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In this installment of Project Swinger, we’re looking at buttoning the beast up and focusing on the details. Follow along as we replace the glass and brightwork on our long-term Project Swinger ’71 Nova, courtesy of Classic Industries.
Project Swinger had been pushed around the shop enough, and this year it decided to push back when the LSA and Tremec 5-Speed were installed. The exterior trim, glass and interior trim are upcoming projects and we’ll keep you filled in.
Project Swinger gets a custom hot set of pipes using a kit from Flowmaster, Super 44 mufflers and a cool coating from Jet-Hot Coatings. It’s almost criminal to hide parts that look this good under a car.
It’s been a long time coming, but after all the performance parts mock ups, we finally stripped our Project Swinger Nova down bare and dropped it off at the paint booth at ZBest Paint & Body to get a shiny new coat of Sherwin-Williams paint.
It’s pretty obvious “Swinger” is heading out as a heavy hitter. It’s been a long time coming, and finally with the paint smoothed and finished, Sean Goude, our resident tech-genius could begin the laborious task of fitting Swinger with the entire powertrain setup, exhaust, and driveshaft.
Project Swinger is nearly up and running. This month we update you on its interior, more specifically, it’s all digital hardware from Dakota Digital. This all-in-one unit supplies the driver with every running feature via included sensors and easy-to-read display. We’ve got the update here, check it out!
Wanting a professional prep job done before Swinger got painted, we turned to Z-Best Auto Body & Paint for the full treatment. Knowing that a car’s paint job is only as good as the prep work done prior, Z-Best did an amazingly thorough job completing the many tasks required to get Swinger ready for her new look.
We know you’re waiting to see what Project Swinger looks like since she’s been painted, but we aren’t quite ready to let you in on that little secret. However, we do have some eye candy for you, giving you a sneak peak into what the interior of our pro-touring Nova is going to look like.
With the latest discussion on Swinger being the paint scheme choices, we wanted some chrome to jazz things up a bit and really get our Nova‘s classic look rolling. Not only were we looking for pieces to compliment the pro-touring style of the car, but also pieces that showed close attention to fine details.
When we got our ‘71 Nova, Project Swinger, it was in rough shape. Because of all the rust and body damage, we had to do a lot of metal work to straighten out the rough body of the car. To accomplish this, we used many tools. While the use of certain tools may be obvious for metal work, others are less evident.
Project Swinger has come full circle in a metaphorical way. From it’s original glory when it rolled off the showroom floor to a dark corner of the garage waiting to be cared for, and back into the light in preparation for it’s glorious return to the streets.
Before we can revel in the beauty of freshly repainted and dutifully re-straightened classic muscle car sheet metal, we need to assemble and trial fit most everything. Today’s mission was simple enough: install Aeromotive’s Stealth Fuel Cell, Performance EFI regulator, 100-micron fuel filter.
Here at Chevy HardCore, we’ve been hard at working building up a garage with enough projects to provide us with all the product testing, how-to tips, and trick new product installs to last us nearly for the entire length of 2011.
Behind every great engine is a great cooling system. Swapping an LSA engine into our ’71 Nova, Project Swinger, meant upgraded its cooling system. We turned to AFCO and their bolt-in LS radiator and fan conversion kits for muscle cars.
Reassembled – although loosely – Swinger looks good on its own feet. It’s been a long time since this fair-weather project has been back together and it makes us want to turn up the heat and git ‘er done. We’ve been tinkering with the ride height, raising it an inch here, lowering it an inch there.
Right now, with her supercharged 6.2-liter CTS-V LSA plant resting between the fenderwells, we’ve had Swinger all but totally plumbed for the big ol’ Aeromotive fuel cell, electric fuel pump, and a whole lot of steel braided line.
While we’ve got a bunch of irons in the fire over hear at powerTV, we were amazed at how time got away from us with our g-machine ’71 Nova “Swinger.” We’ve gone through the same sort of thing, but have made great strides since we first started.
Hey kiddies! It’s been a while since we’ve last heard a peep out of our Pro Street/g-Machine ’71 Nova nicknamed “Swinger,” we know. But be not dismayed! There’s all sorts of cool stuff coming down the line for our veneral classic conversion Bowtie.
After unsuccessfully taking the subframe out of Project Swinger to two different places to be sandblasted we decided to do it ourselves. And by ourselves I’m referring to me.
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X-body Novas like our Project Swinger were designed with a uni-body construction. This means the rear frame rails were integrated into the body, with an independent front sub frame attached at 6 points to the body with rubber bushings.
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