Project Getaway

[eddiek]

Hello All

After being a member and constantly checking out the site for the last 4 years I feel now it is my time to contribute.

I have been involved in Drag Racing my whole life and in early 2007 I came to conclusion that sometimes you just need to getaway ( hence the name Project Getaway ). So what does a car guy do to getaway, build a car. But this time it was not going to be a drag car. I have always loved the low profile corner burner look so when I started to think about what style of car I wanted to build a Pro Touring car became a easy pick. The next part was now what body style. Since I already had a 69 & 79 Camaro Drag Car I wanted to go a little bit of a different route but I just couldn't make up my mind. So I started to search the forums to get ideas on body styles and the one that stuck out the most to me were the early body Nova's. Now that I knew the theme and body style I wanted I had to now find the car I wanted and lucky me I knew where it was. Now my issue was to get my boss to sell me it. Well after a little bit of begging and promising to build it right he sold it to me.

The car was a 66 Nova that had a straight 6 and a glide in it but it was as clean as you could get. It was put in airport hanger in 1995 and wasn't pulled out until 2007. Under the 1/4 inch of dust on it I knew the car still had most of the original paint but was not sure on how the body held up. Once we got it out and cleaned up we saw that the body had almost no rust at all on it and no body work what so ever was ever done to it. The next step was to get the car over to my good friend Bob Carroll that owns Carroll's Rod and Race. We got together made a game plan and got the car into his shop. Now that I had the car, a plan and the shop next was to start stripping it apart to get it ready for a second chance at life as one bad ass Pro Touring car.

Once we started the planing process I had the idea of trying to get some media coverage for the build. So I contacted my friend Jim Campisano of Super Chevy Magazine pitched him the idea and my plan and I was lucky enough that Super Chevy was going to pick up and follow the build process. The final step was the name and since the theme of the project was to be able to use the car to getaway from drag racing so the Project Getaway was a perfect match for it. My first issue was May 2008 and the building process began.

Lead Story - http://www.superchevy.com/technical/chassis/completebuilds/sucp_0805_1966_chevy_nova_build/index.html

Since then it has appeared in 11 issues to date. When I started the build I had a 2 year plan for it to be completed and as we all know sometimes it takes a lot longer to complete a then we think. This May will mark 3 years in the build process and since we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel I felt now is the time to hit the Internet to show the build process. In the next few months I will get everyone up to speed on the past and update the forum as much as I can without getting ahead of the Super Chevy stories that will be coming out in the next few months. Our target date at this point is to hopefully have it at SEMA 2011. I want to thank whoever took the time to read through all the BS I just wrote and now enjoy the build process of Project Getaway.

Project Getaway wouldn't be possible without the support of all the following :


Carroll's Rod & Race - http://www.rodandracecraft.com/
Chris Alston's Chassisworks - http://www.cachassisworks.com/
Turn Key Engine Supply - http://www.turnkeyenginesupply.com/
Burns Stainless - http://www.burnsstainless.com/
Strange Engineering - http://www.strangeengineering.net/
Summit Racing - http://www.summitracing.com/
Fesler Built - http://www.feslerbuilt.com/
TCI Transmissions - http://www.tciauto.com/
Aeromotive - http://aeromotiveinc.com/
Wilwood Engineering - http://www.wilwood.com/
Nitto Tires - http://www.nittotire.com/index.html
Intro Wheels - http://www.introwheels.com/
Vintage Air - http://www.vintageair.com/
Painless Performance - http://www.painlessperformance.com/
Ground Up Restoration Parts - http://www.ss396.com/
Kenne Bell - http://www.kennebell.net/
Dart Heads - http://www.dartheads.com/
ARP Bolts - http://www.arp-bolts.com/
Lunati - http://www.lunatipower.com/
Moroso - http://www.moroso.com/
Westech Performance Group - http://www.westechperformance.com/

Anyone that may be interested in becoming involved in Project Getaway please contact me through my email: [email protected]

Thanks Eddie

Here is the first set and I will post more in the next few days.

