Project TangerMean, 73 Nova RS Nova teenager build

[TangerMean Nova]

Hey everyone! This is the car my dad ("SRD art" on the forum) and I have started on this month. Our goal is to have it up and running next summer ready for me to get my driving permit when I turn 15 in July 2013. We are also looking to have the car totally complete when I'm 16 so I can drive it to High School.



"TangerMean" is a 1973 Nova Hatchback my dad bought when I was about 2 years old. The car was pretty thrashed and needed a complete rebuild. He was in car design school at the time and starting collecting parts but within a year it went into storage and has been there until we moved to Georgia this past summer. I managed to convince him to give me the car when I was 13, under the agreement that I help him build it. We finally started on it this past week.

Right now the car is stripped to a bare shell. The front sub frame has the Guldstrand mod done to it and should be going to blasting and getting powdercoated next week. While that's being done we have to asses the body damage. The car came from Las Vegas so it was mostly rust free, except for inside the hatchback. Some small rust has formed while it was parked outside for about 4 years in Utah. It has several door dings, but other than that it's in good shape for a project start. The original color is "Medium Orange Metallic" but someone did a cheapie white (!?) over paint along the way. We'll be stripping the white real soon and it will be going back to orange. We're going with a phantom "RS" theme on the car. Here's a rendering my dad did several years ago...





Our goal for the car is to have it look factory stock as though it just came from the build plant in '73. But it will have lots of upgrades in the engine and suspension so it will perform well too. Rally Novas were done in 72 and I think 76 & 77, but there was no such thing as an "RS" Nova in 73. My dad's a hot rod designer so he's pretty anal with details and he says we're going to do it in such a way that everyone will believe it's a real RS. The only non-stock looking item on the car will be the larger wheels, but we're only using those because we want to put bigger brakes on it. For now we'll be using the 16x8" GTA Trans Am wheels that were on my dad's wagon - https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...grocery-getter... In the mean time I'm saving money for 17's that we'll put on later.

[67speedfreak]

Nice looking project ! Good luck with your Build !

[spoilersbyrandy]

Wow! that will be a cool car to drive to high school.

[GATA79]

Hey bud, I see you're from Acworth? There's a killer machine shop on Main street called Goza Automotive, highly recommended! My pops still lives in Acworth and knows his stuff with these Chevy's, if you ever need a helping hand drop me a line! Also, there's a shop on main street in K-saw right across from the tracks that might be worth poking around. The guy had what I believe to be a 72 silver Nova in the garage bay for about 2-3 years while I was still in highschool that they restored there. They might be a good contact for ya. Awesome start, enjoy high school! Drop me a line if you ever need anything I know all sorts of folks in Acworth...I'm a local.

[SRD art]

Thanks everyone. We work not far down the road from that machine shop, thanks for the info!

I drove a 73 Nova to high school too, this is as cool for me as this is for him. I used to be into drag racing back then, however this car will be set up for daily driving and autocross time. In the scheme of things, putting a teen in an autocross car makes so much more sense than what a lot of us used to do. First off you've got a car that's extremely safe to drive because it handles and stops well. Second, when we do go racing the speeds are low so there's less of a chance to have injury to the driver or the car. Finally, as Roman learns to control his car on the course he'll be that much better a driver on the road. It's all win win as I see it...

[Tony_SS]

Roman's a lucky kid! If its anything like your wagon the Nova's going to turn out great. I love the fact it's a hatchback too.

[TangerMean Nova]

Nice looking project ! Good luck with your Build !

Thank you!

[TangerMean Nova]

Wow! that will be a cool car to drive to high school.

Thanks! And, yeah it will be!

[TangerMean Nova]

I have been looking at a lot of Novas, to compare what we're doing and to see how many are out there like ours. We want it to be unique but still look like it could have come from the factory the way we're building it. Here's the closest thing I could find. Pretty sure this is the same Medium Orange Metallic factory color and it has the partial vinyl roof too. There are a few other orange 73s out there but not many as nice as this one. Our stripes will be a lot different and we'll have RS badges instead of SS. Seeing this gets me stoked about building mine.

[Crestronwizard]

Looks like a fun build. Good luck

[SRD art]

Today Roman had the day off from school so decided to come to work a full day at the shop. I'm in my office working on some renderings so he's assisting Eric our shop manager. Eric just showed me this shot on his phone, he's been walking Roman through welding on a 1/4 panel on this 65 Chevelle. Eric asked me if he's done it before because he was doing pretty decent work. Besides spending a couple hours one evening playing with the welder he has no prior experience. I think we'll see some cool stuff from him in the future... Go Roman!

