70 "THUG Nova" build

[1coolC2]

I felt guilty about posting my stuff under Ron's AMX build because I was too lazy to start my own thread :-) So here is a quick run down on the build. After selling my 67 LS7 Corvette, I decided to build a car that I can go out and race with at Pro Tour events and not worry about so much. After piloting the 67 Vette at high speeds and thinking, what if I put this thing off the track That's where the Nova comes in....I have always loved this body style and it was the first muscle car I got to ride in as a kid. My Uncle had bought a brand new 70 SS396 Nova and I just loved it!

I found this car and it looked pretty good, but of course like all cars of this era, it had the usual rot in the rear 1/4's - outer wheel house. So I knew that all had to come off. The plan is to build the car around the track proven Detroit Speed front subframe and suspension and their Quadra-Link rear suspension. It is being powered with a 7.0 Liter Katech engine with a T56 Magnum trans. The rearend consist of a 9" housing, Mark Williams Pro Mod aluminum center section with a WaveTrac diff and 3.90 gear. The outer housing ends are from Mark Stielow and use C6 ZR1 hub pack bearings.

The car has a ton of fabrication work to accommodate all of the mods. I modified the DSE wheel tubs to give me a 14" wheel house that can fit a 345 tire on a 12" rim. Lowered the height between the body and frame, added a full chrome moly cage, welded up the firewall, added DSE frame connectors and added a SCCA approved ATL fuel cell with protection cage. I am currently cutting the entire trans and driveshaft tunnel to fit the T56 along with the adjusted engine and pinion angle changes. Lowering the car to Billy Utley low required the entire drivetrain to be readjusted.

The body received some upgrades with all new sheet metal in the rear, door skins along with fiberglass hood, deck lid, front fenders, cowl panel and front and rear bumpers to lighten it up a bit

This thing should be an absolute blast and provide excellent safety at higher speed events. Oh, and since this thing has beat me up everyday and has stolen all of my lunch money....Thug seemed like a good name for it Ha ha.

R/
Jeff

[1coolC2]

[1coolC2]

Here is the work on the trans tunnel, as you can see in the pics, after the drivetrain angle was corrected after lowering the car...a little surgery was needed Also got the driveshaft safety loop fab'd and welded up. We will also be making a new trans X-member that will be based of the floor X-member for a cleaner install and additional exhaust clearance.

R/
Jeff

[1coolC2]

Trans tunnel complete with shifter box and E brake mount, new Trans X member built, billet relocation blocks machined to relocate the steering column from the granny position and new fron fiber glass clip parts getting fitted. Also fabbed up a new ATL fuel cell mount for the rear body panel.

R/
Jeff

Prior to welding up.


All done!!


No more granny position column!!


Stiff enough for a bull dozer!!!







New clip fitting up




Fuel cell fill parts

[1coolC2]

After getting the car at the desired ride height, it was clearly obvious that the 275/18 rubber just was not going to fit under a hard turn and suspension compression. Soooo, out came the air recip saw and sliced up the new fiberglass fenders!! They ultimately needed about 1 ¼” to provide all the needed clearance. Once they were pooched out, they were re-glassed and good to go. We also added some aluminum stiffeners to give the light weight glass some strength. Thanks to Mark Stielow for the hood vents, these are the same ones used on his last two creations and they fit nicely into the cowl hood and will get rid of some of the air packing under the hood and create some down force on the front of the car. We also got the front down bars fabbed and welded in where they are hidden under the fender and also provided the pick up point for the billet hood hinges. The glass bumpers have also been trimmed and tucked for a cleaner look. The car is currently at my Uncles body shop where I helped to get it prepped for blocking and final fitment. It’s looking pretty good and I am looking forward to seeing it in color soon. I also received the 300M gun drilled axles from Strange Engineering, super strong and nice and light!! Hopefully I can get this finished up for Motorstate!!

R/
Jeff

[1coolC2]

So here are a couple of sneak peak pics of the car in the paint booth this weekend. Color is 1970 Shadow gray. Stripe is a new take on the Yenko style with updated graphics. I just don't know what takes Ron so long to get his project done, look how fast this came together, I just started the thread today
R/
Jeff

[tones2SS]

Man, that thing is going to be beastly. Keep us posted.
Love the color scheme you got going on.

[Flash68]

That thing is SICK. Love it.

[57hemicuda]

I can't believe you waited till the car was done to start a build thread, a little a$$ backwards, but I would expect nothing less.lol

Loving that you cut on expensive new fiberglass parts on the front, shows fearlessness. Looks fast, I'm scared!!! lol

[Build-It-Break-it]

Beautiful Nova!! Are the front down tubes from the firewall to the subframe tied into the cage or just to the firewall?