Bought a kid that isn't mine a 1976 Nova...

[Raider L]

@Catbox,

Well you know that there is a huge 4 door scene with all the "tuners"! Many of them are 4 door because they are so light it doesn't matter how many doors you have, add them up and they weigh a pound of plastic and Alum. I've always liked four doors because more of your friends you can pack in there. And if the guy riding shotgun is passed out having that extra door means you can hop out at the 7-11 and take a pee if you need to without disturbing him!

And if you end up having to live out of your car, do you know how uncomfortable it is trying to stretch out in the front seat with buckets? At least with a back seat of a 4 door you can get more comfortable than you can with the steering wheel, the stick shift messing you up all night! Unless you've got the back seat of a Mustang which is NO back seat, I know.

 

[consti2tion]

That is very awesome that you would do that for him. Always liked a Disco Nova!

 

[AuroraGirl]

Yup.
@Maxwellvis has a buddy Brian.
Brians home life has not been the best, but he is a good kid.
He currently drives a VTec Honda Civic and is not real fond of it.

The three of us were going to the junkyard yesterday to look for some stuff.
I had no agenda other than finding gold in what ever car I could find.
Max was after a set of seats from a Hyundai Tiburon that he will fit into the '73 VW he now owns.
Brian wanted a front fender for said Honda as he was backed into the other day and it was bent all to hell.

We went in and paid the entry fee and the boys noticed the Nova sitting in the complete cars for sale row just outside of the doors.

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We all oogled it and poured over the whole car, there is some rust and little things that need to be taken care of over time.
But that does not stop it from running and driving.

Pop the hood and there is a greasy but very original 250 straight six backed up by a 3 speed auto (I suspect a TH350).
This car is 100% original and has not been molested at all.
It came with AC but the compressor was long ago removed, that is the biggest change to it that we had found.

It is a Concours level trim package (think Silverado).
Inside there are bucket seats and a console shifter for the transmission.

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The yards asking price was a cool $1999.
The boys were trying to figure out how to find that money.
I told them they are going to let you haggle the price down just like I did on a $200 set of wheels and tires I bought there last year for $120.
So Brian offered $1200 and that was rejected and a counter of $1300 was made.
That was accepted and now I have another car in my driveway until Brian is able to get the title transferred to his name.
He will pay me back when his Honda get sold after the insurance companies do their things due to that lady that backed into him.
Brian in his new to him hotrod.

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We got the car home and it ran and drove just fine all the 5 miles it had to go.
The kids then went up to the auto parts store that Max works at and bought the car all new belts, hoses, and other tune up parts.

After all that was installed, they washed all the grime off the car and this is what we bought...

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Do you need the core support cover thing for the rad with the VECI on it? I have a 76 nova 250 one (manual i think, but that shouldnt be too important unless it doesnt spec the label the same way because of it. Never gonna have a use for it

 

[Catbox]

Do you need the core support cover thing for the rad with the VECI on it? I have a 76 nova 250 one (manual i think, but that shouldnt be too important unless it doesnt spec the label the same way because of it. Never gonna have a use for it

No ma'am, he is not concerned with that at this time as his is good enough.
He is just happy driving the thing.
Thank you though!

 

[AuroraGirl]

No ma'am, he is not concerned with that at this time as his is good enough.
He is just happy driving the thing.
Thank you though!

Oh no I mean like it has important tune up stuff on iot and stuff, if you can read thats whats important. I figured ot mention. I also have a broken grille for one just needs some dabs of good ol tasyty elmers glue

 

[Catbox]

I haven't updated this one in a bit as work has been super busy.
But....
The slipping transmission went out on his way to work about a month ago.
All of a sudden he had 4 neutrals and just a little bit of reverse.

So he called us and Max got him flat towed back to his apartment and they pushed it into a parking spot.
Brian was ready to spend the $1500 that Jegs wanted for a fresh built turbo 350 and a 2000 stall converter, then he saw that it wouldn't ship until December 9th.

He asked if I knew anybody and as a matter of fact I do know people.
So I reached out to my drag racing buddy and asked who he has do his auto transmissions.
As I was talking to him on the phone, Max brought in the two upper ears of the current transmission case. Yeah, somebody had been in there before us and they did not seat the torque converter the right way and tried to use the bolts to snug it up....

Not rad.

So while the kids worked I found a suitable transmission on Facebook market place for $50 to get it outta the guys way. The transmission is a turbo 350 from a 1970 truck, so score! It now has the heavier duty truck set of clutches instead of the lighter weight straight six stuff.

Anyway, the new to us core was picked up and delivered to the rebuilder.
He had it back to us in about a week all rebuilt with a stage 2 shift kit set up in it and the 1800-2000 rpm stall converter I specified.

