Restarting My '70 Nova Project

[BravoXray]

I’ve never had headers, when I was into classic cars I just left the stock manifolds on, but I always heard they can be a pain. Big hammer time?

I recall many fights with headers on friends' cars back in the 70s. Seemed something always hit something somewhere.

Of all the cars I ever installed headers on, the only ones that I didn't have to "modify" with a BFH were on my '66 Impala SS396 and my '68 Chevelle SS396.
If I don't get any answers from Doug's about them, I think I can dimple the #5 tube enough to get the plug wire on with a Nomex sock on it so it doesn't catch fire. I had to do that on Brian's Charger on the same plug position. A big 1 1/4" impact socket and a BFH worked just fine.
With the #6 tube, I'm thinking about finding someone that can move the tube to get it away from the idler arm. There is plenty of room to move it to the rear without interferring with the other tubes. I'm going to talk to a gut at a local speed shop to see if he knows of someone who might be able the do it.
Another thought was to have the mounting flange milled at an angle to tilt the tube in towards the engine a little. The flange is 3/8" thick, so taking a 1/16" or so off the bottom wouldn't cause any problems. If I can get 1/2" of clearance and dimple the tube another 1/2", then I can make a stainless steel shield to help reflect the heat away from the idler arm. Then I might also have to make a shield for the starter, as it would be pretty close there too.
Whatever I end up doing, I'll post the solution here.

 

[BravoXray]

I got a call back from the customer service rep at Pertronix, Doug's headers parent company. After a discussion of the interference problem with the idler arm, he claims it it due to the Procomp heads having .200" raised exhaust ports. I basically said raising the exhaust ports less than a quarter of an inch would not cause the problem I am having, it's that the #6 tube is not located properly. He wanted me to send it back to them, they would put it in the assembly jig and check it for any misalignment. He also said they had sold over 300 sets of these headers this year, and that I was the first one to have fitment problems. I declined, thanked him for his time and told him I was going to have the tube relocated by a local shop and that I would send him a picture of the change when it is done.
Just for comparison, here is a picture of the Doug's header and the Flo-Tec header I was running on the car with the 350. They have over two inches of clearance from the idler arm. Some of the plugs are a PIA to get out, but it doesn't hit anything.

Back to the problem with the ADCO sway bar installation, I received the 7 and 8 inch bolts for the end links today. I clamped the pivot mounts to the axle, positioned directly under the axle tube and assembled the end links with the 8 inch bolts and two inch longer spacers they fit just right on the frame rails with the arms of the sway bar level with the car body. I marked the mounting holes, drilled them, installed the u-bolts in the frame rails and bolted the upper link mounts to them. It is all correctly aligned now and should do the job. One more glitch crossed off the list!

I also replaced the two four pin connectors in the harness that the cruise control connects to with a 12 pin Deutsch connector, as the harness from the servo that connects to it is about five feet long, and I'm only going to need about 18 inches to connect it. I could have used an eight pin connector, but there is one more wire that connects to the servo and I didn't want to add a second connector, and I only have eight and 12 pin connectors, none with 10 pins.

 

[BravoXray]

Been working on the front suspension, got the upper and lower a-arms installed, but not before remembering that I had new MOOG ball joints for both the uppers and the lowers, as the ones that came installed were reportedly pretty poor quality. The uppers are bolted in, so those were easy to replace. I had a ball joint removal tool, but none of the adapters would work to get the lowers pushed out, so, I took them back off the car and drove them out with a punch and BFH. There was also no tool that fit the ball joints to press them back in, so I made a tool out of a piece of 2" bar stock on the lathe. I used my 20 ton press to push them back in, and wow, were they tight. That ball joint tool would never have come close to pushing them into place. Got them back in the car, and remembered out how I had used my spring compressor to replace the front springs soon after I bought the car. I got the right side spring in place and got it compressed enough to swing the lower a-arm up and get the spindle in place on both ball joints. The lower one tightened up properly, put the cotter key in and bent over, but the upper one would only extend through the spindle boss enough to get the nut on part of the way, the tapered part doesn't fit the bore in the spindle. BAH! What next?
According to a couple of online parts catalogs, the MOOG K5108 is the proper ball joint, but it doesn't fit. I guess I'll take a spindle to the local NAPA store tomorrow, and see if I can get a couple that fit.
I also received the 6° wedges and spring center bolts I need to adjust the pinion angle on the differential, so that can be worked on at any time, I just have to take almost everything back apart on it to get them installed. Oh well, at least nothing is dirty and rusty.

