Restarting My '70 Nova Project

[BravoXray]

Gave the blower motor another coat of paint, let it dry while I cleaned out the inside of the car, including vacuuming out all the pieces of wire insulation and metal chip from drilling holes. After a neighbor stopped by to drop off his chipper that won't run and shooting the bull for half an hour, I installed the freshly painted blower motor, hooked it up the the battery to make sure it ran and didn't rub on the housing.
Rolled the body upside down, heard a few things roll around in the trunk, I know I lost a couple of connectors back there, and I see I need to readjust the balance as it's pretty top heavy.
Drug out the two boxes of DynaMat sound deadener I bought probably 10 years ago to put on the roof and floor to quiet and insulate the car. I set up a folding table and cut some pieces to put on the roof. I'll work on installing them tomorrow, probably. I may work on the chipper first.
By then it was after 5:00PM and I had to go to a friends house to set up a WiFi network at 6:00PM, and after sweating all afternoon, I needed to clean up and change clothes so I didn't smell like a wet dog.

 

[goeduck]

What are going to charge me for your immaculate Nova when you are done?

Seriously, you are doing a GREAT job!!

 

[BravoXray]

Thanks for the compliment.
Being somewhat of a perfectionist with OCD, someone else could probably slap it together in a couple of months, but that ain't gonna happen.

My plan is to drive it until can't drive anymore. I drove it for a little over three years after I bought it, and it's been torn apart for 10 years, of course that wasn't the plan when I started in on fixing the rust. In my will it goes to my son, but he has no place to keep it in a garage, and he lives in Phoenix, so he'll probably sell it. I have the numbers matching L48 350-300hp engine that has been overhauled, as has the numbers matching Muncie M21 four speed trans. I am putting a 434 stroker small block and a Tremec five speed in the car when it goes back together, and the originals will go with the car.

Got all the Dynamat put in the roof this afternoon. I also added a couple of pieces to the underside of the cowl area behind the dash since it was much easier with the car upside down. Then I laid the headliner out and got all the bows snapped into their clips and used paper clips, the type bankers use, to clamp it fast to the perimeter rail and help get it stretched out a little bit before it gets glued into place.

Moving on...

 

[IH3444]

 

[BravoXray]

Oh, C#$@&t, I hate that stuff. Never going on my car.
I may pull the harness out and wrap it with harness tape, but I still have a cruise control I just purchased to wire in. Plus, I may run a cable into the passenger compartment so I can mount the hand held controller for the MSD EFI under the dash.

Today, my friend Van came over and we got the headliner installed. It wasn't as bad a job as I thought it would be, it went pretty well. A couple of seams came unsewed, but I think the adhesive we used will hold it together until I get the edging installed. There are a few wrinkles, but as we did on a couple of other headliner installs, some judiciously applied hot air from a heat gun will usually eliminate pretty much all the wrinkles.
I'm about to the point where I need to get the carpeting ordered, in case it isn't readily available. Lately, a few things I've ordered were on backorder and took a few days to a month to get back in stock and shipped out. First though, I have to get the sound deadener installed on the floor, and with all the irregular surfaces, that might take some time.
Still pondering just where to mount the MSD StreetFire ignition module and the MSD Atomic EFI power supply module, as space on the firewall is limited. I'm leaning towards mounting them on the cowl area on the driver's side inside the fender, behind the inner wheel well. They would be mostly out of sight, protected from rain and able to access by removing the wheel well.
I'm also seriously considering applying some protective material to the underbody. Maybe something like RhinoLiner or some type of bed liner protective coating. Going to have to do a little research on it.

 

[BravoXray]

Back to working on the electrical system today. I finally decided where to mount the MSD Street Fire CD ignition system and the MSD Atomic EFI power module. After some shecking, I see that they will fit onto the front of the cowl that sits behind the left front wheel well. I have an MSD 6A CD system, but it's too large to fit in that area, so I bought the Street Fire system that is smaller, has all the features the 6A has, plus a rev limiter, which the 6A doesn't have. Drilled some holes and got the units mounted, and by mounting the Street Fire upside down, the access for adjusting the rev limiter will be accessible with the fender on. Ran the wiring and have it pretty well laid out where it needs to be, except for the switched power wires for the units and the tach signal feed wires. There is an ignition feed coming out of the firewall, and when the cruise control gets installed, there will be three wires running off that feed, so I'm going to add an ATO fuse block so each one is separately fused. I'm waiting on that block to get here from Amazon. The tach feed from the CD system has to be connected to the bulkhead connector to feed the tach in the instrument cluster, the EFI system and the cruise control module, so I'll need some type of junction to connect them.
The EFI and CD systems both have a 14 ga. wire that is to be connected to the positive post on the battery, as is the main feed to the car on the bulkhead connector. After pondering the need to run three and maybe four separate wires all the way to the battery, I decided to put a power point below the bulkhead connector and run one 4 or 6 ga. wire to it from the battery to feed everything. Simpler and fewer wires, makes sense to me.
Along with that thinking, I'm going to run the same size cable from the battery negative post to the subframe, engine and car body. I don't want any grounding problems, those can be a pain to sort out.

