My new 1968 Nova L79 project.

[jasonL78]

Yesterday I was like a kid on Christmas morning. My NOS 68-69 grill showed up. The box shows its age but the only thing that matters is what’s inside! All the trim on the front of the L79 will all be NOS. This was the last piece I needed. I didn’t think that would be possible 40+ years later.

[Salvatore]

Nice!!

[Plowman]

x2 Nice!

[kwhizz]

Great..................

[SS427]

Nice find!

[Nova Jed]

Jealous!

[302moz]

What are you going to do for the rivets?

[jasonL78]

Found a Nos set on ebay. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/shocked.gif[/img] They were the exact same measurements as the originals I took out. The originals are aluminum. You can find the steel ones but the aluminum ones seem to be harder to find. My guess is they installed these with some sort of air clamping tool to give that flat top and rolled over rivet on the bottom side. Just a guess on my end. What I ended up doing is using my vise and another set of hands. I just crushed the rivet in the vise. It is almost impossible to get a punch in from the back side with the angle of the grill. The vise worked great. It gave it that flat top and almost perfect rolled flat rivet look on the backside. I will post some pictures after I paint the top of the grill black. A 68-69 nova detail....

Jason

[300deluxeL79]

hey jason, whose valve covers did you use and your take on them. or did you rechrome the originals? thanks.

[jasonL78]

I re-chromed an original set of valve covers that came with the car. A previous owner had bought them. Actually I had a lot of parts re-chromed. The valve covers, air cleaner lid, the rear nova emblems, my door handles (outside and inside) the floor shift trim ring and fender bezels. I still have to have my original bumpers and bumper guards re-chromed. Re-chroming is expensive but with what I have been finding out about aftermarket fit and finish you are so better off in the end. Not all parts you can restore and have to resort to aftermarket. It all depends on what results you want in the end I guess.

A quick story on my green 68 L78 nova, I used the aftermarket fenders for the restoration. (That’s all that was available to me at the time) I thought less work. Ya that was a mistake! I returned the passenger side fender 3 times until I got a door gap I could live with. So about 6 years later a guy stops by to buy some nova parts. I show him the 68 and he looks down the side of the car and says you have aftermarket fenders. I say how the hell can you tell. He said been there and done that. He was doing a 69 and had it at the body shop, the car was all painted. When they went to put the side trim on, they noticed the front marker light opening on the fenders was like a half inch higher. it fell in line with the side trim. Oh did he sound like he was ticked off. He said the way to tell is look down the side of the car, on a nova the side trim goes under the door handle and above the key lock. I never noticed that before because the 68 didn't have side trim.. So since then I always try to inspect all aftermarket parts before I purchase them. Just a heads up on aftermarket 68-72 nova fenders. Maybe they have changed them since I purchased mine 6 or 7 years ago?
Sorry I got off the original topic. I have been screwed so many times on aftermarket parts. Don’t get me wrong some are good but the bad outweigh the good.