It has been installed for about 2 weeks now and Brian is a happy camper as the transmission works like a champ and has a nice crisp shift to it.

 

[Catbox]

However, the carb has left some things to be desired.
The car has never been super happy feeling and a lot of that was contributed to the transmission being on its way out.

After the trans was fixed, it was more apparent that the running issue is carb related.
So they tried to tune the one that was on there with no luck.
On one of our many trips to the junkyard, I have been on the hunt for a suitable replacement carb for the single barrel that is on my Bel Air as mine is shot.

I came up with this one that is off a 1986 Dodge truck with its 225 slant six.

They swapped it on to the car a few days ago, no rebuild, no work to it what-so-ever and the drivability is night and day.
Now the car has pep and snap to the throttle input and they can even get the tire to spin when the road is wet.

Not a simple feat for a straight six with 2.73 gearing...

Next up is to get working on the 355 he has in my backyard.
That should make the car way more fun to drive, then he just needs to build it a rearend and he will be set.

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[AuroraGirl]

I have a monojet from a 250 and a bunch of 2jets and a varajet 2 but that needs the special 2 barrewl intake i assume

 

[Catbox]

I have a monojet from a 250 and a bunch of 2jets and a varajet 2 but that needs the special 2 barrewl intake i assume

He will end up running this one until the 350 is built.
Then my buddy will build him a 4 barrel Holley for it.
Thank you though.

 

[78C10BigTen]

I haven't updated this one in a bit as work has been super busy.
But....
The slipping transmission went out on his way to work about a month ago.
All of a sudden he had 4 neutrals and just a little bit of reverse.

So he called us and Max got him flat towed back to his apartment and they pushed it into a parking spot.
Brian was ready to spend the $1500 that Jegs wanted for a fresh built turbo 350 and a 2000 stall converter, then he saw that it wouldn't ship until December 9th.

He asked if I knew anybody and as a matter of fact I do know people.
So I reached out to my drag racing buddy and asked who he has do his auto transmissions.
As I was talking to him on the phone, Max brought in the two upper ears of the current transmission case. Yeah, somebody had been in there before us and they did not seat the torque converter the right way and tried to use the bolts to snug it up....

Not rad.

So while the kids worked I found a suitable transmission on Facebook market place for $50 to get it outta the guys way. The transmission is a turbo 350 from a 1970 truck, so score! It now has the heavier duty truck set of clutches instead of the lighter weight straight six stuff.

Anyway, the new to us core was picked up and delivered to the rebuilder.
He had it back to us in about a week all rebuilt with a stage 2 shift kit set up in it and the 1800-2000 rpm stall converter I specified.

It has been installed for about 2 weeks now and Brian is a happy camper as the transmission works like a champ and has a nice crisp shift to it.

That happened to the th350 in my square.... drove home fine the day before, next day i back outta my spot and 3 neutrals and a reverse. So i drove it backwards all the way to the back of the lot and called a friend for a ride to work. It got its next th350 under that tree right there in the back of the apartment parkin lot.

 

[Catbox]

The kids have been hard at work on the Nova as well.

The new transmission is working great.
I forgot to report that at the time they installed the transmission, they also converted the shifter to a B&M ratchet shifter I had in the garage. It was simply missing the cable to be useful. Enter the auto parts store employee discount. They now need to integrate it into the original console of the car so it works and looks good. Currently it has no console around it, its just hanging out in the wind.

Max installed a set of Hyundai Tiburon seats that were supposed to be installed into the VW Bug that I gave him last year, but that turned out to be more of a hassle that he wanted to deal with. So the Nova had a broken driver seat mount and they put those seats in with a little rework on the seat mounts. They look good in there and all the bolsters do a great job of keeping you planted in the twistys.

A couple weeks ago Brian and Max went to pick up a set of 15 inch Rally wheels for the car.
They had questionable tires on them and on the car they went.
That lasted about a week then one of the rear tires disintegrated the sidewall.

Back on with the 14's until Brian could source the proper tires for the new wheels as well as funding. The local tire store guy is pretty swell as he hooked Brian up with his first credit experience as well as a full set of Cooper Cobras for the car.

They are 235/60/15's for the front and 255/60/15's for the rear of the car.
That is what the internet told them was the largest they should do for a good all around compromise on the looks vs fitment for the car.

This car has never sat up well as it has some sad rear springs under it.
At the shop they work at they have a set of bolt on helper springs that with the discount cost a massive $26. They installed those and the car sat up a bit more, but still sagged to the rear.
Max has also purchased a shackle lift kit for the car a while ago and just never installed it.
Now was the time, so with the helper springs and the shackles now set to max lift, it clears the new meats.

