Restarting My '70 Nova Project

[MossRoad]

Don't think so, at 75, my drag strip runs are behind me.
Back in the early 70s, we ran my '69 L78 Nova at the local strip one weekend after stripping the car down and putting a tune on it. My three run best was 12.52 at 106 MPH. I kept the time slip for couple of years, but when we moved to this house in '74 it came up missing. I think the wife tossed it, but she would never admit it. It was in an envelope with a couple of pictures taken at the track that day, and the pics disappeared too.

I used to keep one of my 11.92 slips for my RD400 from Osceola in the upper corner of the bathroom mirror at my folk's house. I lost it when I moved to my first house. It's either gone for eternity or still on a box of stuff I haven't looked in since 1985.

 

[Alan46]

I used to keep one of my 11.92 slips for my RD400 from Osceola in the upper corner of the bathroom mirror at my folk's house. I lost it when I moved to my first house. It's either gone for eternity or still on a box of stuff I haven't looked in since 1985.

Checking that box bro!!!

 

[MossRoad]

Checking that box bro!!!

Most of my stuff is in rubbermaid tubs, all numbered, with a master list of contents of each box. Easy peasy.... except I still have several cardboard boxes that are honestly labeled "Moss's box o' crap 1, 2, 3," etc... just tons of stuff from junk drawers, dressers, small tool boxes, etc... Every time I open one it's like a treasure hunt from my past.

Keeping on topic... I think there's a Nova trunk emblem in there somewhere!

 

[BravoXray]

I finally buckled down and changed out the upper A-arms today. It wasn't really a bad job, especially since everything is new and not a rusty POS. Jacked it up, pulled the tire off, loosened the ball joint nut, smacked the spindle boss with a BFH to pop it loose, lowered the lower A-arm down on a couple of blocks to take the pressure off the ball joint, and took the nuts off the bolts through the cross-bar. Due to the proximity of the header tubes, I had to tap the bolts loose from the subframe bracket and pull them out to be able to remove the A-arms. The driver's side was a little more involved, I had to loosen the power steering pump and push it in as far as it would go to get the A-arm over the front bolt, as there was no room the get a hammer in to knock it out. Got them all bolted back in, greased the ball joints, put the tires on and torqued the lug nuts. Total time, about two hours.
Before I installed the new A-arms, I measured the offset from the rear cross-bar bolt hole to the ball joint on both sets of A-arms, and as I figured, there was about 3/8" difference, moving the upper ball joint to the rear on the old passenger side A-arm, which explains the amount of excess caster when it was aligned. The new A-arms are made to accept adjuster slugs that have different amounts of offset to allow them to be moved forward or rearward if necessary to adjust the caster. I used the ones with no offset, but I have other slugs with 1/4" and 3/8" offset if needed. The cross-bars are made with one of the faces that sit against the mount offset, to allow more range of camber adjustment, I installed them so the alignment shop can add shims if needed.
Monday I'll give the alignment shop a call and get it realigned. Hopefully, that will get rid of the slight pull to the left it has had since the last alignment.

The old A-arms.

 

[BravoXray]

Most of my stuff is in rubbermaid tubs, all numbered, with a master list of contents of each box. Easy peasy.... except I still have several cardboard boxes that are honestly labeled "Moss's box o' crap 1, 2, 3," etc... just tons of stuff from junk drawers, dressers, small tool boxes, etc... Every time I open one it's like a treasure hunt from my past.

Keeping on topic... I think there's a Nova trunk emblem in there somewhere!

I have a bunch of plastic tubs from Target that I store parts in and label them so I can find what I need. At least it narrows the search area down when I'm looking for something, normally.

 

[MossRoad]

I have a bunch of plastic tubs from Target that I store parts in and label them so I can find what I need. At least it narrows the search area down when I'm looking for something, normally.

View attachment 4110687View attachment 4110688

I've got well over 150 twenty gallon rubber maid tubs. I admit, I have a problem.

 

[BravoXray]

I've got well over 150 twenty gallon rubber maid tubs. I admit, I have a problem.

Well, at least you admit it...

 

[MossRoad]

My 71 Nova hood won't fit in a tub. Someday I'll clean it up, repair the corrosion, paint it and hang it on a wall.

 

[arrow]

My 71 Nova hood won't fit in a tub. Someday I'll clean it up, repair the corrosion, paint it and hang it on a wall.

For me, I’d take the L78 engine over any engine Chevy made including the exotic 427’s and 454’s.
It was such an efficient motor (some say it really displaced 402cu in) and so easy to get into the 12’s with minimal work.
My absolute favorite package would be the dark green 68 Camaro with the 396/375 engine.
With 4.33’s out back and slicks, you were at the cusp of high 12’s.
It was more than a go for the 428 Mustangs at the time which got all the press.

 

[BravoXray]

For me, I’d take the L78 engine over any engine Chevy made including the exotic 427’s and 454’s.
It was such an efficient motor (some say it really displaced 402cu in) and so easy to get into the 12’s with minimal work.
My absolute favorite package would be the dark green 68 Camaro with the 396/375 engine.
With 4.33’s out back and slicks, you were at the cusp of high 12’s.
It was more than a go for the 428 Mustangs at the time which got all the press.

The 396s were all actually 396 cu.in. displacement with a 4.094" bore until '70 when they bored them all .030" over, making them 402 cu.in.
The L78s were one of the few engines produced that would actually put out more than their advertised HP. The same exact engine that was rated 375 HP in Camaros, Novas and Chevelles was rated 425 HP in Corvettes. a few years ago I saw a video of an L78 engine dyno test, and it put out ~435 HP.
I had 4.56 gears in my Nova which helped get it into the mid 12s.