1974 nova resto

[townsend]

hey guys. most of you know me as the sad 94 lt1 kid. well now i have new joy haha. my father in-law hit his mid life crisis finally at 49 and wanted to relive his youth again. back in the day in '81 he had a '74 ss nova, 4 speed with 350. he lived it up in that and got rid of it for a 72 olds cutlass supreme with the rockett package.

well, story goes on, the guy he sold his 74 to found him on all things facebook and said "hey bro, i got your car and need to sell it." well we fell for it at first, he kept sayin it was 4 hours from paint, he freshened up the body, perfect running order, yada yada. we went to look at it, and i was very hesitant considering he wanted $8500 for it. it was all a lie. worst part was, the car wasnt even a 74. we left quickly.

that night i found the 74 that we would later buy on craigslist in lanoka harbor, owned by a guy with a original 70 gto judge. Iowa car, 2 owners, clean title, original 68000 miles, original everything. car was bought new by a gm sales manager and meticulously maintained until he died. it then sat, and caused some of the issues we have now, but its a running driving car, just needs some love.

it only has 3 options: turbo 350 column shift (instead of powerglide), 350 2 barrell engine, and an am radio. bench seat, manual drum brakes all the way around, and we have the original ugly wheels with it too.

the day we got it home:
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0660.jpg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0668.jpg

nearly mint interior
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0665.jpg

[WildBillyT]

Awesome!!

[townsend]

our goal is to make it a nice cruiser, with a kinda sleeperish side, but modern updates to the suspension and brakes. basic bolt-on's to the motor for now, like headers and a full pypes exhaust, intake, hei update, and new carb. just enough to drive it and get it straightened out, then the power bug can hit him and he can do whatever he wants. believe it or not, i have to restrain him from going crazy with it.

problem areas: needs new drivers side fender, patch on lower drivers side quarter right behind door, little bit of patch work around where the clips attach to the body for the vinyl top trim, cleanup tail light panel, small patch in passenger floor, small patch by pinch weld infront of passenger side rear tire.

what we are doing now: making it a driver, repairing suspension first starting with rear end and working forward

original build sheet found under floor mat:
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0690.jpg

leaves all broken except one or two:
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0685.jpg

caltracs, new energy hd shackles, u-bolts, etc., new multileafs are out getting the aluminum front eye bushings put in:
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0700.jpg

in a couple days should be sitting pretty on its own again.

[townsend]

thanks bill, thought you might like it. i just showed him yours, basically for the most part what he wants to do with his. you gonna have it out at duke this weekend? or you gonna have the ta?

[WildBillyT]

Can't make it to Duke, the 21st is my anniversary. However if he has any questions he wants to ask I'll answer them all! :D NPHNP.

[townsend]

hahah ill be messaging you often thanks man

[maroman88]

looks like a nice project! good luck!

[townsend]

thanks man, we are gonna need it

[NJ Torque]

Congrats and good luck.

[townsend]

aluminum bushings pressed in...currently cutting off last stupid clip nuts for front leaf perch and cleaning up holes for shackle bushings on frame...
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0701.jpg

[coolmanvette75]

Looks like a fun project Shaun! Let me know if you need any help. My dad used to race a 68 nova and is pretty knowledgeable with them...

[townsend]

ah thanks dude! let me know if you need help with le sewing machine lt1, i can hand you shtuff haha

[townsend]

ohh yeah the bumpers are original believe it or not, they are bright as heck!

[B4C]

Be careful with the 73-74 only parts some of them are hard to get a hold of. Interior door panels, plastic bumper fill panels are the first things that come to mind.

[townsend]

yeah we have been seeing that. the interior is seriously mint except the one visor fell off the mount and the drivers side seat is worn. door panels are a-ok. bumpers are getting set in flush like the older ones too. there are other things that are a pain like the front leaf to body perch, cant find one anywhere

[B4C]

Dont destroy the plastic panels taking that bumper off you could probably get good money for them because they arent reporduced.
You mean this? From what ive read this should work and lower the car slightly.
http://www.rickscamaros.com/camaro-leaf-spring-mounting-bracket-left-front-1967-1969.html
And it you havnt found a forum already
http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums/

[townsend]

From what I've read those don't work. Read it on stevesnova actually haha

[WildBillyT]

From what I've read those don't work. Read it on stevesnova actually haha

I run '69 Camaro buckets in my '68SS. They do lower the car a little. I forget what arch my springs have but between those, the buckets, and no leaf spring pads I think my rear tires tuck up nice.

Did you get the J-clips out for the buckets OK?

