This Nova is one year older than I am.

I have always loved the early Chevy IIs.  A couple of years ago I went to look at a Dodge truck (that I ended up buying) and the owner had *two* of them sitting in his garage.  He had a Pro Street 65 that he'd run for a while, but he couldn't get classic insurance on it with the modifications (cage, ginormous tubs where the backseat used to be, steamroller tires, etc.) so he bought another and was transferring all of his drivetrain parts over to the more "stock" car.  He said he'd be selling the Pro Street car as a roller when he was done.  

I went home and didn't think much more about it but about a year ago I dug his number up and called.  "Yeah, I'll probably be selling it this fall."  I figured "fall" meant "never" and put it out of my mind.  OK, it's February 2025, I am down to 4 vehicles and 3 of them run, time for more junk, right?  It's more than two years after I originally saw the car, and I called him up again.  He needed the garage space and money for a house renovation and was ready to sell.
 

I went to pick it up with his old 1st gen Cummins truck, and he and his wife exclaimed over and over how much they liked what I'd done with the truck.  Kind of a full circle moment there.  I picked up the car and a full truck bed worth of spare fenders, trim, etc.  It is basically rust free, he has spare doors, another hood, etc. etc.
 

The car is set up with an Alston front frame clip, a cage, and ladder bars in the back with a narrowed Dana 60 rear.  Disc brakes all the way around, steamroller Mickey Ts on Center Lines in back and matching skinnies for the front.  It had an LS/700R4 in it last.  I have a complete 5.3/4L60E for it.  My initial plan is to get it up and running with minimal changes to what's already there, then progress to some refinements.  I'd like for it to have AC, power steering, power brakes, and probably a 3 link to replace the ladder bars in the back.  I may leave the wheel tubs alone, but it'd be nice to shrink them somewhat and put some steel tubs in there and connect them to the quarter panels.  Currently the aluminum tubs are RTV'ed to the quarters because racecar. 

It is going to sit at least a couple of months in my shop while I work on some other stuff (including my Z06) but I hope it doesn't stay dusty in there for years.  Please slap me if I leave it too long.

 

Oh my!

GET SOME!!!

Suddenly I'm light headed, no blood flow up top...

That thing is sexy.

Wow, bigs and littles. 

Several (I hesitate to say "a lot of") Pro Street cars have been updated in the Pro Touring style. They've already got room for tons of section width in the rear...

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

I should've mentioned that in my first post -- that's exactly what I intend.  I think I can probably put some wheel spacers on the back to adapt to Chevy bolt pattern and gain maybe 4" of axle width, then run something like an 18 or 19x11.  You can even buy a spindle compatible with C6 Corvette hubs and brakes for the Mustang II suspension, which is what the Alston kit uses up front.

The car has had the rear wheel opening widened by cutting the lower part of the quarter panel and adding a section in the middle of the wheel well opening.  It looks reasonably well done and I think it'd look OK with somewhat smaller wheels as well.

First things first is to get it up and running with what I have though.

This rules so hard. 

Dana rear end!

This is very exciting!!!

Tony Sestito said:

This rules so hard. 

I figured you’d like it. :)

I'm working on the install of a solar panel system, I have a few last things on order for the Z06 before I fire it, but all of those tasks were waiting on parts or people. 

So, the 5.3 I plan on putting in this car got a driveway bath today.  It's a truck motor of unknown mileage, bought as a complete pull out by a friend several years ago.  First look was encouraging, clean inside the valve covers, turns over nicely and makes compression noises.  A bit of sludge in the pan but no glittery bits.  It's getting a GM LS9 cam swap once I figure out what box the cam is in.  :-)  I don't think I'm going to pull the heads as long as the lifters stay up to pull the cam and swap it.  Clean up the covers and pan, maybe clean the injectors.  

0

It gets better and better. 

Well, that escalated quickly.  It's raining and I can't trench for conduit, so here we are.

I went ahead and pulled the heads when I couldn't get a couple of the lifters to go all the way up into their trays.  Bores look excellent with crosshatch still visible, cam and lifters looked good, coolant passages a bit crusty as you'd expect.

It's going full Sloppy build with one of the Raccoon Master's cams.  I'm going to file and gap the top rings for a bit more clearance and put it back together.  I ordered the cheapest possible rear sump swap oil pan; the truck oil pan would clear the crossmember but hang down way below it, not good.  

Anybody near here reading this have a 4L80E they want to get rid of?  I have a good 4L60 and converter I'd trade with cash on my end, if necessary.

Not that I'm thinking about the turbos I have sitting around here or anything.

Well this looks like a lot of fun.  Going to have to do a little cutting to fit a 4L80E, or will it actually fit in the transmission tunnel?

In reply to eastsideTim :

I'll likely have to do some cutting.  The car already has had some firewall massaging (see pic above) but the tunnel is still factory, along with the floor pans until just behind the main hoop.  Since it has a good cage and rectangular frame rails underneath, I don't feel too bad about cutting the tunnel.  I'll probably cut the existing tunnel out as far as necessary, then add some pieces and weld it back in.

You will probably be running before me, but i'm interested to see how you like that cam, especially if you run it N/A at first. That;s the one I have my eye on for my 5.3

The LS9 cam is excellent, as is the early Nova.

My kind of build!  Check to see if the 706 heads are the "castech" heads.  If so, check closely for cracks around the oil returns.  Lots of Google info on this.  If not cracked by now you're probably fine and good to run them.  I'm running a set on my Colorado and I'm not too worried about them. 

If it wasn't for the prius I could pretend that photo was 30 years old and I have chosen to. Super rad

rustomatic said:

The LS9 cam is excellent, as is the early Nova.

I realized belatedly that I can't run the LS9 cam in it because it doesn't have the reluctor in the back for the cam sensor.  Seems like a lot of aftermarket cams have them in front and in back, so they can be used in a wider variety of combos, but not factory GM stuff.  Thus, the Sloppy Best Cam.

Some random progress shots, in between working on about 9 other projects here.  Working on the junkyard 5.3.

Checking ring gap.  I filed a couple that were under .025" but most were good.

Bearings, crank and rods looked excellent.

Sloppy "best cam" about to go in.

Checking coil bind with a couple of lifters I converted to "solid" by reversing the plunger inside the lifter.  I use these for checking pushrod length but here I have a couple of stock pushrods in just to see if I can get away with stock springs with this cam.
 

That's a big "Nope".  So I grudgingly spent $200 on a set of PAC 1218 springs tonight.  I'm up to maybe $500 in engine parts!  The horror!

PAC is about 4 miles from where I live.  One of my kids went to daycare with a guy who worked there.  Small world.  

How have I missed this??

Loving this. Love pro street, junkyard amd Patina. 

This feels like car craft 1999 all over again, and im here for it.

Cleaned up the deck and heads with a fine Roloc disc, swapped springs and seals, cam is in and front cover is on, it's about time to put the heads back on.  

Oh, and that's the new swap oil pan.  It has about 3" less depth to the sump compared to the truck pan, and should help keep things above the crossmember.  Still needs an oil return bung but I don't want to weld it yet until I have a chance to put it in the car and check to see what's in the way.

I need to make a stand for this with room under the head to adjust the lower part of the spring compressor.  Hanging it off of the cart works, but it feels precarious.

Good for .600" lift now.  Or so they say.  I didn't check 'em for coil bind, installed height, or anything else.

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

They are indeed the Castech heads (see logo in last pic).  I did look around the oil returns, don't see any visible cracks or steam cleaned areas, so on they go..