My new 1968 Nova L79 project.

[x Baldwin Motion]

I would love to redo the Nova.

[jasonL78]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Nova Jed</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Looks great! How many hours do you have into both sides? </div></div>

Jed I used to keep track but that got old real quick. It is real hard sometimes doing this type of work by yourself. Hours pass and I look back and say that is all I got done! I am going to say I have to have at least 100 + hours in both quarters and outer wheel wells. That doesn't include the trunk pan install. Just to weld one side back onto the car I bet it took me 6 hours or so.

Have you been recording your hours on your 69 nova?

Thank you everyone for the kind words. I feed of all the replys, it makes you feel good about taking on a project like this. I must admit sometimes I ask myself why??? LOL! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

This type of work is truely a labor of love!

Jason

[Nova Jed]

Jason, my dads cousin has the &quot;crash&quot; book from the 70's. It gives you 14 hours per side to cut and replace each quarter. 1.5 hrs per outer wheelhouse and 2 per inner wheelhouse. None of those figures include finishing, paint ect. Let's just say that those numbers are dead on. I'm sure the refinish is a lot quicker in the 70's then today. Someone correct me on that if I'm wrong. But I had both quarters welded on in a FULL weekend. Finishing is another story. It's tough to tackle at first, but just keep picturing what you want it to look like when it's done and take your time.

[jasonL78]

Jed that is crazy 17 hours to replace both quarter and both outer wheel wells. If I wasn't concerned about all the welds being finished I would say maybe. I guess back then you didn't have all the rust issues we have to deal with. You know by some of the projects I have seen you post pictures of, once you remove the quarter you never know what you will find. I had to rebuild both inner C pillars and repair the lower roof lip also.

Jason

[jasonL78]

I spent the day taking the dash apart it will be fun putting all the Ac parts back together. Thank god for digital cameras. One thing I noticed was the tape to hold the gasket on the steering column seal bracket. I also found the part number on the rear wiring harness. The date code on back of the speedometer housing looks like C-18-68. I wouldn’t think the shifter hole would look this bad but I guess this is how they did it back then? The one thing I found interesting is the heater box wire for a non Ac car was behind the motor all rolled up. On an Ac car this wire isn’t used. Another wiring harness comes through the fire wall and one of the wires goes to the heater fan motor.

[Nova Jed]

Somewhere on the site someone had talked about the shifter hole. GM just torched them out. Yea the hours are crazy, but the rust is why I usually replace it all. I figured out that time is money and I rather pay the extra cash instead of making patches. Somehow I've lucked out on some of the hulks that I bring home. I haven't had to replace everything. Ha ha. Jason, this is where the real fun begins.

[kwhizz]

Here's a picture of my original 66 Nova......Shifter opening cut out with a torch..............



Ken

[MIKE STONE]

I had that (mystery) wire folded over inside the gutter with a taped end, no plug.

[RPOLS3]

Here is a thread where we discussed the orange mystery wire as well.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...646&amp;page=1

Jake

[jasonL78]

I also found the three wires for the resistor on the non ac heater box cut. I think the colors were yellow,blue, and orange. I was a little worried seeing the harness cut but it makes sense now. Thanks for the link.

jason