Restarting My '70 Nova Project

[murphy1244]

I love that Grrrrr, the sound of music

 

[dodge man]

Nice! Sounds good, I bet it smells good too, tge way a car should smell when it’s running. Based on where your sensor is located I’d say that’s normal, the water is circulating through the block before the thermostat opens. When it pops open it should drop down pretty quick.

 

[BravoXray]

I pulled the alternator off and took it apart to see if I had messed something up when I reclocked the back cover, but it looked okay to me. I took it back to the shop that had fixed it last fall, it had a bad a bad regulator, and the tech spent over an hour trying to get it to work. It had him stumped after installing a new regulator, brushes, a couple of jumper wires and checking out all the other components. So, I left it and he said he'd ponder what could be the problem and let me know when he got it figured out and fixed. He called the next day and said that the new regulator that he had put in was also bad. Another new one made it work, finally. When I picked it up, he wouldn't take anything for the repair as the original regulator must have been bad too. Brought it back, put it on and fired it up, shows ~14.5 volts now. Finally!
I've been putting off installing the left fender for a while, I hate sheet metal work, and I just knew I would knock at least a little paint off it, no matter how careful I was. And I did, though just a little bit.
Tried to hang the fender on the alignment bolts in the cowl and rad support, but I had mounted to horn and it was hitting the headlight connector, so I took it off and the fender sat down where it should. Started lining up bolt holes and adding shims to get the door gap looking good, and even with the door. The front bolt that joins the bumper/grille filler was a bear, but finally go it in and snugged up. There are two more bolts that join the fender and inner fender, I got the front one close and managed to get a 1/4" bolt in and pulled up close to position, but the rear one, just ahead of the wheel opening was about an inch from it needed to be. I'll save that one for last. With the help of a 2X4, floor jack, pry bar, lineup bar and some adult language, I got the rest of the inner fender bolts around the wheel opening in and snugged up. Amazingly, the ones at the top that bolt it to the inner fender support lined up perfectly and went right in.
Back to the last problem child, er, bolt. The metal pieces were within an 1/8" of together, but the bolt hole was off by about 1/2". So, I used a little right angle, really low profile air drill and drilled an 1/8" hole down through the welded on nut to get the location, then drilled up from the bottom with a 3/8" bit to put the 5/16" bolt in and tightened it up. I also installed the brace rod that supports the bottom of the front fender skirt, then went around and tightened all the other bolts.
There is one other problem bolt, and it's at the top of the fender in the door jamb. The hole in the fender tab is about 1/4" too far forward to get the bolt in, so I'm going to have to get something in there and slot the hole to get the bolt in. Still cogitating on how to do that, there's just not much room to work with.
I installed the headlight trim door which makes a big difference in the looks of the front end. Got the hood hinges bolted onto the fenders too, but haven't put the springs on then yet though.
Another task was to install the new air filter and make up the line and fittings to the filter base from the right valve cover.
Tomorrow after breakfast, my friend Van is going to give me a hand hanging the front bumper. That'll really make it look better.
I haven't figured out what to do about the in-dash tach not working, but IF I can get my hands up behind the instrument cluster and disconnect the cable that goes to it, I can make up a new cable to connect to my classic Sun tach that I can mount on the steering column. Haven't decided on that yet, though.
I'm slowly getting the list of things remaining to do whittled down and not many parts are left to go back on.

Some day, not too far off....

 

[BleedingOrange]

Hang in there, you are definitely on the home stretch. Your patience and willingness to doing it right is certainly paying off. You will soon be driving your beautiful car around and getting tons of compliments everywhere you go. Cheers

 

[BravoXray]

We did get the bumper on today. Initially I had the rear bracket bolts in the wrong holes in the subframe and couldn't get it positioned correctly, but I figured that out. It HAS been over a decade since I took it apart.
I went over to Brian's place this afternoon to help him get his '70 Charger fired up. He took the engine partially apart to find out what cam was in it, and after 1 1/2 years finally got it put back together. It cranked over fine, had fuel and spark, but never fired even once. Turns out he had pulled the distributor when he tore it down, but didn't set the engine to TDC on #1 cylinder when he reinstalled it. To make it more difficult, the timing marks on the 440 are really hard to see, they're almost hidden by the water pump inlet. This is going to be interesting, but I'll get it back in time and running.

