So as many of you know me, stephen, and tanner all started a project car that we bought from monte (1978 nova) and are building specifically for the car show and as a drag car... here are some pics as it first came into the shop....

---

   THE BUILDERS

---

.

---

.... and the tear down begins...

---

...

---

...  me pressure washing  ...

---

...  10in. wide rims with slicks...  i think they look goofy lol ...

---

...

---

...

---

front end off...

---

THE GOOD

---

THE BAD!!!

---

AND THE GOOFY

---

...  well they dont look to bad from this angle....

---

Looking good!

You guys might be done before me.   ;D

Chris

awesome!
Have fun!

Jared

well i decided to take some advice of a good friend (Monte) and picked this up.....

---

...

---

now the engine is shortblocked ready for the heads and oil pan, nearly there

---

here is a basic rundown of the motor going into the nova, maybe chris can give us an estimate of what this thing might run in the 1/8th lol

350-2 bolt main, stock crank, stock (x) rods, hyper. speed pro 10:1 pistons, comp cams xe284  .507/.510 lift, 1.6 roller rockers makes total lift of cam a little above .540,  882 heads w/ dbl spring valve springs that match cam, screw in studs, guide plates, and opened up a little on the exhaust side, weiand 7546 open plenum intake, gear drive (noisy o yeah), hly 750, 1-5/8 primary 3in. collector headers.......

now the driveline...

8.5in. 10 bolt rear with richmond mini spool and 4.56 gears,  th350 basic b&m internals and transpack, hughes 10in. 3000 stall converter

... and one more picture lets see who is first to notice why i posted this pic???  (hint:  check the #)
im new to this engine building stuff just thought this was pretty weird

---

when i heard what was up wit this motor i thought it was pretty funny. the roll cage is awsome it fits in there perfectly well pretty much.

Cool. thanks for the pictures!

I must have missed something in the picture of the motor though. I didn't see it.

Chris

so do you tell people that you have a 350 or a stroked 307 with 383 pistons?? ;D strange way to get 350 cubic inches.

I cheated, had to call Marcha. I didn't know the casting no. was a 307! That's good to know- gotta good running 307 at the shop.

Well N2O is right about one thing, your engine casting number says that you have a 307 out of a 67-73 car or truck. You would have to check the engine code on the front to see the difference if there is any. But come on though, 383 pistons? The 4.030 pistons are the same that are used in my 355. The difference comes in the crank throw. 355 is the stock 3.48 throw and a 383 is a 3.75 throw. That is the same crank that is in the 400 small block. Hope that helps solve some of the questions about your block. If you search engine casting numbers you can find the same info as I did on is. They can even give you stock piston size and crank dimensions also.

Hamp

yeah i thought it was weird i guess, ive never seen or knew that you could do that... So i called my uncle who is the one who built it and he said the early 307's were a better casting and you could get away with doing that without having to worry about cooling problems and let me tell you this motor didnt get much above 160 until i threw the belts off of it lol...... So now when people ask what i get in her ill say a 307 haha

Those 2 strokes are right but the 307 has a 3.25 stroke so a 383 piston is used with a 3.48 crank because of the piston pin location being higher up on the piston. I never use hyper pistons so could be wrong on the part # ??

Its not the first time some folks on this site put together a motor only to find out they had a 307...I seem to recall a straight axel 62 Nova and someone that I will not name, but he owns a red Nova and runs this site, putting together a 4-bolt main "327" to replace that last 400 that blew up spectacularly...it's amazing how much piston clearance you can run with a 3 7/8s piston in a 4" hole...I would have never thought that block  could be bored out to 4”s…I do know that certain 283 blocks used to be bored .125 to get out to 4”s so I suppose it could happen with that 307…and that’s how far you would have to go since the 307 and 283 shared the same bore…

you guys are gonna get laid so much lol

cant wait to line up against that thing, this year is going to pretty good i think alot of people are going to have some new rides out

Okay Marcha, we need some more pics! I haven't found those solid mounts yet. Did you guys find a crossmember yet?  Monte

I let him borrow my mounts from my 406 to try tonight. I haven't heard wether they worked.

I had a ball game to go to in cordell tonight, I ran out of time to come by monte!

Chris

yeah ill put some more pics up tomorrow of everything welded in... im kinda hitting myself in the head right now trying to figure out where im going wrong on putting these mounts in i tried yours' chris they were closer but still lack quite a bit, i wish i had pics of the motor in it lol... there is a crossmember @ roosevelt just havent had the time to get up there...

MOTOR AND TRANNY is in!!!!!!!!!    man that took forever finally with the help of chris and steve we got it together, found a tranny crossmember it is in.... measured for driveshaft length and the one that came with the car will work.... Sorry monte bout the pics lol will definately get some pics of the progress now that im over this hill      thanks

cool cant wait to see it

engine bay....

---

2

---

interior shot 1

---

2

---

3

---

trunk

---

seats are in now just was too tired to take pics lol, now just plumbing and wiring.... we are jerking the rearend early this next week and looking at starting her up next weekend possibly.

