Shannon's 1963 Nova SS Convertible Modifications

Mods/Upgrades Page
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05/18/03

This page details the never ending process of building my car and throwing money into it.. In fact, my wife no longer refers to it as a nova, she now calls it the "great money pit". She doesn't understand the drive to get her going.. maybe the first saturday night on the town will do it..

I recently got orders to get my butt to washington state by Sept 29th so I'm a rushing now to get the car drivable, this is what they really mean by fast and furious!!

Sumping the Tank for EFI 18 May 03

Ebay specials again.. New tank 100 bones, Competition Engineering sump 35.. Gettin the sump fitted to the tank was a royal pain in the nads but must be done for a proper weld. The directions called for 2 1/2 holes but I opted for 2 1/8 to help control slosh a little more.. Although its not at the rear of the tank i think i have in an optimal position. Just gotta sort out which inline pump I'm going to use, it either a GM EP185 or the MSD 2225.. Man let me tell you, I got the stock tank off and was downright amazed at the amount of CRAP in there.. I was going to use the stocker sending unit for my return line and may yet but that sucker better clean up good.. man it was nasty in there..

Tilt Column with New Grant 12 May 03

Got the new Grant 742 in today.. got it on the column with the billet adapter.. pics dont do it justice.. really perty.. Have a billet column kit for the blinkers, hazard and tilt arm coming in.. I'm going to use the stocker stuff for now just to get the car going.. at some point it will all come out, and the new chrome locking cylinder will go in after a bright red paint job and a red dye job on the wheel itself.. never can be too much red..

Finally getting the rear end together 11 May 03

Finally got the Richmond 3.70 gears setup in the pumpkin and put on the TSM kit for fit, I'm using cady calipers with the ebrake provisions and moving the stock ebrake handle from under the dash into a console betweent the buckets.. Will get some paint on that rear end hopefully this week.. I'm Sorting out the Caltracs issue right now..

Test fitting headers and setting up steering column

Well.. it IS a tight fit in there even with the heidts.. sure looks tiny though dont it? Got them in to check for header clearance and get the steering setup done.. Got the headers from S&S Headers and REALLY love the clearance Picked up some more go fast stuff.. got a perty Holley 52mm throttle body, LS1 in tank sending unit, MSD 6Al box and harness, and some new injectors.. althought the vette intake matches the cars colors.. Im seriously thinking about using the camaro intake with the fuel rails off the vette one.. I want a polished intake instead of painted.. or at the least powdercoated..

Got a Vette Intake and Some Headers...

Well I want to clone the LT-1 outta vette so I gotta get the right intake right? I want to run the fuel lines down the pass side and the stocker fuel rails for the camaro intake would end up coming through the beauty covers if I kept the original intake.. gotta locate some of them yet.. the hooker coated headers look like they are gonna work.. I'd prefer long tubes but to be honest it dont matter to me much, as long as they fit, and their coated I'm good to go.. Waiting on a gasket set or two and a cam and then its all going back together.. I want it in and running THEN I'm yanking it for a complete rebuild with a .30 over.. stay tuned..

New (to me) 1993 Camaro drivetrain 1-23-03

Well I certainly have figured out the easiest way to get an LT1/700R4 combo out of a '93 camaro.. little hot wrench action and whack it off.. hard to believe it will actually look perty one day but it surely will! Current plans are a comp cams 305 (has decent profile), 383 rotating assembly, with larger injectors and a puter tweak job.. I'm considering buying the software/hardware to burn chips... I have been busy as hell lately.. and will be starting a part time job in a few days to support my car habit.. I'm getting 'the look' too often these days so i figure i better supplement the income a little bit.. I orderd and got in my disc brake brackets/rotors from TSM for the ford 9" will post some pics in between selling camaro parts.. with any luck i should be able to sell enough f-body parts to fund the 383 rotating assemble and a fuel injection gas tank.. then I'll get into the trans with a heavy duty rebuild and should be rolling..

Ford 9" outta a '57 Ranchero

With a little help from some folks on ebay.. I have a 28 spline trac loc and some disc brakes calipers/brackets coming.. I'm probably going to kick myself in the ass for not getting a high dollar kit but I cant really afford to throw 600 bucks out the window.. When all this stuff gets in.. its time for assembly.. now I need a clutch pac and some new bearings/rotors.. Well, I located this puppy so instead of messing around with the stocker rear I'm adding a trac loc unit, keeping the 28 splines axles and adding disc brakes.. sheesh.. just when I had enough money to put a dent in a small block.. never fails but I did want a ford 9" anyways...

Inner panels Install 11-24-02

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate folks that do this stuff for a living! These inner panels require ALOT of patience and is time consuming! Take a look at the first pic, its hard to see but the scibe marks are there for a reference point to start from.. I was advised to start 1/4 inch behind them which ordinarily would be good advise but these panels were way off.. I was okay with 1/4" at the top but at the bottom I'm almost 1/2" off the scribe. Lesson learned.. Dont trust the measurements.. ALWAYS start with your own. I'm still messing with them trying to get them 100%.. Hopefully will be done by turkey day. The gap will be fixed.. I think the easiest way will be to tack some material with the correct edge on the outside of the panel.. Pull it out and cut a peice to match on the front and weld some more.. I want that line roughly 1/16 of an inch all the way down the front of the firewall.

