Restarting My '70 Nova Project

   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project
  • Thread Starter
#201  
Been working on the driver side rocker for the last few days, it's coming along, did more sanding and filling low spots today. A little more sanding and I'm going to prime it, guide coat it and hit it with some 220 grit and see how flat it really is.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20221002_170023632 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221002_170023632 (Medium).jpg
    389.6 KB · Views: 110
  • IMG_20221002_170027657 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221002_170027657 (Medium).jpg
    335.1 KB · Views: 122
  • IMG_20221002_170030919 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221002_170030919 (Medium).jpg
    419.4 KB · Views: 108
  • IMG_20221002_170045331 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221002_170045331 (Medium).jpg
    457.1 KB · Views: 112
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project
  • Thread Starter
#202  
A few pictures taken after the body was blasted a few years ago at the shop where I had the metal work done. I had no idea how bad the rust was. He put all new metal in on the roof, and window channel, and repaired the A-pillar.
 

Attachments

  • 100_0758.jpg
    100_0758.jpg
    297 KB · Views: 119
  • 100_0760.jpg
    100_0760.jpg
    287.5 KB · Views: 111
  • 100_0759.jpg
    100_0759.jpg
    333.4 KB · Views: 115
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project #203  
I personally think vinyl tops look good.

I never liked mechanical secondaries on a street car. With 4.56 gears it was probably good. I’ve seen to many people convert to mechanical secondaries, especially on dual 4 barrel or triple 2 barrel cars and wonder why the bog.
Sorry dodge man, but I happen to disagree with 100% all the way around. Vinyl tops are simply to cover up a lot of crappy workmanship by the factory. Ask me how I know - BTDT. I removed the vinyl top from my '69 Dodge Cornet RT. Cost to completely make it look good was high. Lots of unfilled voids as well as rust taking hold.

Then on to the mechanical secondary's, I had the vacuum secondary's on both my '59 Chevy Impala 348cid as well as my '69 Dodge RT. Changing from vacuum to mechanical improved performance 100%.

Of course, I respect your opinion. It just happens to not sync with mine.
 
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project #204  
Sorry dodge man, but I happen to disagree with 100% all the way around. Vinyl tops are simply to cover up a lot of crappy workmanship by the factory. Ask me how I know - BTDT. I removed the vinyl top from my '69 Dodge Cornet RT. Cost to completely make it look good was high. Lots of unfilled voids as well as rust taking hold.

Then on to the mechanical secondary's, I had the vacuum secondary's on both my '59 Chevy Impala 348cid as well as my '69 Dodge RT. Changing from vacuum to mechanical improved performance 100%.

Of course, I respect your opinion. It just happens to not sync with mine.
I don't think they put vinyl roofs on at random, the built order says, "vinyl roof on this one" no need to do fine work under it. Things like vinyl roofs come and go like the wind.
 
Last edited:
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project
  • Thread Starter
#205  
Sorry dodge man, but I happen to disagree with 100% all the way around. Vinyl tops are simply to cover up a lot of crappy workmanship by the factory. Ask me how I know - BTDT. I removed the vinyl top from my '69 Dodge Cornet RT. Cost to completely make it look good was high. Lots of unfilled voids as well as rust taking hold.

Then on to the mechanical secondary's, I had the vacuum secondary's on both my '59 Chevy Impala 348cid as well as my '69 Dodge RT. Changing from vacuum to mechanical improved performance 100%.

Of course, I respect your opinion. It just happens to not sync with mine.
When I pulled the vinyl top off the Nova and finally got all the padding and adhesive removed, the roof looked just fine. Other than the rust shown in the pictures above, there weren't any problems the body man or I could see.
I seriously doubt that bodies that had workmanship defects were tagged for vinyl tops. As my uncle, who worked at Fisher Body for over 20 years explained it to me many years ago, the bodies were built to order, as there could be differences depending on certain options. and defects in the roof, sail panels or A-pillars would likely be visible even after the top was installed.
Maybe Mopar did it differently though.

2013-12-01_16-49-06_349.jpg
 
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project #206  
As a rule I think the vinyl tops weren’t to hide defects but they would get moisture under them and cause rust. An exception to that would be a 70 Superbird that had a fiberglass rear window plug to make it more aerodynamic. They all had vinyl tops. On the 69 Dodge Daytonas they didn’t have vinyl tops and they spent a bunch of time getting the body work smooth around the rear window plug for paint.
 
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project
  • Thread Starter
#207  
At least I have a little experience installing a vinyl top, as a few years ago we put a new vinyl top on Brian's 70 Charger R/T. Watched a lot of videos on YT, and it went pretty well, looked great when we got it finished up.
 

