Project Swinger Nova. RUST NEVER SLEEPS

[Bobby Kbro]

We’ve been working on our Project Swinger Nova, getting the foundation laid for a friggin’ sweet cruiser/rally car. The car is stripped and gutted, and we have started replacing the floor pans in the driver and passenger front footwell area. That part is coming along nicely.

We have a complete air ride suspension system that is going to be installed as soon as we clean the stub frame and get it painted. Also on tap is a rack and pinion steering system by Steeroids that will be mounted to the stub frame when it’s finished.

So, we have a game plan, and it seems to be going real well……….

I recently replaced the body bushings on the car. That’s a pretty simple job, and I have an article coming out soon showing the bushing replacement and explaining how to do it.
What I missed when I did the job, was how corroded and elongated the stub frame bushing mounting points had become in the right middle mounting point.



If you look around the Energy Suspension poly bushing, you'll notice a gap between the bushing and the metal. That's not suppose to be there. I took a look at the rest of the bushing mounting points and they all look fine. Could use some cleaning up of surface corrosion but the metal is there, and solid. See below for the two rear bushings on the stub frame.



Our next step is remove the entire suspension, fenders, grill and front bumper. Then drop the stub frame for clean up, inspection and repair or replacement.

37 years of hard driving and living in the elements has taken it's toll on our project car. I need to be looking harder at the areas where corrosion can hide and cause a big problem because....
RUST NEVER SLEEPS.

[powermelissa]

Thanks for catching that! Damn rust!

Can't wait wait to get the Air Ride Suspension on this baby and get her painted!

[Bobby Kbro]

Air ride is going to be installed soon! We also are adding a Steeroids rack and pinion steering system to this car. The GM steering system that came stock on this car was alright. But just ok. Unlike the other GM platforms of that time, the Nova X-platform was a rear steer system. Rear steer meaning that the steering box was behind the engine cross member. All of the other GM cars had the steering box in front of the engine cross member. I was surprised that someone made a direct bolt in kit for this oddly designed steering system. All in all, this will be a major improvement for the car's handling as well.

Finally, the Nova is getting a complete brake system from stainless steel brakes too. I think that you are going to find that the SSBC brakes are really going to help when you autocross this car. It's not enough to have the air ride system for suspension handling. You will need smooth brake control to really handle the track. The SSBC system is going to make this car a superstar on the autocross track.

If you don't want to race it, just let me know. I will.