RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

So rewind back to 2012 My dad had this 66 nova thats been sitting in a heated garage since 1983ish. It was my uncles and he past away in 1986 and it sat in the garage engineless since 1983. Dad has seen me messing with hondas for 10 years making mid 450whp on pump gas and tells me no one is ever gonna do anything with the nova and if I wanted it I could have it as long as it never gets sold and if I didnt want it anymore that it would have to go back to someone else in the family. So I get it......... onto the pictures, everyone loves pictures.......


See it hiding under the junk?




here it is in my garage


wanted a car dolly to roll it around in my garage, but didnt want to spend all the money everyone wanted for one, So I built this



Engine bay was bare metal so I gave it a quick scuff to get the litle bit of rust off and shot it low gloss black



Got a 327 for free. It had been sitting in a guys back yard with a tarp over it.
So I pulled it apart and did a quick and dirty rebuild on it. It had 2.02/1.60 heads and 60 over flat top pistons.



New shoes






So I ended up using a th400 because it was under the bench and the powerglide I bough off craigslist was shot.

Strapped it on the dyno and ended up making 200whp and 280tq. Nothing to write home about. So I rocked it that way for about 1.5 years. Now with the idea of a turbo lsx floating around in my mind it was time.....

This is how I got my lq4.....lol


Quick and dirty rebuild


Short block assembled


Electric fan im gonna use


ms2v3


Set of alexspartsdotcomm valve springs installed....... and that's where im at so far. 130lbs seat pressure and 355lbs at .590 lift. It's almost identical to the pac1218's.


Pulled my 327 out and its for sale right now and the sale of it is pending. Once the money from that shows up im gonna pick up my turbo and my injectors. Also some rocker arm trunions. Thinking I'll be doing a cam upgrade in the future.

tonypaul

iTrader: (2)

Looking foward to seeing your build!

After I get my trans fixxed and back in my lastest project it will be done then I will be doing a Chevy II or Grand National.... Hadnt made up my mind on which to do yet but your build may decide that for me~

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

I like the fist gen novas. Only thing I don't like is the engine bay room or lack there of. Strut towers are gonna get trimmed and then plates welded back in to clear up a little room.

63Falcon5.3

iTrader: (1)

Always liked those cars. I had to do a lot of shock tower trimming on my build too. I feel your pain.

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

Yeah the early ford's have the same problem.

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

I don't know how many of you guys have felt instaspool from a turbo but that's what I'm going for with this build. This car will be 100% street driven and will never go to the track. And it's a column shift and I plan on keeping that..... so from what I have mapped out I'm going to use a t4 t72 with a .96 ar exhaust housing. Should be full tilt by 2000rpms. That's installed boost and start to run out of compressor map around 5800, which is fine by me.

SM105K

iTrader: (3)

This is the awesome. Thank you for rescuing that poor Chevy II.

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

Every time I walked into that garage I would shake my head. At least all that **** that was stacked on it protected it....lol

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

Well got up a couple hours early today b4 i headed off to work. Got one head bolted down.......

All cleaned and some alpermotorsports ebay $100 head studs. Ebay $120 engine gasket set. So I checked the head gaskets out and they look great. Mls, so I copper sprayed them and s inched everything down. Torqued down great. Got 1 side done. Hope to get the other head on this week.

Blown06

iTrader: (32)

Awesome project man. Why not put that rat motor I see sitting there in it?

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

The blown up 454 that's sitting behind the car in the first pic? Well its blown up...lol turbo lq4 is where it's at

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

Now I need help selecting a turbo. My origanal thought was to use a t72
Compressor Wheel diameter: 72.35 /102.86
Turbine wheel diameter : 68.40 /79.00

Then I was thinking about a t76
inducer:76.71mm
exducer:102.36mm
Turbine:
A/R 0.96
inducer:64.5mm
exducer:74.5mm

so I want a fast spool. The t72 compressor map shows that I'll make 10 psi at about 1800rpms. And the t76 makes 10 psi at 2500rpms. But they both run out of steam at about 5800. Now I was planning on using the 72, but last night I started looking at holsets. And a 68mm hx55 looks pretty sexy too. Problem is just finding one. Idk I need help here. I can't find turbine maps for anything. Just compressor.

And I don't want to spend more than $375

Blown06

iTrader: (32)

How are you figuring 10 psi at 1800 rpm?

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

I should have phrased it different. After using a few different online calculators, 10 psi @ 1800 rpms it's just on the compressor map. I wish I could find some turbine flow charts. I want to be at full tilt by 2200-2500.

tonypaul

iTrader: (2)

how much is "full tilt"?

My advice- start investing into suspension and tires, perhaps mini-tub or balk half setup. If your aiming to be in full boost in the low rpm area all your going to do is blow the tires.

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

Well I'm thinking full tilt will be 15-20psi. I don't really care if this thing falls off at 5500. How often do you drive at 5500? I don't know if you have ever driven a sohc honda with a rhb5 turbo (I know a turbo honda to turbo lsx is like apples to potatoes) But it would build 10 psi by 2k and pull like a train all the way to 5500 and start to nose over but carry hp to 6500. And I built a few 400+ hp hondas but none were as fun as the 200whp honda. Something about stabbing the gas and instantly being at redline was a blast. Same thing I want to do with this but on a much larger scale.


I will eventually do trans, rear end, Brakes, caltracs, mini tub and then tires. But I need to have a driving turbo car first.


Tire fryer in the works...... :-)

Forcefed86

iTrader: (4)

What are you running for a converter? Cam?

It’s not a Honda don’t think of it like one. You don’t need 20lbs of boost to get out of your own way with an LS motor. You already have enough power NA to blow the tires off of your setup. More power later in the RPM range is what you want. You won’t make any boost at 1800rpm and 20lbs at 2200rpm isn’t happening either. It would be pointless anyway. Any decent aftermarket converter will stall past 3k. You shouldn’t be concerned with anything under your stall point.

Your turbo budget is going to limit you to china parts. How much power realistically are you shooting for? The $244 shipped china Gt45 is hard to beat and has a great track record. (69mm compressor). It is more than enough turbo to bend the rods on a gen3 motor and will destroy any street tire you could fit under that nova. I’d want a 74mm+ exducer on the turbine wheel with a 6.0 personally. The Exh wheel plays a huge part in limiting performance.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GT45-TURBOCHARGER-TURBO-600-HP-BOOST-UNIVERSAL-T4-T66-3-5-V-BAND-1-05-A-R-92-/190592393465?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c603120f9&vxp=mtr
If you really don’t plan on revving over 5500, then you could look at the smaller P-trim exh wheels like the ON3 stuff.

Something like this…

http://www.ebay.com/itm/On-3-Performance-76mm-Turbo-Camaro-LS1-LS2-LS3-LS6-LSX-Camaro-Trans-Am-6-0l-5-3l-/141446260052?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item20eedaa554&vxp=mtr

SM105K

iTrader: (3)

^what he said.

67Firebird455

iTrader: (27)

The on3 76 is a great unit for the price, I highly suggest it for your build.

RatCityRex

iTrader: (3)

What's the difference between on3 turbos and other ebay turbos that are the same size?