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/4339/1001941s.jpg
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6162/1001944.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8734/1001945y.jpg
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/570/1001948n.jpg
http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/7068/1001947.jpg
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/7489/1001950e.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9241/1001954gv.jpg
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/7910/1001958v.jpg
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/853/1001956r.jpg
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/7/1001960k.jpg
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/7933/1001991v.jpg
http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/5402/1001996q.jpg
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/2400/1001998z.jpg
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7162/1002002d.jpg

[chaz75]

nice starting point good luck.

[waynieZ]

I love that body style. Good luck its going to be a nice project.

[tones2SS]

I love that body style. Good luck its going to be a nice project.

^^What Wayne said here. Should be a great build.:thumbsup:

[eddiek]

Here are some pictures of the bare shell taken all a part and put on a rotisserie. I used a local guy that had a mobile soda blasted unit that came out to a parking lot and blasted it. It was a really cool process to watch. The process was very messy but did a great job and didn't hurt a panel. Check it out.

Before
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/6759/spic007.jpg
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/3521/spic009.jpg
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9397/spic010.jpg

Soda Blasting Trailer. Nice and compact
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/2742/carsodablast018.jpg
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/6099/carsodablast035.jpg

Strating the process
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/8743/carsodablast051.jpg
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1904/carsodablast053.jpg
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1215/carsodablast059.jpg

[eddiek]

Another really cool part about Soda Blasting is it doesn't hurt the chrome. We did the handles just to show.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/9027/carsodablast068.jpg

We did the whole inside includeing under the dash and all those hard to get spots that really were made easy with this.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5083/carsodablast070.jpg
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/5665/carsodablast097.jpg
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5053/carsodablast137.jpg
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4017/carsodablast144.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6038/carsodablast166.jpg
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/2566/carsodablast198.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/996/carsodablast174.jpg

Once I get a little bit of time tomorrow I will post up more. Thanks

[87SS]

Very nice !:thumbsup:

What color do you plan on painting it ?

Good luck !

[waynieZ]

It looks great. Good thing the trunk was solid. lol You never find solid cars like that around here.

[Bakaruda]

Very nice, good luck.

[70supersport]

very cool build eddie been trying to talk to you at drags,but your a busy man i think we would all like more pics,keep up the great work:lateral:

[eddiek]

very cool build eddie been trying to talk to you at drags,but your a busy man i think we would all like more pics,keep up the great work:lateral:

Be sure to stop by next time and ask for me. I try to always make time but it is tough since I'm working on the stuff. It's crazy how many people talk to me about this car. I can't wait to have it done. See you at the races.

Ed

[eddiek]

Since I have a little bit before the Super Bowl I wanted to get a few pictures up. Here are some pictures of the car back in the shop after soda blasting the parts.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1742/1002036f.jpg

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/3681/1002039k.jpg

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/7321/1002041z.jpg

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/7997/1002042b.jpg

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4241/1002048y.jpg

We found a few little sports that were rusted but all in all the base of the car was really clean.

Also here are 2 renderings that I had done about 2 years ago. They are both the same with a different color backgrounds to them. I just wanted to post them up and get some thoughts from anyone willing to comment on them.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/9863/67novarender.jpg

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1166/67novarender4.jpg

I was thinking about changing the bottom color blue to a darker silver something a long the lines of the GM Cyber Gray that is on the Corvette etc... The car would end up being 2 tone silver. Something like a gun metal on the top and cyber gray on the bottom. I'm going to look into getting a rendering done that just to get a better idea. I will take any one's thoughts since we all know the paint can make or break a car and it is the hardest thing to make up your mind on. So feel free to tell me what you think.
Thanks Ed

[tones2SS]

Looks great Ed.
I like the colors that you have on there now. Maybe a darker blue to add a bit more contrast, in my opinion. Good luck!:thumbsup:

[eddiek]

Once I got the shell into the shop the one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb were the cowl vents. So the only option to me was cover them up. Here is the process of the way we did it.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/6474/carsodablast028.jpg

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/2851/carsodablast040.jpg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9149/carsodablast041.jpg

This was a little tough to make fit and follow the lines 100% but after a little bit of time on the english wheel this is what we got.

