Bruce's 1968 Chevy II Nova

After about 2 1/2 years of searching for a car I finaly found my Nova (I was looking for either a 2nd-3rd Nova or a 1st Gen Camaro). I bought the car Last Fall (fall 2000) I took a drive down to Jersy City, New Jersy to buy the car from Shawn C. The above picture is one of many pictures Shawn sent to me before making the 10 hour trip from Ottawa Ontario Canada to Jersy City New Jersy USA.

It was a nice trip other then the terrible rains I ran into. Oh ya my Father came down for the trip also. I met Shawns Family and got then sense that I was being interviewed to see what I was going to do with the car to make sure the car was going to a good Family, and ensure that I would love the car as much as Shawn. Well I must of passed the test because Shawn had the same love for the muscle cars as me. I must say, if I haven't already Shawn has a great Family and I am looking forward to taking a trip down to New Jersy again once my car is done. I not only bought a beatiful car but I made friends (you can never have to many friends). He still calls My Nova his "Baby Blue" and we keep in touch all the time. I keep him updated on my project as I go along. This web page is going to be a bit of a project update for Shawn and a record of my restoration.

What was the car like?? Well I would say awsome if it was an Canadian car however, it did have its minor problems. One being the damaged fender that I have to replace. And the rear quarters needed to be replaced also.

Picture 5: Rusty old Engine Compartment (It had a 1978 305 in it and Turbo 350 tranny)

14 = Chevy II Nova, V8 (This is incorrect the car originaly had a I6 according to the VIN)

Exterior Paint G =Ash Gold 2 = Black Vinyl Roof (There is lots of evident to say the paint was Ash Gold but no evidence of the vinyl roof (correction the holes for the vinly roof were welded up. I saw this when we cut the old quarter panels off))

The return home. Me and my father returning home from New Jersy in my 1998 GMC Sierra /w 3.42 limited slip and 230hp 305. The date on the camera was wrong so ignor the date :-)

The factory sound deadner comes out to show the perfect floor pans. We did not even have to put 1 patch in the floor.

The floor pans of the car. Not bad eh? The orangey/brown is primer and tar from the sound deadner

The fender's are off and I just pulled the engine Arn't trees great!! A chain and branch and you have an engine hoist :-)

Take a look at how clean the original doors are on the car. If you look close you can see the undercoating iside the door next to the Yellow light.

New full quarter pannel (I have both right and left) I got the panels from J&W Nova Parts. They install right were the factory onse originally did. You can also see the retched original colour of the car just under thw window (Ash Gold)

Here I am, at the junk yard getting my new 8.5" 10-bolt for the car. This rear end is getting sand blasted and painted with POR-15 then I'm dropping it off a my buddies place (He's a tranz and rear end dude) to rebuilt the rear end using new axels, spool, c-clip eliminaters, bearing seals and 4.10's

The Competition Engineering rear frame rails, Shock Mount, Frame connectors and Front Springs

POR-15 being used for the Rad support, inner fenders, firewall, underside of car and inside of the car after sandblasting.

The engine I have planned 427 BBC with Dart Pro 1 heads and Lunati Full roller Cam. I think this is a little optimistic but it should be a nice street engine 639hp.

Engine	Chevy 427
Bore	4.280"
Stroke	3.760"
Compression	10.5:1
Carb	950 Vac Secondaries
Intake	Single Plane
Exhaust	Large-Tude Headers With Mufflers
CAM	Lunati Full Roller
Heads	Dart Pro 1 310cc

Cam Only Kit	Grind Number	Duration @ .050	Lobe Lift	Lobe Sep Int C/L	Opens / Closes @ .050	Valve Lash	Gross Duration	Gross Lift	Lifters	Springs	Retainers	Locks	Kit Only	Description
50232	RRB-- 256-260	256° / 260°	.392" .367"	110° Sep 108° Int C/L	20° BTC 56° ABC-- 62° BBC 18° ATC	.028" .030"	289° 295°	.666" INT -- .624" EXH	72992	74301* 73367*	76110 75513	77104	65516 65517	50232 Broad power range. Excellent cam for 3/8-1/2 mile dirt modified with 454 or blown 454 in lake boat. Power range 3500-6500

I preped the car so it could be sand blasted. I also too out the rest of the interior of the car. The only think left inside the car now is the rear deack and headliner. All wiring harnesses,dash and gauges, steering colmun etc was removed from the car. During the week the car (firwall, inner fenders, bottom on the car, front frame, rear end, and any small rusty parts from grill and front end.) is to be sandblasted.

