[SuperDave]

I keep forgetting to post this up... lol

My new project is a '72 Nova.

I picked this up locally, originally a green car with a white vinyl top. had a 307/powerglide. Manual drum brakes, power steering and the basic interior with a bench seat and the rubber floor covers.

It was re-painted in the 90's to almost a Canary Yellow with silver and black stripes on the side. The interior was re-covered in some strange fabric and the engine was swapped out for a healthy 355. Has a built TH350 with a 2500 stall. Engine makes roughly 400 HP/400 TQ

Here are a couple pics..





So, the list of what i've done so far;

Installed a brake booster from a '70 Chevelle
Replaced the cracked Nova steering wheel with the Grant from my Camaro
Swapped the Clarion cd player with the Alpine from my Camaro
Replaced the old worn out HEI Dizzy with a brand new Pertronix Flame Thrower
Installed a 1.5" filter spacer so it would clear the un-used electric choke and not sit crooked.
Reconfigured all the engine vacuum lines to their correct ports including the PCV
Installed my WMS Wideband o2 sensor
New header gaskets and collector gaskets
Re-wired all the accessory gauge lighting and correctly grounded everything.
Installed a pair of Hooker Aerochamber mufflers and ditched the junk "turbos"
Re-built the tail pipes so they dump behind the rear tires
Installed an X pipe to make a little more power and tone down the drone
Repaired various fuel line leaks
New throttle cable bracket assembly
Replaced the throttle cable
Replaced the kickdown cable
Replaced the tranny cooler lines

Probably some other stuff too...

Ordered but not installed yet:

Lakewood Traction bars (have, just need bolts)
Summit Subframe connectors
Prothane body bushings (mine are rotted out)
Prothane front end kit
Misc parts like a fuel filter, lines and gaskets

more to come..

 

[sycklash]

Looks killer!
I love Novas haha
Any pictures of under the hood?
What rearend?

Should stick a cowl hood on it

 

[SuperDave]

Thanks,

I'll have to grab some new ones, I have some from when i first got it but it looks much better now.

It's got a Ford 9" with 4.11 gears.

Still getting the 750 carb dialed in, it's nice to have the wideband though. Really makes carb tuning easy.

 

[cavalier3400z]

Get a hair dryer for that thing

 

[Six_Shooter]

What's with all of the '80s style paint jobs in your area? Or do you just find those ones?

I like that era Nova, but usually only tubbed, or real mean Pro-Touring.

 

[34blazer]

Looks like half your neighbor's house fell off :lol:

I agree with six, that needs to be tucking some cheaters 8)

 

[SuperDave]

2 owners ago, the guy had everything done in the mid 90's.. he drove it for a while and then it sat in storage for a long time. I got a thick folder of receipts from most of the work. It's had new rear 1/4 skins put on at some point but there isn't much Bondo on it. Lots of overspray, damn yellow dots on all the windows. :lol:

I found the guy on Facebook, just haven't sent him a message yet. it would be cool to get some old pics of it.

The PO's only had it for a few years, it was a father-son project that they abandoned when the son went off to college. They were the ones that switched it from a Powerglide to a TH350... and I think they did the 9" rear swap too.

They ran it and only got a 13.5 at the track, that was with the 23.5" tall 215.60.14 street tires and 4.11 gears. The carb was tuned extremely lean (15.x AFR's at WOT) so i'm hoping that i can get some respectable times since it's in better shape now. I'll be running my 26x11.5 slicks.

The 90's paint won't last long, i'll probably start repairing rust next spring so it'll likely end up in epoxy sealer till i can get it painted. It needs floor pans first, then some typical repair on the rest of the car. The cool thing is that the sheet metal on these cars is THICK.

99% sure these are the wheels going on it. MB "Old Schools". 17x8 for the rear and 17x7 for the front.

Here is a video of it running before and after I X piped the exhaust..

