Intro - 4th Gen Nova Pro Touring

[perple76]

Hello,

I've been reading the boards for a few months now, registered a few weeks ago, and finally tonight got my act together in terms of introducing my project to the family.

Something a little different - at least something I haven't read about anyone else on the forum doing. I'm taking the pro-touring approach with a fourth generation or "disco" Chevy Nova.

This car has a relatively solid history behind it - it's a former "show" car that has collected a few Super Chevy trophies and a handful of Nova National trophies.

I got tired of showing it, though, and decided I really wanted to drive it - hard. About two years ago I basically "retired" the car from the show circuit and began looking into what it would take to completely reimagine the car and turn it into something that would look good but drive even better. August of 2007 I began the tear down and rebuild of the Nova.

Here's a short laundry list of what I've done so far:

1. Baer brakes (13" front, 12" rears)
2. Tubular A-arms up front with qa-1 adjustable coilover shocks
3. Hotrods to Hell truckarm rear suspension with a narrowed rear
4. New wheels - 18x8 up front and 20x10 in the rear (285 rear tire)
5. Tremec T-56 six speed transmission

Future plans include:

1. New guages (in dash)
2. Repaint (new scheme, new colors)
3. Few other surprises

In the motor department, I think I'm pretty well set. The car's motor from its previous life was pretty stout. It's a vintage small block chevy putting out around 425 horsepower. Nothing exotic, at least compared to some of the motors on this forum - just meat and potatoes.

Anyway, here are a few pics I took right before we started road testing the new suspension. Glad to be a part of the forum and look forward to hearing from you, learning, and pushing ahead.

Jason

[ron79]

welcome perple76 go to see come over here,am ron c on steves nova site,good to see i am not the only late model nova guy here

[ixfn]

Welcome! How do you like the truck arm setup? How did the install go?

[perple76]

I love the truckarm setup. I haven't had the chance to do a lot of "hard core" testing on it yet, but my initial impressions are all positive. I had this car on leaf springs for years, and could immediately tell the difference in regards to how predictable the back half of the car is, especially in the turns. I didn't really install it for straight-line drag racing, but I suspect that I will see improvements under hard launches as well.

The best thing I can say about the install is that there were no big surprises. After I got the kit from HRTH, I think I had to call Steve one time to discuss the installation. Otherwise, the directions are comprehensive, well photographed and well explained. If you follow the directions one step at a time, it goes pretty smoothly.

That having been said, this is not a beginner's kit. There's a significant amount of cutting, grinding, welding, and more grinding. You do lose a little floor room for back seat passengers, and exhaust installation is going to be a significant challenge. It's also not for the faint of heart - this is a permanent installation so if originality or bolt-in installation is your bag - this probably isn't the suspension for you.

Again, though, all positives from my end. I really like the feel of the car with this set-up and wouldn't go back.

Happy to answer any specific questions that I can.

J

[TPI Monte SS]

Very nice car, and welcome to the site! I always liked that style Nova too. My uncle daily-drove one of those cars from the time it was new (I think his was a '77) until the late '90s when he got rearended on I95 heading in to Philly. The car had well over 200K on it, and never let him down.

[Novabjorn]

Welcome too the 4-th gen club...
Love that truckarm setup, you must give us an report after testing it on track or road course.