I acquired a 1971 Nova front clip for my 1955 Chevy pickup (second series). I have noticed a few conversions mentioned on here and am looking for advice and information on procedures, problems encountered, etc. Has anyone run into specific problems that should be addressed before getting too deep in the project? Thanks for any help.
Measure, measure, and remeasure. And look at JAWS' posts in the "Clip in a day" thread (they start around page 11): http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148978&highlight=clip+in+day&page=11
I possibly see a problem with the '71 Nova front clip, it may not be wide enough. In '75 the Nova frame became 3 1/2" WIDER, which will probably make for a better fit. You may want to get out the tape measure and make sure it will be a good fit.
...should work OK, here's a coupla shots of my project 55 with a 72 Nova clip....these are 15X7 rally's but I will be running a 15X7 chrome reverse rim...on mine everything fits great
Like Mac said, measure umpteen times. Never takes as long to measure again as to redo and fix. I put a 74 Trans Am unit under my 55 Oldsmobile by myself simply because I saw a feature on a 56 Oldsmobile saying they'd used a similar Camaro unit. Put the car up on a very solid concrete floor with strong jacks and used steel shims till it was perfectly level all around. Went around the car more times than the cow circled in Twister and marked and checked again. Diagonal measurements very important too including from points on the upper firewall down to avoid any twist. I had no experiance prior to this, but my dust caps and steer pivot points landed exactly where the 55 units had been. I have previous experiance in drafting and design as my only back up. The finished product was checked by someone who has designed and built rail dragsters from scratch and p***ed with flying colors. So please go for it for the same satisfaction I've enjoyed, and keep us posted!
On my 48 98 Olds convert I used a front clip from a 76 Cutl***. It fit great, measure and remeasure, If you cut it wrong, you can't go back. Plate the area good after welding the clip on, and you should have a nice front end
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