[74lsnova]

Happy 4th of July from Rapid City South Dakota!
We took a road trip to Mount Rushmore for the 4th with the Nova, besides a design flaw I made that blew a rear brake hose in the Rockies after bottoming out from hitting a frost heave at 80....it’s been a fantastic trip so far!
We left on Wednesday, stayed in silverthorne Co the first night, drove down the Rockies with only front brakes the next morning. I’m using C5 corvette steel braided brake hoses in the back but even finding a stock hose in Co proved to be tough. I found a place called whisler bearing and drive that was able to make me a steel braided hose a little longer to avoid getting pinched if that ever happens again. All said and done it was only a 2 hour delay!
We spent yesterday cruising around south of Mount Rushmore as it was closed to people who didn’t have pre ordered tickets, we are heading there today.
South Dakota is amazing. The views are stunning and we saw a lot of deer, some mountain goats and BUFFALO...lots of BUFFALO. I got some amazing videos of them coming right up to the car on my Instagram bilt2bdriven if you want to check them out.
This is by far the best road trip I’ve ever taken and I’m sure part of it is driving the car I spent so much time and effort getting to this point, we’ve had so much fun. The car gets a lot of looky-loos, thumbs up and people wanting to ask about it and to tell me stories of the car they wish never never sold. The positive feedback is amazing, I’m so proud of the car up to this point, it was a lot of work and dedication. Here are some pics.


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[74lsnova]

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[RifRaf]

Looks like a great time!... Thanks for sharing the pics!
Glad to hear that the Nova is performing well on the long road trip and getting the compliments it deserves

 

[Tacocaster]

Good to hear you guys are having a great trip in a great ride! The brake line failure just adds to the overall adventure.

Beautiful part of the world, SW part of S. Dakota & area. Brought back some warm memories for me (Sturgis '07).

But a question....maybe two.

Howcum in that one shot the hood, roof n' fender paint shows a wet sheen? Morning dew would be pebbly and the windshield would be wet. What am I missing?

Okay, three Q's......Them fancy new headlights and driving lights are kinda dim, aren't they? 😂 (I'm envious)

Thanks for the pics, 74ls! Be safe and enjoy the view!

 

[74lsnova]

It is beautiful country up there and we had an amazing time.

It had rained a little as we arrived at the Cabin, you can see the dry spot under the car. It looks gloss black in the pic. It’s one of the best pics I’ve ever taken of it an makes me want to keep it black (but with some paint).

I’ve had the headlights from day 1 and recently added the fog lights, they are so dim I might have to go with some incandescents again!


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[74lsnova]

We are in Colorado Springs this morning and about to head out in a few. We have a little more than 12 hours to go before getting home. I want to be in my bed tonight and she wants to split it up. I feel refreshed this morning, let’s see what happens later.


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[74lsnova]

Looks like a great time!... Thanks for sharing the pics!
Glad to hear that the Nova is performing well on the long road trip and getting the compliments it deserves

Thanks man, it’s good to get some positive feedback with the time we have in them!
We’ve driven 2400ish miles since Wednesday and it’s been a blast.

We came out of Colorado Springs on US-160 that cuts through the San Juan national forest and others. The drive was incredible with the windy mountain roads and small towns, we took our time and it was well worth it!


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[ramportin1]

On a jealousy scale of 1-10 im about a 73 right now.... get it lol car looks awesome man and must be a blast to cruise and enjoy it all with the wife.
Could you post up a picture of your dash and center console please. It always looks great when your driving but I can never see much.
Thats a Dakota digital dash setup right?


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[450HP]

Car is looking really good, nice to see it all one color

Hope you had a great time on your trip, keep the shiny (?) side up and the greasy side down!

 

[74lsnova]

Car is looking really good, nice to see it all one color

Hope you had a great time on your trip, keep the shiny (?) side up and the greasy side down!

Thanks man! Got to drive it to work this morning... always a better day at work when you start it off in the hot rod!
It’s epoxy primer now but looking to paint it this winter, I took on a few side jobs that’s delaying the paint (but helping to pay for it). I’ll try and keep the greasy side down...


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[74lsnova]

On a jealousy scale of 1-10 im about a 73 right now.... get it lol car looks awesome man and must be a blast to cruise and enjoy it all with the wife.
Could you post up a picture of your dash and center console please. It always looks great when your driving but I can never see much.
Thats a Dakota digital dash setup right?


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It is a Dakota Digital set up, I’m super happy with it so far. I will post some pics later on. I still need to make the panels for the sides of the console but pretty complete otherwise. I have 2 holes above the glove box for the handle, I’m not sure if I’m going to go with a factory grab handle or make my own, I probably should have just filled the holes in before paint but I kind of dig the handle.


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[74lsnova]

New project I’m doing, the reason I haven’t posted anything about the nova recently as all I’ve been doing is driving it.