'66 Nova SS Gasser Style Street Machine

[Speedpro]

Been wanting to do a kit bash between the AMT '66 nova ss and the Moebius '65 chevy II gasser kits. It looks like they will meld together pretty good. The plan is to use the body and interior bucket from the '66 nova and use the chassis (bottom of the car) from the '65. The chassis is almost a perfect fit side to side and the wheel base seems to be the same. I'm sure this has been done before but I just wanted to try it.

 

 

 

It looks like the interior bucket will fit but the floor of the '65 will need some material remove before it will sit down properly. The black on the floor is what needs to go.  After removing these areas, the '66 interior bucket sat perfectly.

 

It was found that the chassis was going to need to move back and forth to get the tires centered in the wheel wells. There is a rise in the floor that is under the back seat that will need a small piece taken out to allow the chassis to move fore and aft. This gives some room for the rise in the floor of the chassis to slide into.

 

With the back seat in place, you cannot see the piece that was removed so there is no trying to hide anything.

 

With the interior bucket mocked into the body, The fire wall was checked for fit. Here are the firewalls from the kits. The top one is the one that will be used as it is from the '65. Again, found that it fits very well but will need alittle work on the sides to fit the body better.

 

 

So far so good, Thanks for looking.

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Speedpro
Fix pictures

[FLHCAHZ]

This is going to be great.  Looking forward to more updates.

[Zippi]

Looking pretty kewl so far.

[Dennis Lacy]

I don’t know if you’re the first to put together this combination of Chevy II but it’s the first I’ve seen around here. Great idea and nice work so far. Will definitely be following. 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Great start. Looking forward to seeing more.... -RRR

[Speedpro]

Started working with the chassis. Did a mockup just taping parts in place to see how everything was fitting and get some ideas for improvement and added details I may want to do. After getting things in place i was able to get a look at the ride hight and making sure the tires are centered in the wheel well's. The little piece that was taken out of the bottom of the interior bucket worked perfect allowing the chassis to move where it needed to go. Everything is looking pretty good at this point except the firewall. When the tires are where I want them to be, It's not lining up with the body at the top. That can be a problem. You can see in the side shots of the car that the front tires look to be too far back. Thats with the firewall lined up with the body. You can see in the pic of the engine compartment how far off the firewall is with the front tires are more centered in the wheel wells. 

 

 

 

 

Started working on the front sub frame. The thing looks terrible! Its going to take some work to make it look right. Took some sheet styrene and cut some pieces that will fill the slots in the frame. Alot of super glue, sanding and primer is making things look a whole lot better. Still working on this part.

 

A few unwanted things were removed from the firewall and the rear suspension parts were mocked in place.

 

 

 

More to come and thanks for looking.........................

 

[Scott8950]

Nice job

[Speedpro]

Small update. Got the front subframe pretty much done. Decided to put subframe connectors in the chassis. Just seems like a smart thing to do. Took some tape and a black sharpie and marked what was needed to be cut out. Drilled a bunch of holes and carefully cut the slots for the rail out. Used .080 x 5/32 evergreen to make the rail out of as it matched the width of the front subframe rail. Made sure there is no interference with the interior bucket. Happy with how it turned out so far.

 

 

Thanks for looking...........................

 

[deuces wild]

Perfect!....?

[Dennis Lacy]

Great idea with the subframe connectors and nice execution! Hmm, there’s still time to do that to mine… ?

[Speedpro]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Much appreciated!

Did alittle more to the subframe connectors. I wanted to make it look like the subframe connectors were welded to the front subframe or something to that effect. Took some sheet styrene and made a boxed area for the front subframe to slide into on each side. Really made the connecting point look a whole lot better.

 

 

Another area that needed some attension was the side clearence of the firewall. Some material was added and sanded to shape. The six locating tabs on the bottom of the fenders for the inner fenders were removed while I was in there. The firewall fits much better now.

 

Moving to the rear, There's a couple things to do. The body to floor clearence on the sides are just a tad to much. Will need to add some material to take up that gap. Also cut the gas tank out. I'm going to build one I found online that will look cool.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking..................

[Pierre_tec]

Loving your attention to details. 

