Mudsport96
Full Access Member
It got brought up in Tonys build thread, so I figured I should start my own. That way I don't pirate his thread.
So back story, my uncle likes to buy cars he is going to "do something cool with". Then after the project is almost done he loses interest. Or, if the outcome does not look like it is going to be what he thinks it should be he sells it off as " It isn't right".
So in the summer of '99 Uncle 1 and my dad (they had their own company at the time) were down in Florida with their crew doing a roof for Uncle 2. On the way back they stopped for food and saw a Nova for sale, so they took a look. Low original miles car and Uncle number 1 had to have it. So for 3500 cash he was the proud new owner of a base model 1976 Chevy Nova. Drove it from Georgia to central Illinois and got decent mileage. For a couple years he drove it on the weekends and to shows in the summers. The 250 straight 6 did well for what it was, but the itch finally got to him. As I was in college at the time for Automotive Performance and Engine Power he enlisted me for my help.
So after talking to him for awhile about his plans for the car, like what was the end goal. He decided on mostly a cruiser for shows with decent street manners, but could hold its own if needed.
So, out came the 250 6 cylinder and in went a .030 over 350. Zero decked, 4 groove valve relief flat tops, a set of 441 heads angle milled down to 70cc's and cut for 2.02/1.60 valves, had bowl and port work done. And Harlan Sharp 1.6 Full roller aluminum rockers with polylocs
Cam is a Competition Cams High Energy 268 Flat tappet p/n 12-210-2 and has Comps thick wall pushrods and recommended springs.
Block hugger headers from Headmen into duals through walker blues. Originally it started with an Edelbrock performer intake, then he picked up an Edelbrock Torker2 at a swap meet... that made it a dog off the line. But at this point he was losing interest so he didn't care.
And a flexlite Efan and controller that keeps it at a solid 196 at idle.
Im not going to sugar coat it or pretend it is a race car. It makes an honest 290 to 300 at best in perfect air. It makes more torque that HP.
The factory peanut 7.5 rearend died shortly after the 350 was installed. Which is probably for the better since the 2.41 gear let the car get to like 65 in first gear. I now has an 8.5 from a 77 F body with a 3.73..... and the damn spool he wanted. ( next on my list to replace)
After I bought it.
It is topped off with a HEAVILY modified factory iron intake. The intake has been cut and ground at the carb pad to be opened up like an Edelbrock intake. runners ported and casting bosses removed and epoxied to be air tight ( basically I ground any intrusions into the runners then sealed the holes.) I bolted the carb on with studs and where the threads went into the now exposed runners, they were ground and blended in as part the existing port and held in place with epoxy to prevent vacuum leaks.
Trans is a TH350 with Transgo kit and stock stall converter.
Alright now that I spent an hour typing this on the computer to make it easy ill jump over to the phone to add pics.
So back story, my uncle likes to buy cars he is going to "do something cool with". Then after the project is almost done he loses interest. Or, if the outcome does not look like it is going to be what he thinks it should be he sells it off as " It isn't right".
So in the summer of '99 Uncle 1 and my dad (they had their own company at the time) were down in Florida with their crew doing a roof for Uncle 2. On the way back they stopped for food and saw a Nova for sale, so they took a look. Low original miles car and Uncle number 1 had to have it. So for 3500 cash he was the proud new owner of a base model 1976 Chevy Nova. Drove it from Georgia to central Illinois and got decent mileage. For a couple years he drove it on the weekends and to shows in the summers. The 250 straight 6 did well for what it was, but the itch finally got to him. As I was in college at the time for Automotive Performance and Engine Power he enlisted me for my help.
So after talking to him for awhile about his plans for the car, like what was the end goal. He decided on mostly a cruiser for shows with decent street manners, but could hold its own if needed.
So, out came the 250 6 cylinder and in went a .030 over 350. Zero decked, 4 groove valve relief flat tops, a set of 441 heads angle milled down to 70cc's and cut for 2.02/1.60 valves, had bowl and port work done. And Harlan Sharp 1.6 Full roller aluminum rockers with polylocs
Cam is a Competition Cams High Energy 268 Flat tappet p/n 12-210-2 and has Comps thick wall pushrods and recommended springs.
Block hugger headers from Headmen into duals through walker blues. Originally it started with an Edelbrock performer intake, then he picked up an Edelbrock Torker2 at a swap meet... that made it a dog off the line. But at this point he was losing interest so he didn't care.
And a flexlite Efan and controller that keeps it at a solid 196 at idle.
Im not going to sugar coat it or pretend it is a race car. It makes an honest 290 to 300 at best in perfect air. It makes more torque that HP.
The factory peanut 7.5 rearend died shortly after the 350 was installed. Which is probably for the better since the 2.41 gear let the car get to like 65 in first gear. I now has an 8.5 from a 77 F body with a 3.73..... and the damn spool he wanted. ( next on my list to replace)
After I bought it.
It is topped off with a HEAVILY modified factory iron intake. The intake has been cut and ground at the carb pad to be opened up like an Edelbrock intake. runners ported and casting bosses removed and epoxied to be air tight ( basically I ground any intrusions into the runners then sealed the holes.) I bolted the carb on with studs and where the threads went into the now exposed runners, they were ground and blended in as part the existing port and held in place with epoxy to prevent vacuum leaks.
Trans is a TH350 with Transgo kit and stock stall converter.
Alright now that I spent an hour typing this on the computer to make it easy ill jump over to the phone to add pics.