The car was Sand Blasted and the glas company came and removed the windshield and rear window (I did not want to risk breaking the rear window so I got the glass co to do the work. they are also going to reinstall the rear window and new windshield when it's time)

This was a busy weekend for me. I took all the seals out of the car, removed the brake lines and fuel line, removed the side windows, removed the front frome from the car and found a couple of surprises.

Suprise 1) the left body mount had rused a little and had to be patched (Mark my body man did this). the old rubber body mounts must have absorbed moisture and the result was some rust. I should not have this probl;em with the new polygraphite body mount kit from PST.

Suprise 2) The bottom of the dash had pin holes across the whole front of the car and required a patch. Nothing major just something I did not see before I bought the car.

I'm sure there will be more suprises as I go along but considering the age of the car it's in very good condition.

The rest of the weekend was used to take apart all the suspension peices so that everything could be painted with POR-15 before the new PST super Performace kit is installed this comming weekend. and hopefully the new POR-15'd front frame will go on the car with the PST body mounts.

Well I was not able to put friont end together and put back on car, since my buddy was sick this week and unable to paint the front frame and suspension. This week I'll get my cousin to bush out the old bushing and then well paint everything maybe next weekend

This was a very busy weekend. On Friday all the pieces of the car like inner fenders, firewall, bottom of the car, grill support pieces, frame of the car, Bottom of the car, center link, steering box, Master cylander, A arms, heater box etc. were all painted with POR-15 and anything that will be affected with the sun was topcoated. Oh ya I also went to my cousin shop and pushed out he old bushing before painting for the suspension pieces. Then after painting the Polgraphite bushings from PST were all pushed in. Next it was time to assemble the front frame with al the new PST components. This was finally finished at about 5:00pm sunday evening. Wow the front end is back together, on the car and everything is black. I also POR-15'd the inside of the car (floors, firewall, metal piece between the trunk and the back seat)

I hope next week to get he new quarter panels installed (Mark will do this) and I'l probably stirp the rest of the car (doors, rockets, roof, fender, trunk etc.) so we can use high build primer on the car and start blocking it out. ETA on paint job it probably end of June 2001.

I did not get much done this weekend due to problems with my truck (Transmission Problems Goes in Wed to get fixed :-( ) and Mothers Day I spent some time with Mother and Went to visit my GrandMother (Shes in her mid 90's now)

Mark and I got started on putting the Driver side quarter panel in and found that the full Quarter that I bought from J & W Nova Parts did not fit well at all. It took about 3 hour extra work forming the panel to fit the way it should. I was very disappointed after spending 299 US each plus the $200.00 Us for shipping. By the time I payed duty etc the Cost almost 1900 total along with a hood molding and hnew eybrow moldings. They will work but lots of extra work involved and Mark is a body man. This is his living and he said it fit terrible. J&W Nova Parts will be recieving a complaint from me via the phone. I was very happy when the old quarter panel came of there was the rust around the wheel well, but that was expected. The rest of the parts were perfect/ no rust

This was a busy weekend/holiday. First I dropped my truck off to get the transmission rebuilt :-( Then I wen on stripping the car. I still have to strip the inside of the doors and the inside of the rear trunk. The drivers quarter is on, welded and ready to be preped for paint and the passanger quarter is fitted. I also cleaned up the area around the front and back windows so It could be por-15'd and painted with the tie-coat primer before painting with body colour. I spent some time lining up the new front drivers fender and linning up the door to the quarter and new fender.

Not much progress this weekend. I did some more stripping. It's amazing how long it can take to stripe intra-kit small parts. I also preped the trunk lid for builder primer.

Well I had to work this weekend so I could not work on the car. I recieved 3 L my PPG 1968 Grotto Blue Base coat that the car will be painted with. Mark got most of the car in primer this week/weekend. When he is done the builder primer he will finish fitting the passanger side quarter panel and weld it on etc etc. Then builder primer will be on the whole car.

Well nothing really done this weekend. Other comitments resulted in only a few hours cleaning up parts. The whole car is in builder primer except the passanger door. I order all the small parts needed to finish off the outside of the car (weather stripping, door handles, mirors, light bezels etc) except for the front and rear bumpers (both are damaged and need to be replaced).

Not much was done . Just small stuff like cleaning parts that will go back on the car soon.

The last quarter panel is now welded on the car and will be in builder primer soon. Next it will be time to block the car out. Also all the edges of the car ar painted (doorjams, inside of doors, inside of the fenders, underside of the hood and trunk lid etc etc) I also skuffed the frame connectors so they can be painted before they go on the car.

The rest of the prep work for the paint job was done this week by Mark in the below picture. You can see the car has been blocked out and a few last spots fixed. Now the car is ready for paint

Car Painted with PPG 1968 Grotto Blue Base Coat The pics dont do the colout justice. Also lighting was bad when I took the pictures.