What pulled me away from 3D art...

As requested by evil_genius_180, here's a short pic series on my first love, the one that pulled me away from 3D art.

She's a 1966 4 door Chevy Nova. This is what she looked like when I first saw her.


Today she sits like this...(excuse the mess)


It's taken a little over a year and a half to get that far. Here's some of what I've done/dealt with...
Damaged frame


Fixed


Drum brakes...gone


Cross-Drilled and slotted rotors...installed


1-inch front sway bar installed


Never ask a car guy to show off his car, we will

http://www.kservers.net/mustang/imag...r/P4130012.jpg is my next project. As you can see I'll be very busy not on the computer

Oh, and I just couldn't wait for my first Mustang to be finished so I bought this beauty to drive. She's got some minor damage to repair but it's not bad enough to keep her from being drivable. http://www.kservers.net/route66/imag...r/PA270001.jpg

I'm addicted to cars like I was addicted to 3D

[Darrell Lawrence]

Be easier to just model one... geeze

LTNS, dude!

...a 4 dr though? Plan on it being a family car?

You'd think that but it's not


Definately not a family car but I am planning for it to be a nice cruiser. Down the road I'm planning to drop in a 350 and make a sleeper. For now the Mustang is my more power driver. When the Rustang is finished she'll be a fit street/strip car I can take drag racing on the weekends.

It's definately been awhile Warrior, how have you been? Up to no good I trust?

[skyhawk223]

You definitely have your work cut out for you. How hard is it going to be to get the frame squared away?

It was suprisingly easy, probably the easiest repair job I've had on this car so far.

All repaired and...


back on the car.

[Darrell Lawrence]

At least the bubble gum and bailing wire is working so far

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks for posting the pics, Kenny. My dad's the mechanic in the family, I'm the computer nerd, so I don't know how to do this stuff. But I enjoy seeing others do it. I'm impressed with the work you've got done so far. And I can see why you've been taking a 3D break.

[Thomas P]

I remember the days! Sweet stuff and VERY time (and money) consuming. My last, years ago, project was a '72 Chevelle SS. After a complete engine rebuild it got covered and left in my garage for 18 months. I finally sold the engine (never dropped back in) and gave the body to someone who need parts after being hit by a red light runner.

Best of luck on the pony - they are sweet but so much work.

Nice work!

It was the same with me, I was the computer nerd and dad's a shade tree mechanic. I picked up my Nova from my brother who was never going to restore it and just started to tinker. You'd be suprised how easy it actually is to get started and when you look back to see what you've accomplished its very rewarding and a little scary. There are times that I should of asked for help but I didn't. I pulled the engine out of the Nova by myself. Ever been hit with 500lbs of swinging metal? It'll knock you across the garage. I'm definately getting help to put it back in, at that point I don't want to scratch my paint

Its definately time consuming and very expensive. I've spent nearly 1500 on the front suspension alone. I'm looking at about 2 grand in the engine because I want to upgrade to dual exhaust, 4 barrel carb, and new manifold. I estimate when she's all said and done I'll have upwards of 10k into this car not including the tools I've purchased to do this. It seems like a lot but I'll have a new-ish car for a quarter of something as nice as she'll be if I wanted to drive one off a lot. Besides, she looks a heck of a lot better than any car being produced today

I've been messing with the pony off and on and I've concluded that the Nova is just a better built vehicle. So much more solidly constructed, it's almost like the Mustang was built to be a throw away vehicle. Do you ever regret selling the Chevelle? I've been approached about my Nova and I always refuse to sell her. There's no way I'm not going to be the one to take her for her first ride after the restoration.

god I hope you're insuring that across the board, nice work there, my friend.

Yeah, I'm thinking of getting the Nova appraised before I apply for insurance on her. I don't think it'll be very cheap though :\

Thought you guys might be interested in this. You saw the blue Mustang (Detour is her name) up higher in the thread. Here's the shot of the "minor" damage.



Where there is minor damage there are major repairs. Break out the saw...



There was more rust than I expected so more of the body had to go...


Thankfully replacement panels for Mustangs are cheap.



Here's a couple of shots for the model builders out there. The quarter and the door are out of alignment in one spot.


Normally I'd click and drag a few of the vertex to line it back up. In this case I had to click with a rubber mallet

nice work there, I like how she's coming back to life.

