CALTRACS TRACTION BAR INSTALL ON NOVA + SUBFRAME CONNECTOR INSTALL

[@BadLuckGarage]

Going to be upgrading the fuel system in preparation for the nitrous(and the LS swap) next so stay tuned for another DR Nova video soon!

[@georgem.6136]

They make a shock relocation kit for the rear so you move the shock inboard of the leaf spring & you get way more wheel clearance. It bolts right in, thinks its $125

[@ABs70nova]

I have the same subframe connectors and the same caltracs as you in my 70 nova. But I have the Calvert split monos instead of multi leafs. After driving it after the install of the connecters and trac bars I was amazed on the difference it made. It's feels like and entire new car

[@stephenlove8067]

Thank you for the video, I was very confused because my driver side Caltracs bracket had 1 hole that was slightly too small, probably only a few thousandths of an inch for the roll pin the slide through. Fixed now.

[@donnova553]

I know it's been over a year! A day late and dollar short! But I'm getting ready to install new multi leafs and a subframe! A friend of mine that owns and builds drag cars and chassis's told me when im installing the subframe to make sure the car is LEVEL! Because when your done and sit the car down that's the way it's going to sit! He said he's worked on cars where they were installed and not completely LEVEL, and seen where on some the doors would be hard to shut and open, and when he undone the subframe you could hear the car pop where it was in a bind when they were installed on a NOT LEVEL car!

[@BadLuckGarage]

That would make sense. But the pop we heard was actually one of the old rotted upper leaf springs bushings breaking in half and letting the bolt hit the bottom of the underbody. That’s why the car suddenly was sitting lopsided. I believe I explained this in one of the subsequent videos. We actually spent a whole day going to ever auto parts store in the county trying to locate replacements. 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@stevelangworthy9553]

Great video...thanks! Curious why you went with multi-leaf springs rather than going with the split monos.

[@BadLuckGarage]

Didn’t need Monoleafs for our intended use and didn’t wanna pay more than triple the price of factory replacements. These heavy duty replacements more than suited our daily driver goals and didn’t break the bank. 👍

[@jwright650]

You should tighten all of the leaf spring bushings while they are at ride height, not while the suspension is at full droop. That is the pop that you heard, bushings were in a bind and settling in.

[@BadLuckGarage]

Yep, that’s actually what we did. Just snugged them, then dropped the car and tightened everything. I believe the pop was the shackle bolt moving up and hitting the inside of the leaf spring eye when the bushing split on the passenger side. Which is why we’re trying to find new bushings. 😉

[@jtmarshall]

So I'm super pumped right now!!. I was given a cut in half 05 Sierra parts truck today.... I know what your thinking, " big fuckin deal !" right? That's what I thought too, popped the hood to see if it had good heads for my lm7.. couldn't find casting numbers, so I looked at the rpo codes... Bamm... she's got a set of 799s sitting on an aluminum l33... I dont know the condition of the engine but I figure I can at least use the 799s on my lm7 if the l33 is junk... Sorry for the book up there ^

[@BadLuckGarage]

THATS FRIGGIN AWESOME BROTHER!!!! Im actually trying to find a steal on a set of 243/799 heads right now myself for the vette project.

[@jtmarshall]

Is your vette ls1 ? Cause I thought it had an ls6.. Or are you looking for a second set so you can have head work done without the vette being down?

[@BadLuckGarage]

No brother its a base model so just LS1 with 241 heads. The 01-04 already has the LS6 BLock and intake though. Thats part of the reason I didn't want a 97-00. Stock 243 heads on an LS1 are supposed worth 25-30hp without touching them. Even more once you through a big cam in the mix. Shitty thing is my Avalanche has the LC9 with 243 heads already. You wouldnt believe how many times I've thought of swapping the heads on the vette and the Avy. I keep telling myself it probably wouldnt hurt the Avy much with its peanut came,lol.

