The dash was painted with 2K semi gloss black as was the firewall. Now the dash was painted I could do some assembly on it, this was another motivational moment!

After the paint on the dash had cured I wanted to put some wax on it to protect it. I squeezed the old bottle of wax I had and it "exploded"on me....the combination of the plastic probably being brittle from age and a bit of a clogged up hole. The whole inside of the body including myself were completely covered in wax....did smell nice however.

Test fitting the master brake and clutch cylinders.

New firewall padding.

After sealing everything with seam sealer I gave the whole underside of the body another coat of paint.

Mounted everything to the dash and put in the wiring, testing all circuits as I went and adding extra ground wires for years of trouble free operation.

I sprayed the underside of the body with underbody coating (stone chip protector) and re-installed the VIN plate, now it was time to re-attach the front clip.

Mounted the tank and new bump rubbers for the rear axle.

First step was to roll the rotissery out the garage and mount the rear axle to the body, now the rotisserie could be removed from the back side of the car.

Next was placing the front of the body on axle stands, remove the rotissery and bolt on the front clip.

Finally the car was standing on it’s own 4 wheels again! It's great to see the work of all the previous years come together. :-)

Added original style decals to the valve cover and air filter cause it just looks cool.

Figuring out how to adapt the steering column wiring to the body harness.

The wiper motor was seized so I took it apart, cleaned and greased to get it working again.

With everything connected I was now able to start the motor and it fired up right away. I let it run for just a short moment since the cooling system was not connected/filled yet.

I installed the steering column with the EPS (Electric Power Steering), everything worked as I planned which is pretty cool. Also added a battery cut-off switch for safety and to prevent the battery draining when the car is stored for longer periods of time.

I installed a firewall feed through terminal for the positive battery cable which is used for powering the EPS unit, power seats and stereo. These high power items run too much current to use the original wiring harness.

Trying out some ideas for the center console.

New wiring for the stereo.

Shortened the throttle rod to fit my application, heated and bent it then drilled a hole for the cotter pin just like original.

Made and installed new heat stove tubes for the choke to operate like original again.

I know the longer transmission would require a shorter driveshaft….as luck would have it I had one in my parts pile complete with Yoke that fit exactly! It had been lying in the garage for over 10 years, good thing I kept it, I only needed to order a conversion U-joint to mate the driveshaft to the rear axle. (GM R to 1310)

I had to google how to get the old U-joint out, it had a factory original plastic retaining clip which is nothing more than liquid plastic injected in the grooves solidified. To get it out I had to really heat it up with a torch, the heat and expansion forces the plastic out. What I didn't expect was the seal on the U-joint to blow out with a loud bang....this was because of the grease inside expanding. So be careful and wear eye protection. (I luckily did)

Painted the fuel line.

Spent a whole day cleaning out the garage.... more than a year of grinding and painting covered everything in a layer of dust. Feels good to have a clean and (bit) organized workspace again.

Before bolting anything together I run a thread chaser to make sure bolts will go in smoothly.

I installed the clutch and it worked but I had a lot of flex on the firewall bracket. The bracket is designed for Camaro's but they use different mounting points. In order to use all 3 mounting points on the pedal hanger assembly I needed to modify the bracket. This way it will also use the strength of the bends in the firewall.

New brake line to rear axle.

First bit of exhaust tubing tack welded in place.

Modified, installed and it works perfect now!

Started on making a cover for the transmission tunnel.

Since I need to do some work on the Camaro I needed to move the Nova to the other garage which was still filled with lots of big parts. I temporarily mounted the seats, doors, fenders, trunk lid and hood and moved the Nova.

New temperature sensor and accellerator rod bushings installed.

when you only need 15cm of fuel filler hose and can only buy it per meter. :-(

New brake line to the rear, I had bought several adapters while I was in the US so I was prepared since they are hard to find here.

I had a subfoower box which sounded great but was way too large. I bought a used one very cheap with a very good speaker in it. I needed the connection terminals and the speaker so threw the box away. Did the calculations for the box volume to suit the speaker. Glued and screwed it together and then covered it with carpet. The same carpet will be used all through the trunk.

Testing the Stereo.

Now the brake lines were done I bled the system. A friend lent me his vacuum bleeding tool which made the job so much easier. At first the old fluid came out that was still in the calipers...thick and dark colored. Once the system was rinsed with new fluid the brakes worked! I still need to test how well they work but that's for later.

Last thing I did was install sound deadening in the trunk.

I have driven the car in and out the garage already, just a few meters but it's a start. Now I have to spend some time on the Camaro, I think I will resume work on the Nova in Spring again.

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You can reach me by e-mail at: pro-touring @ hotmail .com