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Putting it back together (72 Nova)

21K views 87 replies 7 participants last post by  69 widetrack 
#1 ·
Finely getting it put back together to see how things line up before it goes to the paint shop.This car did not line up at all when I purchased it, big gap here, big gap there. It also had been wreaked on the driver side.

Got the subframe powered coated and aligned with car.These are the steps I took.
1.Used dow pins to get it close.
2.got the wheel base 110.5 that's as close to 111 as I could get it.
3.got the side to sides measured out
4.most important was the diagonals I pulled from 4 spots all within 1/16 to 1/8.
There was a lot more to this but this gives you and idea.



Fenders,radiator support,hood all bolted on so far so good. (THEN)

If I align these hoses it throws everything out of alignment door gaps,fender gaps and hood alignment.Has anybody had this problem.

Thanks
 
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#56 ·
At this point, using another spacer won't hurt, give it a try. Situations like this can arise when dealing with a Uni-body car that's been involved in previous collision damage. One space, if it saves you the head ache of more alignment problems and the sheet metal is acceptable to you...go for it.

After you put the spacer in, we can start looking at the tracking issue, time to measure wheel base. Could you report back with right and left wheel base measurements and we can compare...Don't worry about camber or castor just yet, lets get the measurements and we can start making suggestions to help you out in this department. After the wheel base issue is resolved, one more problem...the alignment of the rear bumper.

Well my friend, I am so happy that your coming close to being happy...let's keep working on these issues and get a full grin on your face.

Glad to hear good results and I appreciate your patience.

Ray
 
#59 ·
Widetrack sorry for not mentioning but wheel base is sat at 110.5" both sides and I was even able to pull a diagonal from under the car.I don't under stand how but it measured out the same.
As for painting and body work I had a couple guys come by and give me prices from 8 grand to 12 grand ,about passed out.So in my mind bondo slinging couldn't be that hard so I gave body work a try and it's not for me.I had been talking to a friend who has been doing paint and body work on classic's for 30 years and he was giving me pointers and showing me what to do but after working on just the trunk for about a month I decided body work was not for me.I had a talk with with him and ask him how much he would charge me to do the body and paint work.He told me a job like that is around 10 to 12 grand BUT FOR YOU $4000.00 plus material. Big smile and relief.
 
#60 ·
Glad to hear about your wheel base being equal on both sides, your tracking issue now would appear to be a "non issue"...Your right, it's great when a good plan comes together.

As far as body work and paint goes, it looks like you have that under control...It's amazing how many people faint when they hear that the cost would be up to 12K...but when you factor in the cost of paint material (about $1,000 minimum for quality products), all the man hours it takes to make a vehicle straight...then to have the ability to put a paint job on that lies down flat and has a lot of shine...and then cutting and polishing takes between 30 and 40 hours...it adds up rear fast. I did a frame off build not long ago and my bill was close to 25K...the customer was complaining the whole way through the build, but, I did what he told me he wanted.....I tried to keep him informed on a regular basis as what was going on and as always I kept a daily log a to what happened on his vehicle...towards the end of the build he started to understand...and when the build was finished, he was extremely happy.

$4K is a very reasonable price...you should wear a grin from ear to ear...what color is it going to be?

It seems that all that's left is the rear bumper, have you checked the alignment of that yet?

Ray
 
#61 ·
Ok guys I need your help again.Here's some pics of the rear of the car with the bumper installed I need to know how far down does the bumper set.We have already determined the car has be hit in the rear and I had to space the drivers side out around a 1/4 in.to make the gap right between the car and bumper.Is the contour of the top of the rear bumper right ,if so it looks like I need to slot the holes on the car so the bumper will drop down.I need a pic of the rear of a 3rd gen Nova.I also have a small issue with both door matching the same contour of the rear edge of the front fenders.Sorry no pics of this I'll post some later.






Thanks for the help.
 
#62 ·
To me it looks better than when you bought the car, I'll try and get a hold of Andy "Novafreek6872" I'm sure he has some pics of the rear bumper on his Nova. As far as the contour, let's see what a 3rd gen Nova rear bumper looks like.

Glad to see you've got it coming along nicely.

