[Rich74custom]

:notworthy::notworthy:

 

[tattooedsgt]

Thats cool that all that hard work is paying off. That motor is awsome. Theres no doubt you should see some pretty amazing track times. Looking forward to more updates.

 

[chevy406]

A friend on a local car forum (as well as a member here on SNS) has offered to sell me his 12-bolt rear out of his 72 Nova. This will provide me a good opportunity to add strength (33-spline & 12-bolt housing) and eliminate c-clip axles. I will get the "new" differential in the next evening or two.

While the car is down, I pulled the instrument cluster to add some gauges. First I pulled the clock block-off plate and opened up a 2" hole for my Innovate AFR gauge. I have yet to see it light up so I'm not sure how I'll like it.

Next I cut out the block-off plate for the A/C vent and installed a fiberglass, 2-gauge panel that I ordered from Anvil Auto. So far I just have it cut out and positioned. I'll pick up some epoxy and then smooth it in with some bondo. I plan to add a boost gauge in one hole and maybe a transmission temperature gauge in the other.

 

[chevy406]

Just to keep this build thread updated. I ended up piecing together a 12-bolt with 3.08 gears, spool, 33-spline axles, c-clip eliminators, and a cast aluminum rear cover. The 3.08 gears help load the engine quicker which spools the turbos and gives more time for the engine to work under boost. It's also a great choice for highway cruising. I drove in to work again this morning - 50 miles each way. On the interstate at 75 mph I matted the throttle in 3rd to see how much boost it was building in the 29F air temp. I had to quickly let off when the spinning rear tires started letting the car skate around. I briefly saw 13 psi on the gauge. I'm working on getting lighter wastegate springs to limit boost around 5 psi. That will make it a little safer on the street, and I can always ramp in more power with the programmable boost controller. This turbo drivetrain is incredibly addictive.

 

[chevy406]

Little bump for a successful night at the track. After running a 6.06 @ 118 mph I replaced the slicks with 275-60-15 M/T drag radials and added an MSD 2-step. After 3 passes with various traction problems I came up with an agreeable boost curve and ran a 5.87 at 119.0 mph with a 1.34 sixty foot. That was a full 0.11 second improvement on my best 60' with the slicks and basically 0.2 second improvement on ET. Amazing difference with the radial tires.



I was really happy to break into the 5s after driving a round trip of 150 miles to the track and back home, on 93 octane pump gas, and without any mechanical issues. I could have left the hood shut all night. Got to love fuel injection and turbo power.

sorry - don't know why it is showing the same video twice...

 

[BHartje]

First - every time I look through this thread it gives my goose bumbs. I can't wait to have my turbo nova on the street!

I have an intake question for you, do you happen to know the height of your intake from the Valley cover? Just need a ball park figure, and whats your hood clearance look like? Looks like you have a 2" cowl?

My 13" intake has me a bit concerned for hood clearence... I have more or less a 2" cowl as well.

 

[fosheezie]

haven't been on here in a while, but I wanted to say this is an awesome thread

 

[chevy406]

Thanks for the kind comments. BHartje, I'll try to remember to put a tape measure to my intake this evening.

I took my Nova to Holley's LS Fest in Bowling Green, KY earlier this month. This was the first time to ever run it in a full ¼ mile and at an NHRA tech'd event. I upgraded my safety equipment to meet a 10.00 second ET since that is all my 6-point roll bar is good for. However, my first test pass I went 9.71 on just 12 psi of boost and a fairly easy launch. I ended up setting the boost controller to leave on 4 psi and hold it until 2 seconds and then ramp up to 14 psi. That way I wasn't in danger of spinning the tires yet could still run my 10.0x dial-in. It turned out to be a good bracket racing combination as I made it from 64 cars down to 5. In the quarter finals I forgot to open my CO2 bottle for the boost controller so I lost.

Over the weekend I made 15 ¼ mile passes all within 138 to 143 mph. The car had a couple issues to work through (shifter cable lost a bolt, cracked coolant tube fitting, IAC hanging the idle) but overall I was really happy with the performance and the handling at 140+ mph. The Martz chassis with rack-&-pinion steering and their recommended alignment made it very stable and each pass was dead straight. Seems to be a good blend of 44 year old parts and current technology.

 

[chevy406]

Found a little article on dragzine.com about my Nova following the Holley LS Fest race last month:

http://www.dragzine.com/features/car-features/clyde-carlsons-sleeper-9-second-lsx-pump-gas-nova/

 

[Kyle 68SS]

Nice article! It's always killer to get some press on something you've built.

 

[Turtle Bite]

This is a beautiful car. I saw in the "How much rwhp on premium gas, turbo, lq4?" Thread you mentioned choosing your fuel pump/ regulator wisely. I am actually to the point where I need to order a pump, regulator, and lines and was wondering what you used. On page 1 you mention the rick's tank with a Magnafuel 13101 pump and filter. Is this a Magnafuel filter and regulator? I thought the Rick's tanks use a 2010 Camaro pump module or something similar.

 

[chevy406]

I bought a Rick's Tank that was built for an external fuel pump. My Magnafuel pump is fed from a 3/4" stainless steel tube through a Aeromotive filter, then into the pump. From the pump I run through a -10 braided flex hose to a -10 x -1/-8 wy fitting. The two -8 legs feed into the front of the fuel rails through ½" stainless steel tubing. From the back of the fuel rails I ran two ½" stainless lines into the Aeromotive boost referenced regulator, and exit the regulator through a -8 flex hose back to the tank.

You can see some of the ½" stainless tubing in and out of the fuel rails in this picture:

 

[chevy406]

Had a dyno day at a local chassis dyno shop in Huntsville, Alabama. My Nova put down 909 rwhp with a mixture of pump gas and 110 octane. Pretty happy with that number through and automatic and fairly loose stall.