Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Looks Great Todd....

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Thanks bud.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Wow, going back to page 13 of this thread- this car has come a long ways. Good job, Todd.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Thank you, it has been quite a ride so far. Now the hard part... making it haul ***.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Well, not much of one. I give my daughter gas, telling her that when she stands sideways, I can't see her. I offer to buy her a sandwich every time I see her. I don't think she necessarily finds humor in old Dad's jokes.

You already have a proper Stocker engine for it, with a decent carb, right?

And you have your new headers, which you kind of played down, but looked VERY nice to me.

And I'm assuming the gearing is either correct, or close to it, because you're not changing the combo or the class.

And you have your new, lighter rear brakes.

And it looks like all the work that you've done was certainly of high quality...

I suspect that any teething issues with this one will be pretty short. The clutch needed some help, right? I can't remember if you said whether you did anything about that.

And I'm sorry, but those valve covers have to go... ;)

Are there a lot of H, I, or J stick cars where you live? Do you have any significant reason to be concerned about heads-up races anyway, or is reliably running under index good enough?

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

I feel like we have a real solid combo, I think .70 under is no problem. I'm pretty sure the gearing isn't perfect because the starting line ratio is off a LOT (by 700 lbs car weight) so 2nd and 3rd are way off too. I have a new clutch linkage system I built (I won't show here) that may be hard on the clutch so I'm not putting the new one in till we test this out but here is what we will use eventually, when the racepak goes in.
http://www.blackmagicclutches.com/nexgenclutch.html
We need to be over a second under here at home so Indy is no problem. And yes, the valve covers and the rims will be dealt with, more on that later.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Could you explain what ratio's are off a lot and what you will put in?

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Glenn, The current SLR (starting line ratio) is 15.83 3.08 first gear and 5.14 rear gear, 3300lbs and 400ish hp would be an SLR of 18. So if it will spin harder in the lights I could go with a 5.38 gear with a 3.19 first and be at 17.16 SLR. May be worth a litttle E.T. I think the lowest first ratio I can get is a 3.28, the other trans ratios would fall in line based on dyno sheets.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Borrowed a set of Weld 15x10 wheels to see if they fit, tire was wrong 28/10.5x15 but they fit pretty well I think, tight but the 10"ers fit. Compared to what I think are 15x8 wheel and a 30/9x15. Going with M/T 29.5/9.0x15 tire and a 10" rim I guess.
https://i.imgur.com/0FO0gYo.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/r0oxahK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/X3ccWQG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/GlLswtT.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Can8Wc9.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Is there a mathematical formula for determining SLR on a stick car? I'd be curious to see how far off my old race car was.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Are you going to be running lightweight radials?

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Eventually. Starting with M/T bias to test a clutch theory, then we're going to test the radial.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Just got to say thanks for all your posting , My #1 thread anywhere ! Todd once again thanks.....:D

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

+1 !!!!

(I know, a "dorky" post. But I DO agree)

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Never said I was not a Dork,,,hahaha

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Thanks guys. A lot of time and effort go into these stories, but it's the least I can do given all the help from everyone.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Thanks, Todd.

I wonder if they have a chart that goes down low enough for my old car. It was about 250 horsepower and about 2100 pounds, using 9x25.5" bias slicks.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

I'm sure the math could be disected down to near anything, I believe the math is also different for an auto combo.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Have you seen any math for the auto combo?

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

I have in the past, and it's different in the aspect of the 2x torque multiplication of the converter. Basically the SLR # would be lower based on that.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Saturday we spent the day cleaning up the shop, wow what a wreck! Today was actually 12 months to the day when the teardown began so I went in and just had a nice slow day. I had a plan to start dialing in the front wheel bearings but what I realized was I never checked the front brake drag after the system was finished. Needless to say, something isn't perfect as they do spin, just not real free. I'll get this lined out before the Nov. 25th test day.
https://i.imgur.com/kHXMz9Z.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Several years ago ATI had a formula for the auto combo. Can't seem to find it anywhere.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