Ray
 
#66 ·
68-72's

I have been following your posts on putting your '72 back together. I understand just what you have been going thru. Seems like you've been getting good advice from what I've seen on here. I've always liked these cars & have built 6 or so over the last 35 years (3 for myself). My current one is a '68 SS, been driving it for over 3 years now, sunny day daily driver. I'll keep following you're posts, and see how it's going. I'll help if I think I can, mostly just stay "after it" it'll come. Have a good one.:thumbup:
 

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#67 ·
it looks fine to me. That gaping to your tail lights looks about right and even. They also have that big flat bracket that's bolted inside your bumper. You can usually see something out of ordinary on your rear body panel or that bracket if it's out of the norm.
 
#68 ·
Ok got the old lights set into place did a few modifications and reinstall the bumper looks like it fits pretty good. Are you suppose to be able to remove the tail light bezel without loosing the bumper because I can't, I have to loosing the bumper then I can remove the complete tail light.




Has anybody notice how dull the bumper is that because it's been sand blasted and I have beat out most of the dents.My plan is to paint them the same color as the car or maybe just black. Has anybody got any advise on painting chrome bumpers that have been blasted.


Here's some pics of the alignment issue with fenders and doors.


This is the pass side not as bad, its only in the middle of both doors the top and bottom look pretty good.
 
#69 ·
the last one I did had that gap to the bumper WITH the bezels in, or shall I say the last one my co-worker did while I peeked over there to see what he was doing. :) So it was roughly the same distance to the bottom of the bezel as it is to your bumper to the bottom of the taillight opening. With your bezels in it would appear that there's no gap then, right? If so, that's too high.

My first guess after re-looking at the pics would be the tail light panel? Did you just weld in one? What's different about your decklid fit if so? When my co-worker welded one in there was a slight difference between the gap on the left bezel to bumper gap but we wrote it off as it being the aftermarket bezel.
 
#71 ·
Sorry Nova 1958...I get get the pictures to come up on my computer, the bumper does look sand blasted, if you want to paint the rear bumper, run a DA over the bumper with 80 grit, if there are any dents, work the out as best you can and fill those areas (it may not be a bad idea to give the whole bumper a skim coat and block it straight). If you use a sandable epoxy primer, prime and block the the primer with a minimum of 400 grit paper and paint. If your not using a sandable epoxy, give it a coat of any rust preventative product like and etch primer, then 2K high build, again, block with 400 grit paper and paint.

If I'm right you shouldn't be required to loosen the bumper to remove the tail light assembly...As I mentioned, the pictures aren't coming up on my computer so it's hard for me to tell.

Ray
 
#76 ·
yep. It's hard to tell but it looks like your door is creased in a little bit up top and bashed in a little below it. Is it even down low? If so, run a block on it you will probably easily find that little high spot. If you had a tiny slide hammer you can pull the bashed in area below the high spot out with the door closed and get live feedback of the process. You can use wood or a big slide hammer to pull the top of the door up and out. Then with a dinging spoon you can slowly lower that high spot or crease. Then again, this is going off of what I can see. Doesn't mean this is the issue, but only from the looks of it. So before you do anything YOU have to determine if this is the fix by looking at everything else. If it's even everywhere but there then yeah you need to pull that edge out. Could also mean you have to pull the bottom of the door out and unfold the top. Just hard to make these determination with pics.
 
#78 ·
If I remember correctly you mentioned that you replaced the doors with aftermarket doors. This is not uncommon for aftermarket doors. You may need to pull the lip of the door out to line up with your fender. The pictures do help but it would be easier to give you a conclusive remedy if I could rum my hand over the entire door. You also mentioned that you had an experienced body man/painter helping you with the finished product. Has he seen the issue that your concerned about? Tech 69 is correct in saying that a slide hammer would pull the door edge out. The slide hammer he is talking about has a hook on the end of it that would fit in the door gap and allow you to straighten out the edge.

I've had similar issues with new doors from the manufacturer, so not to get excited or worried. It's common when building these cars, especially with aftermarket panels.

Ray
 
#79 ·
Yes the drivers side door skin has been replaced and I'll try the slide hammer deal.Just got finished spot welding the skin today after some minor adjustments. Are you suppose to put seam sealer around the skin when finished.


I need some info on the installation of the fiberglass hood.I'm pretty sure I now the answer but are you suppose the notch the hood where the rubber bumpers are on the car or are you suppose to leave the bumper off.



Thanks for the help.
 
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