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/5160/carsodablast047.jpg

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/9568/carsodablast042.jpg

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/9536/carsodablast044.jpg

We did one side at a time to keep the metal from twisting and doing wacky things once we cut the area out and put the new part in.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6753/carsodablast100.jpg

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8219/carsodablast125.jpg

Once we did that I think it just cleaned up the whole area and now it has a smooth look to it.

[eddiek]

Once we got the metal work all done on the cowl area next was to put together the front clip. For that I choose the Chris Alston's Chassisworks G-Machine stuff. It is very high quality and was just what we needed. You can tell a lot of thought went into building the parts. Here are some pictures.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/8973/carsodablast049.jpg

Upper A-Arms
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/1018/carsodablast056.jpg

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/2848/carsodablast057.jpg

Lower A-Arms
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/1325/carsodablast062.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/28/carsodablast064.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/2088/carsodablast065.jpg

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/9027/carsodablast068.jpg

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/5083/carsodablast070.jpg

The Power Rack set up. This bolted in really nice and uses some really cool billet clamps to hold the rack on.
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/3402/carsodablast079.jpg

Close Up
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8809/carsodablast077.jpg

I wanted to have a coil over in the car so I didn't have to worry about the air side of things. I got the double adjustable Vari-Shock.
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7548/carsodablast083.jpg

Also to make sure the car has no problems stopping I got the 14 inch Wilwood 6 piston brake set-up also made by Chassisworks.
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1698/carsodablast092.jpg

Here is the whole clip built and ready to be bolted to the main body.
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/4710/carsodablast093.jpg

[69c4x11]

Eddie show Um the Latest pics,, How old are these?? They can see more on Super chevy Site !!!!!

[coolwelder62]

WOW!!! Awesome.This going to be a top notch build.Can't wait to see more.:thumbsup: Scott

[69c4x11]

Eddie would love to talk to You !! Have ???'s about glass ?? Fuzzies, trim ?? Roger J

[eddiek]

I'll PM you some info in a little bit. I just have been very busy.

I will also post some more pictures of some more stuff when I get a little bit of extra time.

Thanks

[tones2SS]

Very nice Eddie.
That whole front clip looks killer.:thumbsup:

[waynieZ]

Sweet looking front clip.

[eddiek]

So with the front clip built we needed to get it bolted onto the shell and set the ride height. For that we used a really cool tool that Chris Alston Chassisworks makes. This set-up is very simple but very affective. It goes on the bolts that hold the shock on and basically makes it a strut for setting it up. We just put a little tape to hold ours for a little trial fit and bolted front clip on.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8847/1002120u.jpg
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/2337/1002122s.jpg
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/9306/sucp080519z1966chevynov.jpg
http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/1270/sucp080522z1966chevynov.jpg
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/3343/1002171i.jpg

We all know how the wheels can make or break the whole look of a car so when choosing them you really need to do your research. The wheels that caught my eye were the ID311's made by Intro Wheels and they are part of their line called I.D Luxury. They are a true 3 piece wheel and I just think they have the right look for a G-Machine type of car. The front is a 19 x 8 1/2 and the rear are 20 x 12. For the tires I used the Nitto Invo. I spent a lot of time making sure the aspect ratio of them were not to far off to make sure they have a smiler sidewall to them and look proportionate on the car. The front size ended up being a 245-35-19 and the rear is 342-25-20. Thanks to the guys at Jerry Noonan's Auto Center in Monroe NJ for getting them all mounted without getting a spec on the wheel.