Here is the car as it drives away from the house now.
You can now see that it has a ever so slight just over level rake to the front.
Much better than squatting everywhere it goes.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[AuroraGirl]

The kids have been hard at work on the Nova as well.

The new transmission is working great.
I forgot to report that at the time they installed the transmission, they also converted the shifter to a B&M ratchet shifter I had in the garage. It was simply missing the cable to be useful. Enter the auto parts store employee discount. They now need to integrate it into the original console of the car so it works and looks good. Currently it has no console around it, its just hanging out in the wind.

Max installed a set of Hyundai Tiburon seats that were supposed to be installed into the VW Bug that I gave him last year, but that turned out to be more of a hassle that he wanted to deal with. So the Nova had a broken driver seat mount and they put those seats in with a little rework on the seat mounts. They look good in there and all the bolsters do a great job of keeping you planted in the twistys.

A couple weeks ago Brian and Max went to pick up a set of 15 inch Rally wheels for the car.
They had questionable tires on them and on the car they went.
That lasted about a week then one of the rear tires disintegrated the sidewall.

Back on with the 14's until Brian could source the proper tires for the new wheels as well as funding. The local tire store guy is pretty swell as he hooked Brian up with his first credit experience as well as a full set of Cooper Cobras for the car.

They are 235/60/15's for the front and 255/60/15's for the rear of the car.
That is what the internet told them was the largest they should do for a good all around compromise on the looks vs fitment for the car.

This car has never sat up well as it has some sad rear springs under it.
At the shop they work at they have a set of bolt on helper springs that with the discount cost a massive $26. They installed those and the car sat up a bit more, but still sagged to the rear.
Max has also purchased a shackle lift kit for the car a while ago and just never installed it.
Now was the time, so with the helper springs and the shackles now set to max lift, it clears the new meats.

Here is the car as it drives away from the house now.
You can now see that it has a ever so slight just over level rake to the front.
Much better than squatting everywhere it goes.

You must be registered for see images attach

those cooper cobras looked pretty cool I was trying to help a guy in canada Im friends with source some for his monte carlo or el camino (One of those, he has both lol) and he stuck with 15 rallies he found. little pricy but have you seen BF goodrich radials? HOLY.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Where's the photos of the seats, the shifter, etc? The car does look much better with the improved stance and new wheels and tires.

 

[Catbox]

Where's the photos of the seats, the shifter, etc? The car does look much better with the improved stance and new wheels and tires.

Work for me has been crazy and I had to leave them to it.
I will get the updated photos next time Brian is over, which is often.
So I do owe the internet that...

 

[78C10BigTen]

The kids have been hard at work on the Nova as well.

The new transmission is working great.
I forgot to report that at the time they installed the transmission, they also converted the shifter to a B&M ratchet shifter I had in the garage. It was simply missing the cable to be useful. Enter the auto parts store employee discount. They now need to integrate it into the original console of the car so it works and looks good. Currently it has no console around it, its just hanging out in the wind.

Max installed a set of Hyundai Tiburon seats that were supposed to be installed into the VW Bug that I gave him last year, but that turned out to be more of a hassle that he wanted to deal with. So the Nova had a broken driver seat mount and they put those seats in with a little rework on the seat mounts. They look good in there and all the bolsters do a great job of keeping you planted in the twistys.

A couple weeks ago Brian and Max went to pick up a set of 15 inch Rally wheels for the car.
They had questionable tires on them and on the car they went.
That lasted about a week then one of the rear tires disintegrated the sidewall.

Back on with the 14's until Brian could source the proper tires for the new wheels as well as funding. The local tire store guy is pretty swell as he hooked Brian up with his first credit experience as well as a full set of Cooper Cobras for the car.

They are 235/60/15's for the front and 255/60/15's for the rear of the car.
That is what the internet told them was the largest they should do for a good all around compromise on the looks vs fitment for the car.

This car has never sat up well as it has some sad rear springs under it.
At the shop they work at they have a set of bolt on helper springs that with the discount cost a massive $26. They installed those and the car sat up a bit more, but still sagged to the rear.
Max has also purchased a shackle lift kit for the car a while ago and just never installed it.
Now was the time, so with the helper springs and the shackles now set to max lift, it clears the new meats.

Here is the car as it drives away from the house now.
You can now see that it has a ever so slight just over level rake to the front.
Much better than squatting everywhere it goes.

You must be registered for see images attach

Are they vette/ camaro ralleyes?? If so i know a guy who has a set of centers for them sitting on my living room floor.... cough cough @bucket lmao