Thanks for the pics! Looks like it's comin right along. Lotsa work there but you guys will love playin with it!

Monte

looks like you guys are having fun

its coming along nice guys cant wait to see it up town!

Great job guys!

Looks like a lot of fun. I can't wait to see it running.

Chris

getting closer

---

2

---

front support back on

---

rearend ready to go back in

---

2

---

rad, fan, and other stuff

---

all thats left is figuring out how to wire it up and hopefully it will start and drive sunday (cross your fingers)

Looks like all that's left to do is finish it up!!  hehe   lookin' good

Monte

wow, you sure have made a lot of progress!

Looks great!

Chris

Lookin good guys,

JB

I have a Painless Wiring four switch fused racing box if you need to borrow it if you are wanting to avoid the stock wiring. Just let me know.

Hamp

will that wiring system still let me use all the lights and stuff like that??   also does anybody have a used b&m shifter cable mine was used got hot and is very hard to go in and out.... the starter was binding up in the flywheel i think the starter is weak so im going to get a new one tomorrow and hopefully it will turn the motor over  :-/               other than that this thing should start and run hopefully

Sorry, it only has an ignition, start and two accesories switches. They do have a bigger 8 switch that will do that. It has fan, water pump two fuel pumps and lights. I think they are priced fairly also for the set up. I have the eight switch in the Camaro so that I can add things later on if I need to.

Hamp

IT'S ALIVE!!!   Well she starts and runs we will find out tomorrow if it moves  :-/ lol.  The body work, primer, and glass should be in this weekend hopefully, ill update with more pics. thanks

Good job!

Chris

alright guys the nova moves and sounds great i got the quarter glasses today and they should be in by sunday hopefully the body work is coming along slowly but its coming out smoothly this car was mostly bondo when we got it and it pretty much is completly bondo now haha. we should have the wiring done tonite and the fenders back on and most of the body work done. Hopefully we dont run into any more problems. ;D

Post some update pics when you get some. We would love to see more!

Chris

pics after being primered sunday

---

2

---

3

---

4

---

5

---

6

---

7

---

8

---

well we put the glass in last nite and changed the carb out cuz the 650 was acting up, now i just have to tune the 750 and hopefully it will run half way descent... it is at the exhaust shop right now so that will make it easier to tune maybe ill be able to drive it tomorrow if the weather is ok, i still havent cut the hood to fit lol... here is a clip of sunday when we were messing around with the 650

---

Micheal you need to go to the AHS bus barn and get ahold of Sammy Cryer before cutting that hood. also I hate the be the one to break it to you but that is a car not a drag truck lol

yeah i know thats just the file my camera decided to save it under on my computer man you notice everything lol ;D

WOW!

Good job guys! I bet it's going to sound good with the exhaust on it.

Mine got new exhaust today also, hehe.

Chris

i saw steves truck and trailor there at smileys earlier i bet it will sound awesome!!!

They did a great job!

I just wish it was ready to fire up. I might have to move that up my list of priorities....

Chris

I hope my exhaust helped you out on yours. It should sound great!

well i guess the old saying "two steps forward one giant leap back" has gone into effect, we couldn't get the carb to work... so we used a known good carb off of a buddys car and it busted right off... so i am now again in the market for a good carb unless someone can take a look at this one it is just dumping way to much fuel you couldnt even tell if the oil was oil when we dumped it... and the other bad thing is with my buddys good carb on it the motor seemed to have a slight knock... i would use that carb but of course he is driving his car this weekend, it is really up in the air whether or not we are going to make it... other than that the exhaust sounds great chris thanks again

The only extra carb I have is an 1150   :(

I am sure someone has one you can use.

Chris

well guys we arent going to make the cruise  :'(  , so now we can take it slow and maybe get it ready for some late season drag racing or maybe by vernon... thanks to everybody who has helped us out, we will see you at montes friday and saturday nite

I HATE to hear that, it looked sooooo close!

See you this weekend!


Chris

if all you need is a carb surely someone has one you can borrow. you guys really busted your buts to get that thing done. I hate to see you guys not make it

Way to go guys!!!!!


Chris

thanks everybody for the help and support, thanks monte for allowing us to hang out at the lot i know i had a great time and im sure everyone else did to we should have more get to gethers like that lol thanx again everyone!!

It was fun! I've said it before that we should have get togethers more often too. I get a kick out of you younger gearheads! I guess it takes me back to when I was your age! Anyway I'm glad you guys got to cruise the car and hopefully we will get to racing together soon!

Here's a thought - let's have a get together when Chris get's his Nova running.  We'll  celebrate with him.  I know a bunch of us are anxious to see it done!

yeah that would be nice have a big party when chris gets his nova done. hopefully our nova has a better motor in it by then. lol ;)

getting ready to put the front end back on ill get some pics of the semi-finished car.... also i think im gonna be ready to go racing june 2nd if anybody is interested we could have a race nite or something lol im really anxious to see what this car will do