Hey guys,

Since you are all a wealth of knowledge on so many subjects, I thought I would start here. My dad got a 74 Nova SS as a present from his dad when he graduated high school. It now has about 45k miles on it and sits in my garage. I would like to surprise him with some restoration type stuff for it. He turns 55 in 2011 and I would like to have it in good shape by then. The body is still in good shape (no rust), but could use painted and a couple dents removed. The interior isn't terrible, but could also use some help. Also, it has a 4 speed manual in it and the original 350. He has arthritis and it would be hard for him to drive it, so I would like to get an automatic to drop in. It hasn't been driven in years, but does run currently.

Does anyone know of a good place for me to start learning about this car, get ideas for where to buy parts, etc?

Thanks,
Nick

(sorry for the poor pictures & messy garage)

 

Having owned a few of the same car (except mine was a hatchback) MANY years ago, I know a thing or two about these cars.

The two biggest things you need to worry about are:

1. The subframe bushings rotting out.
2. The front brakes. Some SS's have disc, and some have drums. It just depends on what the customer ordered.

 

First off, let me drool over that Nova.

I personally would NOT repaint it, assuming that is factory paint. I would work with the paintless dent people, or a good body shop who understands you have what we call a survivor car.

Believe it or not, that car is worth quite a bit more with the factory paint still on it........

As for parts, I deal mostly with J&W Nova for my parts, great people who love Novas.

Oh yea, I think he might not be happy about the switch to an Auto, check with him first.

Arthritis or not, anybody who used to shift and knew to install that shifter wasn't just some street rat. I would bet your dad would rather put up with the pain for the limited time he will drive the car rather than drive a slushbox.........

 

Good point, Pat.

Nirion, you can always figure out a hydraulic clutch setup, or some company just might make one. That would be much easier on the leg than the mechanical Z-bar system they used.

 

I can't help you too much with restoration tips..

But if I were your dad,I would love it if it stayed the same color inside and outside. Looking at the pics I'd say that you should start with a really good cleaning, removing the floormats and all you can get out and clean it really good and assess the state of the car.
I don't know how grave the arthritis is, but the "whenIwasyoungcar" could actually motivate him to do something against it because it makes him younger. If he still has enough mobility I would try it with the manual tranny, and lube everything to make it easy for him.

Good Luck!

AlpineRAM

 

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll check out the J&W Novas. And I don't think I have seen one of those hatchback Novas before, very nice.

The paint is unfortunately not the factory job, but the interior is. He likes the colors.

The automatic was actually something he mentioned a few years ago. He and I are both larger guys, so if the car was bigger (chevelle-ish sized maybe?), the manual still might work for him, but I think with the front seat area being kind of smaller, the auto might allow him to enjoy it longer. I'll run it by him again, as this probably won't work as a surprise due to the time it will all take and the fact that it is in my garage that he sees fairly often. I was thinking maybe buy a larger part (the transmission maybe) and wrap that up for fathers day or something. I would love to be able to just uncover it all done, but I don't have the know how to do it all myself or the money to have it all done, and since he was a mechanic for 30 years, he can show/tell me how to do things.

Do you think the paintless dent removal would work ok? I had good luck with it for hail damage on my 03 Ram, but didn't know if it worked as well on the older stuff. There is a good size dent where his motorcycle fell against it in the driver's door (size of the handlebar end) and another in the rear corner where a large pry bar fell against it.

I found a forum, stevesnovasite.com, but does anyone know of any others?

 

Steves is the one I used to haunt, pretty good site.

Here is another actually multiple links.

As for the swap to Auto, if he is cool with it, the swap is cheese, use a TH350 and you literally have to change nothing. Leave your pedals in, save all the original stuff to be converted back later, and all you should have to buy is a flexplate, TH350/converter, a standalone tranny cooler and a shifter.

http://www.novaparts.com/cgi-bin/commerce/commerce.cgi

http://www.novas.net/forums/

And yea, by 74 they had taken a bunch out of the thickness of the metal, but it would be best to confer with the PD people.

 

i think i would do up a notebook on it, pics an facts and stuff.
and put "survivor" on it.
put that on the radiator at car shows.

and just clean it up, and leave the dents in it if they can't be taken out without damage.

anyone at a car show will know what a "survivor" is.

i would see how bad his arthritis is too,
has he tried celebrex and all that mess?

drugs are GREAT. i am on lyrica and diclofenac (sp?)
much more happy now.