[Whiplash03]

Hey Guys, this is my first attempt at doing this so bear with me. Hoping to post the beginning of my Gasser project. Owned this car years ago, got it back (long story) recently though it is missing a lot of parts. I have a lot of parts though and can replace a lot of what was lost down through the years. pretty solid though. been indoors for over 20 years.

 

[ProMetalShop]

Hey Whip, great job getting your pictures up.... Now thats a nice project ! !

 

[Marks63PontiacGasser]

I had a '67 two door post. Really liked that car. Keep the pics a comin' so we can share the trials and tribulations. Mark L

 

[1946Austin]

Great car! What are your plans for it?

 

[Whiplash03]

concrete plans are based on parts I have in "inventory" . speedway front axle, 12 bolt that was narrowed for a vega, if it is possible to make it fit. I have slot mags 10" & 3.5" and old torque thrust 8.5" and 3.5". I will use what fits best with the rear end. have a set of old mopar low backs. 388ci SBC with turbo 350. Just bought a set of what are supposed to be doug thorley fenderwell headers. aluminum rad out of an old arca car. I would like to do a lakewood style roll bar (don't have one). The gear for the 12 bolt is 4:56, rather have a 3:73 but i have to buy one. Just trying to use thes parts I have collected over the years. also want to round the rear wheel wells. Got some good tips on that here. I will post a couple more pics after lunch of the headers. maybe you guys can ID them for me. Steve

 

[casey w]

Looks good. Sounds like you know where your heading. Keep the info and pics coming.

 

[Whiplash03]

Headers and front clip

Here are the headers, supposed to be Doug Thorley, but I am not 100% sure. I like them anyhow. not real beat up or rusty. anyone on here thought about using a c10 ladder bar setup for locating the rear end? A thought I had if I can figure out how to make it work.

 

[1946Austin]

Can't comment on the brand of headers those are, but they appear to be fenderwell headers for a Jeep CJ model. Haven't seen any for a Nova or Tri 5 that disn't point down more on the collector. Still might work great if you bolt them on a SBC and mockup mounts to fit.
The C10 is a proven system, and no reason it wont work if you have room for arms that long. Might be even easier if you can locate a donor truck and cut the crossmember out and cut it down to fit your Nova. Maybe even build some framework on the arms to give it a cool look!

These are Nova Doug Thorley headers:

These are CJ5 Doug Thorley headers:

 

[Whiplash03]

These headers supposedly came off of a chevy ii that belonged to the sellers dad. who knows? gotta get my engine back from the machine shop and mock it up for sure. So sounds like the c10 system has been done before? That would be great, I have a c10 frame with the crossmember ladder bar arms and all. The 12 bolt is little narrow for the original chevy ii springs so this looks like a good option. This forum is great! Love the input from guys that been there done that! I have been in gasser overload checking out everyones cars!! 1946 austin, your car is bad to da bone!! Shoot I love all of them!! got some inspiration to work on it tonight! Yall have a good evening!

 

[flyn A]

I have a set that looks identical to the ones you have pictured and mine are for a nova as well mine are hooker super competition they don;t dump straight down the turn back under the floor.

 

[1946Austin]

Thanks Whiplash! I'm looking for another project too! Not much left on mine to do!

 

[mt94ss]

Great car! Love the post Chevy IIs.

Mike

 

[ProMetalShop]

Whip, just had a thought ! First let me be sure I understood what your thoughts were. You were going to use a C10 trailing arms setup so you could fit your 12 bolt which is to narrow to be located on your existing leaf spring in your Chevy II ? So if I have this right, my thoughts are moving the existing springs in so they accommodate the width on the narrowed 12 bolt may be easier of a task then modifying the C10 components. There are kits to do this, however your rear may be a bit narrow for just a kit. Then if room allows a set of Lakewood ladder bars. Again just a thought, and not knowing how narrow your rear is maybe you already have figured that and decided the C10 would be easier...

 

[Whiplash03]

Well, I see what you are saying, I do need to get some exact measurements. my thought was instead of cutting the trunk pan to move the brackets for the springs in back and then moving the ones for the front of the springs, I could run a bar from rail to rail for spring mounts over the rear housing. I could then do sub frame connectors with a crossmember for the front of the ladder bars. I was hoping to dress the ladder bars up with a cover with holes drilled in it to dress it up for looks. I thought this might be less work, and I have all the c10 stuff. Everything I have is just in my head right now, I will get this stuff together under the car to eyeball it. That will show me if the ladder bars would wind up in the floor. I do want my car a bit higher than the more modern lower look. Not street freak high though. I am sure I have now destroyed acceptable length of sentence rules.

 

[Whiplash03]

Thanks Mike. I have always wanted a 55 myself. Only had one opportunity to get one that I could afford, let myself be talked out of it! looked at the vid of your engine, nice. I have a 388ci engine in machine shop purgatory right now. Maybe I will get it soon. nothing super fancy or high dollar, but should be fun!

 

[1946Austin]

Since the trailing arms on a 60's C10 are I beam, it might look cool to punch holes in the verticle part, and as long as they're not huge holes it wouldn't hurt the strength. But you could make up plates with holes and add them to box them in also.
But I agree with Steve on moving springs inboard if it will work with the rearend you have. It's probably easier to move the rear axle spring perches to match the springs, and move springs, than to do the trailing arm swap. If I remember correctly the Nova springs sit directly under the frame, so moving them inboard beside the frame wouldn't be super hard to do.
If your donor rear axle is too narrow, it will require the frame rails to move anyway, so it might be easier to fab a rear frame setup, and then put it all together out of the car and drop it under as an assembly.

 

[Whiplash03]

Wow, I had never even considered that I may have to move the frame rails! This deal is getting serious. I am at work and will be going bonkers till I can get home and measure this stuff. This might be a situation where scrounging to save money has cost me. A move I am quite good at. oh well only 6 1/2 hours till I can pull tape. I have a vega so I did buy the rear for that car, just so yall don't think I bought it totally on a whim. When I go to the auto fair, I am like a junkie at a crack house.

 

[ProMetalShop]

Just a quick thought, John ( OpelGasser ) may have a set of rear frame rails to start your back half kit ! ! Not sure if he sold them or not

 

[Whiplash03]

Got out to the shop last night and did some measuring. The stock rear is 52.25" housing end to housing end, and the 12 bolt is 47" end to end. The truck spring mounts on the rear are 44.25 at the outside of the ladder bar mount. I think this leaves both of my options open, leaf inboard vs. ladder bar. both will require fab work, I am still leaning towards the ladder bar setup cause I think it would be cheaper and less fab work. I should'nt have to back halve the car, but i will probably mini tub it. I had a friend help me do that on another chevy ii i have, and its not that difficult to move the wheel house in. Hopefully this weekend i will have time to actually lay the bars up under the car. Its dark when i get home from work so I didn't get to take that stuff off the truck frame yet. Just shootin the bull over this stuff helps a lot with the motivation to get a move on with this project!

 

[1946Austin]

One issue you'll have with Chevy truck arms is they are designed to be mounted at an angle, so perches need to be angled also. You'l need to mount new perches, regardless of whether they're the right width or not. Need to be sure you've got full travel and clearance with the floorboards too before welding them in solid.