[townsend]

yeah i got em out, after lots of broken dremel grinding wheels. gotta do the passenger side tomorrow. drivers side just got mocked up tonight, everything fit fairly well. trying to decide on no lower leaf pad or do a lower leaf pad for the caltracs with the multileafs. it seems as though if i just run the top one and not the bottom one it may work, or the caltracs lower plate is gonna contact the perch before the spring being totally tight in there.

[townsend]

well we finally got her back down on all 4's. just got a little tweaking to do to the caltracs adjustment. its set at base setting right now. ill get better pics tomorrow heres for now
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0708.jpg

sitting nicely
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/100_0710.jpg

next steps are to do full front suspension, tune up, headers, carb and intake. if anybodys got some sbc laying around and wants to get rid of it pm me hes looking for some stuff.

[townsend]

just recieved the hooker headers and pypes racepro dual exhaust with x-pipe. getting ready to start tearing the old stuff off

[townsend]

well, le headers have been installed, along with deadsoft aluminum gaskets, stage 8 locking fasteners, percy's collector gaskets, and the full pypes exhaust. not as loud as we thought it was gonna be. also, we are having issues with the drivers side header gasket leaking at the back bolt/cylinder. another issue is that the headers are sitting unevenly, the drivers side is lower than the passenger side, to the point that with everything mounted up the collector extension hits the trans crossmember, which in turn does not allow the collector gasket to line up and now i have a leak there. other than that, its running better and sounds pretty decent.

[townsend]

late update will post pics later tonight. we bought a summit pro-pack with the intake, 600cfm carb, hei, new valvecovers..etc. got it put together in a few hours and it runs great for the most part. problem we are having is the fuel pump when the motor warms up cant keep up. the clear-view fuel filter is draining out, and if you blip the gas it only trickles into it. this is causing the bowls to drain and it to run like crap. new fuel pump next week

[greenformula92]

New mechanical fuel pumps are so cheap and they are so easy to replace...

[steverc0034]

Nice looking nova man.

[mc73nova]

I know these are not as in demand as the 68-72's but I think it adds to it because you don't see many of them. Good luck with your project! I love my '73!

If you need any glass, I have all of mine that I pulled out, including a new windshield.

[townsend]

yeah i know they are easy to replace, its just getting the old guy to spend the doe on it

thanks for the props on the appearance, it has its little areas that need attention.

all the glass is mint, to the point that we really think the back windows were never put down...thanks for the offer though. the windshield still has the original 73-74 iowa inspection sticker haha

[townsend]

little update: so we went about putting a new holley fuel pump on along with the mr. gasket regulator, russel pressure gauge, and fuel filter.

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/2012-09-24_20-13-29_241.jpg

well we are still having problems. now its when you run the car for a little bit and get the gas sloshing around. something must be either clogging the fuel pickup or the line somewhere before the pump. the car runs great idling and sitting in the driveway, its once you get say 5 miles from the house, that all hell breaks loose. the fuel pressure starts dropping, the filter drains out, then the bowls, then the pressure hits zero. we are really thinking its the line or something since when you take the rubber line from the hardline to the pump off, no fuel spills out after this happens. i cant get the carb set up right since i keep running out of gas.

[BonzoHansen]

are you using a mechanical pump or electric one?

is that a glass filter?

[grazi]

Could this be vapor lock???

[WildBillyT]

Need to know mechanical or electrical.

[townsend]

mechanical fuel pump....put the regulator on since the pump is supposedly a 7.5-8 psi and the summit carb says no more than 7 psi.

yeah bonzo that is a glass fuel filter. should we not be using that? its been 25+ years since hes messed with a carb and i dont know much about the issues with mechanical pumps/fuel regs/fuel filters/etc.

[BonzoHansen]

get rid of the glass filter. dangerous. they break and bad things happen. Ignore the old guys when they say they used them back in the day. they also drove drunk for fun and didn't use seat belts lol.

how hard is it to bypass the regulator? just run pump to carb? does that gauge work? does it show pressure cranking when it wont run?

edit: nevermind you said the psi drops. for S&Gs bypass the regulator. how new is that carb? how new is the pump?

[townsend]

thanks for the heads up on the fuel filter. dont want that happening.

to answer your other questions: the carb just came from summit new a month or so ago, the fuel pump is new out of the box 3 days ago.

we had this same problem with the stock original pump with the old 2-barrel original '74 carb. we thought it was just the carb being old and considering the car sat for a while. we also already did bypass the regulator and filter etc. its literally like something gets sloshing around in the tank and then clogs the line or sock or something. we will be dropping the tank soon to see.

Once again I/We really appreciate the input and insight you guys give. I don't come on here enough with work being nuts and having a 19-month old little girl running around. Thank you guys and gals.

[BonzoHansen]

yeah, drop the tank. the sock filter on the end may be screwed.