[slusher]

Great work so far!

[deuces wild]

Ummmm.....??

[afx]

Good looking project.

[Speedpro]

Got alittle more done at the rear of the chassis. Worked on the gas tank. Found this tank online. It's actually a pro touring gas tank built by cpp. What I liked about it is it's built for fuel injection having a sump area in the front. I have not figured out what the induction on the engine will be yet and this will cover about anything I decide to build. It still needs some finish work but its coming along. Also worked on the gap between the body and the rear wheel wells. The chassis now fits the body a whole lot tighter. That's it for now.............................

 

 

 

Thanks for looking..............

[Dennis Lacy]

Nice fuel tank!

[Brockc]

Is this build still continuing because I now wanna do this to an amt 66 nova 

[bobss396]

I like projects like this in the raw state best. Once it gets shot with primer and paint, the magic is lost. But good that it all blends in at the end.

I'm doing a Pro Street '66 Nova, I have it in a roughed out state. Tons of flash to deal with all over, but good detail.

It was a struggle to get the front headlight/grille/bumper piece to nestle down in the body. So watch out for that pitfall. I will probably add some positive mounting tabs to help hold it in tightly. The last thing I want to do is fumble with something during final assembly.

[David G.]

Excellent mods/updates on this one Paul. I hope you get the chance to take it further.

David G.

[tim boyd]

On 5/24/2023 at 10:01 PM, Speedpro said:

Been wanting to do a kit bash between the AMT '66 nova ss and the Moebius '65 chevy II gasser kits. It looks like they will meld together pretty good. The plan is to use the body and interior bucket from the '66 nova and use the chassis (bottom of the car) from the '65. The chassis is almost a perfect fit side to side and the wheel base seems to be the same. I'm sure this has been done before but I just wanted to try it.

 

 

 

It looks like the interior bucket will fit but the floor of the '65 will need some material remove before it will sit down properly. The black on the floor is what needs to go.  After removing these areas, the '66 interior bucket sat perfectly.

 

It was found that the chassis was going to need to move back and forth to get the tires centered in the wheel wells. There is a rise in the floor that is under the back seat that will need a small piece taken out to allow the chassis to move fore and aft. This gives some room for the rise in the floor of the chassis to slide into.

 

With the back seat in place, you cannot see the piece that was removed so there is no trying to hide anything.

 

With the interior bucket mocked into the body, The fire wall was checked for fit. Here are the firewalls from the kits. The top one is the one that will be used as it is from the '65. Again, found that it fits very well but will need alittle work on the sides to fit the body better.

 

 

So far so good, Thanks for looking.

 

Paul....this is a project I've been considering myself because I think Moebius did a terrific job on the underbody/suspension of this kit, and I've always liked the AMT-Ertl '66 Nova kit.  

Really appreciate the carefully considered approach you've taken with your project, as well as your efforts to share it with us.  

Best wishes on bringing this one home....TIM 

[dino246gt]

I love this type of kit bashing project!

Thank you for posting....AND......for showing us how to do it right!

Very nice thread that I will be following with great interest!

I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[Speedpro]

Time to get this build up and going again. Been awhile since I had this in front of me so it's taking a few to get reacquainted with it. 

When I left off, I was working on getting an engine figured out and fit. Decided to go with a big block chevy. Found the engine from the Max Rat pro street chevelle might be a good fit. Just a little work to the motor mounts and drill a new hole for the trans and it seems to fit rather well. For the exhaust, The Fenderwell pipes from the gasser kit was the choice but are going to take some work to get them to fit the big block as they are for a small bock chevy. Too different animals. But I'll make them work. After spending a couple hours cleaning them up, they are ready to fit as needed. Had to rebend the pipes for the center ports. Not to difficult. But found they could use some length for a better fit around the chassis.

 

 

Small pieces were added to the ends of each pipe. After cleaning everything up, found the fit to be much better. I'm not done messing around with the chassis, so will build the rest of the exhaust at a later date.

 

 

 

 

More to come and thanks for looking, 

Speedpro

 

[David G.]

It's nice seeing this one back on the bench! 

David G.

[deuces wild]

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