Let me run this by you.

I happened across a 1976 Nova. It's been sitting a while but upon closer inspection it seems to be a very clean original car, underneath all the dirt. It's a sedan, straight six with and automatic. It has some kind of luxury model as the hubcaps and turn signal lenses have really fancy "NL" or "NC' on them and a full vinyl top. After talking with the owner for a coule of days, I asked him "just out of curiousity how much would you take for the Nova". He said he'd take a thousand for it.

My mind started turning and I came up with a game plan.

Keep the six in it, convert it to fuel injection with megasquirt. Find a 5 speed that will bolt up to the six. Fill the suspension with global west 2nd gen f-body parts. Cruise around in a cool old car while having fun and getting decent fuel mileage.

The problem is I already have a project with the E21 and it's not even close to being done. I really am looking for a car that is not a project. And the ever present lack of funds to complete a project in a timely manor.

The idea of what this car could be has just stuck with me though and it's hard to shake.

So WWGRMD?

13BT and piss everyone off?

A thousand bucks for a six cylinder, 4 door big bumper Nova is top dollar in that condition. Your BMW will be far more fun to drive and will probably get better fuel mileage.

fidelity101 wrote: 13BT and piss everyone off?

It's been done, Aussie Kingswood sold to Japan domestic market with a 13B and labelled a Roadpacer

In reply to ddavidv:

You'd be amazed at the stupid money people around here think these cars are worth. I think it has something to do with inbreeding

Any way the BMW is going no where. This would be in addition to.

It's something that is a little bit different than what I normally go for. Hell I never even liked these car at all untill a couple months ago when I was looking at some old car ads from back in the day. I just happened upon this one at work.

Car Craft did a Disco Nova project a few years ago that turned out kinda cool.

$1000 for a smog era Nova sedan sounds high to me. Other than that the plan sounds ok. I would suggest trying a modern O/D auto instead of the 5 spd though. It should drive nice with that, and it would be easier to install, with less chance of it looking like a hack-job.

Just my .02¢

nicksta43 wrote: It has some kind of luxury model as the hubcaps and turn signal lenses have really fancy "NL" or "NC' on them and a full vinyl top.

NC: Nova Concours The high end version of its time.

http://www.oocities.org/novaessess/SS_ads.htm

Drop a modern inline six and have fun. Extra points if it has a turbo.

a mild quadrajet fed 350 would make way more power and get the same mileage as the 6 .. be a lot cheaper to do that than it would be to put all the efi stuff on it.. a carbed 4.8 or 5.3 would be a slightly harder swap, but with even better results..

If you have $1000 to spend and an unfinished project that requires funds,.... what am I missing here?

are these cars really worth so little? that's at least $500 at a scrapyard..

If the car is mint, I'd say do it. You could do a lot with that car.

Wow, a clean, rust-free Nova around here would bring more than $1K easy.

novaderrik wrote: a mild quadrajet fed 350 would make way more power and get the same mileage as the 6 .. be a lot cheaper to do that than it would be to put all the efi stuff on it.. a carbed 4.8 or 5.3 would be a slightly harder swap, but with even better results..

Kinda set on keeping the six just because.

I have a vision in my head...

NOHOME;

I was in the process of doing body work when all of a sudden, out of nowhere this thing called winter hit. I have no garage and it's my only car plus I have been working from before daylight till well after dark six days a week for ever. The thing I'm lacking is time and a place to work on it and another car to drive while I am. And there is never enough money

This is what a $1000 dollar Nova looks like around here. No engine or trans.

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/cto/3463014127.html

I drove and rode in that generation of Nova back in the day. I'm not saying it represented some sort of pinnacle of automotive wonderfulness or anything, but it felt Right in a way that's hard to describe. The General just seemed to have its act together when they designed it. FWIW, it's the same feeling I got from the new downsized Impala in '77, the one that came with the ad slogan "Now, THAT'S more like it!" (And the one that was good enough to last 19 years in production.)

Bottom line: I like your plan. I say do it if you can.

Back in the day that was a grandmother car...one you ran away from. They got zero respect except for maybe drag racers that modified the crap out of one. I remember we had one during HS days doing landscaping around 1980. We used it to haul mulch. After a year or two they could be bought for almost nothing even then.

It's amazing how perceptions change...i have no good memories of it.

Check where the front subframe meets the firewall FIRST. They tend to peel away from each other. I was skunked on a 78 sedan once.

Also, a small block will drop right in, but an HEI distributor will be scary close to the firewall.

I had a '75 Nova called "Calhoun" because it was a dinosaur. 350 V8, 2 bbl carb, plain jane decor, doggie dish hubcaps. Never got a ticket driving that car, did not look fast, was very fast, Michelin's, cruised I-75 and I-40 about 90 consistently, loved that car.

LOL @ "America's most popular compact" car from that ad.

nicksta43 wrote: This is what a $1000 dollar Nova looks like around here. No engine or trans. http://knoxville.craigslist.org/cto/3463014127.html

That's an improvement over what they look like around here. Novas in the rust belt are either nicely restored drag racers (or wannabes) or barely recognizable piles of rust in somebody's back yard.

But 75-9 Novas are So ugly!!

Stealthtercel wrote: I drove and rode in that generation of Nova back in the day. I'm not saying it represented some sort of pinnacle of automotive wonderfulness or anything, but it felt Right in a way that's hard to describe. The General just seemed to have its act together when they designed it. FWIW, it's the same feeling I got from the new downsized Impala in '77, the one that came with the ad slogan "Now, THAT'S more like it!" (And the one that was good enough to last 19 years in production.) Bottom line: I like your plan. I say do it if you can.

From what I understand they are very similar to 2nd gen F bodies, and I had an 81 Camaro that as much what you're describing. It's a neat feeling.

If you are at all tight on funds, do not take on another project. It will only serve to slow down the first project and stress you out.