The Green *******. $5000 nova.

[recycler]

The Green *******; built from parts unknown. (Any Trailer Park Boys fans on here?)


I decided to start a build thread to help me keep track of progress, as well as get feedback from some of you guys that have been doing this longer than I have.


About the car:

1971 Chevy Nova 2 door.

The previous owner used it as a parts car, then sold what was left to me. A couple of weeks and $600 later I had it on the road, and daily drove it for a couple of years.

Along the way, it got:
275/60/15 rear tires and 165r15 fronts on 15x4 and 15x7 ralley wheels.
Caltracs and Landrum lowering mono leafs
12 gallon fuel cell
350 sbc/th350 trans
and a bunch of other prostreet parts.

Eventually I broke a leaf spring and the car got parked.

I replaced the leaf springs, and upgraded to 15x4 and 15x8 weld prostars

The new rear wheels made my tires rub the shocks and the inner wheel wells at the ride height I wanted, so it was time for the mini tub that id been wanting to do ever since I first got the car.

I got half way through the mini tub and realized I had a lot more rust than I thought. I knew the quarters and outer rockers were trash, and I knew the toe boards had some pin holes, so I started poking around some more and realized that the 2 front (firewall) mounts on my subframe were pretty much gone. I realized this when I put jack stands under the pinch welds and then let the jack down; the subframe came down with the jack. Pretty scary. Some more digging showed that my inner rockers towards the rear were rotten away for the last 1' before the rear wheel well.


At this point, I stood back and just stared at the car for a couple of hours.
The way I saw it, I had 2 options: either 1) fix the rust, finish the mini tub, and continue messing around in a straight line, or: 2) rip it apart and build it the way I really wanted and knew I would be happy with.


I will post pics once I figure out how to, but as it sits: I pulled the car apart, cut out the floors, and now im working on building the new frame.

The basic build plan:
-Full frame
-Full cage
-Lt1 t56
-The engine is not a Chevy. (Its not a ford either, don't have a heart attack.)
-The rear suspension is out of a 1995 infinity j30. It is basically a Nissan s14 irs subframe, but with more gussets, stronger arms, 5 lug disc brakes, and a viscous lsd diff.
-Ls1 Camaro front brakes with stock j30 rears(11 1/4" rotors, 1 piston calipers) eventually the front lug pattern will be changed to match the rear (5x4.5) and will get bigger calipers in the rear.
-Small turbo(t28 or evo 3 16g). I'll upgrade in the future, but I have these laying around and it will do for now.
-stock dash/door panels, no headliner.
-18x12 and 18x10 wheels. 335 rear, 315 front.
-Eventually it will get re painted the stock dark green, but with more flake and a little darker shade of green (hence the name)
-2" ride height at the frame rails
-super secret squirrel suspension and engine
-4" body drop on the front subframe
-1" out of the bottom of the rockers
-Full belly pan
-Active aero
-The nut behind the steering wheel will remain loose for the foreseeable future.

I have a parts car that I'm using for this build. I wont say what it is just yet, but the engine, wire harness(engine and body), steering column, and some other small parts will all be going into the nova.
By using all of these parts that I have laying around, I fully expect to build this car for $5000 or less.
So far, my expenditures (and I will update this with every progress post) are
$115 for steel
$150 for the complete rear subframe
$110 for more steel
$375 total. Im not counting expendables (cut off wheels, welding gas, etc) towards the budget.




I will get some pictures up as soon as I can. Any and all comments/concerns are welcome, and I thank you for taking the time to check out my project/read the short novel above.


-Kelly

[Zoomin]

You can go ahead and reveal your secrets. We won't tell anyone.

[recycler]

You can go ahead and reveal your secrets. We won't tell anyone.

That's what Mr Totem (sic?) thought aboot Vinny... Right up until the Transformers movie came out :0

Seriously though, I don't want to get ahead of myself tossing out the parts list until I have the parts in my hands. Who knows, maybe ill change my mind about something at the last minute.

Ill work on posting pictures tomorrow, along with a "rendering" I drew up.
Thanks for the reply.

[recycler]

I cant post pictures, my internet is slower than a pedal powered freight train. Ill try again tomorrow.

[Godbolt]

Has definitely peaked my interest. More please!

[Peter Mc Mahon]

I'm in!

[recycler]

I cant post pictures from my computer, so I made a photobucket. Lets give this a shot.

The factory green paint.

[recycler]

Success!

First test fit of the wheels. The stretched tires will not be staying.



Inspiration shot



Front subframe bushing (at firewall)

[recycler]

Great.



The main portion of the frame. The perimeter rails are under the door sill. I will triangulate the corners when I do the cage. These rails are 2"x3" 1/8" wall.



With the frame rails on the ground. To put it in perspective, I'm 5'6" :0



If I were keeping the stock wheel openings, id be tucking lug nuts with the frame on the ground. All of this "frame on the ground" nonsense will be explained when I get to the suspension later.

