PowerTV Project Swinger Getting Our Nova Up And Running With Hose Candy
Project Swinger Update: Getting Our Nova Up And Running (Hose Candy Excerpt)
by Michael Harding on September 3, 2012
With the body and paint completed, it was time for reassembly and that meant a host of goodies for Swinger to bring it back to life and to get it on the right track. Scanning through our check list, the reassembly is a long road that takes plenty of time and attention to detail to get this project looking better than it ever did.
Now we know that Swinger is going to ride nice, handle well, and look like a million bucks. But we can’t have all these cool products on a car that’s lacking under the hood. A worthy engine had to make it’s way between the frame rails and it had to stand out like the rest of the car, and for that we decided on a blown LSA engine. We were getting ready to fire it up, but we had just a few more things that needed to be done before turning the key for the first time.
Getting Swinger Fired Up
We got the LSA and Keisler Engineering TKO 600 Swap Kit installed, the work to get this powertrain in the car called for some talent, and of course our own Sean Goude was up to the challenge. Whenever a modern power plant like our blown LSA is finding a home in a classic, it’s not completely plug-and-play, and that’s where crate motors, harnesses and engine mounts designed for these upgrades come in handy.
Lots of people have been doing LS swaps, and GM has really stepped up to the plate and made these swaps go in a lot easier, and making it more affordable. But as easy as it can get to mount a modern engine in a car, finding places to route wiring harnesses and electrical components calls for creativity and well thought out planning. This is where plug-and-play stops and the ingenuity begins.
Hose Candy
When it comes to hoses and fittings under the hood, making them look good was always limited to what types of hoses you bought. Fittings were often bulky, especially with smaller vacuum hoses. Your options changed when Hose Candy entered the scene and introduced hose fittings and hose coverings that turned boring rubber hoses into show-worthy components.
We used our supply of Hose Skins and Boa Clamps for the radiator hoses, and the smaller hoses were treated to Hose Skins, Sidewinders and Black Super Shrink clamps. It’s a simple, yet effective way to clean up the engine compartment and give it a custom look without having bulky anodized fittings at each connection. Hose skins simply slip over the hose and are held in place with the Super Shrink clamps using a hair dryer or heat gun to shrink the tubing onto the hose and skins for a snug fit.
With straight, 90° and Tee-fittings, the coolest part of these fittings is that they lock together with a twisting motion and come apart the same way. If you need to remove a component, like our intake tube, we can disconnect the small fittings and not have to worry about damaging a fitting or destroying a hose.
Hose Candy makes all of our hoses and connections look as good as the rest of the car. These fittings and coverings handle a wide variety of applications.
So there you have it: a lot of details and checks and balances to get Swinger fired up, and she sounds sweet! It’s nice to see the Dawgs getting some seat time in Swinger finally so they can spend less time polishing out the hand prints on the trunk lid and quarter panels from moving it around in the shop.
We still have a little bit more to do, and we’ll have some updates posted for you soon covering the bright work and interior upgrades. You can already tell from the pictures that this old swinger has swapped it’s old life for a new one, and she’s a looker!
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