Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

Car pics too cool not to share

Yes, that will surely make it better. :ROFLMAO:

Wait is that a 48 Chrysler Town and Country , or a tarted up K - car ? :cautious:

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@NashvilleTJ I passed this yesterday in one of those little bypass towns. I didn't have time to get an actual pic, but it still looks the same. I started to call you and tell you to take it home with you. I bet you could fit 2 or 3 HEMIs in there, and it aint going to roll over backwards. ;)

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@NashvilleTJ I passed this yesterday in one of those little bypass towns. I didn't have time to get an actual pic, but it still looks the same. I started to call you and tell you to take it home with you. I bet you could fit 2 or 3 HEMIs in there, and it aint going to roll over backwards. ;)

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Set it up like Cleet's 9 second limo

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That was probably me. Talk to me more Chief. Let's see some pictures. Is yours a "numbers" car? It looks nice. I have a '67 326 HO stick-shift car.

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That's cool, do you still have both radius rods on the rear end?
My bird came factory with a red stripe like your white one, but since she's a 400 car she didn't have the H.O. Lettering.
Original iron block, but I spun a rod bearing and since I can't leave well enough alone I stroked the motor out to a 455.
The trans had been swapped out for a caddy TH400 sometime in the past.
When the motor was out I did a full mechanical and electrical rebuild on the whole car. Only exception was suspension, that was next on the list before paint and body, but then I had my second child, followed by my third and fourth... with #5 on the way it'll be a bit... because I'm also messing with a LJ... ha.
 
That's cool, do you still have both radius rods on the rear end?

I believe so, but I'm not 100%. Now I'm curious. She's mostly original, but with some '68 parts swapped in. I know my "cocktail shakers" are still in place. My parents found and bought it back in the early '80s looking more or less like it does in that pic above. I have a lot of documentation for the car, including a back story and PHS documents, which I can give you a condensed version if your interested.
 
I believe so, but I'm not 100%. Now I'm curious. She's mostly original, but with some '68 parts swapped in. I know my "cocktail shakers" are still in place. My parents found and bought it back in the early '80s looking more or less like it does in that pic above. I have a lot of documentation for the car, including a back story and PHS documents, which I can give you a condensed version if your interested.

What are these shakers and is this car part of why you hate convertibles
 
What are these shakers and is this car part of why you hate convertibles

Well, it was the '60s, I'm pretty sure cocktail shakers looked like this. If you bought a convertible Firebird, you got 2. :sneaky:
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The "cocktail shakers" are a fluid damper, or tuned-mass damper, that was installed in the rear of 1st gen convertible Firebirds and Camaros, and I think Corvair used some too. Apparently the convertible versions of those cars produced a resonance frequency, and these fluid dampers were somewhat of a NVH band aid that took care of that. I've never cut one open, but I've been told there is a weight inside suspended between springs on each end in an oil bath. I think they weight about 15lbs.

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Is it in line before , or after the Impala ?

Maybe between. 🤷‍♂️My hardtop car and the Firebird are in very similar condition, with the Impala probably being closer to drivable, but the Firebird is more together than my convertible Impala. The Firebird was last driven in the mid '70s, so she ain't just going to fire off, and the last owner died before finishing his project so I have to figure that out.

The kids are starting to bug me about these cars, so I have reinforcements on the way. ;)
 
I believe so, but I'm not 100%. Now I'm curious. She's mostly original, but with some '68 parts swapped in. I know my "cocktail shakers" are still in place. My parents found and bought it back in the early '80s looking more or less like it does in that pic above. I have a lot of documentation for the car, including a back story and PHS documents, which I can give you a condensed version if your interested.

I can talk old pontiacs all day,
Mine is a 67 400, manual top with a deluxe interior. Mayfair maize with black top and black interior.

I talked my wife into going to look at her on our way to our honeymoon after we were married.

I guess she was a wedding present to ourselves.

I've always liked the lesser collected brands, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, mercury,
the first car I remember was my mothers, she had a 1970 Formula 400, and I'd love to have one like it someday. Her car rusted away in the late eighties, but I still have the hood hanging in my garage.
 
I can talk old pontiacs all day,
Mine is a 67 400, manual top with a deluxe interior. Mayfair maize with black top and black interior.

I talked my wife into going to look at her on our way to our honeymoon after we were married.

I guess she was a wedding present to ourselves.

I've always liked the lesser collected brands, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, mercury,
the first car I remember was my mothers, she had a 1970 Formula 400, and I'd love to have one like it someday. Her car rusted away in the late eighties, but I still have the hood hanging in my garage.

I went to high school with a guy who had a 69 GTO Judge 400 4 spd. It was a rough around the edges but quick . But not as quick as my buddy's 69 GTX 440 4 spd. The Goat had L-60 -14's and the GTX had N50-14 with the 1970's requisite Gabriel HiJacker air shocks pumped up. :LOL:
 
I can talk old pontiacs all day,

For me, the '69-'72 Grand Prix is the "modern" Poncho I love the most (I've owned a '71 and a triple-black '72). But by far, my most favorite is a '60 Ventura/Catalina/Bonneville, of which I've owned several. After that, the '57. I owned one Star Chief 2-door hardtop. Love me some Ponchos!
 
