New guy with a twisted idea...

[406ben]

Howdy all! Ben here. I'm a Chevy fan, particularily Novas. I've owned several over the years and currently own 2:

1974 Nova with fiberglass front fenders, hood, front bumper, trunk lid, poly buckets, 406 small block w/custom Erson cam & Dart heads..., TH350/3800 stall, 12 bolt w/4.56's, 3" duals through x pipe and Dynomax bullets, 165R15 skinnies up front on 15x4 rallies, 275-50-15 Drag T/A's on 15x7 rallies, mid 11's in full street driven trim. Future plans will be new paint in the factory olive metallic green color and '69 Nova Yenko stripes. Older under construction photos...






1973 Nova hatchback, still under construction. I'm doing a disc brake conversion, all poly bushings, lowered 1", fat sway bar, 406 small block w/ported factory heads, XE268 cam..., 5 speed, 10 bolt w/3.36's, early 70's Z28 5 spoke wheels w/ white letter Firestones, will be painted back to original medium orange metallic with black stripes, should pull mid 13's when completed and be daily commuter worthy. Photo taken just after purchasing it.



I also have another project under way, Pro-Touring with a twist. I'm modifying an '83 Chevette which pictured has a 3" drop via cutting coils and sporting 205-40-17 / 17x7 AMP wheels.


Currently the car is stock besides the drop and high flow exhaust. At first I was going to go with the 17's wrapped on powder coated 7 stars and a full ricer look.


I'm too much of a muscle car fan though, so I decided to change my thinking a bit. I started considering a mini tubbed rear with 17x9" Torque Thrust II's, but I've decided to keep mods simple and costs down.


Almost final plans are to do a full Pro-touring mod with aftermarket HMS Fiero 12" front brakes, front coil over shock conversion, dropped spindles, tubular A-arms, and fat sway bar, a slightly narrowed late model Mustang rear w/discs and 3.73's, total of 3" suspension drop, a TH200R4/2400 stall, a turbo/ F.I. 4.3 Chevy V6, redesigned instrument cluster w/Autometer gauges, aftermarket seats & steering wheel, 205-40-16 front and 215-40-16 rear (max width in factory wheel wells) on AM Racing black painted 5 stars, Z28 burnt orange w/ black Yenko style top stripe. I like the 16's over the 17's for the slightly lower stance.


Performance goals are to be a daily driver, run low 12's, hang with a newer Corvette in the slalom, brake like a Corvette, have a top end of 140+ and hopefully still be stable, and get 25+ mpg. The goal here is to beat ricers at their own game with an American compact with a real American motor, and maybe get a few smiles and thumbs up in the process.

Also posted is a shot of my 'Burby, a 76 1/2 ton with a 4" lift and 33's on 15x8 Vette style rallies with fakey bead lock rings. It sports an Edelbrock Performer package 406 small block. Plans are to paint it the new Nissan Xterra Olive Green and powder all the grille chrome and bumbers dark gray, add a roof rack, and run a 6" lift with 37" Goodyears on 10" rims.


Glad to be aboard, hope you like my ideas.

[TonyL]

you are among friends. everyone loved the chop I did a few months back about the same thing



I LOOOVE your ideas and look forward to more updates on the car!

[TitoJones]

Welcome to our corner of the interweb.

I really like the 'dare to be different' ideal, and think you have some great concepts, and a very good way of presenting them.

Post some progress as you get it along.
Tyler

[dhardison]

Hey Ben, Looks like you jumped over here from the "Nova list" as well huh? Love the Chevette drawings! Your artwork ALWAYS amazes me.

Dan

[Boyd]

406Ben, love the Chevette, it makes me want to start looking for one, I wonder what eBay has.......

[CAMAROBOY69]

Welcome to the site. Lots of great ideas and they are presented well. You will fit right in here with the rest of us. Especially since you have the off road vehicle to go with the PT vehicles.

[Piet]

Dare to be different... I love the ideas. Keep us posted.

[Martin71RS]

Cool stuff!!! and welcome.....

[Radio Joe]

I like the ideas and the Artwork is KILLER!

[WS6]

id drive the hell out of it. i dont think your goals are unrealistic honestly, good luck reaching them and definetly keep us updated

[406ben]

you are among friends. everyone loved the chop I did a few months back about the same thing



I LOOOVE your ideas and look forward to more updates on the car!

Holy shnikees! Is that real or a little dabble in photo shop? I was hoping to be the first one to do a real performance Chevette rather than just sticking a 4.3 in one and calling it good...

[gen3bu]

all the ideas are great but the 4.3 is a tight fit in a chevette.
i considered a turbo'd quad 4 or a 3.4 v-6 (60* v-6 instead of a 90* v-6).
you could also get more modern w/ an ecotec and shoot for 30mpg with a turbo and an s-10 five speed

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Welcome to the board, Ben! Nice Car(s)/Truck!!

[406ben]

all the ideas are great but the 4.3 is a tight fit in a chevette.
i considered a turbo'd quad 4 or a 3.4 v-6 (60* v-6 instead of a 90* v-6).
you could also get more modern w/ an ecotec and shoot for 30mpg with a turbo and an s-10 five speed

I considered the quad 4 as well as the S10 2.5. I guess I just like cubes. I then decided to go with the Buick 3.8, but found Hooker no longer makes the swap kit for the cheVette. I finally decided to go with the 4.3 because of it's massive V6 size, and after doing research found several folks that have done it successfully. Biggest problems are exhaust hitting the steering box, which I won't have to worry about with the exhaust going forward for the turbo, and some slight oil pan reshaping to clear the cross member. GM performance has some nasty parts available for the 4.3, if I ever want to get serious. They have an aluminum block, about $5500, that is good up to like 323 cubic inches, and Nascar aluminum heads as well. For prolly $8-10K I could build a 650+hp V6 that weighs the prolly about the same as the factory 1.6L. Hmmm, which bank should I rob...

[Matt]

Interesting, that's for sure.
I'd definitely like to see it when it's done, you have some cool ideas.
I really like your artwork too, top notch man.

[Protour_Pinto]

Great ideas for the 'Vette.

We will have to get our two cars together when they are done.

[BlazerSpeed]

Thats gotta be one of the sickest ideas I have seen in a while. You guys definetly have to do a pro-econobox shoot out. Now all we need is Jeff's AMC and someone with a monster gremlin

In all honesty that is a great dare to be different idea. Not to mention your approach to tckling the issues ahead of time is great. Seems very well thought out.
and if your interested, I'm getting rid of the 4.3 in my '91 S10. its TBI with about 80k miles. so If you want PM me if your interested.

hahah ok i'm done HiJacking this post

derek

[406ben]

Well, at least a photoshop chop job is. Pretty close to what I'm after. I found this wheel made by Motegi, and I'm thinking to go with the 205-40-17 & 215-40-17's after all. I can't decide.


Stay tuned for more fun...