My 70 Nova project (Formerly looking at this mustang)

While American iron is not my thing I have to say i've always had a soft spot for the early Chevrolet products. That will be an absolutely stellar car when done - do keep us apprised of progress.
 
Looks like a winner. Might want to consider going to one of the throttle body FI setups ( Holly, FI Tech, etc.). Cold start, timing, tuning, makes things much more pleasant. Mike
 
I had thought about efi. That may come in the near future. For now I'm going to make it a running driver and go from there.

I do want to replace the edelbrock carb with a Holley, and depending on the cost of a Holley it may be not much more to efi it.

Today I need to get it unloaded and into my shop and on the lift and see what all is there for parts and get my honey do list made up. My wife is into this more than I am so that makes it the "honey do project ". Need to drop the trailer off also.

She chose the dash we are going to use. Or at least she thinks she did. Gotta keep the wife happy. Happy wife, happy life ;)

I'll take some more pics today and post them.
 
Friend in HS had a '69 Nova with a 427 BB in it. Beautiful car. Kid didn't know how to drive it though. Kept spinning bearings. I think his dad rebuilt it as least twice our senior year.
 
Got it up on my lift and found a number of problems. none of them insurmountable, but each one has to be worked out.

On the right engine mount apparently the engine won't go down low enough to get the mounting bolt into the frame mount. And the steering box won't clear the shorty headers. That's going to be a problem. Someone cut the dash for a new radio, that's $350 for a new bezel. It has disk brakes on the back, but the e brake cables are missing.

The guy said he ran out of steam on the project. I think he didn't have the skills and experience to overcome the problems. Heck, I might not have the skills to do it. But that's not going to stop me from trying.


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Nice project:cool:

It looks like exactly what you were looking for, something to play with and make it what you & your wife want. No doubt you will find many more DPO things but that's really just an opportunity to make it right.

Cheers,

John
 
Nice project, you seem to have good bones to work with, also having all new parts will help you alot, i'll start with founding exhaust headers that fit nicely even if they need to be cast iron. That should let you bolt the engine down. After that you need to set you gold's, to get it started by one date, then get it driving by second date and don't get disappointed if you miss them just keep working on it.
 
Been working on the Nova as much as I can. 1 step forward and 3 steps back. Seems the previous owner discovered that with enough force a 3/8" x 16 fits in a 10mm threaded hole. Places like the cylinder heads, side of the block, you know...........unimportant places. Thankfully I had a good supply of helicoils.

I found out that he destroyed engine mount frame stand on one side, along with a brand new energy suspension motor mount. Then there is his wonderful fuel line routing. Rubber line from the tank all the way to the engine tie wrapped to the frame, along with the electric fuel pump wiring.

Did I mention he decided to rewire the entire car. So he ripped out the entire stock wire harness and threw it away. The new "universal" harness doesn't have any of the connectors on it, not a one. So now I'm scrambling trying to find all the plugs and connectors.

I did get my six speed transmission in, and discovered a new transmission part I can modify and sell that service. I ordered in a Ford 9" housing and going to put it in.

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Welcome to the wonderful world of classic cars, and people who should never be allowed near them. I've had many, and they all need more than a little help once you get into them. It's amazing the obvious flaws one can overlook when your in love, true that, of cars also. :) Cheers, Mike
 
In the British car world this is known as a SPOT - Stupid Previous Owner Trick.

I particularly enjoy finding the structural ones - bits of rotten chassis covered with duct tape and cellulose filler and painted to match the rest. Yeeeeahhhh...not my idea of a good time.

I don't envy you on the harness - BTDT more than once when some pustulent offspring of a pot-bellied pig decides he's an electrical engineer and 'improves' the original harness by chopping bits out. Not so much fun.

Just look forward, though - it will be a wonderful ride when you get it done. Bravo on your tenacity.

Al
 
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