Pro-street[ish] Disco Nova

[Rockford]

There's  a rash of Disco Novas being done lately and, as a confirmed Nova lover I've been itching to get involved. I have the  MPC kit to replicate my own '76 but I'm not confident enough to start that yet.

However,  I also have the AMT 1976 Nova kit which is not a good kit. It's actually fraudulent  because you cannot build the car depicted on the box art. No stock inlet manifold or air cleaner, just a huge tunnel ram and dual carbs, headers leading to collectors and turn downs before the rear axle, which is narrowed and sits on coilovers with ladder bars, and what stock Nova came with a Lenco sequential transmission? The body is tubbed and there's no rear seat!  To add insult to injury, the body is all wrong in the greenhouse area, too square and angular. In it's defence the kit does have some decent stock Rallye wheels and a  nice '76 grille which I'll keep for my replica. 

The liberties taken by AMT have prompted me to take some of my own and build a pro street Nova, so fat rear tyres and ludicrous engine for a street car. After being given the courage to do so  by some forum members I've decided to kitbash the engine and rear slicks from the Jolly Rancher  rail with the atrocious Nova. Just holding a  slick in the  the rear arch had me salivating, so off I go!

 

[disconovaman]

This is gonna be Awesome! I'll be watching and although I agree with your introduction to the thread I'll be the first to admit that this kit is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine... it's a mangled train wreck but you're still amazed at the wreckage 😄 And honestly it builds up nicely...and if you close one eye and squint the other it looks perfect!  So Rock on!

[AMT68]

It appears to be a clean looking body with well defined panel lines around the doors. Didn't realize there wasn't a back seat on this one. 

And yeah, I've joined the club having just received the MPC '79 Nova a couple of days ago and looking forward to building mine. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Yay! Good start, I look forward to seeing it progress. Just enjoy it and don't get hung-up on the details.

I found myself offering up wheels to my MPC version last night, I think that one might happen this year.

[Cool Hand]

Great to see you decided to turn this Nova into a beast.

Cant wait to see that engine shoe horned in, and rolling on those slicks.

Got this kit in the stash, have plans to do that also as a Lowrider, but your build might change my mind.

Looking forward to an update and watching this build progress.

[Rockford]

4 hours ago, disconovaman said:

This is gonna be Awesome! I'll be watching and although I agree with your introduction to the thread I'll be the first to admit that this kit is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine... it's a mangled train wreck but you're still amazed at the wreckage 😄 And honestly it builds up nicely...and if you close one eye and squint the other it looks perfect!  So Rock on!

I can understand your reasoning there, once you know what you're getting in this kit you appreciate it more. If you thought you were getting a stock rendition though, you'd be miffed. Very slap-dash of AMT on this kit box art. The stupid thing is someone built a shock version for the photos! 

[Rockford]

3 hours ago, AMT68 said:

It appears to be a clean looking body with well defined panel lines around the doors. Didn't realize there wasn't a back seat on this one. 

And yeah, I've joined the club having just received the MPC '79 Nova a couple of days ago and looking forward to building mine. 

The MPC shell is pretty good, except some feel the Nova emblems on the fenders are too large, otherwise really true to the shape of the original coupe, that's why I'm saving that one for my replica of my own car. The AMT is good except for the shape of the rear pillar into the roof proper,  and it just takes away the signature shape of the  Nova coupe; in fact it looks more like a Vega to my eye. That's why I feel ok butchering this one. Sadly, both MPC & AMT renditions are hatchbacks so if you want a fixed rear window a little surgery is required. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Rockford

[Rockford]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Yay! Good start, I look forward to seeing it progress. Just enjoy it and don't get hung-up on the details.

I found myself offering up wheels to my MPC version last night, I think that one might happen this year.

Thanks mate. You know what they say, if the bolt pattern fits, wear it. 

[Rockford]

21 minutes ago, Cool Hand said:

Great to see you decided to turn this Nova into a beast.

Cant wait to see that engine shoe horned in, and rolling on those slicks.

Got this kit in the stash, have plans to do that also as a Lowrider, but your build might change my mind.

Looking forward to an update and watching this build progress.

Thanks, I can't wait to mock the rear wheels up but it can't get them past the sill at the moment, some reprofiling of the arch required I think. If I narrow the axle anymore it'll just be a diff with two tyres. What have I done to  myself!?

[Snake45]

Very cool! I've been collecting glue bomb disco Novas and I think I have four now, also two new kits, an AMT and the lately reissued MPC, and I'm looking forward to building up one or more of them soon. I just finished the paint strip of the nicest glue bomb so maybe I'll start there. Not sure where I'm going with them so I'll be watching yours for ideas. Drive on! 

[Just Jim]

Awesome idea. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Any car with a big engine and slicks in the back has my attention!

[disconovaman]

6 hours ago, Rockford said:

Very slap-dash of AMT on this kit box art.

I agree with you for sure that AMT should've presented a box art that matched the contents inside the box. I believe that was the biggest consumer complaint with the kit. It was really False Advertisement on their part. Shortly after they did update the box to the purple car. AMT did market a stock nova but I doubt the tooling even still exists... I'm not sure what happened there?

Also, for whatever reason they added those ugly yellow decals that were in the original Red Street Machines issue. The least they could've done was design a new decal sheet instead of that tired, boring one which by the way I've never seen used on anything. 😆

They could've come up with a decent decal sheet and box art, that really would've helped sell the kit. Little to no effort was made on it though, much like all things 4th Generation Novas sadly... In my experiences with this bodystyle the mainstream car culture has kicked it to the curb.

