Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Sunday came and went with me riding the couch all day, that wasn't the plan but thats what happened. Worked on it some today and realized I never got any head dowels so I had to leave and track them down then go back for a couple hours so little progress but here's where we're at. Back to it for a bit tomorrow. If I could impart a nickels worth of free advice to any newbs like me I would tell them to pay close attention to how full you fill the block I paid close attention and still only have about a blade of grass worth of clearance from the torqued head bolt to the Hardblok after decking. I wanted to fill it as much as possible but after seeing it done I should have left it a tick lower. Some assembly required, warranty is pro rated and your results may vary.
https://i.imgur.com/6LE1MeRh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MqRSmINl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uFmX4sZh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Slacking on the pictures but we are getting on with it. Checked cam lift, got the break-in rockers on, a mixture of restrictors tested while pre-lubing, swapped onto a dyno cart and started bolting stuff on.
https://i.imgur.com/U2amuU3h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Y2td6h9h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mpjtRkMh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Everything is bolted on and moved into the dyno room, hooked everything up and found a few water leaks so we're getting them handled.
https://i.imgur.com/iy1zlEYh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rlL8PW0h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6JwckX9h.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

I'm so excited for you !

Thank you for sharing your adventure, I have really enjoyed it.
Glenn

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Thank you Glenn, maybe we'll hear it run today.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

With video.;)

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

We've had issues with the intake sealing since day one, so at the expense of more issues I had some help from the cyl head guy at the shop. He said he'd never seen one cut so far off. We always had an issue with water wicking into the gaskets, and thet was because the bottom would seal and the top wouldn't so it would leak at the top of the flange. we milled the flanges and set it back on last night. When I test fit it after it was cut no more wobbling around and sloppy side to side.
https://i.imgur.com/yvtzhw7l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VInYnIql.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HSdGVMbl.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Never fails. Change one thing and it affects another thing. Usually, after heads are decked to arrive at the blueprint specs on the chamber volume and the block is decked to get the correct deck height, enough stuff has moved around enough to throw off bolt holes,gasket sealing surfaces, push rod lengths, valve train geometry, and all else, even after the intake is narrowed down so that it snuggles down between the heads like its supposed to, then the distributor bottoms out inside the engine before the distributor is correctly seated down on the manifold, so a certain configuration of spacers is necessary.If its not one thing,it's something else. Never fails. A really quick stocker motor is such that the whole package has to be reengineered in order to get everything to work. In my earliest days of doing this, I wondered why racers I knew had all these different blocks,heads,manifolds, valve train parts, and all else in excess of what one main motor and a spare would require. Now, here I am with a couple of cars, a spare motor and God only knows how many manifolds and heads and internal parts it takes to make this stuff all work. You have successfully shown us just what all that process requires in order to arrive at the desired end result. Ever seen people enlarge the intake manifold bolt holes in order to get the bolts in after all the machine work on the long block? If you had to do that, it means that it still doesn't fit right. Some people go back to the drawing board so much they wear out the drawing board before the motor ever gets test fired.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Greg, I have learned that one change at the bottom of the stack throws the whole deal so far off kilter it's an engineering nightmare for sure.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

That face you make when your crap has oil pressure for more than 5 minutes.
https://i.imgur.com/Z8sCLp7h.jpg