Vanishing Point Nova Wagon

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

You had me at Nova Wagon. Nice chassis work going on...looking forward to seeing more... -RRR

[customline]

14 hours ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

You had me at Nova Wagon. Nice chassis work going on...looking forward to seeing more... -RRR

Thanks, RRR, I'll try not to disappoint. 

15 hours ago, bobss396 said:

I like it. Definitely a lot of work but worth it. 

The Buddy Nova pictured, I know the builder/owner. Buddy is a Bulldog that goes to cruise nights. He also has a '55 Nomad wagon sedan delivery. 

Thanks for your interest, Bob. That Nomad - a phantom? Cool idea.

The latest mock-up. I decided to go with the SBC from the '30 coupe kit, blower and all. But I gotta make proper fender well headers. ?. Ignore the wires ?

[slusher]

Lots of gmotor for your wagon!

[bobss396]

7 hours ago, customline said:

Thanks, RRR, I'll try not to disappoint. 

Thanks for your interest, Bob. That Nomad - a phantom? Cool idea.

The latest mock-up. I decided to go with the SBC from the '30 coupe kit, blower and all. But I gotta make proper fender well headers. ?. Ignore the wires ?

I haven't seen the Nomad in a while. I offered to swap my '59 Ford for it... he did think about it. It may have had the side glass painted, or it may have had Nomad wheel wells slapped on it.

I have to dig up my spool of .062" solder, great for making headers. My brother did some for a '57 Chevy, he lucked into some dead-soft aluminum wire that was tossed out at work.

[customline]

1 hour ago, bobss396 said:

I haven't seen the Nomad in a while. I offered to swap my '59 Ford for it... he did think about it. It may have had the side glass painted, or it may have had Nomad wheel wells slapped on it.

I have to dig up my spool of .062" solder, great for making headers. My brother did some for a '57 Chevy, he lucked into some dead-soft aluminum wire that was tossed out at work.

Yeah, I don't think I'd have jumped on that deal either unless the '59 was a ragtop and my Nomad was completely rusted out. ?. As far as solder goes, I have used it a few times on larger engines but I don't like it because it's heavy. I'm planning on using styrene rod this time. Wish me luck ?

[customline]

Ta freekin da ?

[Brockc]

This build is getting me motivated for me to start my amt 65 nova gasser 

 

[slusher]

Jim, that’s looking good sitting in that chassis.  I was wondering if the transmission was too big for the interior tub?   You have probably thought of that already.

[NOBLNG]

Super job on those headers Jim! I really like the looks of these old Novas.? Yours is coming along very nicely.?

[bobss396]

Nice job on the headers, very slick. I used the solder on a set of 6-cylinder headers I did on a Monte Carlo stock car.

[customline]

14 hours ago, Brockc said:

This build is getting me motivated for me to start my amt 65 nova gasser 

 

Well....GET STARTED!.....thanks Brock. ?

14 hours ago, slusher said:

Jim, that’s looking good sitting in that chassis.  I was wondering if the transmission was too big for the interior tub?   You have probably thought of that already.

There's no way to use the tub as designed. I may need parts of it but can't use it whole. There's a lot of work ahead. Gotta make a new firewall and coordinate the interior floor with it. That transmission  has a huge bottom pan and I had to cut away some of the Challenger's floor pan. I'm way down the rabbit hole now, Carl. I couldn't do this if I was totally sane.

10 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Super job on those headers Jim! I really like the looks of these old Novas.? Yours is coming along very nicely.?

I surprised myself, Greg. I figured on trying styrene and whaddaya know? .080 rod will bend more without breaking than I thought it would.  Cold. No heating other than my hot little hands....I took a quick measurement,  made some pencil marks and simply bent the rod slowly. The two center pipes first to establish a foundation and then the outer ones which require a little more manipulation and I glued the straight runs together with solvent. The pipes are not glued to the flange yet. I will need to paint the flanges separately as they are glued to the block. The flanges are .010 or .015sheet and they were drilled before they were cut to size and shaped with sanding sticks while taped to a rigid backing. The heads were drilled first and the flanges were matched to the holes in the heads.  This engine, because of the spark plug locations, is pretty difficult to do this with.  Not much room to work.

10 hours ago, bobss396 said:

Nice job on the headers, very slick. I used the solder on a set of 6-cylinder headers I did on a Monte Carlo stock car.

Thanks, Bob. The solder I have is just too big for this engine but I have made headers with it several times on larger engines but it's kinda heavy and I prefer not to if there is another way. The 1/16" styrene seemed like the ideal size for this one. It looks in scale. In 1:24 it's an 1-1/2" pipe. 

Edited August 10, 2023 by customline
Clarification maybe. Corrections

[customline]

Just a few pix to keep it on the front page. I got headers! ?

 

I found the blower drive is forcing the engine to move rearward.  I'm concerned about the front cross member. Hearding cats comes to mind. I gotta make some room or I'm headed into "altered" territory. I think some gasser rules allow for a small amount of set-back. I'm sure someone will be happy to advise me. Thanks for looking! ? ? ? ?

[espo]

Like the headers and paint trim on the engine. 

[customline]

ATTENTION

I made a correction to an earlier posting so in case you're interested.....

I stated I used .080 styrene rod for the header tubes. I did not. I used 1/16" styrene rod. Which is not to say .080 wouldn't work but I can't vouch for it. ?

Edited August 11, 2023 by customline
Added emoji

[doggie427]

5 hours ago, customline said:

I found the blower drive is forcing the engine to move rearward.  I'm concerned about the front cross member. Hearding cats comes to mind. I gotta make some room or I'm headed into "altered" territory. I think some gasser rules allow for a small amount of set-back. I'm sure someone will be happy to advise me

Jim , gassers were allowed a 10% engine setback measured from the furthest forward spark plug to the centreline of the front axle. Altereds were allowed a 25% setback.

[customline]

1 hour ago, doggie427 said:

Jim , gassers were allowed a 10% engine setback measured from the furthest forward spark plug to the centreline of the front axle. Altereds were allowed a 25% setback.

Thank you, Wayne, 10% should do nicely. 

[bobss396]

I made up a dummy 6-cylinder block for my headers, I still have it around. Clamped that in a vise and went to town. I used aluminum tubing for the collector.

[customline]

1 hour ago, bobss396 said:

I made up a dummy 6-cylinder block for my headers, I still have it around. Clamped that in a vise and went to town. I used aluminum tubing for the collector.

Well, I'm the only dummy in this house, just ask my wife. ?

My collector is a fast-food soda straw. I grab extras whenever.....many different sizes....good to have on hand. I didn't even need to glue them on. 

[customline]

A little update...scratched a couple of springs, set up framework for springs, added cross member to front and made clearance for bottom pulley of blower drive. Scratched spring mounting hardware. Wired engine and added blower drive. Thanks for your unalterable interest. 

[slusher]

Really nice fab work and scratch work!

[customline]

Thank you Carl!

[dino246gt]

Nice work on that front end suspension, those springs look so right!

[deuces wild]

Sweeeeet!..??

[customline]

Thank you, gents. I'm giving my hands and eyes a break today. The hard stuff is ahead.

[espo]

Great looking suspension. I noticed what looks like a frame cross member with a center section removed and a couple of knee braces added.  What's your plan on that?