I've followed this thread because you are from az and wanted to see what other az guys were up to in the camaro world. I think you are just about back to square one again with the nova. I am wrapping up a camaro build of my own, and it has been one of the biggest P.I.T.A I've ever experienced. It has been my car for nearly 15 years, so I knew everything about it...at least I thought I did. The motor and trans swap took a long time (about a month) as I wanted to keep as much of the computer and accessories as possible. The body and paint took just over a year to complete, and I've not even started on the interior. I opted for a 383 for a few reasons, but I think I went overboard, and as stated before, the car is flat out not fun to drive; touchy throttle, constant attention to gauges, and just always on edge. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but what I ended up doing is picking up a 67 mustang with a fresh 289. It dynoed at 235 RWHP. I am going to leave it alone and do a resto on body and interior. My last point is does your county require emissions? Pima county does, and I am having on hell of a time getting my car to pass. All emission equipment is intact with dual converters, air pump, etc working correctly. Because I just had to have a high comp. motor and a semi aggressive cam, I am now paying the price. I've got one more chance to pass, if not, it needs to get registered in Pinal (no emissions). My point, is be very careful for what you wish for.

http://s746.photobucket.com/home/djs389

 

And only a "few" bucks later.....

 

I live in wickenburg which is in yavapia and maricopa county so I don't have to emmision it luckily. And guess what over the weekend I was a little curious on how much a 454 would cost and I found a guy that wanted the pistons I had. So I traded the pistons and a laptop for a bbc 454 lol freshly rebuilt. The guy got it for free so he really didn't care how cheap he let it go. And the same guy I traded a rebuilt turbo 400r tranny or whatever it is called. And also some new rims. Lol. I got really lucky. Me and my friend put it all in today and luckily all the stock components worked on it except the motor mounts I had to weld up some new ones and weld them to the kmember. It was actually pretty easy it all pretty much plug and play. All I need is some little stuff here and there and ill be done. Need a radiator altanator and starter. Other than that its all stupid stuff like fuel line. And I'm not going to use the mechanical fuel pump I'm going to use a regular fuel pump. Anyone have any advice or remind me of something? Oh I need headers and intake and distributor. I can use a sbc distibutor can't I? I doubt I can use the headers and definetly not the intake what stuf can I use from a sbc? I know a lot of the stuff like the motor mounts the water pumps the pulleys and **** like that you can use but what else? As soon as I get to a computer ill put some pictures of it up but I'm on my phone right now.

 

Hmm, well you are lucky you are in yavapai then. First off, you welded or fab'd new motor mounts? That is good, but I hope there is some type of vibration damping insert there, or it will end up vibrating bad enough to break the mount, or even something else worse. I'm also confused as to your fuel pump comment. Is this a carb'd motor? If it is then a mechanical fuel pump would be better as electric un-regulated are too high pressure. Mechanical are also easier to deal with rather than an in-tank electrical one. Best of luck on the car.

 

I'm absolutely lost in this thread.

First we had a running 350 with 4 bolt mains

then, within 24 hours we went from a very passionate post about what was being done into having sold the 4th gen and getting a 73 nova ss. All within 24 hours.

Then we learn that the car has a 12 bolt and 4 wheel discs but nothing else and now it's a 1976. A powerful engine in 1976 was the L48 in the vette with a whopping 180HP and the novas I believe with the 305 had 130HP so I can't imagine why a 12 bolt w/4 wheel discs was put into that roller.

OK, with all of that aside, we now learn that the small block needs to be bored and to have work done. Now, a 454 is had via a swap for pistons and a notebook PC. All of that done was within 3 days based upon the timeline.

would someone please bring me up to speed because I'm damn confused.

 

Ok it was supposed to be running but after I tore it apart honed the cylinders out and worked on it a little bit I found the pistons werte warped. So I bought new pistons from a guy I know but wld have to bore it 30 over and a whole bunch of other stuff happened and an oppurtunity came up where I could get a nove that the guy said was a 74 nova ss. But found out it was a 76 nova that had a little work done to it. And then I decided to look see how much a bbc would be and found a guy that wanted to trade this 454 for the pistons I had. And when I did we got to talking and traded some other stuff. So that's how I got a 76 chevy nova with a 12 bolt rear end and some other stuff and a bbc 454 and turbo 400 tranny. All of this was explained in other posts. But anyways to answer some other questions I didn't totally fabricate them and got some used and welded them on with some rubber buffers. So yes it has dampners so it won't vibrate everything.

 

you see, you are still confusing me. I have to warn you, I'm slow on the uptake.

You now have a TH400. Where did you get that? What happened to the TH350 mentioned in posts # 26 and 32?

Also, you posted that you got the 454 installed and to me, it sounds like it all works but you have

no starter
no distributor
no intake manifold

so how could it be working ?

Please, if this is a hypothetical build thread then please state as such. many of us think about our next project. For me, it's going to be a pickup be it full size or S10/Ranger.

I was flirting with getting a 2011 5.0 but I'm happy with my 07 stang and 95 4th gen and have been trolling for a project vehicle. Why only have 2 cars when you can have 3?

So, I beg of you

step back and tell us exactly what you have today and then tell us what you hope to do some day. We're all here to either help with issues you may have and even better, I'm sure we all have ideas of what we'd like to do some day and it's always easier to spend other people's money. So please, full disclosure is needed to eliminate the confusion


cheers

 

This is a pretty interesting story, keep it up.

 

im alot of things but a liar is not one of them. and here are some pictures just to prove that i am not lying.

 

ok u got some pics not sure I would have traded a Camaro for a mid 70's Nova but this is your stuff not mine.

Massey