'66 Nova SS Gasser Style Street Machine

[keviiin86]

Very nicely done so far, what diameter rod did you use for the header primary extensions?

[Zippi]

I'm diggin this build.  Looking good.

[Speedpro]

3 hours ago, keviiin86 said:

what diameter rod did you use for the header primary extensions?

Thanks Kevin, 

I used a 0.078 piece of scrap exhaust pipe from a 29' roadster. The header it self is 0.075 so it's a good fit. 

[James2]

Very nice work...

[Speedpro]

Thanks everyone for the comments and following along..........

While getting the headers to fit, I liked what I was seeing, but felt the engine just sat too far forward. Need to get it tighter to the firewall. Being that the sub frame is in all respect ready for paint, It was not an option to move any mounts. Instead the slot on the block where the mount meets was elongated and the trans slightly modified to fit in it's mount. I think it's perfect now. While I was working with the engine, the valve covers got smoothed to give them a cleaner look. 

 

 

 

Some more chassis work is next. Seems the tires that where chosenfor the rear just don't want to fit right. We'll see about that!

 Thanks for looking

Speedpro

[David G.]

That looks much better!

David G.

[Speedpro]

Working at the rear of the car, the rear differential is something I think will get changed. What I don't like about it, Is it's scale size. Looks way too small to my eyes. I got the rear end out of the '66 nova ss kit i'm using for this bash and it look's allmost too big. Feeling I had nothing to lose, I went ahead and installed the '66 rear end. At this point I'm not sure whats going to happen here yet. Might have to come up with another rear end to try, I don't know.

In this photo you can see the two rear ends next to each other and see the size difference. The '66 is on the right.

 

On to the nextpart I would like to change out, And that is the rear tires. The slicks that come in the gasser kit are nice and all, but I want a little more rubber on the road or race track. My search led me to the revell 1968 dodge dart hemi kit. The MH Racemasters will work. But they are going to need more room than the existing wheelwell is providing. So on to the planning stage to see what it will take to make this happen. Came up with no solid plan. Only a "That might work". So the plan is to cut out the wheelwells and remove part of the floor. And do it in a way that it looks like it never happened and it came that way. I figured the best thing is to just start cutting and see where it leads itself.

Some tape was layed down to show the line that first cuts needed to be. First using a scribing tool, a starting line was made. Then a tamiya scriber was used to make a nice line that the saw will follow. Worked awsome. The remaining cuts are all up to the guy with the saw. Can only have straight lines. This all has to go back together and look like.....We'll see.

Here's the tires being used..................

 

 

Now that it's cut up, I need do some cleanup work and plan the next stage.

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

Edited February 11, 2024 by Speedpro
Fix page

[Steve H]

Hi Paul, lots of great work here. Sometimes on this forum, you guys will do something that makes me say, “well duhhh” that’s an obvious thing to do. I have so many Moroso valve covers, and I like them, but dang, those look good all cleaned up. What a simple, yet effective solution. Sheesh, sometimes I can’t see the forest thru the trees ??‍♂️. I really like your dive in and let’s see what happens approach. I’m sure you already have a very good plan in your head,  but sometimes you just need to start cutting and see where it goes. That chassis is obviously in. Rey good hands. I’m following along sir.

Cheers, Steve

[James2]

I'm interested to see the next step and to know what tool your using?

[David G.]

It's gonna look great with all that meat under it.

David G.

[bobss396]

This makes me want to dig my '66 out again. I switched from the SBC to a VCG resins BBC Pro Charger engine along with a NASCAR front chassis stub. Headers were the next stumbling block. I have some 3D printed ones I have to try on it next. 

[oldrevellfan]

with thi rear it will be somewhere between a gasser and a prostreet !

[Speedpro]

On 2/12/2024 at 2:25 AM, James2 said:

I'm interested to see the next step and to know what tool your using?

Rooster, Thanks for checking out the build. Not sure which tool you are talking about so here is a picture of the tool's used for this modification. 

[Speedpro]

On 2/12/2024 at 5:19 AM, bobss396 said:

This makes me want to dig my '66 out again. I switched from the SBC to a VCG resins BBC Pro Charger engine along with a NASCAR front chassis stub. Headers were the next stumbling block. I have some 3D printed ones I have to try on it next. 

Sound like quite a project you got going there. Hope it works out for you. 

 

21 hours ago, oldrevellfan said:

with thi rear it will be somewhere between a gasser and a prostreet !

Never thought of looking at it that way, hmmmm! Wasn't going towards prostreet, just trying to get a bit bigger tire under it. But you are definitely right!

Thanks Gilles

 

 

[Speedpro]

On 2/11/2024 at 7:23 PM, Steve H said:

Hi Paul, lots of great work here. Sometimes on this forum, you guys will do something that makes me say, “well duhhh” that’s an obvious thing to do. I have so many Moroso valve covers, and I like them, but dang, those look good all cleaned up. What a simple, yet effective solution. Sheesh, sometimes I can’t see the forest thru the trees ??‍♂️. I really like your dive in and let’s see what happens approach. I’m sure you already have a very good plan in your head,  but sometimes you just need to start cutting and see where it goes. That chassis is obviously in. Rey good hands. I’m following along sir.

