[Ali1991]

Good evening/morning my fellow Nova owners. I'm gathering all the parts for my LS3 swap. I'm almost ready to start working, but I ran into a problem.
I want to keep my 15-inch rally wheels and I wanna know will it be a bottleneck for my LS3 engine? I really want to keep the pro touring look of my nova and don't want to go for anything higher than 15-inch wheels. I'm planning to beef up my brakes with the most expensive Wilwood kit available that will fit under a 15-inch wheel and I wanna know will it be sufficient to stop an LS3 engine? And how about the driveability. Will it be straight and nice? the car will be mainly driven on street. No drags or racing. I'm planning to use my current 8.2 posi rear end with 3:55 gears.

 

[Ali1991]

Here is the brake kit:
https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/B...=Chevrolet&model=Nova&option=Drum+Brake+Front

 

[Shane65]

If it's street driven then 15" wheels and the better brakes will be good to go. I mean stop. Engine horsepower doesn't come into play unless you plan on driving it hard on the street. IMO

 

[CGMike]

The taller sidewall on the tires will help with launching in a straight line but your handling will suffer. They make sticky and wide tires for 15 inch wheels, just get those and you should be ok with the LS3 power

 

[dont]

I have 11” disks with 4 piston willwood calipers. Plenty of stoping power for the street and they easily fit with 15” rims.

 

[Nova Thug]

What brakes do you currently have on the 70 Nova? Originally it would have had drums all around. A swap to an OEM type disc brake system would be the simplest and a very sufficient upgrade for a 15" wheel and stock spindle application and cost would probably be significantly less then the Willwood system you're looking at. For a street car, this would be fine. If you are planning to do front suspension upgrades in the future then wait till you know what changes you will be making as you may need a brake system that will be compatible with those new suspension components. While the LS3 is a pretty big boost in hp the aluminum block is also going to be 100lbs lighter then a cast iron small block.. This means you have less vehicle mass to have to bring to a stop..

 

[Zonie]

Here is the brake kit:
https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/B...=Chevrolet&model=Nova&option=Drum+Brake+Front

Have you checked to make sure those brakes will work with your wheels?