1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard

[L78_Nova]

Rotisserie Time !!
Was lucky to be able to borrow this awesome rotisserie from a friend. It had however only been used for A bodies... needed to make adapters for the X body.

Nothing takes five minutes !!

[L78_Nova]

AND IT's UP !!!

This was no small feat working alone!

[L78_Nova]

Subframe out... After HOURS of scraping grease and a mid-winter quickie car wash.



Forward body mounts are a little roughed up. (patch outline traced in)



A friend with a small CNC plasma machine cut some "patch" washers.



Cut out the rusted areas and fit the washers.









Patches were Tigged in, finished both sides.
RH



LH

[L78_Nova]

It would appear something was hacked into the bumper mounts (both sides) with a nut welded to the frame. Perhaps some sort of home built tow bar ?





The lower slot was hacked open to clear behind the welded nut. Another Green Bastard repair issue.



Clean up the damage.



Fab up a patch coupon.






Back with copper and weld in. I was using the Tig again just because I wanted the practice.



Finished up

[jwbavalon]

I smiled at the comment, "because I wanted the practice".

[Xplantdad]

Originally Posted by L78_Nova

SIDEBAR;
MCACN 2019 We brought my friend Ken Kiernicki's 69 L78 Chevelle Convertible.

Attachment 214321

Man I got so sick starting Saturday Night, I was off my feet for two weeks and not fully recovered for a month! Covid this year was a breeze compared to that one.

If I am remembering right, We met up at Pavilions before MCACN in 2019, correct? You are friends with Bill Waters, too?

[L78_Nova]

Originally Posted by Xplantdad

If I am remembering right, We met up at Pavilions before MCACN in 2019, correct? You are friends with Bill Waters, too?

Yes I am friends with Bill but I have not been to Pavillions. I believe it was Dereck Glesby you may have met as he went along with Bill to tow his car down that year.

Dereck was along to MCACN with my convertible in 2018 and Ken's convertible in 2019. He loves driving !! He owns the 67 Nova SS from the barn finds pics in my earlier posts.

[L78_Nova]

On to the Right hand side. Hard to see in the picture but this side had a quasi rectangular piece with the round hole welded over the frame.



After cutting the rectangular piece loose you can see the same hogged out hole underneath (a little larger on this side)



Clean up the damage



fab up a patch, back with copper and weld





I didn't get a picture of just the patch weld. in this picture the patch was already welded and ground and I had now welded to fill the area gouged out from removing the old piece, and filling a couple spots on the patch weld.



Attachment 214592

[L78_Nova]

The underside of the crossmember has met the fate of the floor jack like so many before it.



No Easy fix except cutting it loose to hammer flat.











Ground and cleaned up. Chalk marks are for positioning the spot weld dimples. The dimples on this piece were a small diameter very defined shallow hole easily duplicated with a drill

[L78_Nova]

RH trunk drop. Recall I had patched the bottoms prior to installing the quarter. Shown here prior to finish welding. This side was all welded solid prior to installing the quarter,



From the underside.



You can see where the patch overlaps the ribs in the panel. This needs to be cut out and ground to open up the ribs.