Pro Touring 4th Generation Nova - Lateral-g Forums

perple76 · #1 04-09-2008, 09:11 AM

All,

Long time reader, first time poster, and a new member, all bundled into one. I think I have a project in the cooker that meets the "pro touring" definition, so I wanted to join the forum and put my ride up for public inspection.

The car is a 1977 Nova that I've been tinkering with off and on for the past 16 years. Like a lot of cars, it's gone through several different "versions" and has had some different personalities. Started out as a street driven hot rod, took on a drag car look for a while, was turned into a "show car" for a bit and was shown extensively for two or three years, and then back to a street driven hot rod, although a pretty nicely detailed street car.

About a year ago I started thinking through the process of taking the street driven process to the next step and go "pro touring" with the car. Mainly I wanted to really dig into the suspension, wheels, and brakes of the car and see where that took me. As most of you know, it didn't take long to get in over my head. . .

Anyway some quick details on the car. It's about 70% finished as of now. I have already installed narrowed tubular a-arms up front with adjustable coil overs. The rear suspension is a Hot Rods to Hell truckarm setup that hangs a narrowed 8.5" ten bolt rear. Gears are 3.42s with posi. Brakes are Baer - 13s up front and 12s in the back. Those are due in this week (I hope).

I'm keeping the vintage smallblock that I've used for years in the car. It's strong and reliable if not spectacular, putting out just north of 400 horsepower. It's standard hot-rod fare, but it's easy to work on and tune, so that's what I like. I've also installed a Tremec T56 six speed behind the engine with the hope of bringing those highway RPMs down a bit. This car's all driver, and will only go on a trailer if I break it.

Wheels are Coys, 18X8 up front and 20X10 in the back with 245 and 285 Nitto tires, respectively.

I paint my own cars so the paint and body work is going to be a labor of love. The car was a bare steel job back in 1995 and I've taken pretty good care of it, so the next paint job is going to have a good foundation. Color and scheme is a closely guarded secret, but needless to say the purple and white will be gone by the end of the summer.

I know these cars still haven't quite caught on at the national level, but I think this generation of Novas is not too far away from popularity or at least credibility. With a little elbow grease and imagination, you can make a pretty sweet ride out of them. All in all, a pretty good foundation for a pro touring car.

I look forward to your input and thoughts on the project, and will be leaning on many of you for advice as I push forward.

Jason

**XcYZ** · #2 04-09-2008, 08:45 PM

Welcome aboard, Jason.

7TSS · #3 04-10-2008, 10:40 AM

Welcome. Sounds like a great project. Agree that these cars will start gaining popularity in the near future. Keep posting pics of the project.

HRBS · #4 04-10-2008, 11:30 AM

I agree that the 4th gen Novas and their counterpart the Buick Skylark will take off soon. Yours is a perfect example of the potential. That 20x10 looks right at home on that. Now lose the purple and it'll be bitchin !
Welcome.

andrewmp6 · #5 04-13-2008, 06:06 AM

Looks great reminds me of the 78 ss my dad had when i was a kid.You do sound like me a car is never finished is it lol.

bamadale · #6 04-13-2008, 07:24 AM

i also had a 76 several years ago. loved the car but was not able to do what i wanted due to not much extra money floating around back then. sold it but now regret it. i tried to buy it back from the current owner but he would not sell it.

ProTouring442 · #7 04-21-2008, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HRBS

I agree that the 4th gen Novas and their counterpart the Buick Skylark will take off soon. Yours is a perfect example of the potential. That 20x10 looks right at home on that. Now lose the purple and it'll be bitchin !
Welcome.

Don't forget the Olds Omega and the Cadillac Seville!

Sweet ride you're going to have there.... Keep the pics coming!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

perple76 · #8 04-21-2008, 09:40 AM

I don't pretend to be a suspension expert but here is what I have read on the last gen nova as it compares to the 77-81 Camaro:

The front suspension is the same in regards to A-arms, spindles, brakes, and maybe front swaybar, but I don't think the actual subframes are the same. I have been told (but have not verified) that the subs are different lengths and different widths. I sure would like to be wrong about this, because I think it's more likely that we will see an aftermarket subframe for the Camaro before we will the Nova for this time period.

I have read that the rear "frames", if they can be called that, are also different between the Camaros and Novas of this vintage. Maybe the Camaro is more narrow, or maybe its the Nova, I can't remember which is which. I don't think the rear ends are a direct swap because the widths are different. Again, haven't verified this - just what I've read on the 'net and some other publications.

I will say this in regards to the Nova's underpinnings - the floorpans for the 75-79 cars is really, really similar to the third generation (68-74) Nova. I have used the same molded carpet out of a 68-74 Nova for my 77, and it fit perfectly. I would also point out that the Hotrods to Hell rear suspension kit that we used on this car was actually engineered for the 68-74 cars. Following HRTH's instructions, this kit installed almost exactly the same, and almost all measurements for the 68-74 car were dead on perfect with my measurements on the '77. Although this may not equate to an "exact" match, I think in most cases you can probably do some interchanging of parts with little or no problems.

Some of this is still voodoo science, but it does appear that many of these parts will match up. I just think the aftermarket is not comfortable making that claim unless they've personally tried them on one of their test mules. Probably a good position for them to take - I imagine they catch a lot of flak if they claim a part fits and then finds out that it doesn't.

Anyway I'm always happy to see when stuff fits, even if I have to make it fit with some "persuasion". Us fourth gen Nova guys know we're in the minority, so we'll take our parts any way we can get them.

J