<LINK_TEXT text="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-PdCpQ ... Apz4-XBUdg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-PdCpQizBY&list=UUUEDCizrbyC4fApz4-XBUdg</LINK_TEXT>

 

[90redz24]

Nearing 25,000 posts on v6z24 dave I think you need another z24 :wink:
And ya the Nova isn't too bad itself I guess

 

[megatrends]

That Nova is a nice car, I really like it. Congrats!!!!

 

[woody90gtz]

I guess I should have posted in this thread! Those wheels are sweet. Quite similar to what I went with on my Camaro.

I didn't like the 750 on my 355. I originally had a 600 and the throttle response would snap your neck but it was only trapping 104. Put a 750 on it and hit 106.8 first run without even getting it dialed in, so the top end was better, but the low end was lazier feeling than the 600. I actually pondered running the 600 on the street and 750 only at the track. EFI with the new engine though so I should get the best of both worlds.

 

[SuperDave]

Little bit of work going on...

I replaced all the original rotted/rusted body mounts with new Poly ones from Prothane. Of course all 6 bolts either broke off or had to be cut out.. and the 4 captured nuts broke the cages, just had to heat them up and the bolt remains came out... Repaired the subframe where the mounts had collected water and rotted out the pads.

Here is a pic of the original VS the new mounts: <LINK_TEXT text="http://www.sdsgarage.com/Nova/Chassis/O ... Mounts.jpg">http://www.sdsgarage.com/Nova/Chassis/OldvsNew%20Mounts.jpg</LINK_TEXT>

I also replaced the upper and lower control arm bushings (also original) with new Poly ones. Again, huge pain in the ass since the bolts had rusted to the sleeves. I did cut 1 coil out of the original front springs for a little rake too.

Summit racing subframe braces are installed, waiting to be tightened down since the car is still on jack stands.

I replaced all the rotted fuel line and the shitty Fram fuel filter. Also replaced the collector gaskets (again) with new copper ones. Hoping for no leaks this time.

Today I picked up a new set of wheels for it. 17x9 for the rear and 17x8 front American Racing TT2's. They have 275.40.17's in the rear and 245.45.17 Kumho Ecsta Supra's (Z rated). Wheels/tires are brand new. They were on a Chevelle for mockup then swapped for some Boyd's

The fronts fit fine and rub just at full lock, rears need a little massaging of the inner fenderwell, gotta cut the can off of the shocks and slightly modify the lower shock mounts (1/2"). No big deal.

Here is a pic with the car still on jack stands: http://www.sdsgarage.com/Nova/Pics/New%20Wheels.jpg

Next step is to drive and enjoy it for a while... 2014 will bring floor pan replacements, body work and maybe paint.

 

[SuperDave]

New Pics..

My driveway slopes a little but you can see the slight rake it has now. I'm pretty happy with how it sits.

I still need to build new upper and lower shock mounts for the rear end, the tires are just too wide. :lol:

 

[34blazer]

The wheel/tire package and slight rake definitley gives the car a new attitude

 

[cavalier3400z]

I road in a green nova , that had close to 1,000 hp. I never bereaved people when they said they could break the bead loose on a tire. My uncle showed me it was possible lol. the car had a metal dash, two racing seats, and a cage. The thing was insane. Then he sold it.

 

[cahilj]

Ecsta Supras? Where did you dig them up?

 

[SuperDave]

Ecsta Supras? Where did you dig them up?

They're brand new, been on the wheels stored in a garage for a few years i'm guessing.

Still fighting some clearance issues with the shocks. I made new lower mounts on the traction bars but that still didn't give quite enough room. Looks like i'm going to have to build a crossmember between the frame rails and make new upper mounts too.

That also means shorter shocks

 

[sycklash]

New Pics..

Your Nova looks gorgeous

 

[cahilj]

My guess is that they were stored for a few years too, considering they haven't been produced since maybe 07-ish. Are they 712s? They were the first real street/autocross tire Kumho had.

 

[woody90gtz]

Wow, that's a lot of tire for an X-body! They're tucked in there nice though, and it's worth the work to get the extra meat on the road. It looks good.

 

[chris88z24]

Looks good.

What happened to the whitelightning2?