Prices?!?!?!

[71Nova]

Thats cool Steve. I hadn't looked at Don Lees website until today. Cool pics of your 69.

[PoorMan]

Originally Posted by mazspeed

Hey Poorman. I wanted to put my 2 cents in. If I had a certain amount of money and was doing what you are doing, I would go around and find a car that is already done or really close to being done, but the owner can't finish the project type of deal. If you think you have a budget around 35k and want to do a bunch of mods, I would seriously start looking for deals left and right. This is what I should have done. 35k sounds like a lot, but it goes pretty quickly in parts, and this does not include labor. I went in thinking I was going to spend 20k on this build, and then I wanted this, and or needed this, and it snowballed to well north of 100k. Since you don't have a car yet, look for one that best suits your needs and go from there.

Sound advice for sure. It's not going to be easy to find a car that's already built to my standards/liking. I came accross a guy who offered up a 63 Nova that had the suspension all set up...I know I'm being picky here, but I'd prefer a 66-67 and I didn't really like the paint color he had chosen.

Plenty more research, car shows and such lie in my future!

Thanks to all for you input and help. It's nice to have some guidance from those who have already done this.

[PoorMan]

Originally Posted by 71Nova

Thats cool Steve. I hadn't looked at Don Lees website until today. Cool pics of your 69.

Yeah, Steve's car is killer.

I wish we had more pics of forum bro cars on this site...and maybe have their user name listed too so we know who they are.

[PoorMan]

[QUOTE=ilovefirstgens]Though my big question is why do you need an injected motor, having done a ls1 swap i can say its not easy, and i have all the off the shelf first gen camaro parts. If you are just gonna drive it on the weekends or whatever stay carbureted, it will save you a huge ammount of time and money.QUOTE]

I want a fuelie for a couple reasons. The goal of this car is to build a daily driver and have it perform like (or better than) a modern performance vehicle would. This will be my one and only car so I'm after that fuelie snappy throttle response, better gas mileage, reliability etc.

But I think the solution that works best for me comes in the form of the 350 Ram Jet.

[71Nova]

Ram Jet would save you alot of money and is still a very cool engine. It would leave alot of your budget for suspension and other upgrades.

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by PoorMan

I just called a guy about an LS1/LS2 install in a 66-67 Nova and he said he did one that ran about 20k?!?!?!

Important update..

I went over to Don Lees today and talked with Tim.. mostly to bust his chops for quoting $20k .. lol

Tim said that he told you $5k for labor and the total would most likely be aroud $15k.. you must of thought he meant $15k PLUS the $5k.. or $20k

So to be clear his quote was $15k complete with fuel system and all the goodies.. Now if you go adding exotic parts and such that price would change (higher) and if you shopped hard that price could be less. $5k labor is a good price.

Just thought you would want to know that the $20k number was incorrect

Oh, never did get an email from ya.. also, Tim said a RamJet install would be a snap but you might end up with hood clearance issues. (he had a 66 Nova)

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by ilovefirstgens

Though my big question is why do you need an injected motor, having done a ls1 swap i can say its not easy, and i have all the off the shelf first gen camaro parts. If you are just gonna drive it on the weekends or whatever stay carbureted, it will save you a huge ammount of time and money.

Better drivability.. better potential for power.. better fuel economy

Nothing wrong with carbs though.. just hard to back once you go EFI.. there's something nice about turning the key and having it fire right up and the fact that the computer adjusts to different conditions (like driving to a higher or lower altitude)

Originally Posted by 71Nova

Thats cool Steve. I hadn't looked at Don Lees website until today. Cool pics of your 69.

Thanks.. We thought it might help people.. plus I have a ton on my website..

[mazspeed]

Originally Posted by Steve1968LS2

Important update..

I went over to Don Lees today and talked with Tim.. mostly to bust his chops for quoting $20k .. lol

Tim said that he told you $5k for labor and the total would most likely be aroud $15k.. you must of thought he meant $15k PLUS the $5k.. or $20k

So to be clear his quote was $15k complete with fuel system and all the goodies.. Now if you go adding exotic parts and such that price would change (higher) and if you shopped hard that price could be less. $5k labor is a good price.

Just thought you would want to know that the $20k number was incorrect

Oh, never did get an email from ya.. also, Tim said a RamJet install would be a snap but you might end up with hood clearance issues. (he had a 66 Nova)

That's a real good price.

[PoorMan]

Originally Posted by Steve1968LS2

Important update..

I went over to Don Lees today and talked with Tim.. mostly to bust his chops for quoting $20k .. lol

Tim said that he told you $5k for labor and the total would most likely be aroud $15k.. you must of thought he meant $15k PLUS the $5k.. or $20k

So to be clear his quote was $15k complete with fuel system and all the goodies.. Now if you go adding exotic parts and such that price would change (higher) and if you shopped hard that price could be less. $5k labor is a good price.

Just thought you would want to know that the $20k number was incorrect

Oh, never did get an email from ya.. also, Tim said a RamJet install would be a snap but you might end up with hood clearance issues. (he had a 66 Nova)

Ohhhhhhh...that makes sense. His exact words were "about 15K sunk into the engine"...so he must have meant 15K to complete the project. I took is as 15K for all the parts needed for the engine, then 5K labor. Thanks for the clarification.

I still haven't goeen around to that email...I have a nasty schedule and I get home pretty late (and I stopped at a car show to scope for Novas on the way home). And I can't send emails from work--I can post here for some reason. But I think I'm going to pass on the LS1/LS2 route anyway. For my purposes I think the 350 Ram Jet will be much more cost effective. EFI on a beer budget.