Now that the painting is complete, it is time to start reassembling the car. During the repair and painting processes the door handles and locks were removed. The wiring harness forward of the firewall and behind the rear seat area was removed. Windows, chrome, antenna, wipers, radiator, and much more were all removed. Now they all have to be re-installed.
I wanted to start by putting the grill and headlights in. But I knew that I would have to bend over the grill to put in the radiator. So, the first thing I did was to start with the engine compartment by installing the radiator.
In this view below, you can see the flexible hydraulic transmission lines coming up across the front of the engine and laying on the top. They screw into the lower part of the radiator to cool the transmission fluid. Most cars have steel transmission lines. But for some reason this car has flexible lines.
After the radiator was in I went to town on the grill and headlights. I spent over two hours just straightening a crease in the headlight bezel on the right.
Prior to installing the parking lights I noticed they had a lot of crazing on the lenses. Using the finest polish I had used to buff out the paint, I hand rubbed the crazing until it was removed.
Here the parking lights and bumper filler panel have been installed. Also the moldings along the front edge of the hood and down the center are seen. At this point it is ready for the bumper to be installed.
With the grill and headlights installed, I figured it would be a good time to reconnect the wiring harness. In the view below you can see it coming out of the firewall just to the right of the brake master cylinder. Even with marking the wires before removal, it was still a challenge to make sure each wire was routed correctly and connected to where it was intended. On the right side of this picture you can see the voltage regulator and horn relay have been connected, now they just need mounting. You can also see the wires going to the alternator just behind the corner of the radiator. Other wires ran across the back of the engine compartment to the starter, distributor, oil pressure, and temperature sensor.
In this picture below you can see what is called the belt-line molding. It runs from the front of the fender all the way to the aft end of the quarter panel down both sides. At the rear it curves down and then angles forward to follow the quarter panel. If you notice the end of the chrome doesn't match up with the contour line of the car. Guess who gets to customize the molding to match the car..........., yes it's me.
As you can see in the picture above, I put tape down first so the paint didn't get scratched. After taping the molding in place where it needs to go, I ran a pencil along both sides of the chrome to mark where it goes.
In this view you can see the two pencil lines where the molding goes. Holes are drilled every 8 to 10 inches, centered between the two lines.
The drill bit used is a uni-bit, designed for drilling through sheet metal.
A pin striping brush is used to apply paint.around the inside edge of the holes to prevent rust.
Here you can see how warped the moldings are when you get them.
As you can see, it is warped considerably. It has to be straightened before it is attached. I laid a towel on my work bench and slid my hand along the molding applying pressure where needed to get it to lay flat against the surface of the work bench. You can't hold the molding with pliers or hammer on it, as this will mar the smooth surface.
In addition to straightening the molding, it has to be cut at just the right place so that the portion below the contour line angles forward to follow the rear edge of the quarter panel. In the picture below you can see that a little over an inch will have to be cut off.
In addition to the belt line molding, the seals on both sides of each door glass needed replacing.The outer seal was rubber, the inner was similar to felt. The rubber seal attached to the inside of the molding you see at the top edge of the door. It is where your elbow would rest if you were "cruising". Below you see the vent window and frame had to be removed in order to access the screws holding the molding on. In addition to the window, the mechanism that makes it go up and down, called a regulator, also had to be removed.
Here the rubber seal has been attached to the molding and clamped to allow glue to dry. There are barbs on the molding that fit into slots in the molding to hold it on, but I added glue for a better fit.
At this point the entire door has been gutted.
Besides all the chrome and wiring harnesses, there were a zillion other "little things" that had to be installed. Things like the gas filler neck seen below. But also the gas tank had been sent out to be steam cleaned. While it was out, I rebuilt the sending unit for the gas gauge. But there were also many other small items that HAD to be installed like the trunk latch, tail lights, door handles, exhaust pipes, and on, and on.
These aren't "stick on" emblems like today's cars!
