tires and wheels 1970 Nevada driver

[Duc226]

Thought I'd finally show my ride. It's a '70 Nevada that was family owned since new. Basically all original, including interior. It got backed into, 10 minutes after owing it. I'm fighting with insurance at the moment due to the lady claiming, I rear ended her. Damage has been estimated so far at $3500.00, without totaling the car. My personal insurance company thinks that is a weak estimate but we'll just see where it goes. In the mean time, I've tweaked, straightened and hammered, to get it drivable and presentable.

Ok, the fun stuff. I've done a few minor things. It needed window cranks, license plate lights, rear roundel, rear view mirror, etc. I've also installed an Ireland dizzy, coil, plugs and wires. Coil was going bad and dizzy was getting sloppy. All of those items fixed it up!!!

Next, overheating issues. I'm in the Central Valley of California. Super hot!! I went ahead and replaced all of hoses, water pump and had our local shop do a recore with a high flow, 2 row. Running nice and cool now, thus far. I'll find out today. Going to drive it to work, 35 min, commute, in the heat. While I was in there, I overhauled the original, small, heater control valve. Working great now. Heater fan was inop also. I got up this morning to take a look. I saturated the armature with contact cleaner. Fan slowly started turning. It took awhile but it's fully functioning at the moment. That's good!! Cold weather coming soon.

It has some rust, needs valve guide seals, leaks a little, has fade paint but we don't care. Our family loves it!!!!

I've been searching for the right amount of rust and patina. Future plans call for sport inserts, sway bars, bushings, etc. 38/38 carb upgrade, LSD, wheels, with good 13" rubber, new muffler(somewhat quiet), steering wheel, good driver seat and good 3 point belts. I'm going for a period type, street, rat, sleeper, race car look. Minor autocross and Sunday breakfast runs. Nothing that can't be undone.

That's it for now.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Duc226

[Duc226]

Sorry, can't figure out how get the pics straight.

['76mintgrün'02]

NICE!

I like Nevada.  Such a no-nonsense color.

 

Hold onto your original distributor  ... vacuum=good  ...  and it is not that hard to freshen them up.

[Duc226]

Distributor could be freshened up for sure. I like the electronic units and the Ireland unit is priced right, I think. I'll be keeping every piece that I pull off.

[hynrgee]

Nice car...are the photos before you were rear-ended? Also, where in valley are you? Regardless, congratulations!

[Duc226]

Those photos are from this morning. She backed into me at an intersection. I was sitting still. It broke the grille, dented the hood, front sheetmetal, bumper, trim, etc. broke the radiator and push the radiator support back a bit. I'm in Visalia/Porterville.

[rgiles675]

Sick Ride!

[hynrgee]

I wish I could say that it's incomprehensible how anyone would back up in an intersection. I've seen it happen too often now, generally in congested areas in the US. I've never thought of Visalia/Porterville as being congested. Good luck with your insurance. I asked because my wife was telling me of rings of people that specialize in shopping market accidents in Sacramento. In each case they claim harm and look for cash to compensate them for their inconvenience and injury.

[Duc226]

I bought the car in Santa Cruz. Before we loaded it up in the trailer, we where going to drive to the wharf, to eat lunch. Traffic stopped and the lady in on front of me decided to back up so she could turn left. She admitted to at the time but now she telling her insurance a different story!!

[Mike Self]

Looks very much like my Nevada '69!  Welcome to the fraternity/sorority!

 

Two suggestions about your early roundie:

 

1.  Rocker arms aren't bushed on the early engines, and the aluminum rockers will wear the steel shafts.  Really.  Grit gets embedded in the aluminum and wears the shafts.  If you have no adjustment left on your valve adjusters that's the cause. Ireland (I think) makes oversized adjusters that will get your valves quiet again, but eventually you'll have to replace rockers and shafts.  I started to run out of adjustment on my '69 beginning at 35k miles.  

 

2.  Closely examine your passenger side motor mount bracket--the piece that goes between the engine and the body.  If it's a single piece of metal folded over (not a welded-up bracket), replace it with the later style, welded bracket.  The early brackets fatigue crack and will drop that side of the engine so it'll (1) hit the hood and (2) interfere with the steering center track rod.  Neither are desirable situations.

 

Hope you get your car fixed on the lady's dime.  (Other) drivers are really stupid sometimes!

 

mike

[HBChris]

With such an original 2002 it would be a shame to turn it into a rat rod. Consider keeping it visually original with subtle mechanical upgrades.

[Buckeye]

With such an original 2002 it would be a shame to turn it into a rat rod. Consider keeping it visually original with subtle mechanical upgrades.

+1

[Duc226]

I guess rat rod is really not a proper description. What I really mean, I'm not going to restore it. I plan on keeping the paint, interior, trim, etc, all original. Everything that is done, will be reversible. Period type wheels, suspension upgrade, ride height where sits now. Good driver seat(having built by GTS classics) and a steering wheel. Then the common motor stuff, exhaust with stock manifold, some sort or carb upgrade, electronic ignition(already done) visually, it will look like it does now but with some sort of wheel.