[@BadLuckGarage]

BTW I've got the 5000 subscriber video uploading right now so make sure you get in on it brother. You've always been a good sub and comment alot so dont want you to miss out.👍

[@jtmarshall]

I couldn't imagine the 241s hurting it too much.. does seem a lil odd having better heads on your avalanche then vette, but that's something that can be fixed in an weekend.. Might be better off finding a set of non Castech 862 heads.. they're cheap and the combustion chambers are 6cc smaller then 241s..

[@OldAndGettingOlder]

Getting parts...I plan ahead or practice patience. I mail order this stuff. Unless you're in southern California most hot rodders aren't going to find stuff locally. As for bolts I'm lucky to have an old time hardware store. It's almost unbelievable the stuff they have. One thing that have is lots of bolts in many sizes and grade 8 too. They're inexpensive compared to the box stores.

[@BadLuckGarage]

Yea the big box stores have pretty much run all the mom and pop hardware stores out of business around here. Sucks cause like you said it seems like the small places always had what I needed.

[@TheDrivewayEngineer]

Ooh, now you can open the doors while it's on a jack :D Those are great early upgrades!

[@BadLuckGarage]

Yep. Getting this sucker ready to hold some powa! Was planning to install the new fuel system this weekend but got screwed over by an eBay seller so I’m gonna be putting the new headers and x-pipe on the Vette instead. I’ll probably do a video on that eBay BS tonight.

[@AndrewMoto96]

Just watched this video for reference and realized I’m missing both solid bushings, one roll pin and the 4 washers that go on the outside of the triangle brackets on the roll pins

[@BadLuckGarage]

I think I’d be making a phone call!!!

[@AndrewMoto96]

Bad Luck Garage just did haha the guy told me to email him a pic of the parts and he’d send me replacements. I gotta wait even longer now but Atleast there was no hassle

[@BadLuckGarage]

Yea they’re generally an easy company to deal with. 👍🏻

[@AndrewMoto96]

Bad Luck Garage called this morning and within 2 hours I had a complete bushing kit shipped it’ll be here in 2 days 👍🏼

[@smilsmff]

might as well,install frame connectors? unless you want the windows to explode on very hard launch( that you created with Cal Tracs)

[@jagunn1972]

If u tighten the spring bolts withe the springs unloaded u will have the spring settle. The ass end of the Nova with a stock spring is low. I did a spring with a little more lift on tha spring made my nova level.

[@BadLuckGarage]

Jason Baker we just snugged them then set it down and tightened it all up. We figured out what the “pop” and drop was all about and fixed it. 👍🏻 I’ll be going over it in the next video but basically the worn out bushings were responsible for both issues. 😉

[@georgedickson2562]

My wife said something about the name of the site said you should change it to good luck lol wish I lived closer would be cool to turn wrenches with you . Love the videos keep them coming . And don't change the name you would run out of content lol

[@BadLuckGarage]

Lol, George the only way I would change the name is if things started going right. And I think we both know better than that! 🤣👍🏻

[@CountyGarage207]

Awesome video, subscribed! I'm currently building a 72 Nova from the ground up with an LQ4/4L80 swap.. I also plan to run the caltracs, and subframe connectors.

[@BadLuckGarage]

Welcome aboard brother! Were almost finished and plan the first start this weekend! Not sure if you know but theres a whole playlist for the DRNova if you wanna check out all the videos of what we've done. Some of it may be helpful....some of it may just be barely watchable,lol.

[@GDG184]

Do you know if they might make drop shackles for 4th gen novas? I want my nova to have a pro touring look and feel, also wondering if cal tracks will help with handling, once my Ls swap is completed I want to work on the front and rear suspension and lower it. Also wondering if I should bother getting a posi trac installed in the rear end before I get my cal tracks. I have cheapo traction bars that you bolt to the leaf spring and I think they might aid the wheel hop I'll get from the posi, I'm not sure if they will or not so I'm looking for advice.