The quarter windows needed new gaskets along the forward edge where they meet with the aft edge of the door windows. Here you see the old and new gaskets with the window. The window pivots at the point where you see a hole in the little arm on the bottom of the window.
As it pivots, the upper and aft edges of the window ride in a channel lined with a fuzzy felt material similar to that on the inside edge of the door windows. Here the new felt is seen just before gluing into place on the inside of the channel.
The Quarter windows also needed new seals. Here you see the new seal installed on one molding and the other just before installation. You can see the barbs and the slots they fit into.
The windshield is sealed with ribbon caulk. You don't see this stuff on new cars anymore and that is too bad. It is good stuff. It has to be applied by hand and that doesn't lend itself to robotic assembly line automation.
The old windshield has been removed and ribbon caulk laid around the opening. This will seal out water and prevent leaks.
The windshield is held in place by a thick rubber gasket designed to hold onto the lip seen in the picture above. The chrome fits into a channel in the gasket. You can barely see the lip beneath the gasket. A 1/4" nylon rope is pressed into the lip all the way around the gasket, starting and ending at the bottom center. This rope will be used to pull the gasket lip over the lip on the car
Another view of the molding fitted to the gasket, and the gasket to the windshield.
This view is from inside the car looking forward. The hood is open, but you can see forward beneath the rear edge of it. Here the windshield has been placed into the opening. The weight of the windshield pressing down will help keep the lip of the gasket engaged with the lip of the opening. If you look very closely, you can see that the gasket is over the lip to a point about halfway to the right of the ropes. It still isn't really "down" on the lip of the car like it needs to be, but you have to get it there a little at a time. As you pull the rope, one side at a time, you have to press down on the rubber to get it to go over the lip of the car. I even use a short piece of 2 X 4 to persuade the gasket down onto the lip of the opening.
The same view from a different angle. Here you can more clearly see where the gasket is lipped over and where it is not.
As you pull the rope and work the gasket onto the lip of the opening, you work your way around the edge of the windshield and up to the upper corners. These are the hardest part of putting in a gasket type windshield, and this one was a real bear. I have special tools made of nylon that slide along the gasket to help pry it over the lip. They are basically just a tapered pry bar that slides on rubber. It takes a LOT of patience to install this type of windshield.
With the windshield in, there was no reason to delay installing the radio antenna.
Here you can see how the side view mirrors are held on. The slot on the bottom of the mirror is slightly inclined, so that as you slide it the mirror is held down tighter. Then you install the forward screw to lock it in place.
Here is the "poor little Nova" that had arrived in such bad shape, now with a new lease on life. There is still much work to be done before it will be roadworthy, but I am proud to say I had a big hand in preserving a neat little car.
The tires look terrible, but they will be replaced. I had to air three of them up every morning before working on it. The important thing is there is no rust on the car and all the panels are straight and lined up correctly. It is shiny now too.
The owner was very pleased with the end results. As you can see, it looks very nice.
Here you can see how the belt line molding angles forward as it comes down at the rear.
Piece by piece, it all went back together. The tail lights were polished out from the inside with micro fine polish used for aircraft windshields. The bumper had to be twisted off the car to get it to fit correctly. There were shims involved too.
If you are ever at a "Rod Meet" or "Classic Car Drive In" and see a little red metallic Super Sport rag top Nova, say hi to it for me because there is a little bit of me in that car!
This is one lucky little Nova! If either me or the owner had known how bad it had deteriorated, it would have never been restored. But I am happy that one cool classic car avoided the scrap heap. I promise you this Nova will never be sold. There is no way the owner could get what he has invested back out of it.
Bye bye little Nova!
I hope you have enjoyed my blog on restoring this car. My next major project will be a 1946 Taylorcraft BC12D, like the one pictured below. It will be awhile and, like the Nova, will be a long process. I hope to get started on it sometime in 2016. If you have questions or comments, I can be reached at neat1s AT yahoo DOT com .
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