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9903/img0404f.jpg
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3963/img0403tv.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/2139/sucp080616z1966chevynov.jpg
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/1434/1002162e.jpg

Now that I had some parts it was time to get them all onto the shell and make this thing start looking like a car.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9725/1002169v.jpg
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5835/1002125.jpg
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9322/1002164v.jpg

[tones2SS]

Very nice. Good work.

[waynieZ]

Sweet looking wheels.

[eddiek]

Well I mentioned in the first thread that I was going to talk about and show things that we didn't show in the Super Chevy Magazine article. Well this is one thing that I fell was a key move for the build. So please read on and I hope this helps some guys that battle the same thoughts and images I do.

Before you start your build you have image in your mind on how the car should look. It is something you imagine and know that is what you are shooting for as the end result. We had the car on the lift set to the ride height it would end up at with the wheels on it and took a few steps back. Just looking at it something just didn't look right to me on how it was going to sit. Now we all know how important the stance of the car can really be and on a Pro Touring car it is the stance that makes the car. So now that we have a idea on how the car will look it was time to get some rough measurements.

The first thing we noticed was that the front end was a little to high. With the Chris Alston Chassisworks front clip the car at ride height will have close to 7 3/8 rocker height and that was to high for what we wanted. So what you will see here is the whole process of how we made the front clip work for us. It is a rather easy process and can make a huge impact on the way your car turns out. Now keep in mind that sometimes one change like this will affect 10 more changes down the road but who do you know just ever bolts something on and is really happy.

First we looked at the car on the lift at ride height.
http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/6551/1002159t.jpg
http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/8232/1002155p.jpg

Next I cut into the welds on the lower mounting plates being carefull not to remove and legnth from the lower frame rails.
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/5139/1002145r.jpg

Now with the plate gone I had the lower frame rail with no end.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1229/1002138s.jpg
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/6374/1002139q.jpg

Next was to make a new plate for how much we wanted to raise up the front clip. For us we wanted to have a rough height of 5 inches. So I made a plate that was a extra 2 3/8 since that was the amount needed to get where we wanted.
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/2826/1002141jj.jpg

Next I tacked it right where it was when we removed the stock one and just had the new mounting holes 2 3/8 lower.
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/428/1002146o.jpg
Just do the same process for the other side and that will be it.
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/5204/1002144.jpg

Next we bolted the front clip back on the car and it ended up right where we wanted it 2 3/8 higher in the chassis and with a rocker height of 5 inches. The front tubes also fit on with very little changes. The tube has a really nice bilt on flange to it that we removed and the tube slipped right onto the nub that was on the frame already. Now just remove a section of tube and re-weld the bolt on flange part and your ready to go.
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/31/1002175h.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7817/1002171p.jpg
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8694/1002173i.jpg

Now like I said early on one change like this will impact 10 others and when I get a few minutes in the next few days I will show what they all were. But in the end it wasn't that hard to fix and I feel will be well worth the effort. EK

[69c4x11]

We're waiting on some new pics !!! come on Eddie !!

[jh99]

That is an awesome build so far! Let's see more pics and info about moving the front clip and what else goes with it!

[69c4x11]

Eddie ,,waiting for you to lower area ,at rad/bumper ,core support so it will be at the original hgt,???? catch my thought's ??It will have to be lowered ,what the front chassis was raised for ride -HGT ,,,

[eddiek]

Sorry for the delay guys. As you can tell I have been slacking on updates. This time of the year is tough since my Racing gets really busy and I'm on the road a lot. When I do get a chance to do things it is mostly with my little girl that just turned one 2 weeks ago.

Since the last post a lot of things have went on with the build. One of the most exciting things is the support from Fesler Built Products. All I can can say is Chris builds some of the nicest billet products I have seen. The quality is second to none and the best way I can put it is the parts they make are just BAD ASS. I will throw some pictures of that stuff up at a later date.

