounting eyes from Evergreen rod.

I also made bottom plates/shock absorber mounts for the springs from sheet styrene.

Here's what the completed rear suspension looks like in place

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Snake45

[Bullybeef]

@Snake45Great tutorial for making springs! What thickness of styrene sheet did you use? 

[Snake45]

18 minutes ago, Bullybeef said:

@Snake45Great tutorial for making springs! What thickness of styrene sheet did you use? 

Thanks. I think it was somewhere between .020 and .030. If I did it again, I'd go thinner--no more than .020". 

[Scott8950]

Absolutely some great scratch building! If you need any other nova parts let me know I've got plenty.

[Tom Geiger]

Nice work on the rear springs! 

[Spottedlaurel]

Good work there Snake, looks very effective.

[Snake45]

5 hours ago, Scott8950 said:

Absolutely some great scratch building! If you need any other nova parts let me know I've got plenty.

Oh NOW you offer, when it's in sight of the finish line! 

2 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Nice work on the rear springs! 

 

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Good work there Snake, looks very effective.

Thanks for the kind words. 

This project has been a real experience. I hope to do a nice PS '66 Nova I have in mind eventually, but it's not on my immediate Build List, and it's certainly not THIS car. If I'd had any idea how much work this thing would be, I'd have never dragged it home from the local toy show. But when I looked in the box, it SEEMED like a quick, easy GITTER DONE Snake-Slap project. I saw that the wheels and tires were missing (no big deal), dunno if I noticed the missing engine. The body was there and undamaged and the hood was present and painted the same color. The paint looked good--not great, but certainly workable/fixable. All the body chrome parts were there, many of them still on the sprue. The interior was complete and built. The front and back glass were there--I didn't notice that the windshield was cracked, nor that the backlight had a couple of glue boogers on it. It looked like I could squirt the interior and chassis with some matte black, Silver-Sharpie the window trim, mount the windows, bumpers, etc., and have the whole hot mess on my shelf in just two or three hours. 

I didn't notice that the entire rear suspension was missing till I took a good look at it when I got it home. Nor of course did I notice the missing front spindle. Then I took a good look at the paint and the sides weren't nearly as smooth as the upper surfaces. And then I saw the windshield was cracked.  Back into its cardboard crypt it went and was promptly forgotten for several months. 

At some point I got to watching all the back episodes of Memphis Street Outlaws on demand, and got jacked up by Zip Tie and Heifer and Molly Gully's purple Ugly Duck Nova, and got to wondering if I could actually DO something with this backbirth. I dug it out and had another look. Not too long after that, I discovered the Rustoleum Clear Lacquer at Walmart and decided that JunkNova would be the perfect test vehicle for the stuff (if the lacquer had melted the whole body into a puddle, I wouldn't have been out much in terms of either effort or emotion at that point). It worked beyond my wildest expectations, and looking at a shiny, nicely polished paint job was the turning point in the whole project. At that point I decided to drive on and GITTER DONE! 

[Scott8950]

On 2/14/2021 at 2:42 PM, Snake45 said:

Oh NOW you offer, when it's in sight of the finish line! 

 

 

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