[SuperDave]

No shit! My car had those god awful 882s on it too. Junk. And the forged TRW 2256s.

What are the new heads, did I miss it? I threw some Vortecs on mine and it was pretty damn good. Bigtime bang for the buck.

64cc Sportsman 2's with Stainless 2.08 intakes and 1.6 exhaust, 200cc runners and angle plugs.

So far they've made a huge difference in drivablity, I actually need to reduce fuel at cruse RPM's and it became very thirsty in the upper RPM's.

I'm hoping to get it on the road for some tuning this week, I want to hit the track next month and see what it'll do.

 

[weston19]

Wicked car SD, can't wait to see what it becomes! Always loved the Nova's

 

[SuperDave]

I decided to start troubleshooting some driveline vibration issues i've had last night.. First found that one of the U joint clamps on the rear end was only hand tight, then that it actually had the wrong U joint in it.

it needs a 1310 to 1350 conversion joint (9" rear) but it had a 1310 to something else joint... it was about .020" too wide and didn't sit down in the yoke all the way. $20 for a new correct U joint and probably 5 minutes to change it out. I hope this fixes the vibration.

Talk about a fail waiting to happen... lol

Also scored a good condition set of bumpers and a chrome radiator cover off of Craigslist today for $80. Waiting on new stainless hardware to install it all.

 

[SuperDave]

Update time?

After attending a few car shows and putting some miles on the car I wanted to address a few things. It's kind of snowballed since then...

I removed the front drum brakes and upgraded to '02 LS1 Camaro brakes (dual piston). That lead to needing a different master... which lead to Hydroboost!

Since I had the power steering lines off anyways, I figured it was a good time to swap out the original box with a quick ratio from a '85 Monte SS.

Still putting things back together in my free time, hoping to have the plumbing done this weekend but it'll be a couple weeks before i'll get to test it out.

Thanks to James for the Hydroboost unit!

Pics as things go back together soon...

 

[megatrends]

It's a lot of work isn;t it! I just read through this thread, have fun with that!!

Nice car, I like it lots.

 

[SuperDave]

lots... but it's fun work most of the time.

Hydroboost is all plumbed out, new flare tool and bender should be here tomorrow so I can get started on running new brake lines.

this is the flaring tool that i bought, it's got great reviews.

<LINK_TEXT text="http://www.eastwood.com/professional-br ... -tool.html">http://www.eastwood.com/professional-brake-tubing-flaring-tool.html</LINK_TEXT>

 

[megatrends]

lots... but it's fun work most of the time.

Hydroboost is all plumbed out, new flare tool and bender should be here tomorrow so I can get started on running new brake lines.

this is the flaring tool that i bought, it's got great reviews.

<LINK_TEXT text="http://www.eastwood.com/professional-br ... -tool.html">http://www.eastwood.com/professional-brake-tubing-flaring-tool.html</LINK_TEXT>

Looks pretty nifty! I can't remember the brand of the one we used in school. I like this one you posted, looks easy and designed well.

 

[SuperDave]

It's amazingly easy, and all the flares were good. Full pressure test last night and no leaks!

Holy shit it stops good now! :lol:

 

[cahilj]

Yeah that looks right at home. I'm glad you had no trouble bleeding it. That's where I saw most people had issues.

 

[SuperDave]

I had to pull apart the return last night, the pedal was coming back up too slow. Didn't seem to hurt anything other than keeping the brake lights on for too long.

I drilled the GM return fitting from about 3/32" up to 3/16". Hoping to try it out tonight.

 

[slywith1988z24]

Awesome car Dave.. I love your car..

 

[SuperDave]

Update time...

Engine came out last fall so I could clean up & paint the engine bay, Fix wiring, plumbing and replace the converter.

New converter is installed now and the engine is back in. Just waiting on a few more things from Summit so I can get the wiring up to par.

Converter is a 10" TCI Streetfighter that should be close to a 3500 stall. Should be way better than the old 12" 2500.

 

[heartbeat1991]

Looks clean.

The engine is out on my Z24. When I repainted it, I didn't remove everything, only the visible areas. I am working on stripping it all out now so I can spray the engine compartment before I put it back together. Good times.

 

[SuperDave]

Nice.

Just realized how bad those pics are, damn phone was in HDR mode. lol

I used a really high quality industrial enamel on the entire engine bay but it's gloss black. I went over the inner fenders and firewall with flat black for some contrast.

 

[heartbeat1991]

I'm just going body color. The car was red when I bought it. I painted it Bright Aqua almost 15 years ago. I didn't do it with everything out. So I am stripping it all down and prepping/spraying it base clear. It looks horrible as is. I rattle canned the engine bay back then.

 

[SuperDave]

So, continuing on with the "Super Muscle Car" theme I'm starting to dig into the appearance aspect now.

The Major thing I want to upgrade is the hood, while it's cool to keep it all under the stock one I can't resist getting all that heat out of the bay. Also some fresh air to the carb would be nice.

a 4" cowl hood is just boring and although they work well I don't really want to go there again. I really like the Baldwin-Motion Stinger hoods but Glasstek makes a 4" version that is just evil looking. Even better with the front cut out.

It's that or a 3.5" L88 hood..

What do you guys think?

Here is a thread on the 4" one that I'm really leaning towards: <LINK_TEXT text="http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums/sh ... p?t=328185">http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=328185</LINK_TEXT>

 

[heartbeat1991]

Stinger hood looks the best.

 

[SuperDave]

The stinger hood got put on hold for a while, I want to make sure it'll clear the future intake that the car will get after the LS swap in a few years.

I built this CAI over the last week to try and get some cooler air to the carb. The hat is made from 6" PVC, 3.5" tall and top and bottom are sheet metal. Whole thing is wrapped in fiberglass for a good seal too. All the tubing is 3.5" and i re-used the bigass K&N that was on my Z24 and my Camaro. I used DEI header wrap for insulation.

I'll probably take this off at the track since carbs don't respond to hats well for power, but it should be fine for street use.

I also made an air dam, filler panels for the rad support, installed new mirrors (finally have one on the passenger side now), Installed a cup holder, repaired a bunch of wiring, pulled the DS fender off and fixed the rust hole, Re-painted some trim in matte black and probably some other work that I'm forgetting about. Nice and busy summer... :lol:

 

[SuperDave]

It's been a while since I've updated this thread...

The CAI was good for getting cool air but it sucked at the track, it cost me a few MPH from what I remember in 2015.

I drove it quite a bit in 2016 and ended up smoking the TH350. It's been parked since October waiting on a new trans. 3rd gear just slips and grinds now, lol.

So far in 2017 I've scored another TH350 that I might rebuild myself this spring, and I gave in and bought a 4" cowl hood for the car. While I kinda think they are a little boring, I can't argue with the science and this one is pretty nice looking.

Attached is the last pic I took last fall before parking it and 2 of the new hood. I did paint the wheel centers to a matte black last fall too, I like it. Less to keep polished for sure.

 

[SuperDave]

It's been a couple years.. in 2017 I rebuilt the TH350 but didn't drive the car much, same for 2018 as I was in the process of selling my old house and moving to a new place with more room.

This year the car finally got some attention...

In the spring I installed tubular upper and lower control arms as well as a 1 1/8" chromoly sway bar and some 500lb springs. With an alignment finally getting the caster up to around 5 degrees it handled much better. Still have a bump steer problem that I need to get a kit to fix.

Then this summer I bit the bullet and swapped the TH350 out for a Stage 2 TKO-600 from Silver Sport. Expensive but well worth the upgrade. I can finally drive it on the highway and not watch the gas needle drop. Still breaking in the trans, but it's way more fun to drive now.