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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Do you guys think that is the same car ? Color isn't mentioned in the article. In my mind it has always been silver/grey because I was trying to buy a silver 71 at the time... Funny. Love that Nova...
Looking at that picture cost me some time and money. Back then mini tubbing was not very common yet. It was hilarious after I finished because everywhere I went someone would be rolling under my car to check out how I did it. No Detroit Speed back then. My buddies and I would just giggle. Getting it low with (near) stock rails and leafs was a challenge. I sectioned pieces of the trunk floor to accommodate/hide the rear hangers and shackles so I could keep it all tucked and look semi stock from the trunk. Fuel cell for a while then later sectioned both sides of a stock tank and tucked it back under there. This car is a LOT of fun on the street. 11.60's at the track, with 11:1 solid cammed 358, 5speed (Liberty Faceplated) TKO 600, 9 inch 4:33's Attachment 214163 Back to the Green Bastard. |
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Back to regular programming;
Another shot of the trunk/tub cleanup and epoxy prime Attachment 214245 The panel is trimmed and fitted... same as RH side, MANY trial fits and trims. Tape note to add faux spot weld dimples along drip rail edge then ready to go Attachment 214246 Attachment 214247 Door jamb welding. Striker pulled inside reinforcement plate tight before welding. Plus long reach welding vice grips wherever possible and a screw here or there if required. Attachment 214248 Trunk corner reinforcement Attachment 214249 Attachment 214250 Trunk latch box re-installed to new NOS tail panel Attachment 214251 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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The magic of the internet... let's strip the trunk
Attachment 214252 Attachment 214253 Done Attachment 214254 And re-installed Attachment 214255 Attachment 214256 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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How does this even happen ?? without damage to the outer skin ??
Ah yes the Green Bastard. Attachment 214257 After the better part of 90 minutes and getting creative I managed to get it reasonably straight... sorry for the poor pics the angle makes it still look wonky but it really is much better... trust me :) Attachment 214258 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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I did not have any photos of roughing out the RH side. not sure if I lost them or just didn't take any. At any rate.. here we go on the left side. Game plan is to rough out the entire panel in 80 grit with the longest board that will fit the particular areas. The 18" board on the roof is probably used most often.
For the top side of the quarters and the doors I have a 30" board. First one or two rounds with Bondo, then a full spread of polyester glaze after. I sometimes use an air board for the very first rough cut but after that I do everything by hand with Blocks... start to finish. Never touching it with orbitals. Attachment 214259 For the roof seams I first welded the plug welds and inner structure. Then welded a solid bead at the outer joint, slowly building up to a fairly wide bead. 3/8" to 1/2" wide (the raw fit is pretty wide and deep ). For these joints and the seam weld at tail panel above the taillight I used AllMetal filler for the base work Attachment 214260 Spreading filler across the entire area then block sanding the majority off to get it straight. Attachment 214261 Attachment 214262 Attachment 214263 I had also installed all the trim nail heads into the rear window jambs and spot welded them from the back sides before installing the 1/4's. Attachment 214264 Not pretty at this point... many rounds and hours to get it straight. Attachment 214265 Attachment 214266 Attachment 214267 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Sealing all the roughed out bodywork with DP90 (Epoxy Primer). Some second round work on the lower rear.
Attachment 214268 Sill working the tail panel a little. Attachment 214269 Attachment 214270 Attachment 214271 This picture is actually from Fall of 2019 when I brought the car back home but this shows how it looked when it went to storage for the summer of 2019 (but it still had the front clip on it then). Attachment 214272 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Fall 2019 Car returns home from storage. With the rear quarters complete the body can now go up on the rotisserie. Full teardown begins (with many detail photos to capture whatever original details remain for reference later).
Here are the rough disassembly steps. So... recall I only have one bay to work in thus the piling of of removed parts under the car for some time. As returned in Fall 2019 still a roller (actually still driveable). Attachment 214305 Attachment 214306 Attachment 214307 Attachment 214308 Attachment 214309 Attachment 214310 Attachment 214311 Attachment 214312 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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SIDEBAR;
MCACN 2019 We brought my friend Ken Kiernicki's 69 L78 Chevelle Convertible. Attachment 214321 Man I got so sick starting Saturday Night, I was off my feet for two weeks and not fully recovered for a month! Covid this year was a breeze compared to that one. |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Rotisserie Time !!
Was lucky to be able to borrow this awesome rotisserie from a friend. It had however only been used for A bodies... needed to make adapters for the X body. Nothing takes five minutes !! Attachment 214332 Attachment 214333 Attachment 214334 Attachment 214335 Attachment 214336 Attachment 214337 Attachment 214338 Attachment 214339 Attachment 214340 Attachment 214341 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Subframe out... After HOURS of scraping grease and a mid-winter quickie car wash.