There is barely anything that reminds you these cars even existed. Not even a Hot wheels and they've covered the market.😂

I would like to see Round II get the tools for it... add some deep-dish tourqe thrust wheels, pad printed tires, (blue or red) tinted glass, and an Awesome decal sheet that matches the weird body... yep that will do it...😁 Thanks and sorry for the ranting on...😆 

 

[Rockford]

To get the tyres under the body I had to widen the wheel arches at the bottom. I want to keep the outer profile as stock as possible. I worked on one arch until a tyre would nestle up to the skin of the fender. Once I was happy I taped some paper behind the arch and traced the outline. I can then copy the profile on the other side of the car. I thinned the plastic around the arch too, it's quite thick (like myself) and squeezes the tyres as they go up into the body. 

I still had to shorten the axle but not by much. A quick mock-up and it looks meaty meaty meaty! All still roughly done at the moment but looks promising. 

[Rockford]

11 minutes ago, disconovaman said:

I agree with you for sure that AMT should've presented a box art that matched the contents inside the box. I believe that was the biggest consumer complaint with the kit. It was really False Advertisement on their part. Shortly after they did update the box to the purple car. AMT did market a stock nova but I doubt the tooling even still exists... I'm not sure what happened there?

Also, for whatever reason they added those ugly yellow decals that were in the original Red Street Machines issue. The least they could've done was design a new decal sheet instead of that tired, boring one which by the way I've never seen used on anything. 😆

They could've come up with a decent decal sheet and box art, that really would've helped sell the kit. Little to no effort was made on it though, much like all things 4th Generation Novas sadly... In my experiences with this bodystyle the mainstream car culture has kicked it to the curb.

There is barely anything that reminds you these cars even existed. Not even a Hot wheels and they've covered the market.😂

I would like to see Round II get the tools for it... add some deep-dish tourqe thrust wheels, pad printed tires, (blue or red) tinted glass, and an Awesome decal sheet that matches the weird body... yep that will do it...😁 Thanks and sorry for the ranting on...😆 

 

Don't worry about having a rant mate, it's one of the purposes of this site I feel, being understood by like minded people.

I never knew they added alternative box art, only right they did though. 

A rerelease with the mods you said wouldn't be too much trouble, most could be drawn from current design stick too. Only the decals would be totally new. Mind you, you did promise in writing about when you hit the big one...

[disconovaman]

27 minutes ago, Rockford said:

you did promise in writing about when you hit the big one...

I will make good on that promise too, now all I have to do is win...😁

Nice alterations on those wheel openings too...truly necessary to house those big tires...😎 

 

[MeatMan]

Awesome fabrication work!

[Rockford]

2 hours ago, disconovaman said:

I will make good on that promise too, now all I have to do is win...😁

Nice alterations on those wheel openings too...truly necessary to house those big tires...😎 

 

Oh that's a nice machine! 

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Very interesting project Stephen!   I've seen a lot of this Nova body style on drag racing tracks and they look great.  I love big-tire cars and your project fits perfectly into this category!   A big block engine would be a must for this car by the way but I think that's what was already included in the kit anyway!   👍

[Rockford]

Not much to report today, cut the rear tubs out of the floorpan to give the slicks more room. Worked on shortening and strengthening the rear axle, cleaning up the tyres and roughing the rolling surface up. They had a terrible seam in them and took some filing but looked ok in the end. I'd love to have the tread of a set of Mickey Thompsons but beggars can't be choosers! 

Also opened the rear window up to the fixed coupe version size. I just scribed a line around the outside of the existing window trim and then cut it out, but it still needed filing down a little. The hatchback shut line is now the outside edge of the window trim. I needed to scribe a shut line for the front edge of the trunk lid immediately under the lower trim.  When I was scribing it I slipped and made a pig's ear of it. I'll have to fill it and start again but you get the idea and it does look a lot better. 

I mocked it up again with the rear bumper and a front wheel I found in my parts box. Not sure if I want stinkbug or near normal stance and let the rear slicks and the blower do the talking. I was thinking of painting it the same colours as my car, even keeping the vinyl roof and adding the side trim on the waistline. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Looks mean!

Good work on the rear window.

[AMT68]

Agreed the work removing the hatchback lines looks excellent. 

[Rockford]

57 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Looks mean!

Good work on the rear window.

 

29 minutes ago, AMT68 said:

Agreed the work removing the hatchback lines looks excellent. 

Thanks gents, it's a bit tatty at present but I'll be doing a lot more finessing before I get to the paint stage. The bigger window really does  improve the look in my eyes. I wondered about  getting the slicks further up into the body but the tubs are already at the lower edge of the side windows, so that's the ride height by the looks of it. 

[disconovaman]

8 hours ago, Rockford said:

Also opened the rear window up to the fixed coupe version size

Nice work,  good idea with the opening as the trim... I didn't do that to any of the MPC kits I've turned into coupes... but I wish I had now 😆  I cut the entire hatchback frame out and added styrene strips for the trim, an extra step but I made it work... I like your idea better...😁

[Cool Hand]

Looking tuff in the wheel mock up, good idea with the rear window..

[Rockford]

Not great progress but something. Built the short motor, drilled and wired the rocker covers. Cut the two speed off the scattershield and attached the Lenco transmission (less its scattershield). Mocked the engine up. I'm thinking of using a motor plate to mount it in the chassis. 

Repaired the mess I made of the trunk panel line. Removed the "Hatchback" script from the C-pillars. 

Started thinking about the interior. I'd love to fit a front bench seat but I'm not sure it will fit with a full cage. There's a simple roll bar that comes with the kit but it's too narrow. It's a start though, so I widened it using sprue. As it was thicker than the rollbar I made the cuts as close to the end as possible so that it looks like padding on the bars. I'll have to make door bars, a cross brace and connectors to the rear end.