More radiator support smoothing

Here is another area that takes time! I got tired of dicking with the Inner fender panel's so I opted to smooth out the top of the radiator support some.. The only holes in this whole support now will be the two on the top for the hood mount snubber. I left the nuts under the wholes I covered up as I suspect they will be useful when it comes to attaching a wire loom holder upside down in there to secure all my headlight wiring.. outta site, outta mind. I won't know for sure where I'm puttin the 4" ram air ducts until the front end is complete and I've got my radiator installed again... My plan with the area just under the ram air duct on the drivers side is where any relays I will need and/or my voltage regulator is gonna go down there also.. that way they will be concealed by the ram air ducting and will be easy to get to if I need to swap em out.. I suspect the MSD box is gonna end up on the firewall, I expect to get to that next weekend as well.. I'm Trying to keep everything I can off of them inner panels. I may run a piece of steel underneath the vertical support bars to mount the msd and run all the wiring on the outside of inner panel in some conduit.. that is part two to this deal.. HIDE everything..

Electic Fan Mounting 11-4-02

Yeehaw.. get to put in the Black magik fan now! I have a new respect for those who manipulate metal. What a pain it is to get that stuff just right! It took me a very long time to get the passenger side bracket done.. Checked everything twice, cut, weld and grind smooth, then welded in stainless bolts and whacked the head off of them. Got pissed on the drivers side because of that hump that the horn rests in.. Gotta fix for that.. cut the damn thing out.. hehehe.. tackin in back slowly to keep it from warping. I had plans to go back in and fill all the unused bolt holes anyways.. just got expedited thats all! Plus I was having issues trying to figure out where to mount the 3" or 4" ram air collars.. wont be a problem now!

Inner Fender Panels & Frame Stiffeners 10-15-02

I love UPS.. well actually I think they SUCK! But they brought me my inner fender panels and frame stiffeners today... Once I get done smoothing the radiator its time to get the front fenders right and get them inners installed.. Then on the underside of the car.. Have some small patches to do.. nothing serious.. just the Earl Shive rivet job that a previous owner did will drive me nuts just because I know it's there... All holes up front will be filled and the panel repainted.. I get to do the same thing to the firewall.. As you can guess I want the engine compartment SMOOTH...

Spacers for the front end 10-11-02

Got the fender hung and noticed there was a large gap, what a bummer! Okay.. made some more shims (I'm a cheap-ass) and installed them.. It helped some but isn't just right yet.. Another of those things I'll put off for a day or two...

Steering Column Collar 10-10-02

Nothing fancy here... Installed the collar to secure the steering column and shaft.. Placed the column in position, marked and cut the ridges, hammered them down and re-welded the slits, drilled a couple of holes. Tried to use some phillips slot screws.. what a mistake.. still have one that twisted the head off of.. gotta get it out when I get back to linkage!

Disc Brake Upgrade

Upgraded the stocker 9.5 brakes to the 11" GM ones. The calipers came with the gm races still installed. Had to push them out and install the M2 spindle ones. The kit comes with a spacer with a bezel that must be placed toward the spindle. The 2" drop spindles also had to be slightly grinded to get the rotor/caliper clearance right!

Becool Radiator Install

Initially ran three stainless bolt across the radiator support with spacers.. On second thought, a hard mount will tend to break at the mounting points. After fishing around the parts house, I came up with a solution. Wiper motor mounts. They will go in with stainless washers to dampen the vibration and will be covered by a stainless plate when completed. The lower mounts will bolt to the radiator and will ride in the channel that came off of a late model ford ranger pickup which will be in its own bracket off the radiator support.

Grill Pics

A whole new concept... re-assembly. The billet grill sure looks nice! The horns are going to be relocated to make room for a ram air type system once I can get the details ironed out. The Hid lights are bright as hell. I would like to put some fog lights into the bumper. Checked out a late model dodge pickup today.. looks like their tranny cooler will mount directly across the front of the radiator support so it's not riding on the radiator itself. I also plan on putting a small air damn to direct wind on to the lower part of the radiator that is covered by the bumper itself.

Stock Steering Column

Filled the large whole at the bottom of the stock column with some metal. Got the heidts double d's ready to go. Went down and located a sealed bearing that would work well on the stock shaft and tacked it in. You need to make sure you cut the stock shaft well into the steering box. You need as much length as possible but shouldn't exceed more than a 37 degree angles on the steering knuckles. I have an s10 column but it is a non-tilt, if I can locate a tilt one it will be going in instead.

$300 Set of New Welds - Gotta Love Ebay!

Got some 16x7 Weld XP Draglites with 4.5 backspacing. Currently have 205/55's up front and 225/55's on the rear.
The rear is going to need a little 'coaxing' to make sure they dont rub.

Heidt's Clip Install

Got the camaro sold and immediately got the front clip and started putting it together...
That was sure a breeze to do.. Just got a little help to hold it in place and to keep it
from fallin on my ass while I bolted it in.. Makes a huge difference!

Clearance Pics

These are clearance pics with 15x6 American racing rally's with 3.5 backspacing. The rears were 215/60's and the fronts were 195/60's. The brakes mod on the front pushed the rims out a tad. But it looked like there would still be plenty of room.

Ebay billet grill & HID Lights

The billet grill was nicer than I thought it would be. The HID's are bright as hell, They do get really hot
though. I had to open the rear of the housing slightly to get them in but look great!

Disc brakes installed

The discs pushed the rims out approximately 3/4" on either side. With the 15x6's
and 3.5 inches of backspacing they looked like they would be okay.

New Brakes & Inner Panels

Took everything down do to bare metal and reprimered it. Shot it all in in semi-gloss black.. turned out really nice. A few days before i was ready to roll her down the road for the first time I found a deal on a camaro I couldn't pass up. Bought the camaro for a grand and sold it three weeks later for 3 grand.. Now I have some cash for the Heidts clip!

'72 Chevelle Disc Brakes

These are the brakes off the 72 chevelle with the Global West lower ball joint conversion kit and the poly PST kit going in.