 

[BravoXray]

Took the day off from the Nova yesterday, was just ready to head down to the shop at 1:00PM when an old friend from northern Michigan and his wife stopped by to visit. many pilot, trucker and freight broker stories and 3 1/2 hours later they left. I really like seeing them, but by the I was out of the mood to work on the Nova.
I did go down and work on it today, though. Searched through my small parts bin for the screws that hold the instrument panel to the dash. Found both the old ones and a new set, also found the tinnerman nuts that are used at the top of the panel.
I started installing the sound deadener on the floor. All the irregular pieces, bucket seat mounts, bumps and depressions made it a real challenge, but I just used big pieces where I could and filled in with small pieces where needed. I got about 2/3 of the floor done, but I'm going to do the trunk divider and the wheel houses too. I may try to put some inside the quarters below the quarter windows if it isn't too big of a hassle.
The foil on the material can get sharp as a razor, and you have to watch what you're doing or you'll start leaking red stuff.

 

[scootr]

Progress is looking good
That stuff really makes a difference. I put it on the walls and floor of my van before panel and rubber mat, really deadened the road noise etc.

 

[MossRoad]

....
The foil on the material can get sharp as a razor, and you have to watch what you're doing or you'll start leaking red stuff.

That's the beauty of the red stuff...

If it's a slow leak and you can stop it, you can make some more at home in no time. You don't have to take another trip to the parts store.

 

[BravoXray]

That's the beauty of the red stuff...

If it's a slow leak and you can stop it, you can make some more at home in no time. You don't have to take another trip to the parts store.

Yep, it auto refills. Good thing too, I donate it on a regular basis. Over 50 pints so far.

 

[BravoXray]

Spent all afternoon working on the Nova today. I changed some wiring that was bothering me a little. The most important was the wire that goes to the in-tank fuel pump. When I ran the harness to the rear of the car, I added a wire for the fuel pump. When I was mounting and wiring up the EFI system, I noticed the wire on that harness was definitely heavier than the one I ran, even though they are supposed to be the same gauge. So, I took the leftover wire that came with the system and ran it to the trunk area to power the fuel pump.
Rather than run the wire through a hole in the firewall, I was able to utilize one of the unused positions in the bulkhead connector. That entailed removing the fuse block, installing connectors in that position, routing the wire and installing a connector to connect it to the wire running to the tank. Of course since I have had the fuse block on and off the firewall at least tem times, the cheap supplied foam gasket went to hell. Took a piece of 3mm foam I had and used my Exacto knife to cut out a new one. So now the same original wire runs all the way to the tank. That soothes my OCD, even though according to the spec sheet the pump only draws about 8 amps at 60 PSI and the wire I ran would probably sufficed. Maybe.
I also mounted a four position fuse block on the firewall to connect the MSD ignition, MSD EFI and Dakota Digital cruise control to the switched ignition lead, and have another circuit available if ever needed. Think ahead!
Last of all, the dash pad has been calling me to be installed, so I took it down, cleaned it up, found some new speed nuts that fasten it to the dash, and got it installed. The first item that says Nova has been installed now.

Progress.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep, it auto refills. Good thing too, I donate it on a regular basis. Over 50 pints so far.

Nice. My wife does as often as she can as well since as long as I've known her.

 

[BravoXray]

Been working on installing a Dakota Digital cruise control.

MORE wires!

I'm going to mount the servo unit on the left inner fender well, and since that's not installed yet, I'm getting all the wiring connected to the appropriate points.

I'm going to be running a Tremec TKX transmission, and in the installation manual it explicitly states:

NOTE: High frequency VSS signals from a Tremec, or 700R4, are too fast for the cruise control to read. In such applications, the Dakota Digital SGI-5E or SGI-100BT Speed Interface Module would be needed to alter the VSS to the Gray wire.