[townsend]

turns out the new fuel pump we bought (holley junk from advanced auto) was faulty, i took the fuel pump off my broken down truck and threw it on, no problems at all....

[townsend]

Car is currently coming apart and going to body shop to fix floors and stuff

[townsend]

Little Update: possibly will be having the car go out soon to a very reputable shop for the floor/rocker repairs. Convincing my father-inlaw to stop staring at the damn thing in the garage and get moving on it has been difficult, but now he caught the bug again. No real rush though. We want it done right. Very much leaning towards a pro-touring set-up with some year one 17" magnum wheels. he fell in love with them. Either gonna have a Chassisworks front subframe or a Speedtech front subframe. It's a long way down the road from that, but definitely leaning towards the Speedtech. It just looks waaay beefier and includes a little more for the price, plus it uses stock c5 brakes which is nice considering he doesnt need THAT much brake, just some.

Also, trying to figure out to go crate motor or stroke the stocker thats in it. Possibly going MSD atomic efi as well. We will see. The rear needs a posi too, and decent gears.

Does anybody have any experience with Gear Vendors Overdrives? Looking into that too.

[BonzoHansen]

Blake @ SW knows his stuff. You can put any brakes you want on those spindles. If you are going that far you should mini-tub the rear. DSE is another option. Also, Ridetech has some very cool stuff. Their tru-turn setup for 1st gens makes a stock sub a very viable option.

BTK has a 502/TH400 & GV in his 79 Camaro and loves it. Joe has a SBC/TH350 & GV in his 74 Nova and he like his too. Both will be at the January meet, come out and talk to them about it.

[townsend]

I am really trying to push him to mini-tub the rear haha. he's a little iffy about it. thanks for the heads up. hopefully we can make it out.

[townsend]

interior out so floors can be looked at
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/2013-01-04_22-54-59_36.jpg

oh no no no rust...
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/2013-01-04_22-55-48_593.jpg

[townsend]

well today started out like this.....decided what is going on financially for car, and what is getting done first and where. Floors it is! We are going to be having Paul at RPM take care of ALOT of this car. He came out and looked at it, which was awesome, was very straightforward with us, and all in all we feel like its gonna be in the right hands for the repairs needed. so, since we are keeping some costs down, we are making the car a roller for him to do the whole floor/actual body mounts on the body for the subframe/fender tabs/some other rust repairs since he will have it and can do what he needs to. down the road when its time we will be having him install a front clip (yet to be decided, really looking at the speedtech) with all new sheetmetal upfront along with mostly new chrome. still undecided on keeping the body trim stripe on the car, but the vinyl top is staying with the factory yellow paint.

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/321465_10151264113847426_1998877196_n_zpsc2eef85d. jpg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/603113_10151264269567426_905505347_n_zps81159835.j pg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/75085_10151264269747426_690810451_n_zps00f8e9ca.jp g

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/2013-01-20_17-06-20_151.jpg

i took off the whole front lighting harness, along with the entire engine harness. we will need to either make new ones or find new ones. this is where having a 74 sucks, because alot of stuff is only listed up to 72 then skips to 75-79. have to see how much is still 72 stuff, the problem is alot of people dont know. engine should be out later this week, along with the brake lines fuel lines exhaust etc.

[townsend]

update: engine and trans are out, along with brake/fuel lines front to back, e-brake cables, master cylinder, shifter linkage etc. car is damn near stripped except exterior trim glass and dash/column/pedals/door panels. father-inlaw is saving money currently to send it to paul at RPM for the metal work we need done. should be going out soon. speedtech complete front subframe is on order as are the year one magnum wheels and tires, stainless brake and fuel lines, new tank and sender.

bad news was the motor. actually a good thing we tore it down to the shortblock. the cam was getting eaten up, we found gouged lifters, bad rear main seal, clogged oil pump screen, clogged screen in oil filter adapter. i am pretty sure we are going with either a gm performance zz383 or something 383 based. he won't go lsx, no matter how hard i try to convince him. he said his pickup has the ls, we can play with that, but he wants the nova to stay sbc

[WildBillyT]

Why the speedtech subframe?

[BonzoHansen]

he wants to turn corner of course!

make sure those YO wheels fit before you mount them!

mimi-tubs still off the table?

nothing wrong with a stout SBC

[HardcoreZ28]

Looks like you guys have some serious progress going on there....sorry to hear about the motor though. Give me a heads up a week or so before you're ready to get it down here.

