1968 Nova

[Desperado454]

With the model a roadworthy i figured it was time to exhume my old nova and give it a little love. Just a quick background, this is my first car, bought it when I was 14 and between the old man and myself we got it into respectable shape with some new quarter skins and a quick primer job because i was too impatient to see it through to a proper finish. Over the years its evolved into what you see, just always been a car I wanted to be as fast and loud as possible. Unfortunately the thing has just been sitting for a few years while I toiled away on the hot rod and when I finally got around to firing it up it for some summer cruising I noticed it had developed some sort of unpleasant knocking sound so decided to dig in and see what was going on. Bearings looked okay other than this rod bearing with a deep groove in it, not sure what happened there, but ended up putting all fresh ones in of course. After some further digging, I found the culprit, #7 piston developed some sour skirts and got pretty loose in its bore. So I tore the whole thing down, ordered a new piston, a set of rings, some new bearings and proceeded to clean up the block a little. Cylinders measured up pretty good, less than .002 taper all around so just gave them the ball hone treatment, and they cleaned up pretty good. Some pics of the car freshly exhumed and after it was placed in the garage

[Desperado454]

Pic of taking the engine apart, the grooved bearing and hopefully a video of the loose piston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kudK5Du3wUU

[geezer#99]

Your Nova brings back memories!
Buddy and I built a 72 back about 25 years ago. Yanked the six and glide for his kid’s 66 gmc.
We pulled off the front subframe and used a 75 nova one for the front steer set up. Had to build some mounts and a few cuts and mods of course. We wanted room for a set of 2 1/4 inch headers for the L-88 we where gonna use. Put an m22 and 4.88 12 bolt in it.
Scary ride!
Sideways all the way thru 3rd.

I’ve seen grooved bearings like that before. Never did figure out why they where used. Maybe better oiling on that journal. Just on one journal too. Maybe a quick fix kinda thing.
If only the motor could talk! LOL!

That’s certainly a rocking piston. Saw the same on an LS6 when it was new. I bought the 70 chevelle from a buddy who was the original owner. It had 3 pistons like that and the motor was replaced by the factory.

Nice project.
Makes me wish I had a garage.

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

Your Nova brings back memories!
Buddy and I built a 72 back about 25 years ago. Yanked the six and glide for his kid’s 66 gmc.
We pulled off the front subframe and used a 75 nova one for the front steer set up. Had to build some mounts and a few cuts and mods of course. We wanted room for a set of 2 1/4 inch headers for the L-88 we where gonna use. Put an m22 and 4.88 12 bolt in it.
Scary ride!
Sideways all the way thru 3rd.

I’ve seen grooved bearings like that before. Never did figure out why they where used. Maybe better oiling on that journal. Just on one journal too. Maybe a quick fix kinda thing.
If only the motor could talk! LOL!

That’s certainly a rocking piston. Saw the same on an LS6 when it was new. I bought the 70 chevelle from a buddy who was the original owner. It had 3 pistons like that and the motor was replaced by the factory.

Nice project.
Makes me wish I had a garage.

Thanks man! That 72 sounds pretty wild!

So this is a motor I bought off the old man way back, its nothing too crazy at all, which is funny because I thought it was pretty stout back in the day. Turns out its just a basic 2 bolt 454 with a cast crank, stock rods with some arp bolts and some forged pistons which were cut down to fit the closed chambered heads. Heads have some 2.19/1.88 valves in them though so that's nice. It was actually pretty tough to resist the urge to put in a roller cam, some different pistons or a new set of heads, but in the end i just kept telling myself that id probably just end up tossing the old stuff, so might as well keep it the same. Pics of the old piston pressed off the rod, the new piston, the crank polishing apparatus, and the cylinders after the ball hone, came up sweet!

[Desperado454]

Shortblock went together pretty good with .002 bearing clearance all around. Cleaned up the heads and slid the cam back in as well, this thing is probably way overkill for the application but its what my 18 year old self picked out haha. I skipped straight to the drag race section in the comp catalog, went right to the bottom of the list and picked the cam that was a notch or two tamer than the raunchiest one. Anyways, got the heads torqued on and painted er up

[Desperado454]

After that it was time to put the motor back in, some pics of the moment

[Desperado454]

Figured Id switch things up and put the flat hood back on, it's a tight fit but worked out pretty good. All in all it made for a pretty fun winter project and Im looking forward to driving my old car in the nice weather when it comes! Pic of the engine, me washing the car and one with the new project C10. Hopefully a video of the running car too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHZ5hdJqRs0

[geezer#99]

Gotta luv those smooth idle cams!
Car looks good!
What’s the cam specs and what carb you running?

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

Gotta luv those smooth idle cams!
Car looks good!
What’s the cam specs and what carb you running?

Thanks! Yeah I bet she pulls some good vacuum too haha. I spent about 15 minutes looking for the old cam card with its 10+ years of patina to get a cool pic but came up dry, frustrating because i just had it a few weeks ago, ah well. Here's a link to the cam specs i hope: http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=488&sb=2 Carb is a 750 dp I had laying around, was always curious how the motor would respond with a mild mannered intake a single carb. Its only ever had the tunnel ram with 2 650's or a tall weiand single plane with a 1050 dominator, both were likely overkill but good lordy did they ever look cool! Well to me at least haha.

[Desperado454]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

Location: Bowser

Ah man, just noticed you're a fellow bc resident! Used to visit my grandparents in qualicum beach when they were still around, they had a place with the beach in their backyard, super windy all the time but worth it for the view and ocean air. Many fond memories of gathering clams from the beach with grandma or paddling out into the ocean with grandpa for some fishing. Have this old pic of the old man and his lincoln in the grandparents backyard from many years back, just to show off the view mainly haha. The old man just recently moved to qualicum beach, though quite a ways from the water, going to go visit him tomorrow!

[geezer#99]

Those cam specs look a bit like the old L88 or LS7 specs.
Awesome cam from 3500 and up.
Enjoy your visit but remember we don’t encourage people to stay. It’s getting crowded around here! LOL!
If you get up my way, drop in.
I’m just up the street from Nicholina’s Pizza on Noonday Road.

[Desperado454]

Thanks man, it was a great trip, what a beautiful day! Haha, still seemed pretty laid back to me, compared to the lower mainland at least. Was on a pretty tight timeline today but when I'm over there for a longer stay I'll for sure take you up on the offer, will make for a fun outing. Best part of the trip was this 60-66 GMC monster truck I saw in nanaimo, mercy me what a cool rig! Wish i had time to pull over and get closer look but was really cutting it close on the ferry

[geezer#99]

That was quick!
I’ve looked at that truck. Guy that owns it is a boat builder. He has a shop on Pine street in the south end of town.
There’s a couple more like it around too. A red one and a teal one.
Quiet here yesterday!
All I could hear was a ford or two rusting away at my neighbours!