Attachment 214532 Forward body mounts are a little roughed up. (patch outline traced in) Attachment 214533 A friend with a small CNC plasma machine cut some "patch" washers. Attachment 214534 Cut out the rusted areas and fit the washers. Attachment 214540 Attachment 214535 Attachment 214536 Attachment 214537 Patches were Tigged in, finished both sides. RH Attachment 214538 LH Attachment 214539 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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It would appear something was hacked into the bumper mounts (both sides) with a nut welded to the frame. Perhaps some sort of home built tow bar ?
Attachment 214541 Attachment 214542 The lower slot was hacked open to clear behind the welded nut. Another Green Bastard repair issue. Attachment 214543 Clean up the damage. Attachment 214544 Fab up a patch coupon. Attachment 214545 Attachment 214546 Back with copper and weld in. I was using the Tig again just because I wanted the practice. Attachment 214547 Finished up Attachment 214549 |
I smiled at the comment, "because I wanted the practice".
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If I am remembering right, We met up at Pavilions before MCACN in 2019, correct? You are friends with Bill Waters, too? |
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Dereck was along to MCACN with my convertible in 2018 and Ken's convertible in 2019. He loves driving !! He owns the 67 Nova SS from the barn finds pics in my earlier posts. |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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On to the Right hand side. Hard to see in the picture but this side had a quasi rectangular piece with the round hole welded over the frame.
Attachment 214586 After cutting the rectangular piece loose you can see the same hogged out hole underneath (a little larger on this side) Attachment 214587 Clean up the damage Attachment 214588 fab up a patch, back with copper and weld Attachment 214589 Attachment 214590 I didn't get a picture of just the patch weld. in this picture the patch was already welded and ground and I had now welded to fill the area gouged out from removing the old piece, and filling a couple spots on the patch weld. Attachment 214591 Attachment 214592 Attachment 214593 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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The underside of the crossmember has met the fate of the floor jack like so many before it.
Attachment 214604 No Easy fix except cutting it loose to hammer flat. Attachment 214605 Attachment 214607 Attachment 214608 Attachment 214606 Attachment 214609 Ground and cleaned up. Chalk marks are for positioning the spot weld dimples. The dimples on this piece were a small diameter very defined shallow hole easily duplicated with a drill Attachment 214610 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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RH trunk drop. Recall I had patched the bottoms prior to installing the quarter. Shown here prior to finish welding. This side was all welded solid prior to installing the quarter,
Attachment 214672 From the underside. Attachment 214673 You can see where the patch overlaps the ribs in the panel. This needs to be cut out and ground to open up the ribs. Attachment 214674 Attachment 214675 Attachment 214676 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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With the car up on the rotisserie it is easier to access for welding. You can see where I have ground down the welds and cut out the overlap of two ribs.
Attachment 214677 Ready to plug weld to the quarter bottom Attachment 214678 Attachment 214679 Attachment 214680 Attachment 214681 And all ground/cleaned up. I was very happy with how this turned out. Looks exactly as the original. Attachment 214682 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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LH side. The patch was only on the forward section this side.
Sorry no welded pictures. :dunno: Attachment 214683 Attachment 214684 Attachment 214685 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Well, back to travelling for work (first time since March 2020) so it's been a super busy couple weeks. This is looking into my back yard before I left Feb 27th. We are 3rd for snow accumulation since they started keeping records in the 1870's.
Attachment 215295 So it was a nice break to arrive in Nebraska to this ! Highs of 70 - 80 for 4 days. Unfortunately they desperately need moisture. Attachment 215296 Back to the program... The rear underbody at the back bumper was a little torn up. I suspect from chain hooks from towing or trailering. I have before pictures from the left side . Attachment 215291 Attachment 215292 And... After pictures from the Right side. Both were roughly the same condition to start. Right side needed a little segment of a washer welded in to replace a torn out piece. Attachment 215293 Attachment 215294 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Having some previous experience with Novas, I know where to probe for potential rust problems. The forward fuel tank brackets are susceptible to road spray and it is common for the trunk floor to get soft spots above the tank brace where moisture and dirt accumulates between the sandwiched layers. The metal rusts and swells so to fix it properly it needs to be cut out from both sides. The underbraces are heavier so easiest to start here.
Attachment 215299 Attachment 215300 Attachment 215301 Attachment 215302 Attachment 215303 Sorry, only one poor picture of the finished patches. Lots of work to fix a few tiny perforations. The patches are the extreme left side of this photo. Attachment 215304 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Same repair from the trunk side.
