Master-Tech Automotive

Starting another project.

I told myself and Mary Ann that the Fairlane was the last one. "Yeah right", she says.
I bought a Nova on ebay a week and half ago which was in Florida. I asked the guy on the phone and by text about any rust and he assured me there was a small spot on a fender. So I bought it. It looked real nice in the pictures. When it got here and I got it up on the lift it was a rust disaster.
I notified the guy and told him that I assumed since he was a car dealer that he inspected his inventory and he said he had no idea. I told him that if he had any business ethics that he would give me my money back and I would pay to have it shipped back to him. I lost a grand on the deal but learned a lesson and that is you can't trust everyone.
I like to think everyone is good and honest and I know better but I don't like thinking bad about anyone in general.
He made it right when he didn't have to since it was an As Is sale.
Moving forward. I was looking on craigslist and found a 68 Chevelle Coupe Roller, a tandem axle car hauler with a winch and brakes for a great price in San Antonio. The car had no interior at all, no engine or transmission and came with extra fenders and grills with core supports. Right up my alley !
Even if it had be a complete car I would have taken it apart and thrown most of the stuff away anyhow.
I took it completely apart, put the body on my rotisserie and the frame on a body dolly. I have a guy coming tomorrow to blast them both with Wet Glass Beads with a rust inhibitor. That will give a me a couple of days to spray it with Epoxy Primer and then start block sanding it and get it real nice and straight.
I have already made a parts list and ordered 95% of what I will need to restore it.
Instead of building my own engine I opted to get one already done by Skip White in Kingsport, TN. a 503 HP 383 Stroker. The transmission will be a 700r4 4 speed overdrive automatic with a 3000 stall converter. researched these guys and they know what they are doing and the cost is about what I would spend doing my own and it comes with a 2 year warranty. Once they finish building it they will dyno tune it on video and post it to youtube with my name. I will upload that video when it becomes available.
The engine is a 503 HP 383 Stroker. The transmission will be a 700r4 4 speed overdrive automatic with a 3000 stall converter. rear end will be a Dana 60 with 373 posi built by Strange.
brakes are 4 wheel disc by Wilwood.
I am installing a Pro Touring suspension by RideTech front and rear.
If space allows I will have 20" x 10" wheels in the rear and either 19" x 9" or 18" x 9" in the front with Cooper Zeon RS3 tires all around
I am doing the seats in a Ultra Leather with the period correct style patterns.
More pictures as it progresses.
The first picture is of the Nova I sent back. Looks are very deceiving as you can tell.

Hood and sides all fitting to the car, ground and smoothed edges and to keep body lines and gaps consistent. Next thing on the list is to fabricate the double latch release and lock. I used 3/16" flat plate to make a bracket that will attach to the top left bolt on the brake booster. Drilled the bolt hole, After some careful measuring, I bent plate, then cut a notch in the plate for the release rod to travel through. I then welded a support piece on the inside corner so the pressure on the rod from the latch spring would not make it flex. I then welded the rod stop bracket onto the steel plate bracket. I used a piece of stainless 7 mm tubing and tapped 10-32 threads on one end so I could attach a swivel stud that will serve as a pivot at the latch assembly. The latches are release or opened by pushing the rod from inside the car. I used a piece of round steel stock, drilled a 7.06 hole and beveled one end. I slid this on the tubing close to the billet k**b and then I bent the rod to clear things under the dash. When the rod is pushed in the round piece of steel stock will enter the hole in the bracket and when the rod is pushed down the round steel piece will rest on the back of the slotted hole and keep the hood latches in the released position. After this part is finished I will start cleaning the panels and other pieces with degreaser and Prep-Sol to get them ready for primer and paint.

Happy New Year everyone ! Here is the progress of the one piece hood and sides I am making for the car. Fabricated some side braces out of small square tubing and welded in some counter sunk threaded bungs for the side to fasten too, The bottoms of the sides will have tabs welded on at the front and rear of each panel and the tabs will slide onto a tab on each end of the body that will have a pin sticking out of it. Just finished all the fab work on the hood. Welded on tabs for the prop rod and made some cross braces to keep the hood stable. I bought a new Miller-Matic 141 for welding light metal and it works awesome ! You set one dial for the size of wire you are running through the gun and you set the other dial for the thickness of material you are welding and it sets you wire speed and heat for you. I will post more pictures and the project moves along.

My son Jacob and I started another project. A 1970 Mustang Coupe from the ground up. It will be painted Grabber Blue with a Mach 1 hood scoop and C-Stripes down both sides. A c-6 3 speed automatic transmission, a 477 Big Block with all kinds of go fast goodies, a 355 TruTrac Posi rear end. The interior will be all new and will have a custom gauge setup that we put together that uses all the latest technology. I will post pictures of the car the way we bought it and some during and after pictures as the project unfolds. Jacob was inducted into the world of sand blasting and has already taken his first sand bath. Sand blasting the large items like rearend and other big parts requires doing it out in the back lot and that stuff flies everywhere, gets in your hair, ears, down your shirt and other places I won't mention.
Hope you like it !