2024 June Update

Its been about a year since the last update, and I have been slowly working on some new things with the car. I also have started another project in the garage that is taking a lot of time. I'll share more on that later.

With the Nova, I have been working on the designs for a center console that will be completely 3d printed. I've printed out a few prototypes, and think I finally have a design that will work.

Center Console

First thing that has changed is that I have swapped out the center raspberry-pi powered touchscreen for something that will have better sound quality. For my birthday this year, my wife gave me a brand new Pioneer DMH-T450EX, which is a double-din media center head unit with a 9" touch screen. I have also been window shopping for the speakers, amplifiers, and subwoofers that I would like to get. So far I'm leaning toward the new Focal FCU series for the front and rear speakers powered by a JL Audio JD400/4, and a Rockford Fosgate Power T1D212 12" sub powered by a JL Audio JD1000/1. All that could change by the time I'm ready to put in that order, but for now it seems like a pretty good setup.

So, the center console has been an interesting design challenge. My requirements are that it needs to house the radio head unit, have a cutout to hold the shifter boot, and have cup holders that fit my coffee cup. I have made a few different prototypes, but the latest one has turned out great.

I designed the center console in 5 segments + the underside of the cupholders. So 6 pieces all together. The 5 segments all fit together with dovetail joints, allowing me to update one segment, and only need to re-print that one segment. This has already come in handy since I have had to print out 3 versions of the head unit housing.

I printed out the entire prototype in a basic white PLA so I can do some test fitting. The results came out very good:

Once I figure out the rest of the little things (like mounting the electrical switches, designing the sides, etc) I will print out the final version of the center console in either ASA or carbon-fiber infused Nylon.

Other Project #1

So we do now have other projects besides just the Nova. My oldest turned 16 today, and he received his first car courtesy of my uncle Dan. 

The car is a 1992 Camaro RS 25th anniversary edition. Other than the wheels, it is completely bone stock. The odometer reads ~68k miles. My uncle had owned it since 1996, and he gifted it to Luca last month. 

Luca has already replaced the trunk struts and the hood struts, and is trying to get in as much driving time as possible. He already has a lot of plans for the car... stereo, exterior, exhaust, engine, etc.

Other Project #2

The second project is my buddy's 1972 Chevy C10.

The truck had the original 350 in it, with approximately 180k miles on it. We pulled that small block, and have dropped in the Nova's old vortech 8100.

It will be utilizing the same billet 72mm turbos as before, but with a different hot side setup. We are utilizing the stock vortech 8100 exhaust manifolds, but flipped and forward facing. We designed some custom flanges and had them cut out via send-cut-send. These flanges will allow us to bolt up to the stock manifolds and fabricate a custom hot side up to the turbo.

We will also be utilizing the same intercooler as before, but we will be fabricating new end tanks for it to accommodate the significantly larger radiator of the C10.

We are also taking the time to redo nearly all of the electrical on the truck. We custom fabricated some electrical panels (one per fender), which house all of the distribution, breakers, relays, and controllers that this new setup uses.

We also have fabricated a custom transmission crossmember to hold the TH400.