The Front Bumper Tuck

In 1973 Chevrolet was required to increase the crash resistance of the bumpers on its vehicles. This began the era of the "big bumper" Novas. In order to be able to accommodate an up to 5 mph impact, the bumpers were pushed out away from the body 2-3 inches which made the bumpers look really bulky.

Big Bumper Nova owners wishing to clean-up the look of their 73-74 Novas have two choices. They can swap the nose trim, grill and bumper for a 69-72 setup which is a basically bolt on swap as the fenders are the same, but this is not cheap swap and it changes the personality of the 73 nose. The alternative is to perform the "bumper tuck". This is fairly quick and cheap.

On the front and rear, the bumper tuck eliminates the 2" plastic/vinyl trim that is suspended between the bumper and the grill or end panel and moves the bumper back to sit abutted to the grill or rear panel. On our car the rear bumper tuck was performed by the previous owner (who told us he also replaced the rear bumper with a 1974 bumper).

Since I had the front grill removed for paint, I decided to reassemble the front end with a front bumper tuck. Step one was to notch the bumper bracket. These bolt to the frame and when you slide them back without the notch they will run into the radiator support.

After several tries and test fitting, this is the final cut I used. 4-1/2" from the rear edge and 4-1/2" wide. (You can follow the slope of the detent in the brace in for the last 1-1/2".)

Bumper Tuck
Next Drill the new holes in the frame with a 1/4" or 5/16" bit and then finish the hole with a 1/2" or 9/16" drill bit. I only had a 1/2" so I needed to the clearance the holes so the bolts would slip through. The brace is now bolted to the frame using the first two bolt holes on the brace.

The #3 bolts are no longer bolted through the frame because the frame bends in away from the bracket. Here I just used an old bumper (carriage) bolt to tie the bumper bracket together with the outside bumper bracket.

Bolt the bracket to the frame in the new bolt hole location and you will have a bumper tuck that sits up over the lower grill trim and above the bottom of the headlight trim.

Lower Bumper Tuck Alternative
I also wanted to see how it looked if I bolted the bumper below the lower grill and headlight trim. The upside is you can move the bumper further back about 1/2", the downside is the 2" gap between the bumper and filler panel that would need to be filled.

To do this I added another elongated hole lower on the frame rail. (This pic is before I connected the two holes.) For the back bolt I used the existing slot in the frame.

If you use this bumper tuck you don't need to notch the braces but you definitely will need to fab filler panels for the side trim. Also with the bumper pulled this far back I found my front tire ran into the rear edge of the brace so if I left it this way I would have needed to trim the back of the brace.

It seems everyone goes with the upper tuck and I concur, even if the gaps weren't there the lower grill trim now becomes a visual element and it changes the look of the front end.

I'm thinking a Spoiler by Randy might be a good addition to the front...

Freshen Up the Interior

Since I had everything apart I decided the interior of the Nova needed a little freshening up as well. The dash pad, door panels and front seat were shot but the carpet, headliner and back seat were fine.So I decided to "freshen" the interior. Here's the before shot:

While I was working on the heater a new dash pad was put in and I rattle canned the dash. The door panels were replaced with new ones from Classic Industries and I took the front seat to Marce at Surf City Upholstery to have him match the velour that is on the back seat from the previous owner's recover.

I've still got to find a door pull and trim for the door panels,and there are lots of little pieces that could be replaced, but its looking much better. Here's the result so far.

The Heater Undelete

At some point a previous owner had the heater core go bad so he removed the A/C and Heater equipment under the hood and bolted a steel cover over the air inlet on the firewall. By removing this he also eliminated the Defroster. So for the last 10 years its been a little cold and foggy in the Nova during the winter months.

I decided this finally needed to be fixed. In addition to this my son also noted that there were no lights on the dash, so at night he was running dark. Since we were going to send out the seat to have it recovered I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get under the dash and fix this as well.

First I completely disassembled the dash. How is it possible all this stuff fits under there?

Next to get access to the mounting location for the heater blower motor I removed the passenger side inner fender well from inside the engine compartment.

There are a couple of companies that make "AC Delete" covers for the 3rd Generation Novas. The top piece is made from fiberglass and looks like a factory cover but I found it wouldn't fit without cutting the cover just above the top hose outlet. So I opted for the simpler looking ABS cover.

 

The next item was the wiring the PO had snipped off the wires that passsed through the firewall and I had this to work with. See the 5 neatly cut wires? They go through the firewall out to the AC/Heater components. The other end of this harness goes to the AC/Heater controls on the dash.

 

I bought a new Blower Motor, AC Relay, and AC Resistor and from the factory service manual I figured out how to wire it. The key to success was to buy all AC components. The AC components are all heavier than the Heat-only and the firewall on the AC cars are different than the firewall on the heat only cars!

 The resistor was mounted inside the AC delete panel and wired out to the AC relay which feeds the blower motor. This all is routed through the firewall in the big grommet just above the valve cover.

You can see the new Heater core coming through the firewall. The first test was to try the blower motor and it worked on all speeds. All I need now is a couple of hoses and the Heater install will be complete.

In reassembling the dash I cleaned all of the connections and replaced all the bulbs and two undersized fuses and now we have all the lights on the dash as expected!

We added new door panels a new dash pad and had the seat recovered and the interior is like new.

How Low Can We Go?

Back when we replaced the air shocks and installed the 2" drop Hotchkis leaf springs on the rear I felt the front end need come down the same amount.  After I replaced the front brakes I started collecting front end components when good deals would come up on ebay. My goal was to lower the front end a couple more inches and hopefully make the car handle better in the process.

I went with a set of the Tubular A-Arms that have a coil spring drop pocket and a pair of 2" drop spindles. I felt this combined with a set of stock height springs would give me just the right ride height in the front.

 
ebay Tubular A-Arms

ebay Tall 2" Drop Spindles

Rock Auto Rockwell Constant Rate RC5370 Coil Springs

Rock Auto KYB Gas Adjust #KG4515  Front Shocks

The only problem was taking the front end this low put the front rims right on the fender wells so hitting any bump caused the front tires to rub on (actually bang into) the inner fender well. Ever since we lowered the rear there was a little rubbing on the passenger rear under load but the PO had rolled the inner lip so the rubbing was minimal. But when we got this low in the the front the rubbing was way too much.

 The Nova with 2" drop in the back and 4" drop in the front.

The old wheels were a fairly standard 4.5" backspace the solution was some 5.25 backspace wheels. So I changed to this wheel in silver.

Vision Legend 5 - 17x8, 5x4.75 bolt pattern,
5.25" backspace (+19mm offset), Silver Rims

The 5.25 was perfect on the back the rubbing out back was gone and the 17" rim clears the rear shocks in the stock location. In the front a 5" backspace would be perfect so I ordered a set of custom spacers from http://www.motorsport-tech.com. These were $90 but worth every penny to get it right.

Motorsport-Tech.com 10mm Spacers

These spacers have the added advantage of being hub-centric so the wheel is not riding on the log nuts but instead it rides on the wheel hub. The 10mm spacers move the wheels out 1/4" and still leave 8 full threads on the lug nuts.

The front tires are still P225/45R-17 and the backs are P245/45R-17. With the front this low, the front tires are maxed out. But when we replace the rear tires we might go a little wider/taller as there is plenty of room for more tire in the back now.

Someday I'd like to add a Posi Rear, 1" lowering blocks, Disc Brakes and a set of 17x9 rims back there!

Put Some Junk in the Trunk

One of the simple upgrades to an old car is to detail the trunk. So the first point of business when the Nova got back from the paint shop was to splatter paint the trunk.

Now we just need one of those vinyl trunk mats!

The Custom SS Treatment

Since we already had the SS grill on the car, I decided to include a few SS exterior trim features on our Nova Custom as an homage to the 1973 Nova SS.

The SS grill is blacked out with an upper and lower bar. Available as an option on all Novas, Dual Body-color Sport "Bullet" Mirrors were part of the SS trim package.

The Black Painted Rear End Panel (that matches the grill) was an SS-only treatment.

The  taillights with bright trim was standard on the SS and the Custom.

We removed the rocker moldings and painted the bright trim

around the door frames the body color.

What makes a "real" 73 Nova SS
In 1973 the Nova SS RPO Z26 was basically just an Exterior Trim package with a Heavy Duty suspension. It could be had with any motor combination including the 6 cylinder 250ci motor. This means that any 73 Nova could theoretically be equipped as an SS. If you are trying the verify a 1973 Nova factory SS you need the original build sheet that the factory would have left under the rear seat.

The list below shows what options both the 1973 Nova Custom and SS included. I have notes after each item that relates to the specific option's inclusion or exclusion on our Nova Custom.