[townsend]

yes guys he wants to turn, quite well actually. I tried getting him to look at other subframes like Heidts and stuff, and he wont change his mind. Mini-tubs are very well a possibility. I got my wife on the bandwagon to start pushin for a little more. She's been sending him pics while he is at work of some awesome looking novas with nice wheels/tires and saying "yeah dad we cant fit those without the tubs" haha. the YO wheels i have to call and get the exact specs for. it should turn damn well, i hope.

after talking to various machine shops in the area, he is really leaning to a gmpp zz383 crate motor. for the price and the warranty, he likes it. I have looked at various crate 383's, blueprint is a no-way-in-hell, but has anyone ever heard of www.cnc-motorsports.com? they have some pretty nice packages even in the 350 range, and the 383 range makes really nice power. we are gonna run the slightly built th350 and a stall for a while, until he figures out if he wants a auto with od or a manual trans.

HardcoreZ28 no problem man, we are atleast 4-6 weeks out yet until we will be getting ready to roll it out and bring it down. One of us will definitely give you a heads up atleast a week or two in advance.

[BonzoHansen]

the speedtech stuff is great, don't 2nd guess it. i assume you'll talk to blake about good matching rear springs?

[townsend]

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/603026_10151280563907426_1804717475_n_zpsf59482f3. jpg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/304837_10151280564437426_30921537_n_zps4fdeca4d.jp g

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/228012_10151280564817426_610162917_n_zpse79b7d4b.j pg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z337/tubbytownsend/485986_10151280565397426_1686039046_n_zps657541b1. jpg

[townsend]

yes we will, but im still trying to convince him to get away from the leafs. i mean, can you make leafs handle? we have brand new multileafs on the back now that we purchased before we decided to take the plunge, and to be honest, the back of the car didnt roll really at all. it doesnt have a rear swaybar, just a new set of multileafs (5 leaf) with caltracs and hd urethane hangers and hd urethane spring pads.

[BonzoHansen]

you can if you get the right ones. you also need to match sway bars. all that is part of your discussion with Blake. what you have now might not be a good match and cal tracks might cause binding on corners.

[townsend]

10-4, ill call him tomorrow. i could prolly get longer bars and run them on my truck! haha

[townsend]

we have been using your line in your sig as inspiration to do it right the first time, we dont wanna put it together and have to take it apart 20 times cuz we cut corners on this or that

also will be doing the inboard rear shock setup too

[NHRABill]

Cool project!

Just get her safe, Flinstone free and driveable. I made the mistake a few times over the years by doing too much to a car and not enjoying it. Nothing wrong with a updated safe chassis, crate motor with a 700r4, moderate gears good paint. Driving it it sure beats watching everyone else as you save $$$ waiting to buy that special part because its a snowball down a big hill you get one special part you want it all and it takes forever to finish. But who am I to talk its your show.

You might appreciate this. the car was a project my brother and I were working on now it is all his. its was a 72' Nova.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/MDA_/cars/Nova/DSCF0220.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/MDA_/cars/Nova/DSCF0209.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i231/MDA_/cars/Nova/DSCF0207.jpg

[townsend]

wow, totally opposite direction, but damn cool man. that thing looks awesome. was that car for sale recently?

BonzoHansen, i retract my statement about making a leafspring car handle. i just read a popular hotrodding article on making a 68 nova handle like a beast with leafsprings, and feel that ours is going to handle quite nicely when we are done.

once again, i really appreciate everyones input. now if only i could make my 94 c1500 handle id be happy

[NHRABill]

wow, totally opposite direction, but damn cool man. that thing looks awesome. was that car for sale recently?

I posted it for sale here at end of last summer and on CL for a couple weeks got tired of calls asking if they can drive it on the street :facepalm:

My brother gave me a few bucks and said he was keeping it just bought a he bought a new trans and shifter so now it may make a full pass. made a few passes last year was frustrated with stupid issues fixed it all then the trans went. Hey that is part of the game.

I Dig Novas always have and when I saw your thread I was happy to see someone bringing another back . Wish you luck and hope to see it cruising this summer 8-)

[townsend]

thanks man. my father-inlaw had a 74 ss when he was in high school, he turns 50 this year so he got the itch and we found a 74. he didnt care if it was a ss, as long as it had big bumpers and turn signals in the grille haha. hopefully it will be done sometime in this lifetime

[townsend]

well, the project has made a turn. given we want to drive this thing, and now have to really worry bout a new motor, we are steering (pun intended) away from the speedtech subframe and going with all classic performance suspension products. after reading up on the project 68 nova popular hotrodding did, they have the same goals, yet achieved it while spending ALOT less. plus, its literal bolt on parts, and the combination from them should work quite nicely.

the list is being compiled of parts, and the saving has begun to get this ball rolling on the metalwork.

[townsend]

*update* car is not dead, just being saved up for. since rpm is booked for the year, we have time to start gathering other parts for the build. grabbing up coolmanvette's hurt lt1, harness, and such for a lt1 swap now. motor will be going to E.R.E. for a street 383 build.