 

[BravoXray]

Still getting some things done on the Nova. I repainted the black part of the rear trim plate, then spent an hour laying out the four mounting holes. Measure six times and drill once. Came out very close, only had to file a couple holes out a 32nd of an inch or so to get it to fit snugly against the tail light panel and secured it with the original speed nuts.
Brought down the rear bumper and got it cleaned up. There was some surface rust on the back side, so I sanded that down, gave it a coat of rust reformer and then a coat of stainless steel colored appliance paint. That made it look pretty good, even though no one but me will see it. I searched for the license plate bracket for at least an hour, knew I had seen it somewhere recently, but couldn't find it. Then that evening it came to me, it was on the desk, with a bunch of paperwork. Went down to the shop, and there it was, almost in plain sight. Bolted it and the mounting brackets and installed a couple of 3/8" studs to get it located until I could get a couple of bolts in to hold it in place. It's too close the the fender on the right side, but I think it's because the lower corner is bent in a little. I'm thinking about how to go about pulling that corner out to get more clearance.
Even though they worked initially, I think, the left turn dash indicator isn't working, nor are the rear turn signals when the four way flashers are on. The turn signals in the rear work, but not with the four ways. Not sure why, so I ordered a new turn signal switch assembly, and when it came today, I plugged it into the harness and now the rear lights work with the four ways on. So it looks like the steering column comes apart, again. At least while it's out, I can replace the defective turn signal lever that I jury rigged to work a couple of weeks ago. The turn indicator bulb is a real bear to get to from behind the instrument cluster, but I got it out, checked it, and it was bad. Replaced the bulb and spent an hour with my head under the dash trying to get it back in, finally did, and it still doesn't work. WTF? Looks like the instrument cluster is going to have to come out , again, too. BAH.
I talked to a local guy that does vinyl graphics about putting the racing stripes on, instead of painting them on. That would at least make the easy to remove if a future owner wants to. He can do it, he just needs the measurements so he can order the flat black vinyl and cut them out.
Once the rear bumper is on, I'm going to see about replacing the current tailpipes with the ones I have that exit out the back under the bumper. The current ones exit behind the rear tires and make a lot of noise that comes up through the trunk and floor. Or, I might cut the current ones and make an extension that comes out the back. Gonna have to study that situation.

Time to watch the news.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Coming along nicely, in spite of the gremlins. What do you have to do with this car in your state to get it legally back on the road, after it has sat for so long ?

 

[BravoXray]

Actually, I've kept the car registered and insured all these years as I didn't know just when I'd get it back on the road and I didn' want to lose my vanity plate, so as long as the plate is on it, I'm good to go. I have a 1970 plate a friend gave me, and I can take it and my "Seventy" plate into the BMV and they will issue a new registration that will allow me to run the 1970 plate as long as the other plate is in the car.
Got some things accomplished today. First I was able to get a test light probe up to the trace on the printed circuit where the turn signal indicator plugs in, and it showed there was power there. So, I pulled the turn signal indicator bulb out and sure enough it was bad. I have to admit that while trying to get it reinstalled in the dash, I dropped it and it rolled off my chest, out the door and onto the floor, so that probably broke the filament. Stuck another new bulb into the holder and after more dash rash and blood loss, finally got it reinstalled, and it works.
Then I pulled the steering wheel and removed the turn signal switch assembly and the turn signal lever/cruise control harness. I had shortened the harness down to two feet from the original five feet so I didn't have to deal with a wad of extra cable hanging under the dash, and I used a piece of SS safety wire to feed it down the steering column. I installed the connector shell on the cable end and plugged it into the cruise control harness. The turn signal switch wires are run through a plastic condiut that runs down the steering column, and I switched that to the new switch, and after a lot of pushing, pulling and wiggling finally got it all the way through and connected to the car's harness. After that, everything went back together pretty well, and a test showed the rear lights flash when the four ways are on. Mission accomplished.
Tomorrow, I my try to test the cruise control. With the car up in the air, the wheels off and the rear rotors bolted to the axle flanges, I can put it in 5th gear and bring the RPM up so the speedo shows 40 MPH or so and engage it. If the indicator light comes on and it holds the speed constant, it would pass the test. We'll see if it does.

Onward and upward!

 

[MossRoad]

I like the lighting in that photo.

 

[TripleS]

When you finish this nova you'll be able to assemble gm tilt columns with your eyes closed! Don't give up your almost at the finish line. Nice job!!