1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard

[L78_Nova]

The next challenge was fitting up and body working the fenders. I wanted to hang these on the car to fit and align and find any surprises before paint. So that meant putting the subframe and rad cradle onto the body.

I figured out a way to reverse the front side of the rotisserie and be able to hold up the car by the subframe.

Doing the majority of this work alone did not make things easy. Believe me, I carried that subframe around like a horse collar several times.



Loaded onto the rotisserie

Slid under the car supported by the engine crane.

My buddy Dereck did give me a hand bolting the subframe in... and voila first mock up of the NOS fenders

[Bill Pritchard]

Great work & ingenuity

[RALLY]

Looking good.

[L78_Nova]

Rough hanging Left front fender...
Some bumping and filing of some dents. (and a little bit of shrinking)

Lower reinforcement behind wheel was welded in crooked on the NOS fender and there was some very rough formed metal at the opening.

Cutting it loose to reweld correctly and repair.



rough alignment and shimming done

This will clearly need some work on both the fender and door
(this was found before the prior post of the door work)

[L78_Nova]

The rough mud work


The Nervous drilling work




The "MONEY" shot


Always fit all trim before final prep work.

Amazing how many times parts have to come apart and go back together !!!
Fender on fender off, door off door on fender on door off etc etc etc

[L78_Nova]

Finishing Work


Gap is a little wide but... loooots of clear going on this job !











And a little surprise for good measure

[NorCam]

Oh man...loving those panel gaps there Ken.

I need to come over and see that green bastard before you get it finished.

Very nice work!!!

[L78_Nova]

Another extended hiatus... Sorry Guys. Work has continued... time to catch this up as these photos are from late 2020.
Found a couple lost pics of the Right fender work (getting better at extracting from the icloud).

Rough fit up. Need to work some high spots forward of the rear edge.






Working on some NOS storage bruises


Getting them stripped down to begin mud work (sorry no bodywork shots)

[L78_Nova]

Original hood on the car was rusted along the front edge. A friend had a California Nova on which he had installed a cowl hood so... with some persuasion and cash I had a solid California hood. Good news and bad... "It is ready to block and paint" Umm, well looks like someone may have been a little aggressive when originally stripped so some extra work was definitely required.
As purchased

First hit with the blocking

In the mud work. Hoods are difficult, large flimsy areas require a huge spread of filler and it takes forever to block off with minimal pressure and lots of fresh paper.

Sealed up in epoxy

Underside re-sprayed in satin black

Later shot of final prepping the hood and trunk lid

[L78_Nova]

The hours... The Hours !!!!

Stripping about 4 coats of paint from my best candidate cowl fller

Underside... yes each fin was carefully sanded, scraped, prepped and straightened.

First round of epoxy and sanding (NOS bumper filler in the back). Yes there was some small filler work required on both pieces !

Another round of priming... fins taped off to prevent excess build up (AND RESANDING)