[andrewb70]

Nice project...and trim your nail...LOL

Andrew

[recycler]

This is at 3.5" ground clearance. This is also where I realized my desired 3" ride height wasn't going to work with the stock wheel openings. At this point, I sat down and drew up the "rendering" you will see later.



The rear subframe is out of a 95 infinity j30.



Getting the front subframe squared up and welded on.

[recycler]

Nice project...and trim your nail...LOL

Andrew

That's my itch scratching nail, lmao. Trust me, its gone.

[recycler]

I didn't take a picture, but there are 2"x3" braces triangulating the front subframe to the main frame. Im also using "fish plates" on all of the connections.

Quick sketch of some ideas I have floating around in my head. I never intended to show this sketch to anyone, so maybe I should explain the aero>hp thing at the bottom. The engine will remain stock for awhile until I gather parts to build it up. Aero mods are just metal work, which is basically free, hence the aero>hp thing.



This is how I want to do the fenders/quarters, with the entire wheel/tire exposed. However, I don't like the angular shapes in this rendering, id prefer to stretch the stock metal and keep it stock-ish looking.

[recycler]

I guess ill let the cat out of the bag.

This is the engine that will be going in the nova.



Yup. 4 cyl turbo 4G63. Rated at 210 hp with the stock t25 turbo, im running a Garrett t28 for now. Eventually, id like to make around 500 hp out of this engine with a bigger turbo/injectors, supporting mods, and Megasquirt. At this point I just want to drive it again, so stock is fine with me. If you search "red demon" on youtube, you will find a guy making 1240 hp (last I knew) out of one of these engines.

My parts car. 1995 eagle talon tsi. Im using every part off of this car possible.



And the namesake

[recycler]

I have drawings of the suspension, I will try to upload them later today. At the moment, Im building the rear frame rails. Thank you for checking this out, and any/all comments are welcome. If you see anything im doing wrong, please let me know. Any tips or ideas are welcomed, as are questions.

-Kelly.

[andrewb70]

That's my itch scratching nail, lmao. Trust me, its gone.

Thankfully it wasn't your nose picker...LOL

This build is taking an interesting turn....You DSM guys....are...unique... :-)

Andrew

[RMMiller]

You must be planning on turning that engine so it sits "properly" in the car! I figured you might have been headed that direction since you went with IRS from an import. Not sure if you have seen the thread but there is a 50's Studebaker here that has been stuffed full of off shore goodies.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

What is the bag hanging over the car?

[recycler]

Thankfully it wasn't your nose picker...LOL

This build is taking an interesting turn....You DSM guys....are...unique... :-)

Andrew

I was a muscle car guy long before I even knew what DSM was, and I was a minitrucker somewhere in between. I didn't choose the 4g63 because Im a hard core DSM'er, I chose it because i had it laying around, and it fit; literally.
The cam gears *might* stick out of the hood an inch or so (just eyeballing it, because I haven't made the new oil pan yet.) The sbc with tpi would've stuck out of the hood close to 5".
I was going to use the 350 that I already had, with tpi injection, Megasquirt, and a couple of small turbos. This talon pretty much fell into my lap due to a fortunate mistake, so I started doing the math and it just made since to use it for parts.

Pros of building a DSMNova:
-My stock 95 gst gets around 25 mpg- the 350 that was in the nova averaged 8-10.
-I have a complete harness with all sensors, etc and an engine that was designed for turbo use. Id have to make a harness to put fuel injection on the sbc, and figuring out how to make a cam pos sensor out of a vortech v6 dist was driving me nuts.
-The 4g63 with a t56 weighs 500+ lbs less than sbc/th350 that I had in there.
-Less weight over the front end. The front of the engine is in line with the center of my upper c-arms.
-I can run it on the stock ECU until i start upgrading the engine, whereas the sbc meant buying the Megasquirt right away.

Cons of running the 4g63:
-Ill probably get death threats from hardcore Chevy guys.
-Have to answer questions every time I open the hood.
-I'm really going to miss that big cam sbc sound.

Thanks for checking it out.
-Kelly

[recycler]

You must be planning on turning that engine so it sits "properly" in the car! I figured you might have been headed that direction since you went with IRS from an import. Not sure if you have seen the thread but there is a 50's Studebaker here that has been stuffed full of off shore goodies.

Yes, it will get turned. Ill put a 4 cyl in a nova, but make it fwd as well? Madness! Awd is interesting, but the DSM awd drivetrain is too weak for my taste.
There is a guy in ohio named Bill Hincher who makes adapter plates and bell housings to bolt the 4g63 to a number of transmissions. Im looking for a 94-97 t-56 to put behind mine.

I have not seen the Studebaker, thank you for bringing it to my attention; i will look for it when i get home.

Thanks for checking out the thread,
-Kelly.