Thought I’d share our latest tech project with the Group here on the Forum. As you know, I always have a few things going on, and between the Tuning for Beer Tours, Forum carb rebuilds, and tinkering with the CCC Corvettes, I’m also building a ’69 Camaro, a 463 Pontiac engine, and the ’64 Nova drag car pictured here (in 3 posts due to the number of photos).

We’re building this car for my friend Matt’s girlfriend, and it’s a full-cage bracket car powered by a 355 and backed up by a Powerglide and a narrowed Ford rear. Follow along as we put this rolling chassis together:


Here’s the Nova shortly after purchase. We have cut off everything from the firewall forward, including the firewall itself. The floor and trunk areas have all been gutted, and the car is just a shell with no frame. Praise the SawZall!!


To get the inspiration for the construction and the stance of the car, we first mocked up the car with sheet metal and some wheels. This provided the initial guide and template for designing and building the frame/cage. Once this was done, we built a jig that we set the car on, and built the frame/cage off the jig to keep things square and level.


Once we had the basic interior cage constructed so the car could support itself, we chopped off the rusty original quarters. Here’s me finalizing the quarter cut and creating the “jogged” lip for the new quarter installation. Reproduction sheet metal came from Classic Industries.


New quarter in place and welded. Matt welded one side while I got the other side ready to go. It took an hour-and-a-half to replace each quarter from start to finish.

 

After stripping the entire car down to bare metal, I acid etched the entire car, did a chemical conversion coating on the bare metal, and applied the “DP” epoxy primer. Note how we have welded up the gas filler hole.


To get the fit I wanted for the car, we extended the doors up to ¼”. Here is the door extension prior to final shaping and fitting. The gaps on the car are now tight and even, and everything fits perfectly.


Next came the rear tubs. These were fit snuggly between the quarters and the cage, and we welded them in place to provide added rigidity to the quarters and rear sheet metal. The back of the car is now really stiff…


The front framework was built to accommodate rack & pinion steering and a complete lightweight coil-over suspension system with disc brakes. We fabricated the tubular A-arms from scratch. The car is very light.


With the front framework in place, we did the first trial fit of the front sheet metal and the ‘glass Harwood hood. This allowed us to fabricate the mounting brackets, hood hinges, bumper supports, and grill mounting. I’m going around the car with a felt marker making notes on the car with things that need to be done.

 

The back of the car is all business, and is set up to accept the narrowed Ford rear. We’ll be getting NHRA Certification on the cage.


Almost ready for floor panel fabrication – that’s the next big hurdle. Here the steering column has been located, and the engine/tranny has been test-fitted for the fabrication of the mounting points. Note the stock dash panel that has had all the stock holes welded up: All the gauges will be custom gauges set right into the stock panel. Seat and seat belt mounting points have welded into the cage.


Obviously, nobody makes headers for a custom ’64 Nova with the engine set back under the firewall. We fabricated these from scratch using Hooker pre-bent “J-Bend” tubes. Each tube is exactly the same length. Tubes are all TIG welded.


First time on the ground! We finally pulled the car off the jig fixture and set it on the ground to see if we got the stance and ride height correct. I’d say we got it pretty darned close!


Car on the ground and sitting at the intended ride height. We have blocks under the frame to hold it in position since the springs are not installed yet. Ready for the sheet metal to be installed, and time for a beer!!

 

That is EXACTLY one of the project's I've wanted to do for a while. Look's like it will be a fun car in the end.

 

Excellent...

 

Very, very .

 

Very Cool

 

Why didn't my Dad MAKE me help him in the garage when I was growing up?

 

very nice work!!

 

Great looking car. What do you anticipate she will run in the 1/4?

Hummm........ maybe we should start a pool?

 

I am vy impressed!

I give it 6 beers on the universal six-pack rating system!!

 

Wow - Looks sharp !

 

The 355 we're using in the car came out of the previous Nova - it was rolled and wrecked last racing season. The old Nova had the full stock frame under it plus a cage - very heavy car. It ran low 12s, so this new car should run high 11s with no mods to the motor. But we're thinking about doing a few upgrades to get the car into the 10s - we'll see how far we get, since the priority is to just get the car on the track as quickly as possible.

The current engine is a stock-bottom 350, bored .030 (making it a 355) with flat-top pistons. We have Dart Iron Eagle heads running 12:1 compression and a big Comp solid flat tappet cam. Intake is a Victor Junior with a 1050 Dominator on it. This simple and basic combo ran low 12s in a full frame street legal car. Next step up is a full Jessel valvetrain and a cam upgrade...

Shouldn't somebody tell me the carb is too big and that I don't know what I'm doing...?

 

Ok Lars, just to make you feel at home the carb is bigger than the car is. (Still looks great.) Wish I had the expertise you have under one greasy fingernail.

 

The carb is TOO BIG......Do you know what you'r doing????!!!


It looks great!

I love the looks of a home made job DONE RIGHT---nice and neat

 

Could you PLEASE give me whatever you took to get those mad skills?

I could only DREAM of doing that kind of work.

VERY nice.

 

looks good!

 

That is awesome! I think it's screaming for a big block.

 

that carb is way to big! Physics man Physics!! do the math!!! it'll never work!!
and ya'll building this car for your friend Matt’s girlfriend? some guy's going to be pissed when he get's his azz handed to him at the track by a girl.

 

Looks great Lars...

mind sharing the hours you have in it?