Well anyway, I have gotten a lot of emails in the past few weeks of people wanting to know what else had to be done with the front clip. Well here it is.

The first thing is since we raised the front clip 2 3/8 everything that bolts to the clip and uses holes to locate it will be that amount high. So it really wasn't very hard to make that correction. What we was take the center of the 6 main holes in the front radiator support and move them up the 2 3/8 to get the location point. We also moved the support to the back side of the mounting tabs. This made the fenders now move back .125 since that is the thickness of the mounting plate. The fenders allowed us to correct that with ease since the factory slots we wide enough. Here is the picture process of that.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/3236/sucp080602z1966chevynov.jpg
Drilling out the welds on the support
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2820/sucp080603z1966chevynov.jpg

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3036/sucp080604z1966chevynov.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8246/sucp080605z1966chevynov.jpg
Now the support will bolt to the back of the front clip.
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/620/sucp080606z1966chevynov.jpg

http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/4431/sucp080607z1966chevynov.jpg

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5861/sucp080610z1966chevynov.jpg
The fender is all mounted up and lines up dead on.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1405/sucp080611z1966chevynov.jpg

We then mounted the front wheel to the hub and now have the look that we were after.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9016/sucp080620z1966chevynov.jpg

But it didn't turn out as easy as we thought. They say if you make one change it will take 5 others to make it work. Well whoever said that was right. Since I was using a really wide 19 inch deep dish wheel that was the next area we had to address. The wheel would now hit the inner side of the fender when we turned it. But wait that was not it. It now also hit the firewall bump out under compression of the shock. So we now had to address those 2 issues.

[eddiek]

So the wheel hitting the inner fender was easy. All we did their is have to narrow up the width from center to center of the front wheels 1 inch. So we removed that in the control arms. The top was easy since it had a turnbuckle and the bottom we cut off the eye loops and shortened the arm up.

He is a car at ride height. In the long run I feel it will be well worth it and the extra effort will be justified.

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/4110/1000025a.jpg

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/8940/1000024t.jpg

Upper Arms getting shortened

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1706/1002079ap.jpg

So since the wheel hit the firewall and we were going to smooth out the wall are we just removed it.

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/854/sucp090409z1966chevynov.jpg

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/287/sucp090410z1966chevynov.jpg

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/9711/sucp090411z1966chevynov.jpg

You can now see where and how the wheel hit

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/620/sucp090719z1966chevynov.jpg

We just removed the tab to a spot we felt will clear and the wheel fit 100%. We even took the shock out and ran it through the travel range to make sure of that.

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/9949/sucp090721z1966chevynov.jpg

Well guys. That is all I have time for right this minute. I will try to get something up next week showing how we cut the firewall back to the best spot and get the new one all fitted in. Thanks EK

[XcYZ]

Love that stance.

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/8940/1000024t.jpg

[56pickup]

:thumbsup: Great looking project! wheels and stance look great!

[eddiek]

Love that stance.

Thanks. This is the picture that made us make such a small change that made a huge impact on the look. We saw this and didn't like the way the roof line has a up sweep of a few degrees so we elected to chop the top. Yep, we chopped it. We took out roughly 1/2 out of the front a pillers. Let me tell you, it was well worth all the work. I'll explain the whole deal next week when I get a few minutes and post some pictures. I'm in the airport on my phone and it is tough between being so small and auto spell.

[Ron in SoCal]

^ looks slick top to bottom Eddie. Tell me, where do you get glass when you do a chop top?

[69c4x11]

I think it's time for a few updates,, I know the car should be completed by now, The build In Super Chevyof the project,is behind but further along than your updates,

[69c4x11]

Eddie, why no new post's ??? pro-bike riding can't be that time consuming!!!

[69c4x11]

Eddie,Headed to Commerce,, You better hope I don't find You !! Get off your bike and update us !!!

[69c4x11]

Eddie,, Another Championship !! Okay get back on the Build ???