74 NovaMan’s … Novas

[moparjim71]

Looks good! When are you leaving for TX Chris?

[74NovaMan]

Here is an updated shot of the engine bay:

[pintoboy77]

Looks like it's getting closer Chris. Good Luck.

[Scott Liggett]

2 bad pertronix out of the box .....I would never buy them again

I have installed six of them years ago. All are still running great including the one in the Caprice.

[74NovaMan]

Scott - In retrospect, I should have gone a different direction. I was probably dazzled by the shiney parts and the promise of a built in rev limiter (that I will set but probably never hit.) Had I known about the height issue I would have gone with this one:

[SpiderGearsMan]

2 bad pertronix out of the box .....I would never buy them again

[Scott Liggett]

Most Pep Boys stock the blue Accel wires in an universal, cut to fit kit. $30. Beatd the yellow. Around here they also have the $80 MSD wires as well.

Personally, I wouldnt spend the money on a MSD distributor on a cruiser type motor. I would just use a Pertronix in the stock distributor.

[occupant]

parts car interior

Love rubber floor coverings. One of these days I might find a police/taxi package 72-76 Torino in a junkyard and I'm so putting that in my car.

I also like the idea of taking a rust-free car from the south with tattered interior and combining that with the rustbucket body from up north which has a pristine interior.

I also like your engine lift technique using a creeper to support the transmission, keeps it low to the ground and if the creeper is strong enough it can keep you from having to go out and buy that cheap pain in the rear to use $80 transmission scissor jack from HF.

[74NovaMan]

I swapped a few of them around to no good result. The set I have has 3 short wires and I have places for 2 of them.

[Russell]

Hey I have those hideous looking bright yellow Accel numbers on two of my cars! They are the cheapest easiest way to get 90* boots, what makes them look bad is the coil wire is a diffrent color. If you only have one that is too short can it be swapped for a diffrent one on the engine?

[74NovaMan]

Frustratingly enough, the MSD distributor is taller and is really close to the firewall as well. The HEI fit into a recess designed for the original points distributor and the MSD is too tall to take advantage of this. There does look to be enough room though. The other downside is that the wires I have are now too short. Well 1 wire is. This may actually be a good thing though because the existing wires are these hideous looking bright yellow Accel numbers. So at the end of the day yesterday I had the ignition in (used a spare wire until I can get a new set.) According to my list this is what I have left:

Run oil and temp gauge lines
Shift linkage
Trans wiring
Bleed brakes
Fill fluids: trans & coolant

[74NovaMan]

Saturday challenge #2: The Distributor.

I had test fit the HEI distributor a while back and thought it looked good. After the transmission line fun, I installed the cap with the wires on it and figured out that there was not enough room. Once the wires were on I did not have any room to turn the distributor. I ran into this on the original Nova so I got out a big hammer and made some room. I have been getting frustrated with this project but I am not quite there yet with this car, so I called up O'riely auto and picked these up Saturday night.

[74NovaMan]

From the BTO website:

"Our new lines can be installed in a matter of minutes without lifting the engine or removing accessories. This system consists of custom bent 5/16" hard lines designed individually for Th-700R4 Transmissions. The hard line sections route around the starter, along the engines pan rail and terminate just in front of the engines harmonic balancer. The custom stainless steel braided flexible lines run from the radiator outlets down to these hard lines. The hard lines are cut to the correct length using a simple tubing cutter. Final connections are made using our special slip on fittings then tightened up using hand wrenches."

The reality is that the connections line up under the fuel pump and motor mount. I had to remove the fuel pump and the passenger side header so that I could get the hard lines back out to cut them. Fortunately, I could get at the compression fittings once the lines were back in. That project burned up half of Saturday.

[74NovaMan]

This most recent weekend, I started with the transmission lines. I got these cool ones from Bowtie Overdrives:

[74NovaMan]

Here is the checklist from last weekend:
Rear axle
Rear shocks
Drive shaft
Engine wiring
Valve Covers
Carb and fuel lines
Exhaust (95%)
Distributor (first attempt)