I remember seeing it.......it was based on engine stroke alone ....I think lol

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

there are various charts that have been around for quite a few years--- basically they all use rear gear ratio multiplied by first gear ratio---a guy named Dick Miller had a book out way back called""" hook & launch"""" or something like that where he used stroke and weight to calculate his numbers---others (Walcott) ATI etc. have charts that use tire diameters and other variables like HP to do their calculations---I believe that most of these are for AUTO trans cars not MANUAL trans cars---but even then those numbers might get you somewhat close as opposed to way out in left field trying to get a reasonably close ratio---bottom line is a 3000 lb car with a 5:00 gear and a 3:00 first gear making 400 HP and a 28-30 inch tire needs XXX ratio to be close ---you just have to figure that number out --- probably going to be somewhere about 10.00 -12.5 SLR probably----FED 387

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Sorta been laying a bit low getting some little stuff done, still messing with brakes and stuff. Weather permitting we'll be at the track next weekend. Tires came in, I'll throw the rears on to test.
https://i.imgur.com/OUFJ1DU.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Great news.

Hope you take lots of pics. :)

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

What size slicks did you settle on?

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

29.5/9 stiff

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Been workin' workin' workin'. seats been out, steering column out, pedal assembly out and all back in. New rear tires are on for now and had it aligned, wheelie bar is on. We'll go to the track Sunday and make some runs.
https://i.imgur.com/KNrYDAu.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Nj6HBGf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wd1mhTq.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

That is such a tidy clean build. I’ve been following this along with the masses and looking forward to seeing the positive rewards you and your daughter are about to receive. Have fun good luck and be safe. Something I may have missed in your build thread is did you put any of that clear paint protective film on behind the rear tires?

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Hope the car gets "best engineered" at one of the big events. Todd that car needs to be shown in ISCA events...LOL

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Todd, hopefully tomorrow you'll have a great first outing with the Nova. Have been following this build since the beginning, a stunning car, first class job, wish my car was half this nice! I work with Bill Belden, the former owner of the car, at a Honda dealership in York Pa. and I got to witness many passes he made as a Division One NHRA announcer at different race tracks over the years.The car was typically a top third qualifier with ETs in the 11.30 to 11.40 range. Bill won two National Opens and usually went rounds at most events, car was most always an I/S car. He was always kind of proud putting the car in Super Pro at a bracket race at South Mountain Raceway and winning the event against delay box dragsters and the like. Anyway, have fun, we are all following how the whole journey turns out.

Mike Bassin, track announcer, Mason Dixon Dragway

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Can't wait for the pics and the report... :)

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Thank you. No we didn't add any film to the paint, although we probably should have. One of the little things that fell through the cracks.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

That's awesome Mike, Bill is a great guy, he needs another race car for sure.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Wow real nice build! thanks for sharing!

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

"This is why we test". Things didn't go as expected but, well, they rarely do. Biggest issue was an oil leak that looks like maybe a rear main, not sure why, it didn't leak before. Car sounded really down on power and was running about 5mph slow, I believe we have a fuel issue. At 4 psi it would sound like it goes rich when the secondaries open, at 6 psi the car would be so rich it would shut off when the secondaries open, so obvious problems to sort out. Even though Autumn has been out of the car for a year she did a good job of driving as we tried a few new things. Engine will come out asap to check for the oil leak. I'll get some pictures up tonight and I'll see if a video will work someone else took and I'll go over mine tonight.
https://www.facebook.com/dan.bouldry...6411509757356/

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Maybe the oil leak is the gauge connection at top/rear of the block?

Yep, why we test. You'll get it sorted quick enough.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Pretty sure to oil leak is at rear main and I have a theory. Worked a little bit this week on getting the engine prepped to come out, Autumn is coming down tomorrow and in a couple hours we'll have it ready to pull. Planning some parts strategy and I have a plan for a dyno session coming up. If possible I'm going to try to find a carb or two to try on the dyno so I have a comparison. Getting ready to do some parts ordering too. I will say that I think the tire swap was a huge improvement, even though we didn't hit it hard and it was down on power it did seem way better off the line. Here's a quick video from the test.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAfhZRWdVgg