My new 1968 Nova L79 project.

[jasonL78]

Another very happy customer from Vintage musclecar. Eric did an great job on the #229 L79 carb for my car.

Thanks Jason

[Nova Jed]

Looks awsome Jason. A couple of us guys were talking about your resto at the Show in Chicago. We all said that you are doing an awsome job and can't wait to see more progress. Keep the pictures coming!

[jasonL78]

Jed
Thanks for all the great compliments. I enjoy sharing my experiences with everyone in the hobby. This is how I learned almost everything I know about these cars on great forums like this one. It’s all about making new friends and sharing our experiences with everyone.
As for the L79 I have been moving forward with the restoration. Just slowly! I have both the upper and lower control arms all painted with the new bushings and ball joints pressed in. I am working on the sub frame now. This is one of the control arms finished, I just have to install the 68 nova heavy duty suspension bolt in snubber .


One thing I did find on my steering center link was a unique finish. The center link had a silver/ blue finish that was very hard to remove in the sand blast cabinet. I tried to duplicate it the best I could. Some say the finish is part of the heat treating process?
Before


After


On the driver side of sub frame I found some grease pen markings. At first I thought it was an (EP) marking but after I cleaned the area it looks like (SP)

On the passenger side I found an (L-I) marking.


Not really sure what these mean. The SP might be special performance maybe? But the (L-I) I have no idea? Anyone?



A lot of my time lately has been spent cleaning and detailing all the small brackets, nuts, bolts, and clips. I bought a phosphate kit from Caswell INC. It has a penetrating sealant you put on the parts after you phosphate them. It seems to help the parts from flash rusting after the phosphate process. Overall it’s a very easy process and the parts look great. Anyone else use this kit from Caswell?



I heard from my engine builder that my motor might be done early next week we will see.

[jasonL78]

Steve over at brake booster did a great job rebuilding and plating my booster and backing plates


He also plated my shifter body and shifting arms. This is the original shifter all put back together with the original re-chromed handle.


The machine shop did some mild port work to the heads for that little extra power out of the L79. Just in case someday we end up at the ¼ mile.




The new heartbeat!

[jasonL78]

Any tips for installing the springs in the perches?

[olredalert]

----Internal spring compressor. If you can figure how to do it without scratching something, somewhere count yourself as very lucky and go buy a lottery ticket.....Bill S

[Nova Jed]

Jason, last year I put my springs in with the internal spring compressor and used a lot of blue painters tape on the subframe, springs, and compressor arms. Worked out pretty well. I just had to peel the compressed tape off the shock mount hole in the top of the subframe after the upper and lower control arms were bolted to the spindle. Cheap insurance! Hope this helps?

[jasonL78]

I got the springs installed over the weekend. I took Greg Roberts advice from Nova Research and used the spring compressor through the shock hole. What I did was put this internal spring compressor bolt down through the shock hole. Then I put the spring into the pocket inserted the hooks and tightened the spring into the spring pocket. It worked out great. Just a little touch up nothing major. Thanks again Greg.

Updated picture of the subframe.

[Mayhem]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Nova Jed</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Jason, last year I put my springs in with the internal spring compressor and used a lot of blue painters tape on the subframe, springs, and compressor arms. Worked out pretty well. I just had to peel the compressed tape off the shock mount hole in the top of the subframe after the upper and lower control arms were bolted to the spindle. Cheap insurance! Hope this helps? </div></div>

Maybe a couple layers of blue tape, followed by several layers of duct tape, and covered with more blue tape.
This gives it extra padding and thickness without further tape stick-um.
Just a thought.

[68COPO]

Real Nice Jason. Who makes that tool?
Rick