Restarting My '70 Nova Project

[MossRoad]

All my Nova's had bench seats. I miss those. Driving along out in the country with my arm around my wife listening to the radio.

Nice job on the rust detection.

 

[BravoXray]

Be sure and put that hood on before tightening the fenders. I had my left fender lined up nice, right fender as well, installed hood and started all over... ended up with loosening my right side top door hinge to bring it out to match top fender. I still need to replace all door seals. I hope bringing it out 3/8” doesn’t cause window leak. Currently everything leaks as the rubber has rotted.
Thanks for the updates! It’s an exciting build.

The tab I'm moving is what the windshield rests on at the bottom, and it will be in towards the cowl just like it was before, just up towards the top of the windshield channel the same distance as the left one is.

 

[BravoXray]

All my Nova's had bench seats. I miss those. Driving along out in the country with my arm around my wife listening to the radio.

Nice job on the rust detection.

My '69 had a bench seat too, but I wanted to put buckets and a console in this one. A friend had a couple of '69s (He wrecked one and almost killed himself.) with bucket seats and I liked them more than the bench seat.

I may cut the left windshield tab off and check for rust under it too. No sense letting it go this far into the game.

 

[BravoXray]

Be sure and put that hood on before tightening the fenders. I had my left fender lined up nice, right fender as well, installed hood and started all over... ended up with loosening my right side top door hinge to bring it out to match top fender. I still need to replace all door seals. I hope bringing it out 3/8” doesn’t cause window leak. Currently everything leaks as the rubber has rotted.
Thanks for the updates! It’s an exciting build.

I have checked the dimensions between the fenders at the cowl and at the radiator support, and according to the Nova assembly manual, it's right on.

 

[MossRoad]

My '69 had a bench seat too, but I wanted to put buckets and a console in this one. A friend had a couple of '69s (He wrecked one and almost killed himself.) with bucket seats and I liked them more than the bench seat.

I may cut the left windshield tab off and check for rust under it too. No sense letting it go this far into the game.

We had a three-on-the-tree in one of them. So she learned to shift for me so I didn't have to take my arm down from the back of the seat. Now that right there is love.

 

[the old grind]

I had a three on the floor in my first Camaro, a new six-cyl '71 I'd scored for ~$2700 OTD. Years later I was cruisin' with a friend and her bestie. (We ended up on the freeway doing 50+ into a snow flurry with at most 200' visibility.)

Somehow Mary had wanted to work the gas pedal and reached her foot over the trans tunnel. On her cue, the friend would reach between the seats and work the shifter for most of the few hours we hung out. I had clutch & brake duty.

I haven't had a bench sear in a car in the last 40 yrs and kinda prefer 'em esp in trucks. (3 past, two current) I also haven't had someone to put my arm around in 35 years and I was five or so getting over the last 'someone'. Seems to matter less each decade.

 

[goeduck]

We had a three-on-the-tree in one of them. So she learned to shift for me so I didn't have to take my arm down from the back of the seat. Now that right there is love.

Just make sure she grabs the correct lever.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Here we go again...Pepsi sinus cleanse. Thanks.

 

[BravoXray]

I got the patch welded in and welds ground down so it looks pretty good. Shot some primer on it and then welded the tab in place, the same distance from the A-pillar and the top of the windshield channel as the left one is..
I made a jig to locate the new bucket seat mounts so I can weld them in the proper places and the seats will just slip over the studs when installed. I just used a couple of 16" and one 13" piece of 2" X 1/4" bar stock with 11/32" holes to go over the 5/16" mount studs, then welded into an H pattern. Should make it easy to get the mounts positioned properly. Forgot to get a picture of the jig though.

 

[Doug62]

Fender shims? Aligning body panels... the thought is horror. 1 hr to install my fenders. 6 hrs to get them aligned to the doors. Still don’t line up on passenger side very well.
Good Luck!

The joy of rebuilding an old car! The gap tolerances were pretty big back in the day.