[V8240Z]

It's great to see a young person with such enthusiasm. Good luck with the build.

[cornfedbill]

I have been looking at a lot of Novas, to compare what we're doing and to see how many are out there like ours. We want it to be unique but still look like it could have come from the factory the way we're building it. Here's the closest thing I could find. Pretty sure this is the same Medium Orange Metallic factory color and it has the partial vinyl roof too. There are a few other orange 73s out there but not many as nice as this one. Our stripes will be a lot different and we'll have RS badges instead of SS. Seeing this gets me stoked about building mine.

Looks cool. This reminds me of driving my 74 Spirit of America Hatchback to high school. That was a long time ago.

I will retain the black top, but will switch from vinyl to black paint. I am keeping the blacked out trim around the windows that came from the factory.

[SRD art]

I'd like to start the thread rolling here... I bought the car when I was in college, around 2000 or 2001. Roman was only 2 or 3 at the time, man that makes me feel old. I traded a worn out 400 small block crank and block for the car. The catch was I had to drive 800 miles round trip from Provo, UT to Las Vegas to pick it up, and when I got it back home my coworker, who owned it, got to keep the 350/TH350 that was in it. I had plans for a 400 SBC and putting it back to it's original stick shift anyway so it seemed like a good deal to me. After seeing only one photo of it I packed up my 'Burban and a friend and I headed south.

We pulled the front bumper, bolted on my drag Nova's tow bar, threw on some better tires on the back, and hauled it home.

[SRD art]

Turns out Chris, the guy I bought it from, had lent his younger brother the car to drive in NV while he was in Utah for school. Once I got the car home I realized things were way worse than either of us expected. It had been sitting for some time, looked like his brother didn't take care of it at all, and apparently had even taken it off-roading. The sub frame cross member was smashed... (red arrow)



...the rear floor pan was smashed up, the gas tank was smashed nearly in half, and there was sand everywhere. I also found the interior, with the exception of the rear seat, was completely hammered, the wiring harness was all hacked up, the car had a cheap junk re-paint that was now in bad shape, and all the weather stripping was brittle and crumbled in your hand. I was a bit disappointed but saw the potential that this could be my first "complete and total" re-build project.

First thing I did was grab a wrecking yard sub frame from a 69 Firebird. I got it cleaned up and did the Guldstrand mod to it...







Next was tracking down some Nova disc brake spindles, new steering, braking, and suspension parts, a poly bushing kit, and some por 15 coated on the frame and control arms.

[SRD art]

Here's another shot of the frame damage...



The rest of the original suspension was ugly too...

[SRD art]

I found the original build sheet on top of the gas tank, but about half of it was deteriorated. Between the cowl tag and what I could see of the build sheet I learned that the car was built in Van Nuys, CA and shipped to a dealership in Colorado. Powertrain was a 350 2bbl, a 3 speed on the floor, and an open 3.08 10 bolt. Options included Medium Orange Metallic paint, tinted glass, bucket seats with funky looking black and white woven vinyl covers, 4 wheel drum brakes, Nova rally wheels and white letter tires. Although it has the stainless trim on the roof it did not have a vinyl top.

The original 350 was gone, as was the 3-speed. It had another 350 with a few bolt ons and a TH350 shifted by a 70's Camaro shifter in their place. More photos of what it looked like when I first got it...

Sand and dust everywhere! Notice permanently mounted to the passenger fender well is a rednecked starter button. Huh? ...





Sagging, brittle and a bazillion cracks dash pad along with the broken column...

[SRD art]

Front driver's seat was junk. Both front seats' foam is toast, most likely from sitting in the Nevada sun for a looooong time.





Back seat



Original shifter hump and 70's f-body auto shifter in it's place

[SRD art]

More interior...









And with the hatch closed. The rear bumper is a little beat, however the front is fairly nice. Let me know if you have a good shape 73 Nova rear bumper laying around ...

[SRD art]

At the time I also had my spare short block 400 small block rebuilt. It's the stronger 2 bolt main, bored with new flat top eutectic pistons on 5.7 rods with ARP rod bolts, and the assembly was balanced.





Unfortunately I got very busy with school, work, and raising a young family so work on the car pretty much stopped after these photos were taken. I didn't have all the new parts ready to install, so I yanked a free 4 door Pontiac Ventura out of a farmer's field and pulled the complete subframe out and installed it in the Nova so I could move it around. I also grabbed the rear axle from the parts car before scrapping it.