Pinholes picked open Attachment 215379 I used a punch from the bottom side in the corners of the cut out hole to mark where I needed to cut the top side out. Left Side Attachment 215380 Right side Attachment 215381 Left side cut out (underside is repaired) Attachment 215382 Right side cut out (underside is repaired) Attachment 215383 Attachment 215384 Left Side finished Attachment 215385 Right side finished Attachment 215386 Attachment 215387 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Rear window channel. Right side of rear window channel was a little rough... a little too far gone to use the old JB Weld trick.
I made patches from scrap with pre-bent edge for two reasons. First, the break along the edge better resists warping. Second, in some places the pits were all the way around the edge. I didn't have a piece the perfect width so I did this in two halves. Top side cut open Attachment 215388 Here you can see how rough the lower edge was. This will be cut out later. Attachment 215389 Attachment 215390 Top side welded in. Bottom edge has now been cut out. Attachment 215391 Attachment 215392 Attachment 215393 Fitting the lower side patch. Here you can see the shape I used. Had to use two pieces on the bottom (depleted my scrap pile) Attachment 215394 First bottom piece welded in Attachment 215395 Little bit left to go... put the camera away too early... sorry. Attachment 215396 Also made a couple small patches to the face of the channel further to the left, no pics |
Nice work in the trunk and the jamb areas. Saw the pics you posted of the snow you guys have been getting this year. That is just crazy. Hopefully, it's a slow melt for the region this spring.
Keep up the great work on the Nova. :biggthumpup: |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Found a picture of the finished rear lower window channel. You can see a few other areas had some work and the trim brackets are reinstalled.
Attachment 215413 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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It was around this time I began cleaning the underside of the car. Primarily using a drill and wire wheels. Didn't take too many photos of this... pretty boring, tedious work.
Most of it looked like this to start Attachment 215644 Attachment 215645 And something like this after. lots of hammer and dolly work taking out little dents here and there at the same time. Attachment 215646 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Finishing the underside of the drivers floor pan, shifter hole and toe board repair.
Attachment 215647 Attachment 215648 Attachment 215649 Attachment 215650 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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Well I suppose all those clutch dumps over the years cause a little stress here and there.
The brace from the firewall to the lower middle dash was fatigued and torn away. There was actually a small piece missing which I fabbed a replacement piece and welded in. Top of this brace is broken loose and had been machine wired in place. Attachment 215669 A little easier to see from this side Attachment 215670 Attachment 215671 Attachment 215673 I did have to grind it a little afterwards to clear the defrost duct. |
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I love L78 Nova's I like this one just browsed whole tread and when I saw you fixing the jacking point I remembered 11-12 years ago I bought a 69 nova 4 door subframe at pick N pull (actually got alot of stuff off that) because it was a 6 cyl it had never been jacked up there - it was beautiful and I had no need for it but it needed saved! little Nova trivia is 6 cyl cars did not have sway bars the mount holes were pierced but not threaded.
I recently bought my blue golf ball - a 69 Elcamino that needs a roof and right quarter from a little Texas hail and reading through this gives me some confidence of tackling it myself as I've never done much bodywork but why not try? thanks for sharing your car |
sorry double posted
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That is some Nasty Hail !! Texas sized for sure.
Time and patience is key, and I have some friends in the industry to help with answers when I'm stumped. Good luck with the Camino. Gary |
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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As the wire wheel stripping continued a few not-surprising pinholes were found along the lower Windshield flange. This is after picking at it pretty aggressively to find any soft spots.
Attachment 215980 Attachment 215981 Repaired this in two sections using patch pieces with a 90 degree break along the upper edge (trimmed to about 3.32" deep) to help minimize distortion (from welding) along the leading edge of the dash. Attachment 215982 Attachment 215983 If you look closely at the top edge you can see the radius where the patch panel was bent inward. Attachment 215988 Fitting the second patch Attachment 215984 Attachment 215985 And the finished repair Attachment 215986 Attachment 215987 |
Nice work.
And as GM called the foam that's under that top dash...it was referred to as planned obsolescence. Hard to find a 50 year old car now days that doesn't have this issue. |
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PS: I am loving the metal work in this build thread. One question, why not dip or blast the shell before doing all this amazing work? Wouldn’t it make it a hundred time easier? Certainly not criticizing, you are kicking ass!! Ryan W31 |
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Agree it would have been awesome to start with chemical dip but closest shop would be about 400 miles away and no local shops I would trust blasting the panels. Blasting the underbody is coming up shortly. Both quarters, front fenders and rear panel were NOS so easy to strip sand those. I guess just working on it in winters a little at a time over a couple years.. the stripping was not as bad. Yes the Novas also had the death foam in the rear wheel lips. They rusted out in only a few years when winter driven up here. |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
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While on the subject of stripping... A few photos of continued cleanup of the window channels.
Attachment 216083 Attachment 216084 Attachment 216085 Attachment 216086 Attachment 216087 Also continued cleanup of the underbody Attachment 216088 |
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