[seventynovaSS]

After getting the fenders and hood aligned and fitting well, my friend came over and we worked on fixing a few dents in the right fender and hood made during shipping. When he gets more time, we're going to start priming and block sanding them. The quarter panels, trunk and doors have been blocked out already.

 

[seventynovaSS]

Slowly making some progress on paint prep. Brian has been working on the hood, pretty much got all the dents fixed, block sanded, and ready for a last coat of primer. I pulled both front fenders off and have sanded them so they can be primed and block sanded. Slow but sure.

 

[seventynovaSS]

Did some more sanding on the right rear quarter. Found a rough spot where the new quarter was attached to the roof, so I put a thin coat of filler on before I had to leave. Probably work on that spot tomorrow and get it prepped for primer.
Left rear quarter is looking pretty good now.

 

[Bright_Red_69]

Seeing the amount of time this car has been apart has me reserved about tearing my '69 down now. I don't know if I could go years without driving it. Beautiful work nonetheless, I can't wait to see it finished!

 

[seventynovaSS]

Oh, this is getting the express treatment compared to the scratch built Yanmar genset I built. Started it in '99 or 2000, just finished it in 2021. Long story but it had a malfunction early in the build process and it pissed me off so I put it in the back of the shop until finally drug it out and got it finished last year. Good thing too, I've had to use it a couple times since then.

 

[seventynovaSS]

Still working on the rear quarters, but they are coming along. I also started working on the rockers where the holes from the trim were welded up. I also decided to level out the area at the bottom of the quarter where the spot welds are at. Lots of filling and sanding but I'm slowly getting there.
I found a place to store the subframe until I need it too.

 

[seventynovaSS]

I spent about 12 hours this week filling, sanding, priming, guide coating, more sanding, more filling, well, you get the routine. But, The right quarter and rocker panel are done. The quarter had a few little areas that needed a little filling and blocking, but the rocker panel was a bear. It looked pretty straight, but when guide coated and block sanded it needed a lot of work. Amazingly, the of all the metal that was replaced, the rockers were in good shape, no rust internally (I scoped them) or on the outside, but they certainly weren't very flat. To make it worse, I welded shut all the holes used for the two lower trim pieces and ground them down, leaving areas that needed some attention.
Today swapped the rotisserie end for end so I had better light to work on the driver's side of the body, and started filling all the low areas on the rocker and a few on the rear quarter. Then I blocked and hand sanded the hood for the last time, and other than a few slightly high spots, it looks really good.
Brian stopped by and inspected my work, said it looked really good or an amateur. He said I could always get a job at a body shop, as I do better work that some of them do. I think I'll stay retired, that's more work than I like.

 

[seventynovaSS]

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 sot 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.

 

[seventynovaSS]

Spent yesterday afternoon and this afternoon doing more filling,
priming and sanding. Got the driver side looking pretty good
except for the crease near the bottom, and the passenger side
started. found a couple of spots so far, but nothing very bad.
Most of it is pretty straight. Worked on the passenger side of
the roof also, found a couple of spots that needed attention
on the rear window channel, and another spot where the A-pillar
meets the roof. Put some filler in them and after it set got them
sanded out and looking okay. The one rear one at the top of the
rear window looked like a weld seam of some sort.
When I was sanding on the fenders, I had to be careful not to
knock them off the stands as they are just resting on some
2X4s, so I used some long Ty-Raps through bolt holes to tie
one of them down to the stands, which made it a lot more stable
to work on it. Going to do the same to the other one.
Still have a problem spot between the door jamb and rear wheel
opening on rhe left side, but I'm getting closer on it. It probably
wouldn't be noticed, but I know it's not quite right, so I'll try to
get it as close to perfect as I can.

 

[seventynovaSS]

Still waiting on the Owner of the paint shop to come and look over the Nova project to see if there is any more that needs to be done. So , figured it was a good time to (Yikes!) drill some holes in the front fender for the simulated louvers and Nova scripts.
Having not had the foresight to make a pattern off the original fenders, I found the information, well sort of, in the assembly manual. It gives the layout pattern referenced to a couple of datum lines, but not what the datum lines are referenced to. So i studied a lot of pictures of Novas and made an educated guess. I made a pattern out of craft paper, taped it to the fenders, marked the hole locations and drilled the holes. No going back now!
They look okay, but it would really have helped for the fenders to be on the car, just to make sure.

 

[Nova Thug]

Nice lookin project you have there..

 

[Gmachine]

Looking really good. Enjoying watching this come together!

 

[seventynovaSS]

Well, today it was finally the day the Nova headed out to the paint shop.
Paint shop owner called yesterday and said he could get it in any time this week, so I called the towing company and they said they could pick it up this morning. The drive backed right into the shop, lowered the bed, winched it on and tied it down. A Benjamin Franklin later it was on the way. I loaded up the front fenders and a few other parts, took them to the shop, came back, got the hood, trunk lid and cowl panel and took them in too. We went over what areas get body color and which get black and a few other of the finer points of the job. The painter said they'd get started on it today and would probably take two weeks. I've decided to put the wide flat black racing stripes on the hood and trunk lid, but those won't be done until the car is assembled so all the lines match up.
Progress!!!

 

[seventynovaSS]

Some progress is being made. Painter called and asked me to come in and look at a color sample spray-out to make sure it was the color I wanted. Went in and took a look, and it looks just as I thought Cortez Silver would. He has the underside painted and is going to get the interior painted in the next couple of days, then he'll start getting the exterior and other parts painted.

 

[lwlevens]

Man I don't miss those days!!!! I Don't think I can do it again. Gonna look good when it's all done though.

 

[seventynovaSS]

Man I don't miss those days!!!! I Don't think I can do it again. Gonna look good when it's all done though.

I'm not going to miss them either. I love the mechanical side of the restoration, but I never liked body work. I've done enough on this car to get more of a feeling for it, and I think I did a pretty good job of it, but this will be the last one I do a complete restoration on.

 

[J Mark]

No doubt the good part is the nuts and bolts for me body work not so much. Takes a special hand for that.

 

[seventynovaSS]

Paint shop called this morning and asked if I could come in a take a look at the body, as they had the Cortez Silver on it, and wanted to make sure that's the color I wanted. Went in and I think it looks great. Great color and great body work.
He's going to get the door, fenders, hood and trunk lid painted later this week, he hopes. Hard to believe after 8 years it has paint on it. This is the original color according to the cowl tag, although it was maroon when I bought it, and there was a blue paint job under that, so this is the third color for this Nova.

 

[Stroker Ace Ventura]

Paint shop called this morning and asked if I could come in a take a look at the body, as they had the Cortez Silver on it, and wanted to make sure that's the color I wanted. Went in and I think it looks great. Great color and great body work.
He's going to get the door, fenders, hood and trunk lid painted later this week, he hopes. Hard to believe after 8 years it has paint on it. This is the original color according to the cowl tag, although it was maroon when I bought it, and there was a blue paint job under that, so this is the third color for this Nova.


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Gorgeous!!! Can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[J Mark]

Nice color