 

[BravoXray]

I got the correct ball joint and got it installed on Friday. I pulled the new Hotchkis front sway bar off the nail it's been hanging from for a long time and got it installed. Was pretty easy to install, and it's a lot beefier than the original one was. It even has grease fittings to lubricate the support bearings.
I thought I might as well get the rest of the steering components installed too. I bolted the steering box in place, it has about a half inch of clearance from a header tube, so that's good. Put on the pitman arm an torqued the nut down good and tight. Got the center link, wiped all the dust off it and fastened it to the pitman arm and the idler arm and installed cotter pins in the castle nuts. I loose assembled the steering arms and the caliper brackets to the spindles as I'm waiting on new bolts to replace two of the original bolts that galled the threads pretty badly when I disassembled them. I put the tie rods in place, tightened the castle nuts on both ends and installed cotter pins in those too.
Once I get the new bolts, I can install the new rotors, brake pads, calipers and hook up the brake lines. Once I get the front clip installed for the last time, I can fill the master cylinder and get the brakes bled.
I was looking at all the front end parts, and I realized that there are 20 grease zerks on the font suspension. That's a lot of grease fittings!
I haven't heard from the shop that's modifying the right side header yet, but it should be soon. Then I'm going to have to find someone to recoat it with the ceramic coating so it looks good. So far, I've only found Jet-Hot, but I'd have to ship it to either NC or OK where their facilities are at.
Another little item I finally took care of was to get the accelerator pedal arm aligned with the throttle cable where it comes in through the firewall. It was off about an inch, and after about eight trips to the vise to adjust it, slide it into the support, and tighten the support to the firewall, it finally lines up where it should.
I also ran the main feed wire that feeds power to the fuse block from the battery post on the starter. The instructions for the wire harness said to run the wire from the bulkhead connector forward to the radiator support and then across to the battery. That takes about eight feet of wire, as to running it from the starter, around the back of the engine to the power post installed, only took about three feet. Less length, less voltage drop.
No time to work on the Nova tomorrow, I have to drive to a Chicago suburb to pick up my house guest at her son's house in Oak Park, IL. I tried to get her to take the South Shore to South Bend, but she has a lot of "stuff" with her that would be a problem. She's a vegetarian, so she always hauls some of her food around wit her. In addition, she wants me to drive her car, a Honda CRV, which I really don't like to drive, I'd rather take my town car.
I hate driving in Chicago, which I gained when I drove truck years ago. I don't even like driving though it with the horrible amount of traffic that's on the road at any hour of the day or night.

Onward and upward.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Looks great. Coming together nicely. Getting there, one thing at a time.

 

[BravoXray]

Thanks, I just keep pecking away at it.

I found the bolts I needed for the spindles and steering arms while I was looking for some other parts. I was sure I had bought new ones for it, and I was right. Fortunately the place I order new ones from had them on backorder, so I cancelled them. I got those changed out and dug out the new 10 year old rotors I had on the shelf, packed and installed the bearings and seals and installed them on the spindles. I also pulled out the calipers and cleaned them up and realized I had never gotten new brake pads. I had to go to town anyway to pick up a prescription for my sister and get a few things at the grocery store, so I ran down to the NAPA store and got a set of new pads. Came back and got those installed and hooked up the brake lines.
The guy that I ordered the front and rear glass from came over this morning to install them, but said that I need to get the vinyl top installed first, and gave me the number of a friend that does a lot of classic car interior and vinyl top installation, and does a great job. I'll give him a call tomorrow and see how he wants to do it, in my sho or in his. If it has to go to his shop, I'll have to get it on the running gear and running so I can trailer it to his shop.
I went to put on the steering rag joint, I discovered that I have the wrong one, it's for a power steering box instead of a manual box. So I'll get one of those ordered tonight.

That's all for now, folks.

 

[BleedingOrange]

I really admire your patience, and do it right attitude. Very happy for you to be able to finally work towards completing a project that has been in the works for so long. My OCD would be off the charts if I started a project and I had to wait over ten years to see it completed. LOL

 

[BravoXray]

While I am patient when it involves projects nad such, sometimes I have no patience with people that drag their heels or do sloppy work, that drives me crazy. I really didn't have much choice but to wait to get to work on the Nova, as I couldn't tie up the shop space when I had trucks and trailers to work on. Then, once they were gone, I had a few other projects that were a lot less involved that had piled up and needed to be completed so they were off my mental to-do list. One was a generator set with a three cylinder Yanmar diesel engine that I had started about 22 years ago. It had a major drive coupling malfunction that bent the generator shaft and I just shoved it to the back of the shop and ignored it. Once I had the space and time, I pulled it out and came up with a fix for the bent shaft and found a different type of drive coupling and finished up the rest of the build.

I picked up the right side header from the shop this morning, and considering the thin tubing and difficulty getting to the entire circumference of the joints, I think they did a fine job. Moving the tube solved the problem with #6 tube being against the idler arm, but there is still a problem with the idler arm hitting the #4 tube when the steering is cut all the way to the right. I think I can dent the tube enough to get clearance there, but if not, I may have them move that tube too. I'll work on that before I send it out to get it recoated.

Before the modification.

After moving the tube.

Lots more clearance from the idler arm now.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Looking great. What is your plan for wheels, and tires ?

 

[BravoXray]

Looking great. What is your plan for wheels, and tires ?

It came with the 14" Magnum 500 type wheels and I'm going to keep those for a while. I would really like to get a set of 15" rally wheels, I think they are hard to beat for looks on a Chevy muscle car. I also like the American Racing S200 wheels, but they are hard to get special backspacing or offsets in. Was thinking about a set of red line tires for the real 60s-70s look, but they want $300 a pop for them, so I'll probably stick with the raised letter Coopers.