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  • #16
    In high school, I pulled the original exhaust in the parking lot of the exhaust shop and installed the headers. The next day, I picked up the car with the new dual exhaust run to the bumper. After that, I scrounged a power disc brake setup from a 70’ SS and installed it. What a huge difference. I about put my buddy throught the windshield testing it out.

    In college (about 1990), I pulled and rebuilt the original engine. I rebuilt it 30 over with hypereutectic pistons, balanced rotating assembly, performer intake and Edelbrock carb. I rebuilt the TH350 a few years later. It is amazing how much they stuff in a transmission case. I had the guts laid out on two 4x8 sheets of plywood and I was amazed that the transmission worked well after I was done. Somewhere along the line I found these Keystone rims and used them for a while:

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    Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:03 PM.
    Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
    74 Nova Project
    66 Mustang GT Project

    92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
    79 Chevy Truck Project
    1956 Cadillac Project

    Comment


    • #17
      Shortly after that, I learned a very valuable lesson regarding the difference in penetration for welding gas vs. electric when I gas welded the spring perches on my new 3.42 disc brake posi from a 3rd gen Camaro. The carnage was not pretty. The perches let loose under hard acceleration, destroyed the drive shaft and made a mess of the mufflers and dented up the floor. New mufflers, used drive shaft and some electrically welded perches later I was back on the road. Shortly thereafter, I learned another lesson about the importance of torqueing the pinion nut properly. When the u-joint from the Nova driveshaft would not fit in the Camaro rear I figured I’d try to swap the yokes. I know now that they are not even close. The problem lies in the method of removal and installation. I used and impact wrench. The terminal vibration showed up not too long after. In addition to this problem the extra traction combined with the rusty underbody made for a bad situation where the front leaf spring perches were no longer well connected to the uni-body. These issues benched the car for a while and the motor and transmission spent some time in a 1980 Buick Regal that I had rebuilt a 231 for that did not work out. As it turns out, oil galley plugs are an important element in a rebuild. I drove that for a couple of years and sold it to a friend (less motor and trans).

      Somewhere around 1997 I decided to put the Nova back together. This time I scrounged a 2.56 non-posi rear and a used 700R4 transmission. I did some rust repair on the rear bumper mount and cross-member area as well as the front spring perches. It was in this configuration that I went on the 2002 Power Tour for the first couple of stops. Here are a couple of shots of the car on the dyno on tour. Results were fair at 200HP and 250 TQ.

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      Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:03 PM.
      Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
      74 Nova Project
      66 Mustang GT Project

      92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
      79 Chevy Truck Project
      1956 Cadillac Project

      Comment


      • #18
        Originally posted by 1badmonkey View Post
        My first car was a 73 Omega, shackles and air shocks baby, yeah! bought it in 86, still have it at my Dads house.

        neat car, thanks for the trip down memory lane!
        Charles - I love my air shocks. They are especially handy for Power Tour when the car is overloaded with tools, luggage and cooler. I'm planning on buying a new pair for the current iteration this week.
        Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
        74 Nova Project
        66 Mustang GT Project

        92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
        79 Chevy Truck Project
        1956 Cadillac Project

        Comment


        • #19
          I'm jonesing for a 71-72 Ventura with Randal's 400 in it with a stick. But, I would have to sell one of my current cars to pull it off.
          BS'er formally known as Rebeldryver

          Resident Instigator

          sigpic

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          • #20
            I've always liked the Ventura taillights. I once had plans to swap them onto the Nova.
            Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
            74 Nova Project
            66 Mustang GT Project

            92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
            79 Chevy Truck Project
            1956 Cadillac Project

            Comment


            • #21
              Sometime in the late 90’s I decided that it would make more sense to pick up a more solid starting point. My buddy and I drove out to Rapid City and picked up the car below. It was nearly complete (less motor and trans) when I bought it. This one still needed a lot of work but the floors and underbody were in great shape. I never really did much with this besides strip it, chisel off the undercoating and prime the underside.

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              Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:04 PM.
              Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
              74 Nova Project
              66 Mustang GT Project

              92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
              79 Chevy Truck Project
              1956 Cadillac Project

              Comment


              • #22
                That body sure is nice and solid!
                Robert



                Instagram @ mccartney_paint_and_custom


                MP&C Youtube Channel

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                • #23
                  It was pretty decent. It only needed a couple of rear floor pans (rust and forklift damage). The frame rails and everything else underneath was spotless under the 1/8" of rock hard undercoating.
                  Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
                  74 Nova Project
                  66 Mustang GT Project

                  92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
                  79 Chevy Truck Project
                  1956 Cadillac Project

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    In 2004 I long hauled the car with a new 3.08 Eaton posi. In the spring of 2005, I took a hard look at the materials that I had to work with and did some math on what it would take for body work. I decided that it would be cheaper and easier in the long run to buy a complete running vehicle. On Tuesday, April 26th I found this online.

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                    Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:04 PM.
                    Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
                    74 Nova Project
                    66 Mustang GT Project

                    92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
                    79 Chevy Truck Project
                    1956 Cadillac Project

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      The car had 28,000 original miles, a 250 straight 6, a TH350, manual drum brakes, rubber mat flooring, and power steering. The owner offered to clean the car and take some better pictures. Being from deep in the rust belt I asked him to skip the cleaning and take his camera and crawl under the car for some shots.

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                      Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:05 PM.
                      Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
                      74 Nova Project
                      66 Mustang GT Project

                      92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
                      79 Chevy Truck Project
                      1956 Cadillac Project

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Needless to say, I was very impressed. On Wednesday, April 27th I asked Squirrel (Jim Forbes) to take a look at it for me and he graciously agreed to check it out on Saturday (April 30th). I did not even make it through the day (April 27th) before calling back the owner and agreeing to his asking price of $4,000 if he would hold it for me. Went to the bank, got a loan, shipped some plates and tools and caught a plane with my then 4 year old son Joseph on Friday, May 6th.

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                        Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:05 PM.
                        Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
                        74 Nova Project
                        66 Mustang GT Project

                        92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
                        79 Chevy Truck Project
                        1956 Cadillac Project

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          The owner picked us up at the airport at about 9:30am and drove us to his place where the car was parked. He already had the plates on it so we tossed our luggage in and hit the road. This was our first gas stop a couple of miles in.

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                          Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:06 PM.
                          Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
                          74 Nova Project
                          66 Mustang GT Project

                          92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
                          79 Chevy Truck Project
                          1956 Cadillac Project

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            We saw this super clean Cutlass at that gas station.

                            Click image for larger version

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                            Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:06 PM.
                            Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
                            74 Nova Project
                            66 Mustang GT Project

                            92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
                            79 Chevy Truck Project
                            1956 Cadillac Project

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              From there it was off to Flagstaff.

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                              Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:06 PM.
                              Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
                              74 Nova Project
                              66 Mustang GT Project

                              92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
                              79 Chevy Truck Project
                              1956 Cadillac Project

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                We wanted to drive by the Grand Canyon and take a peek. We did make it before dark but the weather was not cooperating.

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                                Last edited by 74NovaMan; December 19, 2014, 02:07 PM.
                                Chris - HRPT Long Haul 03, 04, 05, 13, 14, 15,16 & 18
                                74 Nova Project
                                66 Mustang GT Project

                                92 Camaro RS Convertible Project
                                79 Chevy Truck Project
                                1956 Cadillac Project

                                Comment

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