The 1973 Nova SS package included:
Exterior Trim

• Black grille with argent accent on 2nd and 5th horizontal bars (added)
• "SS" ornamentation (badges) on grille, fender and deck lid (grill ornamentation added)
• Specific body side striping (not added)
• Black painted rear end panel with bright trim on tail lamps (added, bright trim existing from Custom)
• Dual body-color sport mirrors (added)
• Bright roof drip moldings (existing from Custom trim)

Interior Trim

• "SS" emblem on steering wheel shroud (not added)
• Carpet floor covering (existing from Custom)

Chassis

• Rally wheels 14x6 or 14x7 with specific center hub and no trim ring (not added)
• F40 Heavy duty suspension (F41 Sport suspension optional) (not added)

The Black End Panel, the Sport mirrors, no rocker and wheel moldings, body color side window trim are all a tip of the hat to the 1973 SS trim package. Badges? We don't need no stinkin badges!

The Nova "Custom" was newly introduced in 1973 and it was an upgraded trim package. Here's what the 1973 Nova Custom package included:

Exterior Trim

• Bright trim on grille around parking lamps - Yes
• Front and rear bumper impact strips (previously removed)
• Bright roof drip moldings - Yes
• Fender and rocker lower moldings (fender moldings previously removed, rocker moldings removed)
• Front fender "Nova Custom" nameplate (previously removed)
• Bright trim around tail lamps - Yes

Interior Trim

• Right front door jam switch for dome lamp operation - Yes
• Glove box lamp - Yes
• 10" wide prismatic inside rear view mirror - Yes
• Cigarette lighter - Yes
• Bright framing on instrument cluster carrier - Yes
• Passenger compartment carpet floor covering - Yes
• Rubber and foam backed vinyl trunk mat (previously removed)
• Special floor and 4-piece hood insulation (hood insulation previously removed)
• Deluxe door sidewall with bright moldings and simulated wood insert (wood grain removed)
• "Nova" door trim emblem (removed)
• Rear seat arm rests with ash tray - Yes

Here are the RPO's I've identified that were included on our 1973 Nova Custom:

• AK1 - Deluxe belts & harness front - Yes
• C60 - Air Conditioning - (previously removed)
• D33 - Outside mirror - remote control (removed)
• JL2 - Disc brakes front - Yes
• N40 - Power steering - Yes
• U69 - Radio - AM/FM push button (removed)
• U76 - Windshield antenna - Yes
• VE5 - Deluxe bumpers (removed)
• V01 - Heavy duty radiator - Yes
• ZJ5 - Exterior decor package
  • Body side Molding (previously removed)
  • Bright side window and door frame moldings (removed)
• Z54 - Interior decor/quiet group
  • Right front door jam switch for dome lamp operation - Yes
  • Glove box lamp - Yes
  • 10" wide prismatic inside rear view mirror - Yes
  • Cigarette lighter - Yes
  • Special floor and 4-piece hood insulation (hood insulation previously removed)
  • New improved acoustic package - Yes

No Mexican Stripes!

I ordered the paint from Summit I got a gallon of 2-Stage Flame Red Urethane and two Gallons of Reducer along with a quart of hardener. It was all low VOC (required in CA) and was about $250. In addition I decided I wanted to do the SS black rear panel treatment and have a set of Chevelle/Camaro SS stripes painted in flat black. I ordered a Hot Rod Flatz paint kit from TCP Global, paint, reducer and hardener for $60. The paint and details on the stripes were delivered and we waited anxiously to see the Nova.

Luis called and asked if I wanted the red clear coated as it was basically flat red. Well yes... so Rueben got a gallon of clear for an extra $200 and clear-coated the car.

When we went to pick it up it wasn't quite ready and the stripes were "interesting". I'd given Reuben a very detailed diagram of the Chevelle style stripes I wanted. Including the 1/4 border and the widths and distance from the edge of the hood with measurements etc.

This is what I wanted... the Chevelle stripe in the Camaro width:

This is what they painted:

 

I asked them to repaint the hood and trunk. We decided that no stripes are better than bad stripes. So back to the paint shop and a few weeks later the week after Thanksgiving I picked up the Nova.

When I went to pick it up there was an extra $200 charge for more Red Paint, or more Clear, or because I made them repaint the stripes, or for something. But in any event it was time for me to pick up the car. I think Reuben and Luis were over it.

Monday Morning Quarterback
The $1200 bodywork and paint cost $1900. Here's the breakdown:

• $1200 Esitimate
• $300 Paint, Reducer and Hardener (Jegs)
• $200 Clear
• $200 Extra Red? 

Before I took the car to LA I removed the all the trim but left on the bumpers, tail lights and headlights for my 2 hour drive to LA. In hindsight, I should have removed the bumpers and put some junk yard wheels and tires on car. And since I was going to work on the dash I should have gutted the interior.

For the money, they did a lot of bodywork, the rust is gone and the Nova looks way better now.