1978 Chevy Nova - intended as a cruiser. Still features the original inline 6 (79.000 miles). Restoration finished a few days ago and now street ready.
Found in the northern part of Iceland over a decade ago. Originally blue, exterior and interior. The car was rust free for most part as the roads were not salted over there like they do here in Reykjavik during the winters. However the bottom part of the rear wheel whells had to be rebuilt since the previous owner had used snow chains during the harsh winters and it had managed to rip off chunks of the body. I started on the body work soon after the purchase (approx. $700) but postponed the project when starting a family became priority.
One year ago I began fully working on it again – with the help of my dad whenever he could. Surfing this site and getting som advice from various members here also was a great help in the process - so many thanks to the members here!
Some welding had to be done on the rear wheel well as described before and additionally on some part of the roof. Otherwise the car was in incredibly good shape given the weather circumstances over here. Spent a few months sanding and straightening the body and then it was painted in November last year.
The interior was a bit challenging as there is little or no reproductions available for a 4 door 4th gen. The front door panels were in very bad shape at the bottom so I eventually built a cover over the torn vinyl part. The whole interior was also painted since I was changing the color of the car anyway. I was a little bit worried about the transition from blue to light grey, especially at the top of the dash board right under the front windshield where space is limited so I decided to have the interior color in two tones; dash, front door arm rests and the handles in the back were painted in SEM´s Thomas Bus Grey color which is a slight blue-ish grey color. The dash came out great as it blended perfectly with the old color. The rest is all painted in a grey GM code interior color.
The ceiling was covered in faux suede material. Indeed not my favourite but it was the easiest application method (slight adhesive and material stretches if needed) and in the closest color tone I could find.
The carpet was replaced by a new, silver grey one. The front bench was replaced by bucket seats found in a Dodge Caravan if I recall correctly. Had to customise the installation a bit but is was well worth it as the seats are incredibly comfortable (removed the seats middle arm rests though ).
All the door window felts, rubber seals and most of the window channels had to be replaced by new ones.
As my plan was not to build a muscle car but a nice cruiser I always intended the car to be as family safe as possible. Looking back to when I was growing up the rear seat belts in my dad´s car were hardly used – and times are definitely different now. The two point setup didn´t appeal to me either so I decided to change it to three point. Although not cheap I replaced all the seat belts. The originals were worn and in different color anyway so I eventually ordered the whole set from Wesco Performance. Installation was very easy as I kept the original bolts by slightly widening the holes on the new set. Using the new bolts would have been a greater task as they didn´t fit precisely. Definitely didn´t regret purchasing the whole set as the build quality is great (made by Seat Belt Solutions) and they just look awesome!
The rear end was raised a little under 4 inches by welding extra pieces of metal on the leaf spring bushing supports.
Wheels are 15x7 and 15x8 classic Cragar SS and tires 235/60´s and 255/60´s
Car stereo is a Pioneer DEH-X3600UI model. Front and rear speakers are from the JBL GTO series. The sound is phenomenal!
Featured here are recent photos after the restoration was completed (some are also in the Pictures and Story thread) but additionally there are also some photos from various stages of the resto. Unfortunately I don´t seem to have a photo of the car from the time of purchase.
All the best
Hrannar
Various stages of the resto. First photo is from last summer: