Gents,

Picked up this sweet 65 Nova a while back and enjoyed cruising around with the family. I did some homework and hatched a game plan for what I wanted out of the car. Will be a fun weekend cruiser that we can enjoy and the wife will be comfortable to run errands in. Although I'm slowly adding parts that she won't be fond of, haha.

It's in decent shape. Car was redone maybe 10-15 years ago. They obviously took some shortcuts but that's ok. Paint is nice, has a few areas that will get touched up. I'm also getting the engine bay painted to match. Some rust in the floor, and a few spots on the drivers rear wheel well. Picked up a patch pan for that

Interior and exterior will remain the same. Only change will be painting the wheels black and keeping the chrome center caps

here's what's getting done over the next few months:

Motor:
Gen III LQ4 6.0
243 heads w/ dual springs
Tick Torquemax v2 cam
Trunion upgrade
HV oil pump
LS2 intake
CBR 1 7/8 longtubes
F-body accessories
Vintage air a/c

Trans:
4L70E
HD-2 shift kit
FTI 4,000 stall
shifter undecided (TCI?)
CBR crossmember

Electronics:
Holley Dominator to control motor and trans
Holley 7" digital dash for gauges

Fuel:
Holley retrofit in-tank 450lph returnless pump
PTFE -6 Fragola line
(super simple like this. just the pump and feed line from the stock tank)

Cooling:
Entropy direct fit radiator
Tru cool max trans cooler

Front suspension:
Full CBR rack conversion
Viking coil overs
Tubular upper and lower control arms
CBR sway bar
Right Stuff power disc brakes

Rear:
widen stock tubs by adding a strip to the middle
2" offset rear shackles for 1st gen camaro's (heard they fit)
relocate front leaf spring mount under the frame rail
s10 sway bar


here's how it was when we bought it










added some brackets to mount the car seats and we were cruising as a family





car had a stock 350, power glide setup and I threw it on the dyno for fun one weekend at an event we had setup at a local shop. made 206hp 268tq. Numbers were pleasing for such a basic setup. it was just a good cruiser




here's the rust areas underneath. not terrible and will strip the whole underside while I'm at it. have a complete drivers side pan and front section for the passenger side. Also got the braces you see that are separating from the floor




inside view and the awesome patch panel that someone put in at some point, haha...








the new 6.0 LQ4. just set the intake on to see how it'd look. Dropping it off at the machine shop tomorrow for new cam bearings. Found the 4L70E trans out of a trailblazer SS with 10k miles on it. They're not the best, but hope it'll live a few years in this lightweight body. I'm not wanting to make a new tunnel and stuff. We are currently stationed in hawaii and I don't have the normal 2 car garage or all of my tools








engine bay currently. have to strip it and prep for paint

 

and finally what has been putting a smile on my face for the last few weeks. Tons of boxes showing up. still waiting on a bunch more. but it's coming together






So I have a ton of work ahead of me and will hit plenty of road blocks. Hoping to have it done by this summer and put a bunch of miles on it for years to come

Mike

 

You're going to like the Dominator, it's pretty cool how much it can do.

For a shifter why not use the column shift? I used an ididit column shift on my 55 with a kugel linkage. The dominator will be controlling the trans anyway.

Looks like a fun project.

 

caught this on the bullet yesterday gonna be nice

 

Double check the wiring requirements for the 4L70e. A have a friend that used the Dominator with it and he said some pins had to be moved around, but I don't have specifics.

Also, want to sell that LS2 intake, rail, and injectors? I'd consider a partial swap for my Hi-Ram and dual DBW set-up...

You'r Nova would look totally awesome with a bug catching sticking out of the hood!

Andrew

 

Thanks guys

I'd prefer a floor shifter. Got a regular column already

This being a 2006 4L70E will work as is. I did read that about the 08+ ones though

Sorry, have to keep this intake for now. Shipping a cowl hood to Hawaii is insane. So it'll stay like this until we move back


Started on the floor this afternoon. Nobody told me how fun replacing a rusted floor pan would be. Must be a pro's secret. What a blast this is, haha. Going fairly smooth I suppose. Got the front section and seat brace area cut out to rough shape. Still waiting for the pan to show up. So I won't cut too much out yet

Mike

 

Great lil car , going to be even better when its done. Why are you changing the cam bearings? From what i have read they all look like that, they are honed to fit after installed.

 

The bearings have the copper showing and were getting chewed up. Don't want any material running around the motor. They're cheap to replace now along with new rod bearings and rings. Motor will be fresh and last a long time

Mike

 

That's pretty standard on the cam bearings for these engines.

 

Nice project. Going to be a sweet ride!.
Subscribed!

 

Floor pan is taking a while because of the holidays. Knocked out the trunion upgrade and PAC dual springs. Block should be done next week and then we can assemble the motor

Mike

 

Mike,

Does your wife know that you are using her stainless mixing bowls? :-)

Andrew

 

Haha, they are dog bowls of the past. Great garage pieces

Mike

 

Mike,

Sure you don't want my awesome "dual quad" intake? I'll even throw in the Holley dual DBW harness...



Andrew

 

i cant wait to see this build done .

being as dad and using the latch system for my now two sons, i dont like the looks of that . The latch needs to be thicker material and should be welded and sturdy as **** . Maybe go to a junk yard and cut some latch pieces out and use them .

Cant wait to see more of this ride.

 

Looks great! I am going to try to shoehorn a 4l80e in my 65 4 door in the next few months. A 4l70e sounds like a great idea! Awesome build!

 

Subscribed, This will be a cool build. I like the sleeper look. One thing you might want to reconsider for a weekend cruiser is the 4K stall you mentioned. Unless you plan on doing a shitload of racing that stall speed is completely unnecessary.

 

Finished stripping under the dash and small stuff in the engine bay. Also cut out the passenger floor and got the new piece tacked in. Will finish it up next weekend

Mike

 

Looking good. Looks like you took your time trimming the patchpanel. excellent fitup. I'd personally leave the aluminum patch panel in. It wont ever rust LOL

 

Subscribing...