'69 Chevrolet Nova F/Stock *Finished*

[vintagedragfan]

looking great Niko, moving along very nicely!

[W-409]

Thanks Gary and Bill! I must say, that Stock Eliminator and Super Stock are one of the most interesting car categories in Drag Racing. There are some more Stockers on my bench too, and I will finish this one before moving my attention on that Torino, '69 GTO and '87 Thunderbird, and '70 Challenger.

Here we have a little update, mostly detail stuff. I bought Holley electric Fuel pump from Model car contest, and I installed fuel lines on that, and they are home made Braided Line. I will connect it to that one in the engine bay tomorrow. I also painted the Brake Master Cylinder, and now I must build LineLock so I can connect those brake lines to the front. But brake line for the rear is already glued to the cylinder.

And here's the Brake Master Cylinder so far.

[W-409]

And here I have some wiring of that Electric Water Pump

Also I saw that end of that upper radiator hose, and mocked it on the engine. I will make new radiator hoses myself.

[eviltwincustoms]

Lookin good Niko, that fuel pump looks sweet all in its place and having the braided line coming out of it.

Nice job and keep them updates coming!

[ChevyCoupe41]

Lookin very good Niko! Those details what you had put to the engine and chassis looks very nice. I Can't wait to see this Chevy finished.

[SuperStockAndy]

Awesome, I'm really enjoying watching this.

[W-409]

Thanks Bart, Matti and Andy!

Here comes some more pictures, I have finished polishing the Nova. It was bit stressing to start just polishing paintjob, but it's worth it. I know, that this wouldn't be good enough for many of you guys on here, but I got to say that I'm really happy about the first polished paintjob, I've ever done.

I guess it's time for BMF....

Brake Master Cylinder is glued on its place, and I connected brake lines to it. The one what goes to the front, it attached to scratchbuilt LineLock. I had to build bracket to LineLock too, it's made from metal wire.

[W-409]

The battery is from the box, I just removed molded in battery cables and their connectors, new ones are aftermarket stuff. The plus cable from the starter isn't attached to the battery yet, but that time comes bit later, when the body is on.

I connected the fuel line too, but it needs some cleaning before I post a picture.

[tyrone]

It's looking really good NIko....keep it going....

Edited April 7, 2012 by tyrone

[Dragracer]

The entire car looks good Niko, the paint job came out awesome!, you did a great job polishing it out, all the details look great, while I'm not a big fan of Stockers & such (F/C & P/M's are my main fav's.) you build looks totally awesome, hope to see more!

[W-409]

Thanks Tyrone, and Richard! I got to say that Stockers and SuperStockers are my favorites, but after these, I like Pro Mods and Funny Cars the best. Nothing wrong with fast Doorslammers (other than ProMods) too.

BMF is on the body now, I think it looks pretty good. Foiling was easy to do. I also installed the radiator parts to the frame. Electric Fan is from Revell '65 Stepside kit, and I wired it with Detail Master's Detail Wire, which is painted red. Radiator hoses are made by me, and hose clamps are just painted on. The windshield washer bottle is installed too, I painted some water there with thin Metallic Red from Humbroll. I'm very happy about how it turned out.

[W-409]

[Dragracer]

The wiring came out nice Niko, the shots of the body show a real nice shine, the 4th pic down has a great reflection on the roof, beautiful car,use to own a '71 Nova, 350 bored .030 over (replaced a stock 250 inline 6), had it painted medium blue metallic ( was dark green/light green vinyl top which I had removed), great car

[1320wayne]

Very nicely done so far. Glass smooth paint and finish.

[W-409]

Thanks Richard and Wayne! I have to say, that Nova has always been one of my favorite cars, especially this '68-'72 version, but that 1st Generation Nova isn't bad either.

I painted the body inside with Matt Black, and engine bay parts with Gloss Black. Today I installed the windows and class markings. Those F/S markings on the rear side windows are made by me, and printed by Petteri Nyholm. That "F" in the windscreen is from '70 Torino GT decal sheet, but other markings are done just like those others. Also Added NHRA logo to the rear window, it's from the kit.

Tomorrow it's time to put the interior in. Then the chassis, and after that I can move on to those wires and other details, what need to be connected on the firewall, and brake lines what will be connected to the brakes, of course.

[Dragracer]

The body is looking real sweet Niko!, love the build.

[W-409]

Thanks Richard, here's some more progress...

Interior is installed, and it fitted pretty nicely on place. When I was gluing the chassis, other inner fender from the front, came apart from the body. Gluing it back with the chassis on place wasn't easy, but it's there and only a bit cleaning to do. Next I need to install those wires and hoses, then it's only final assembly time. The hood is still in primer, since I didn't remember to paint it earlier.

One Question, though. Should I paint that grille and the "taillight panel" matt black, or just basic black wash? How it was in original '69 SS Nova?

[brett]

wow Niko, that looks awesome buddy. You have come so far in the last year or so, keep up the great work.

[Dragracer]

Looks great Niko, I'd say a black wash on the grille & paint the rear panel.

[W-409]

Thanks, Brett, and Richard. I have to say, that my building skills are lots of better, than they were few years ago. Building speed is bit slower, but that doesn't matter, when the quality is better. This will be my best build, if everything goes alright.

I finally managed to get great paintjob on the hood, after the first coat, I had to wetsand it and paint again. It's not perfect now either, but after polishing, it will look good. Here are few pics of the car outside.

[Dragracer]

The Nova looks great Niko!, the hood looks good, I'm sure it'll look even better once you have it polished out. I have one little comment to make on the car (going by the one that I owned), the battery cable going to the starter, it should be sitting lower, almost "tucked" in down by the suspension, so that it's not sticking so high up. It is 1 beautiful build, really like it. Have you decided on how you are going to paint the grille/tailight panel?

[W-409]

Thanks, Richard! The battery cable would look better. It sits as low as I could get it, but that alternator wire is bit disturbing it. Well, next time better. I'm going to add some little metal parts on that cable, so it would sit bit better. Let's see if it helps. And I will paint the grille and taillight panel as you said in the earlier post, black wash for the grille and semigloss black to the rear. Thanks.

[Dragracer]

Glad to be of some help, the car looks great Niko!, can't wait to see what you have up next!

[W-409]

Thanks Richard, you helped alot. Well the Nova is FINISHED, and it turned out great. Here are pictures of it, thanks for following this build thread, and thanks for comments everyone. This was fun build.

[SuperStockAndy]

I love it! I had so much fun watching this build, I'll keep an eye on future builds of yours