Barn find Nova (sort of)

[mosesburb]

I was doing some digging and came across an old Nova.



It is a 1971 with a TBI 350, 700R4 trans, four wheel disc brakes, aluminum radiator and suspension that is set up for handling turns as opposed to straight line stuff. It is dark metallic green with a black interior. It has been sitting for several years, but I figured I could have some fun with it.



It has suffered a bit from sitting, but it seems to have weathered it fairly well.

This is actually my first car. I bought it twenty-some years ago with a 250 I6 and a powerglide automatic. It had four wheel drum brakes and power steering. I first converted the ignition to HEI, then I converted it to front disc brakes. Those two items were the best bang for the buck I think I ever got on this unit.

Over the next few years, I proceeded to build it in a manner consistent with what is now called "pro-touring". That is, to make old muscle cars handle and stop better. Pro touring did not exist when I built this thing. I had to make, modify and engineer what can simply be bought out of a catalog today. I picked up some mail order catalog recently and was amazed at the products produced for these old cars today. So, yeah, I was the odd man out when I was building this as all of my buddies were building their stuff to go fast in a straight line, and here I am figuring out suspension geometries, spring rates and trying to adapt parts made for other platforms to fit my needs. I guess it worked out fairly well as this thing stopped unbelievably well. It turned well also, but the limiting factor was the tires. Sixteen inch tires were the big performance tire, but I could not afford them at the time so I ran 15 x 7 rally wheels with 235/60/15 BFG radial T/As. These days, 17" GM rally wheels are just a click away. Hmmm.

So, I had started to dig it out a few years ago. I had to go through the entire fuel system to get it running. Two in-tank fuel pumps, all of the steel braided AN fuel line, rebuild the throttle body and replace the fuel filter. I also put a brand new Optima battery in it. I had it running good and swore I would not let it sit again. Yup, you guessed it, life happened again. It slid over to the back burner where it rested quietly for the next few years, until a few weeks ago when I went out and looked at it and pulled the gas cap. It smelled old and a bit stale, but not TOO bad. Hmmm. I bet this stuff will burn. Hmmm. So, my brand new Optima was dead now and would not accept any new electrons so before I bought another battery, I figured I should at least try something. I ran some wires over the fence to my truck and hooked up the fuel pumps. They worked. Or at least one of them worked. I let them run for a bit and eventually they primed and I had pulled the feed line to the motor off and had it running into a funnel that went into the tank. Fuel eventually came out. The first second of fuel was scary looking, but after that it was just a bit yellowish--not bad. It didn't smell putred either. I hooked the feed line up to the motor and ran the pumps to check for leaks. All of the AN line was good except for the line that went up the back of the motor. I changed that out and replaced a fitting that cracked and the fuel system was good. I pulled the oil fill cap and it was still wet in there so I decided to try firing it up. I hit the key and it lit up like it had run yesterday. Smooth and even as can be. Sweet.