Soooo, I bought the SGI-100BT SIM to massage the signal for input to the cruise control unit. I wasn't completely clear on some of the setting in the SIM, so I wrote and email to DD's tech support. Dave, and that is not his real name, emailed me back that he needed to know what type of signal and the number of pulses per mile (PPM) the TKX's VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor) output. I did some research and wrote back that it was a sine wave output at 16,000 PPM.
Two days later Dave writes back asking why I was using the SIM, when the cruise control has settings that will let it accept that signal.
I wrote back, really? Then why does it say differently in the installation manual?
Haven't heard back from him on that.

So I spent an extra $100 and a couple of hours mounting and wiring the SIM for nothing. And drilling holes that aren't needed. Grrr. Going to have to plug them as they are in the cowl and would leak if it got rained on.

I drug out the steering column and installed the turn signal lever that has the cruise controls on it, Had to disassemble the top of it to get the cable ran down inside the column, but at least I have the tool to compress the spring under the locking column plate so you can get the little snap ring off. All back together and wrapped up again to keep the dust off it.
I also ran wires to install an LED indicator to show when the cruise is engaged. Of course that's an "optional" feature, so the wire for it was only a few inches long, not five feet long like all the rest of the wires. Maybe orange 18ga. wire is really expensive? But I got it extended and run into the dash and installed a connector on it and the indicator light.
I was able to find a pair of LED indicators that came with over 100 different symbols that can be inserted into the bezel for your particular need. Just happened to be one that looks like the cruise indicator on a car.
I'm going to have to go to HF tomorrow as I'm almost out of tyraps again. I've added wires, removed wires and modified the harness so many times I've used up most of the two sizes I need.
I also got the control head for the heater connected to the control cables, so I'm getting close to installing the instrument cluster. I just want to make sure once I install it, it's in for good. I sis set the old instrument panel in the make sure I don't have and interference problems.
I still need to finish installing the sound deadener on the floor, sides and doors. Not sure I have enough to finish the job, so I may have to buy another box of Dyna Mat.
I also got the new fuel tank, fuel pump and sending unit from Taks, Inc., so I can get that assembles and installed in the car soon.

So many things to do, the list seems endless.

 

[BravoXray]

Working on more wiring today, ran the wires for the indicator for the Line-Loc. Installed connectors on the wires so I can connect it once I get the instrument cluster ready to install. I didn't want to use a big Packard style connector for it, as it only pulls 0.020 amps, so I used a small connector set I had left from some avionics work on my plane. Problem is, the terminals are about the size of a grain of rice and really fiddly to get crimped on the wires perfectly. I only ruined two before I got all four crimped properly.
I got the instrument cluster out and on the bench to get it ready to install, soon I hope. Installed the wiper switch, relocated the module for the tach to where it won't interfere with anything, and installed another connector, a Deutch style this time, and connected all the wires to the proper places. +12 volts, ground and tach signal feed.
I decided to mount the cruise and Line-Loc indicators on the left side of the panel, where the vent would be on a car with A/C. This is a brand new panel and as much as I hated doing it, I had to drill a couple of holes to mount the indicators. After some measuring and figuring, I made a template and marked the hole locations. I drilled the holes out in three steps and the final size was 15/32". Installed the indicators, made sure they were clocked correctly, and snugged up the nuts. They look pretty good there, I think.
If I can get down to the shop before it get too hot tomorrow, I'll try to get it installed in the car.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Why the line-lock ? Are you planning on drag racing this beautiful car, or do you just like doing smoky burnouts ?

 

[BravoXray]

Ya never know when it just might come in handy....

Got this for the Tremec 5 speed shift lever.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Looking forward to some smoky burn-out pics once you have it on the road !

 

[BravoXray]

Looking forward to some smoky burn-out pics once you have it on the road !

You got some tires I can use?

I see them doing long smokey burnouts on some of the TV shows like Hot Rod Garage, and personally, I think it's pointless. Ruin perfectly good tires that it they don't want, someone else might put to good use on their daily driver.
Sure, I laid a few good patches in my day, but never did a smokey burnout, tires were too expensive for that. The Firestone shop owner always had a smile on his face when I showed up for a new set of red line Wide Ovals.

 

[MossRoad]

You got some tires I can use?

I see them doing long smokey burnouts on some of the TV shows like Hot Rod Garage, and personally, I think it's pointless. Ruin perfectly good tires that it they don't want, someone else might put to good use on their daily driver.
Sure, I lad a few good patches in my day, but never did a smokey burnout, tires were too expensive for that. The Firestone shop owner always had a smile on his face when I showed up for a new set of red line Wide Ovals.

They get the sponsors. That pays for the tires.

I'm in your camp... warming up the tires is one thing. Smoking them to baldness is quite another.

 

[goeduck]

I think after this upgrade BravoXray deserves at least one smokey burn-out if he wants. Me, I would baby that beauty, but I would have to hold myself back