Cheers, Steve

Thanks alot Steve

See what happens when we are on this forum, We pickup little things that make us more creative builders. 

[Speedpro]

Made some progress here on the nova. Not much done, But alot figured out. At least I hope figured out.

So I went through and cleaned up all the cut lines and inspecting what I'v done. Spent some time checking the space that's been created for the tire to work in. So far,so good. At this point, I'm working on two major things here. First one is how much to remove on the part that was cut out. Second one is taking off just the right amount so the tire fits and most important, the frame rails at the rear come back together to look like they were never cut. Turned out 1/8th (or around 0.120) is the best amount to take off the wheel housing. Mocking it up looks good, still needs alittle fine tuning, but it's darn close. 

 

 

To get the frame rails pointed in the right direction to meet up with each other, A cut was made to separate the rail from the floor pan on both the wheel housing part and chassis. luckily, the plastic is soft enough to put the bend in the rails. But they don't want to keep that bend either. It will work. Another thing that I looked at was the rear diff location with these bigger tires. And yes, it doesn't line up with the center of the tire. So thats going to be more fun...........

 

 

Getting ready to glue this back together. I think I covered all the details (we'll find out).

Thanks for looking 

[Kit Karson]

Waldo, we've talked about this project so many times and watching you take the steps to achieve your plan is almost as enjoyable as building it myself!  Hours staring at the molded kit parts and what changes need to be done in a most determined order is all part of what it takes to build a street-able one-to-one version, but in scale! What you are doing is amazing, and the result will be a reflection of what could be a real-life Super Nova! -KK

[David G.]

I was wondering how you planned to work those frame rails back into the build. It looks like it's taking a bit of styrene magic.

Impressive work on this Paul!

David G.

[chris chabre]

Love it! The rear in the 66 Nova is a dana 60 I believe which is why it probably looks large to most people. The were popular for racing because they came in trucks and high performance mopars. Ford actually put 60s in their early pro stock Mavericks/Comets to help make legal weight

[Bainford]

Great kit bash project. The engine and headers really look the business. Nice work on the chassis mods. I can really see what you mean by the scale issues between the two rear axels. The diff lump on the '66 axel may be a bit large, but I think passable. However, the axel tubes do look over scale. I'm not trying to make extra work for you, but the axel tubes seem to throw off some of the fine work being done to the chassis. Just sayin'. It will be awesome either way. 

[Speedpro]

12 hours ago, David G. said:

I was wondering how you planned to work those frame rails back into the build. It looks like it's taking a bit of styrene magic.

Thanks david, 

I thought about this for awhile. Turned out to be the easiest route to get it right. I like that term Styrene Magic.

12 hours ago, chris chabre said:

Love it! The rear in the 66 Nova is a dana 60 I believe which is why it probably looks large to most people.

Thanks Chris,

It's actually a gm 12 bolt. Could almost pass for dana though. Amt totally miss on this one when it came to scale size. Not to worry......I'v got a plan!

 

5 hours ago, Bainford said:

The diff lump on the '66 axel may be a bit large, but I think passable. However, the axel tubes do look over scale. I'm not trying to make extra work for you, but the axel tubes seem to throw off some of the fine work being done to the chassis. Just sayin'. It will be awesome either way. 

Thanks Trevor

I can asure you that the rear end I was mocking it up with will no longer be used. I'v got a plan and it has to do with a different diff.

[Speedpro]

Got things going back together. This is going to take some work to fill in all the new voids and cut lines. Didn't make too big of a mess of things so it should turn out just fine. 

 

 

That rear end scale size problem is solved.......... I think. After an extensive hunt for a rear end that will look at home in this nova, I came across a very good candidate. The revell '30 ford model a coupe was kind enough to give up its rear to help a fellow hot rodder. I think that this ford 9" is the right choice. A few changes had to be made before it can be used. First, the shock mounts were cut off. The axle tube narrows for a control arm to mount to. The axle tubes were cut off at this point leaving somewhat of a pin. The axle tubes were then drilled out to slip onto the pin. At this point enough was trimmed of the tubes to get the wheels and tires in place. Once the wheel backs are figued out, the axle tubes will more than likely be shortened some more. The tubes are not glued to the center section yet so they can be shortened. Still have to work on the leaf springs new location also.

 

Still more to do to finish up the wheel tubs. 

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

[wrenchr]

The Dana in the Hemi dart is a good one IMO.  

[Bainford]

9", classic choice. That's a good looking one. 

[keviiin86]

I was going to suggest a 9" also after seeing that weird thick rear axle..just didn't seem to scale at all.  I like the 9" from the AMT 57 corvette street machine kit, have a few of those kits laying around so I stole the rear end for my nova project.