Attachments

  • 2012-05-27_18-37-55_585.jpg
    2012-05-27_18-37-55_585.jpg
    2.4 MB · Views: 165
  • 2012-07-14_14-41-10_833.jpg
    2012-07-14_14-41-10_833.jpg
    2.6 MB · Views: 167
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project
  • Thread Starter
#208  
Got the driver side rocker panel finished up, finally. I scuffed the EDP primer on underside of the hood and the cowl panel yesterday, and Brian stopped on his way to work and gave them a coat of urethane primer.
I rolled the body over so I could look at the roof and found three small dents that showed up while block sanding it, and an area where the sail panel meets the roof at the drip rail that need a little filler to make the transition smoother. Mixed up some filler and applied it to the areas so I can work on them tomorrow. Sanding the roof is a little tricky as the metal oil cans pretty easily since it has little support. So far I've almost used up a whole can of filler on this project, but doubt I'll need much more unless the fenders have dents I haven't seen yet.
Also going to try to get the fenders on the stands tomorrow so they can be primed and block sanded, but have to figure out where to put the hood so it it out of the way and doesn't get dinged up. I still have the edge protector packing that it was in when shipped, so I can use that too.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20221006_174116152 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221006_174116152 (Medium).jpg
    567 KB · Views: 120
  • IMG_20221006_174154960_HDR (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221006_174154960_HDR (Medium).jpg
    626.4 KB · Views: 132
  • IMG_20221006_174207102 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221006_174207102 (Medium).jpg
    394.8 KB · Views: 128
  • IMG_20221006_174216284 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221006_174216284 (Medium).jpg
    358.1 KB · Views: 124
  • IMG_20221006_174254755 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221006_174254755 (Medium).jpg
    484.1 KB · Views: 128
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project
  • Thread Starter
#209  
Another day in the body shop.
First thing was to (eeek!) drill holes in the hood for the simulated louvers that are on the SS cars. On the underside, there are holes in the hood reinforcements for the studs on the ends but since the center ones fall in an unreinforced area I had the use the bezels to locate them. That worked out fine, and I only had to file one hole a little bit to get the louvers to drop in place. I shot a little primer on the raw metal in the holes, them put the packing protectors on each side and secured them wit a couple of ratchet straps. I found a place in the back of the shop to store it for now so it doesn't get dinged up.
Worked on the four spots on the roof and got them looking pretty good. I block sanded the driver's side of the roof, as the primer the body man applied was really rough and needed to be knocked down and smoothed up.
When Brian got there, we moved the hood off the paint stand to it's place in the back, and set the front fenders up on the stands so he could give them a coat of primer. He gave the left rocker and rear fender behind the wheel opening another coat of primer and also a coat to left side of the roof and A-pillar.
After priming the fenders, he noticed that both have a little crease in the same spot behind the wheel opening on the area above the bottom of the fenders. Neither he nor I had noticed these before, I hadn't when I had scuffed the fenders for priming. They aren't bad, as you can see in the pictures, so he thinks a little work with a hammer and dolly will flatten them out.
At this point I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for getting it ready for paint. I'm going to have the paint shop owner come by and look at it once I get done with it so he can check it over for any spots that need further attention. Better to have it completely ready when he gets it, so all he has to do is paint and buff it out. He likes that it will be on the rotisserie, as it will make it much easier to paint the inside and underside.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20221007_140219355 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_140219355 (Medium).jpg
    270.9 KB · Views: 136
  • IMG_20221007_140751027 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_140751027 (Medium).jpg
    426.2 KB · Views: 124
  • IMG_20221007_154304784 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_154304784 (Medium).jpg
    360.2 KB · Views: 121
  • IMG_20221007_164544730 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_164544730 (Medium).jpg
    584.4 KB · Views: 119
  • IMG_20221007_164555648_HDR (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_164555648_HDR (Medium).jpg
    541.1 KB · Views: 126
  • IMG_20221007_165020082_HDR (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_165020082_HDR (Medium).jpg
    469.9 KB · Views: 116
  • IMG_20221007_171102539 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_171102539 (Medium).jpg
    504.3 KB · Views: 119
  • IMG_20221007_171114049 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_171114049 (Medium).jpg
    469.6 KB · Views: 125
  • IMG_20221007_171138788 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_171138788 (Medium).jpg
    353.7 KB · Views: 124
  • IMG_20221007_172717539 (Medium).jpg
    IMG_20221007_172717539 (Medium).jpg
    454.8 KB · Views: 115
Last edited:
   / Restarting My '70 Nova Project
  • Thread Starter
#210  
Better pics of the creases.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20221007_172717539 (Medium) #2.jpg
    IMG_20221007_172717539 (Medium) #2.jpg
    487.4 KB · Views: 126
  • IMG_20221007_172733194 (Medium) #2.jpg
    IMG_20221007_172733194 (Medium) #2.jpg
    487.2 KB · Views: 144

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

Misc. Electronics (A50860)
Misc. Electronics...
TAKEUCHI TL150 SKID STEER (A51242)
TAKEUCHI TL150...
2018 John Deere R4038 Self Propelled Sprayer (A50657)
2018 John Deere...
UPDATED INTERNET BUYER'S PREMIUM TERMS (A50775)
UPDATED INTERNET...
Auger (A50860)
Auger (A50860)
Lot of 3 Dell Desktop Computer (A48083)
Lot of 3 Dell...
 
Top