[@BadLuckGarage]

The old school traction’s bars help if adjusted properly, but nowhere near as well as the cal tracs. If you want to lower the rear I would just buy dropped leaf springs rather than shackles. If you’re on the original lead springs they’re probably about worn out anyway. I don’t think the Caltraca are going to help much with handling but a good performance lowering lead spring will help with that too as well as a good set of performance sway bars. We’re running a Belltech sway bar with new factory replacement Moog springs up front and this car handles very well now.

[@GDG184]

@@BadLuckGarage the only lowering springs I've found are for 3rd gens like yours however I didnt really look very hard, thank you for the advice the old school traction bars will be a temporary aid till I can afford to do the suspension work, after the swap I'll get drop spindles upgraded front brake rotors, new steering box, subframe connectors, cal tracs, and new lowering leaf springs if I can find them.

[@Autofaze]

Dig it! Love the project

[@BadLuckGarage]

Thank you. Currently have this and the C5 “China-vette” project going on.

[@shoelessb4515]

Sit in the driver's seat when adjusting preload.

[@williamcordle]

Always something isn’t it

[@BadLuckGarage]

Yea if things didn’t go wrong I’d have to rename the channel. Lol

[@jameymote4598]

😎 👊 👍 cool vid man.

[@BadLuckGarage]

Thanks brother. 👍🏻

[@corywingo1484]

How do you rate the traction and overall ride. (I’m thinking about installing the same setup on my nova, except I’m adding ladder bars too)

[@BadLuckGarage]

Thanks for watching! I feel like the ride hasn’t really changed. As for traction, we won’t really know for sure until after I get the LS swapped in this winter as it’s currently just running the stock 307. These modifications were performed in preparation for the additional power that we’re adding, not because they were already needed. 👍🏻

[@ronalddrummond4580]

A 8.8 metric bolt is only equivalent to a grade 5 bolt, a 10.9 metric bolt is equivalent to a grade 8 bolt please change your bolts right away they will break!

[@BadLuckGarage]

Then we're good because the stock shackle bolt was actually a grade 5 anyway and I was trying to "upgrade". But thank you for the correction brother, thats good info to know for future reference.👍

[@ahack14]

Why wouldn’t you get Calvert split mono leaf springs

[@BadLuckGarage]

Because they’re more than twice the cost and completely unnecessary for what we’re doing. 😉

[@ahack14]

Bad Luck Garage kinda a half ass way of doing that, but ok man

[@BadLuckGarage]

Opinions and assholes and all that. This channel is about spending money where necessary and not wasting it where it’s not necessary. This car is going to be making somewhere around 450hp. Heavy duty oem style leaf springs will be more than capable with the Caltracs bars. If that hurts your sensibilities, then you may want to move on to one of those unlimited budget channels. There are plenty to chose from.

[@ahack14]

Bad Luck Garage lol I am a limited budget guy check out my channel. I optimize my car to go as fast as I can with the things I can afford. Calvert suspension is very affordable compared to all the other aftermarket offerings

[@BadLuckGarage]

Adam, I really do appreciate the input but you’re missing one very important fact that I have repeated over and over throughout this build. This is NOT a drag car. Making it as fast as possible isn’t the goal at all. If it were then the mono leafs would have been considered, or possibly even a 4 link setup. As I already stated, this is a Dailey driver so they were a completely unnecessary expense. I used the parts that the owner wanted to pay for and I understand his logic for wanting to use the parts he did and not wanting to pay extra for parts he didn’t need. We’re not all building strip monsters here brother. This is just something for Ray to drive everyday that might see the track once or twice a year if it sees one at all.

[@tadmortensen152]

I hit the subscribe button but when you dropped the F-Bomb I unsubscribed

[@BadLuckGarage]

Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be sure to relay the message to upper management. 🤣

[@BadLuckGarage]

Good news! We’ve heard back from the HR department and they responded by saying “hey buddy, this is real life...not a sugar coated discovery channel show.” So I guess you should put on your big boy pants and move along to a less adult oriented channel if you can’t handle a few curse words.