I went to high school with a guy who had a 69 GTO Judge 400 4 spd. It was a rough around the edges but quick . But not as quick as my buddy's 69 GTX 440 4 spd. The Goat had L-60 -14's and the GTX had N50-14 with the 1970's requisite Gabriel HiJacker air shocks pumped up. :LOL:

I bought a '71 LeMans Sport, towards the end of my senior year in HS, that started it's post production life in Alaska. Somehow it and another LeMans that came off the production line roughly 300 cars or so later wound up at a used car dealer in Everett. The dealership owner had robbed what he thought was the best options off both cars and dumped some money into the one he wanted to keep and sold the one I got for $1200. Fast forward a year later when I was at UTI in AZ and I ran the numbers on the engine because the trans was obviously not the TH350 that was supposed to be in the car. I found out the engine was out of a '69 GTO Judge and came back as a Ram Air 3 400 and a TH400 trans. The one he "built" had a slightly worked over small block chev 350 in it... I'd say I got the better end of that engine deal....
 
For me, the '69-'72 Grand Prix is the "modern" Poncho I love the most (I've owned a '71 and a triple-black '72). But by far, my most favorite is a '60 Ventura/Catalina/Bonneville, of which I've owned several. After that, the '57. I owned one Star Chief 2-door hardtop. Love me some Ponchos!

I dig the 8 lug wheels you could get on the early 60s full sized cars, very cool.
 
Mine is a 67 400, manual top with a deluxe interior. Mayfair maize with black top and black interior.

I talked my wife into going to look at her on our way to our honeymoon after we were married.

I guess she was a wedding present to ourselves.

Interesting. What year was that and was it already done or did you have to do some work to it?

The story of my car is a little rougher around the edges. My parents went to a small coastal town parade/festival back when they were dating (early '80s), and my dad slipped behind a garage to piss, which is where he discovered the car stashed in a carport looking like it does. He spent the next two-three years chasing leads and digging up info on the car, and he was able to piece together a story of the car with a little documentation to back up that story.

The car was bought new in Wilmington, NC by a Louisiana man who was living in the Wilmington area temporary while working on the nuclear power plant. This guy wound up being a street racer known to local police. One night a particular state trooper pulled him, and for whatever reason the guy decided to ram the cop, pinning the officer between the cars, I think breaking his leg(s), then he took off. The story is that he went and got his things, went to his boss's house and sold the car for a few bucks plus a one way bus ride back to the NOLA area where he was from. My dad was able to dig up some micro film prints to document that part of the story.

From there it changed hands a few times with local racers before one of them blew the original engine, I think I have a timeslip or two that was found in the car. This is still in the early '70s at this point. After the engine was blown a man bought the car to replace his daughters recently wrecked '68 350/350 car. He pulled the drivetrain from that car and stuffed it into mine, but died before he completed the project. Later his widow sent it to a local garage to be fixed, but decided it wasn't worth it, and the owner of the garage got the car. From what my dad says this guy was you're classic hard living alcoholic, which is why it took so long to make a deal and actually get the car. There was more struggle in that, but its too much and irrelevant for this story.

After he had the car, my dad started hunting date coded replacement parts, and found a guy in up-state NY who was parting out some of a running '67 326 HO hardtop car (that car wound up on a 4x4 truck frame), so my dad made a deal and got the complete drivetrain (engine/trans/rear-end) and wheels from that car. At that point the car is living in my moms basement, I was born, they went through a divorce, then the car just sat in project car purgatory for a few decades.

This is how she lived and how I remember it up to about 6-7 years ago when my mom moved and had nowhere to put it, so I gave her the ol' back alley shakedown ( held her upside down and shook her until the title fell out :sneaky: ).

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I believe this inspection is from the garage owner trying to get the car drivable. My dad was told by the widow that the car was drivable in the yard when she had it.
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I meant to make that story even shorter, but the memories kept flooding. I really need to get with the old man and write down this story before the details disappear.
 
Interesting. What year was that and was it already done or did you have to do some work to it?

I had been looking at cars to buy for a long time, almost had a 67 GTO vert, in the same mayfair maize and black interior but I missed it.
My at the time soon to be wife didn't want me riding my harley anymore, so I told her that was fine I'll look at a car we can cruise in.

We were married in 2014, picked up the bird about a month after the wedding.
Found it in the UP of Michigan, we stopped by on our way to Mackinac Island where we honeymooned.
Didn't buy it right there but ended up calling they guy about halfway through the week and worked it all out on the phone.

There was a "resto" of sorts done in the 80's maybe 90's or so, also used some '68 parts, she's a nice 15 footer.
There is bondo in there, nothing is showing but when I eventually tear her down to get the paint and body done properly it's going to be firewall and rockers I'm sure. Most of the floor is ok, worst part is the driver's footwell as to be expected.

The next summer we were driving down to a car show with a buddy of mine in his 1970 Mustang, when I got a bad rod knock.
That shut the day down for me,

We towed her to a good friend's house and then preceded to rip her apart.
Pulled the motor (was the #2 rod bearing that went), pulled the transmission, rebuilt the breaks, rewired everything (used a painless loom),
Rebuilt the motor as a stroker, forged crank and big cam. If I could figure out how to attach a video I'd send one of her idling... got a good sound.

I did a rattle can refresh of the engine bay, but other than that I was pretty far down the rabbit hole so I didn't touch more paint and body, and all I did in the interior was the carpet.

Picked up some Doug's headers and did a full stainless exhaust... converted it to a ram air intake (they only made 4 real ram air 1 convertibles in 67, mine was definitely not one of the 4 but she looks the part)

Was in my buddies garage for over a year and got her back on the road the summer of 2017, about 5 months after my first child was born.

I was set to look at redoing the suspension next, but ended up moving, then had another child, then changed jobs, had another child... then another and have one more cooking right now. (What can I say my wife can't keep her hands off me!)

We pile in the car and I take the kids around the block and they love it, but as you can expect I don't really have room to give everyone a ride to real places... need to look at a 55-57 Safari, lol.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts