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1969 Nova F/SA NHRA Stock Eliminator


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Thanks for your service to our country Ron! The Jeep looks great. Nice clean work. The Nova is looking great, I spoke with Mike yesterday, he’s heading to Bowling Green this weekend, he thinks he might have a buyer for the Nova, I hate to see it go.

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10 hours ago, dragcarz said:

Thanks for your service to our country Ron! The Jeep looks great. Nice clean work. The Nova is looking great, I spoke with Mike yesterday, he’s heading to Bowling Green this weekend, he thinks he might have a buyer for the Nova, I hate to see it go.

Again, thank you, Roger.  The Jeep was a nice, calm, break in the action.  If Mike is there, he didn’t make a pass today.  I watched (and am watching) the free live coverage of the Bowlingreen points meet today on YouTube.  It’s on all weekend and will definitely cut into my modeling time.

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Race coverage update, Roger.  Mike did make a pass Friday evening and won 1st round Saturday.  They were rained out today and scheduled to run tomorrow.  Back to the model.  Did some sanding on the rear slicks to remove the Goodyear cast in and make the finish more realistic.  I sand with a medium grit sanding stick with a drum sander wrapped with masking tape on the tread and as much as I can get on the sidewall.  Then, another sanding drum with a sanding roll to finish the inside part and make it more concave (convex?) to simulate running a narrower wheel width .  Had to call in my backup cordless drill to finish the 2nd tire.

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On 8/27/2023 at 9:55 PM, BuilderX said:

Looking Good!

 

On 8/31/2023 at 6:15 AM, dragcarz said:

Interesting take on the slicks, looking good! How do you get them smooth again? 
I spoke with Mike yesterday he went out in the second round , he’s pretty sure he sold his car. 

Thanks, gentlemen.  One of the added benefits of posting pics (plus, I am always thankful for comments, criticism, and suggestions) is seeing things that you may have missed.  I am this time referring to the roughness of the sidewalls (thanks, Roger, for your astute observation).  I used too rough of a sanding drum (80 grit).  Lesson learned.  Smoothed it a bit with my new David Union sander (well, I just had to try it out) and then some hand sanding with 220 and 400 sandpaper .  Had it to do over, would use the David Union and hand sanding.  Anyway, put a coat of semi gloss clear on and we’ll see how it looks then.  Oh, thanks for the racing info, Roger.  I had watched it on tv.

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14 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

That'll work! I usually start with an 80 grit nail sanding board, then work my way down through the grits, with those, until I get through the polishing board. That provides a nice surface for the decals. Then, I overcoat them, usually with semi-gloss. Like you said, we live and learn!

Thanks for the suggestion.  I just dislike tedious hand sanding, I guess.  Adjusted the location of the cage, now for some gray paint.

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Made a spacer to mount the cage 1/4” forward.  Drilled some .035” holes for styrene pins in the main base of the roll cage and extended the rear bars and shortened the front bars.  After that, applied some Rustoleum gloss gray to the cage and mr. Color iron to the seat bottom and semi gloss black to the back.  

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On 9/2/2023 at 8:43 PM, Straightliner59 said:

That looks good! I don't care much for hand-sanding, either. A lot of guys make a setup for a power drill, just to hold the tires while they spin the drill and work the sidewall. Fortunately, I have a lathe, which is a much more expensive tool that will accomplish the same thing!😅

 

On 9/3/2023 at 8:52 PM, dragcarz said:

Slicks look great, great progress, looking so good!

Again, thanks for the kind words, gentlemen.  My “builder’s block” not withstanding, I am trying to keep moving on and not be so particular.  I had some 3D printed shifters that I got a while back on eBay.  Though not an exact match for the TurboAction SCS shifter in Mike’s car (one of the most popular shifters used in current Stock Eliminator drag cars) no one makes anything like them that I know of.  So, I am modifying one with some square styrene.  I started to scratch build one, but decided against it .  The shoulder  harness kit that I had is not designed for the 3” wide belts that have been required for some time.  The ends will not accept .120” wide harness material so, I think I am going to leave them off.  Oh yeah, started on the front wheel .

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Not only is this going to be a great replica but it`s also an insight as to how these cars are built. Not enough attention paid to class racing in general in my opinion. I always head to the Stock / Super Stock / Comp Eliminator pits every time I go to the drag races. To me that`s where the real racers hang out!

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7 hours ago, Nitrobarry said:

Not only is this going to be a great replica but it`s also an insight as to how these cars are built. Not enough attention paid to class racing in general in my opinion. I always head to the Stock / Super Stock / Comp Eliminator pits every time I go to the drag races. To me that`s where the real racers hang out!

Thanks and I agree wholeheartedly.  Made some wheel hubs out of aluminum and styrene tubing.  A lot of tools and some head scratching later and I have 2 bushings inside 2 bushings which will have 2 more pins attached later to mount the wheels.  Now I need another bushing to space the caliper back from the wheel.  

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Still working on the spacers.  Made some shims from .025” rod to level out mounting the calipers/rotors.  Reaming out the holes on some 19” rims to fit over my bushings, then will cut the centers out.  Also, tried out my new xuron hard wire cutters I received today, to cut some 1/16” tig wire for axle stubs.

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  • 2 weeks later...
6 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

Coming along nicely, sir!

Thanks, Daniel.  Drilled some holes in a parts box steering wheel that more closely matched Mike’s, painted with stynlrez primer and semi gloss black, painted shifter.  Also, modified stick shift brake pedal to look like an automatic by using the clutch pedal.  Closer and closer to the finish line on this build.

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Decided not to wire this engine for a number of reasons.  Instead, painted the cap and coil with some testors enamel after loosening the lid with a few taps from my screwdriver handle (I posted this in the tips column).  Driveshaft was too short (because I swapped to an automatic trans).  Found one from a 1966 Chevelle wagon partial kit that I had ordered for other parts.  

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