[evil_genius_180]

"Minor damage," eh? I don't think the word minor applies any more when your back end is held together by rope.

I too like how she's coming back to life. It's always great to see beauties like this restored (as long as someone besides me is doing it. )

I just joined to this site.I start my posting by introducing me.i SAW THIS CAR.wHAT IS THE DAMAGE?

hehe, well...to be honest the rope was just holding the trunk closed

The damage was from the previous owner's son. He spun the car on a wet road and hit the rear on a pole. After that his mom told him he had to get rid of the car and get something 'more appropriate for a 16 year old'. 1 foot in either direction and the car would of been totalled.

Well, I hope to never remove that quarter ever again because it's fully welded in.






I now know that welding upside down hurts. I have little 3rd degree burns everywhere :\

I do believe the term 'ouch' does not do that justice................................

[evil_genius_180]

Yeah, I'm sure it says somewhere in the safety manual to not weld upside down. (I'm sure I remember something like that from the welding class I took about 14 years ago.)

[Thomas P]

Slow response

Yes, was sad to see the Chevelle go. It was, however, a choice between the car or my boat (which I no longer have either!).

I agree that the Nova would be much better engineered over the Mustang but the Mustang is easier to repair in some respects. Major hurt there but it surprisingly easy to get parts for Mustangs - evidence of it's enduring legend.

BTW; back to the Nova, I've seen some pretty awesome 4-door cruisers but never a Nova. Maybe yours will be a rare one!

She's already a rare Nova. From what I can tell she was a factory special order. I have only run across one other 4 door with the Nova emblems and the side moldings. Every other 4 door has been a Chevy 2 and most with no side moldings. The 4 doors are getting to be very rare because people are cutting them up to rebuild the 2 doors. I saved mine from that fate because my brother was going to sell it to someone who was going to strip it.

Repair parts for the Mustang are very easy to get. There are so many parts houses out there that the prices are very low. The Nova parts are more fun to track down though. I got my new lower quarters from a totalled 2 door off ebay.

I finally got to drive my Mustang. I did have an issue where I broke the gas seal so I didn't drive it further than out of the garage before I found the leak. Sucks too because I wanted to test out the new rear springs and shocks I installed.

[evil_genius_180]

That sucks about the gas seal. Is that something that's fairly easy to fix so you can get her out on the street?

If I can track one down yeah. The large part chains don't seem to carry them. I bought an assortment pack and found one close but it wasn't a perfect seal. I was able to use it to get the car into the garage but it won't hold permanently. I've ordered one online from my favorite Mustang parts house. 2 dollar part and 9 dollars of shipping. I decided to pick up some other small accessories I wanted to get down the road so I wouldn't waste the shipping money.

My father has a old ford custom line siting out in his hanger (owns a big block of land, flys ultralights) and if he doesn't do anything with it, i might one day buy it off him and take the time to restore it just because its a sweet lookin old car, even rusted up as it is.

I love Customlines, beautiful machines. If you can grab it up. Parts might be hard to come by in Australia but there are parts yards in Arizona with enough rust free cars to rebuild one several times over. Shipping might be expensive but the look on faces as you cruise by makes all the time and money worth it.

I forgot to update this thread with my progress.

Here's that body seam filled and smoothed.


This is the sealer coat.


Full primer sanded smooth.


And she's finally one color again!


The paint is currently curing. I have a lot of orange peal to color sand before I call her finished. I have been driving her around and enjoying the heck out of her. I need to get some pictures of her all back together and on the road. Maybe a nice burnout picture to go with it

Now thats an expensive hobby ...

[evil_genius_180]

Great body work, dude. I can't wait to see the car all painted and put back together sitting out in the sun.

wow nice, I just started to redo the interior if my car. But it harder then 3d

It's taken awhile but I finally got some spare time for just the two of us to take a ride. She's not finished, they never are, but she looked so nice after a wash that I took her down to the local park for pictures.

I'm trying to find a nice spot on the beach or by the marina to get some pictures of her. There's also this run down old mechanic's shop up the road that's shut down. I think it'd make a nice backdrop. I just wish I was a better photographer with a better camera.

[Darrell Lawrence]

VERY very nice job on it!