'70 Nova V/SA to F/SA Makeover

[Doug Hoven]

Even though it's a few months after the fact, but I figured I would write up a build thread for a project that I got myself into a few months back earlier this year. Took a bit of mild convincing, well maybe more than a little bit, to "hack up" his original 28k mile 6 cylinder PG nova with a roll bar, frame connectors, and a new drivetrain. I decided at the end of last year, even though I had gotten the handle on hitting the tree with a low horsepower, tall front tire car, I decided I wanted to go a bit faster. After some thought, and the generosity of a fellow D1 racer in donating a 295hp 350 engine, I decided to go with the 1970 350/300 rated at 286. One thing that sticks in my head is when I suggested that's what I was building to my car owner, I got the response "Nice job choosing the worst 4bbl 350 combo in the guide." A little harsh IMHO, but I decided to do it anyway. I'll start with the chassis/fab work, and move on to the engine. The car owner is a very knowledgeable and talented fabricator, so naturally, with some "here, hold this" assistance from me, we got the bar and frame connectors done to where we are both very satisfied with the final fit and finish. I'll post some pics of this process under this post.

[Doug Hoven]

At some point, I decided I was not a fan of the "70s couch" style bench seat, and with some more convincing, made the decision to fit the car with aluminum racing seats.

[Tim H]

Congratulations on "moving up " a bunch in class designation. Anxiously waiting to follow along with your project.

[Doug Hoven]

Well being that I just got off the phone with crower try and order a replacement connecting rod (more on that later), I figured I would go ahead and talk a little bit about the engine I put together for the car. I started with a complete 295hp stocker engine that had been sitting for quite some time. I pretty much ended up using the block, cylinder heads, and camshaft due to the crank being cracked, and my lack of trust in stock rods, and worn out .030 over trw pistons. I was originally going to send a stock crank to get cut and indexed, but after realizing I could by a brand new eagle crank from summit for $250, I figured it wasn't worth the effort(in the end I threw the crank in the garbage, spoiler alert.) Nonetheless, I was able to get a great deal on a set of good JE pistons, and some old, but in nice shape, crower rods. I took the cylinder heads to a fellow d1 racer in CT who did a great job with a stocker valve job, and was more than fair in pricing the work. Side note, ever wonder how many sets of sbc cylinder heads fit in the trunk of a 2010 camaro? Well I'm glad you asked because the answer is 4, with some room to spare. Anyway, I got a few replacement valves from Manley, and set up the heads myself with some leftover valve springs I had from the 6 cylinder. The machine work was done by B+B machine in LI, who did a really nice job with everything I had him do, and provided some very useful tips throughout this entire process. For rings, I sort of made up my own ring package. I can't afford the latest in Total seal rings, so I bought a basic set of Enginetech rings, and had a local friend back cut the top two rings for me. I was able to mix and match oil ring expanders to make my own low tension oil ring, and with some fish scale measurements, I was ready to go. I put it together almost all by myself, with some guidance from others in the process. Was able to dig up a set of NOS crane gold rockers, and some morosso valve covers(that leaked horribly), and I was ready for the dyno.

[Doug Hoven]

Some pictures to follow up my last post. My cylinder heads are the second pair in on the left for those with keen eyes.

[MR DERBY CITY]

Just curious, did said car owner Splurge for a new Headliner ?

[Doug Hoven]

Originally Posted by MR DERBY CITY

Just curious, did said car owner Splurge for a new Headliner ?

No, he did not. The headliner is actually still in pretty nice shape. We did however remove what was left of the original blue rubber floor mat in exchange for black carpet.

[Doug Hoven]

Here comes another part of the "story." I had a great time at the dyno with my engine. I was very impressed with myself that everything seemed happy and stayed in one piece, even on the final pull where I decided to go past 7k rpm. I was a little disappointed with the power numbers, but for what it is, I considered it a very successful day at the dyno at RBRE. Now I needed a car to put it in. The date was June 24th. Billy and I had just finished wrapping up what we could with the car with the parts we had available. What I had was pretty much for all intents and purposes a V/SA car with a rollbar, subframe connectors, most of a new carpet, with more material on order from Lutty's in PA (highly recommend), and had 10 days until my proposed "debut" at Numidia for the t+t before the double header. Well I got the car home that night and went to work immediately. With the help of a friend, and some last minute parts runs, we were able to swap the powerglide and 6 cylinder for the small block and metric. Throughout that week I worked on the car for about 6 hours a day. Would come home from work at 3, and, sometimes with help from my Dad, my uncle, and or some other friends, worked on the car until about 9-10pm each day. We decided against cutting up the unmolested 12 bolt that was put in the car years ago, and went for a rear that needed some work anyway. I got rid of the 5/16 fuel line, and opted for a 1/2 line instead. Well long story short I made it to Numidia that wednesday for the test and tune. Out of the box I went the best of an 11.64 at 110 mph, but at the end of the day, the car, and ultimately the oil filter told me something was going very sour with my engine. Even though they can get pricey, I am very thankful for my easily readable KP oil filter....

[Doug Hoven]

Well here's where things got a little "dicey" with my project. After pulling and reading my oil filter, there was an obvious bearing issue going on. The first thing that came to mind was I thought I was done for the season. Well, that didn't happen. As a matter of fact I was back at Numidia 3 days later ready to run the division race. That Wednesday night, my uncle and I had yanked the engine, and blew it apart to inspect the damage. It turns out that all of the bearings were junk, but the big issue was I spun number 6 rod bearing, ruining the connecting rod, and bending the crank .009 in the process. I was and still am very grateful to have been able to dig through some surplus small block parts my uncle had leftover, including a good crank, and some good (relatively speaking) stock connecting rods. So after running around finding bearings, having the rods honed for bearing clearance, and a lot of cleaning, we were back in business to begin assembly Friday morning. After a few hiccups Friday morning, it wasn't until noon that I was able to begin assembly. Well everything sort of just "fell together" and by 6pm, the car was back on the trailer, and I found myself back at Numidia late that evening. The car ran fairly well at the race, and I was very happy, even though I lost first round. Since then, I've been very happy with the progress I've made in picking the car up little by little. Even though it's only gone .50 under in NHRA competition, I'm quite happy with how the car has been running for me.

[Doug Hoven]

The first picture was the not so nice sight of my oil filter after my first day of testing. The second picture was before the first of 2 heads up races I've had already in competition.