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It’s been a bit since anything has been said on our Project Swinger Nova, so today I am going to show you where we stand on the project. First off, the Nova sits comfortably under the dyno lift, naked in bare metal and castors welded to the bottom. We push her around the shop when we need to shoot, as Grandma is occupying the lift, since she is getting a full hip replacement with the 25.5 chassis and mini tubs being fabricated in by Mike Ryan.
We’ve been finishing up the full Air Ride suspension, we mounted up the Currie 9-inch rear end, and the SSBC brakes, and now we’re waiting for a full LS3 engine mount/swap conversion kit from BRP Hot Rods. Shawn is really dialing us in with everything we need for the Nova swap.
Here’s a few updates on some of the work we’ve done that you will see shortly.
The Air Ride suspension is installed minus the tank and electronics; all the actual suspension parts are installed. When most people think of air bags, they think of a mini truck bouncing down the street and something that doesn’t handle good, which is quite the opposite on the Air Ride suspension.
The Air Ride is completely compression and rebound adjustable that uses leveling sensors and air pressure sensors to make sure everything is working right, though it does use an air tank and compressor like your next-door neighbor’s ’64 Impala on 120 spoke Daytons. With a few clicks of the digital screen, it drops the car to the desired location. The suspension kit included all-new front arms to go with the air bags as well as a custom rear mount to hold the back end components in place. Check out the picture below for the rear shocks as well.
The Currie 9-inch rear end sits firmly, bolted to the Air ride suspension and with the SSBC brakes installed, ready for a driveshaft that will have to wait until after the motor and transmission is in. The Currie rear end is a Ford 9-inch that features a 3.70 rear gear that is housed to a TrueTrac differential that will allow for proper torque bias to the rear wheels in the turns (since this is an autocross car). The casing is nodular with 31 spline, 4×4.75 lug spaced axles.
The Currie rear end was a direct bolt-in for the stock 10-bolt and we had nothing but joy working with it.
Let’s be honest, four-wheel drums are just stupid; they do nothing for performance, unless you are having brake tests against a semi truck. The complete FX3 disc brake kit is fully installed on the Nova. The front calipers feature three 38 MM pistons in an aluminum housing. The front rotors are 13” and are cross-drilled and slotted to accommodate our 5×4.75 spacing.
The rears are slightly smaller with three, 30 MM rear pistons and a 13” rotor. Again, these rotors bolted up perfectly to our Currie rear end housing in which we now have a solid foundation for braking power on the Nova.
What is Coming Next?
We still have our LS3 engine sitting back here; eager to be ran in the Nova. But before we do that, we will mock up the engine, transmission, and Forgeline wheels. Once everything is mounted like we want it, everything we just installed will be ripped out and the shell will be taken to be painted.
Once any of that takes place, we will have an update for you!
