Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Todd and Autumn: Lots of us looking forward to following your progress. You have lots of support here...several of us were talking about your project at our M.C.R. Stock/Super Stock race last weekend at Onawa, Iowa.

Don't leave us hangin' out here ! ;) -Al (still a garden hose drinker).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG0CO1x3fb4

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Al, you've been like an internet pen pal, keeping me going in a positive direction! I've had phone calls from more than a few on here that have truly helped me out bigtime, even some international calls. Super positive for me in my "excercise in parenting".

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Got my temper tantrum out of the way, so lets get back to work . We're gonna try to get something done this week and had a positive start today. Chamfered all the bores and holes in the deck, in the washer, then cam bearings. Back in the washer for the final time then put to bed till tomorrow.
https://i.imgur.com/8p4FG2Uh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2jZtqmBh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UWlFdwch.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

I think all the big parts are here, maybe a couple little ones left but we may see a little tiny glimmer of light near the end of the tunnel... lets hope it's not another train! Crank is re-balanced and a few odds-n-ends wrapped up, hopefully tomorrow some ring grinding.
https://i.imgur.com/x6sKn7Xh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DMrwCW4h.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

It's been a good week to be able to spend a little time away from work. Today I assumed some ring grinding would go on but I realized I hadn't ordered head gaskets, so got the crank cleaned and installed then threw a couple rods and pistons in for some measurements. Ordered some head gaskets, removed rods and pistons, measured all the pin bores, started cleaning, then started installing rods on pistons. Here's a pic dump in no particular order... because without pictures these threads blow.
https://i.imgur.com/5q3rfBDh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zheF9wzh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BHmKft2h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jNlZhi7h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/y8xONMrh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nRol9Ngh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

I noticed you're using a 0010 block, just to let you know that I've had 2 of those blocks spring pin hole leaks in the cylinders. I use nothing but after market blocks now for that reason. Just some information and I hope you don't run into that problem.

Casey Miles
248H Stock

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Thanks Casey. At this point, nothing would suprise me. If it does leak I'll probably Blue Devil it and run the snot out of it. About 2009, the economy had hit us hard, lost 1 business and the other was teetering off the cliff, we had to get rid of most of our employees and I was working 80+ hours a week to survive and living with my mother in law. I drove a 1994 Nissan Altima and it was overheating on the way home from work at about 1:00 AM, I was over everything and kept on driving, overheated so bad it cracked the head and was pumping water straight out the tailpipe. I removed the thermostat and put that blue devil stuff in, after about an hour running the water started to dry up in the exhaust and I drove that car for another 2 years, scrapped it about a year ago. I'll try it on the stocker if its a leaker. :D:D:D

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

OMG favorite picture of the day! :eek::eek::eek:
https://i.imgur.com/ORVbz5zh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Last four pistons on the rods, cam bearings checked and cam installed to make sure it's a smooth rotator, Autumn got the rings filed and installed the oil rings without dropping a piston on the floor (I was nervous). Autumn has decided to embark on a little business venture and will market using YouTube and the racing so we're doing a little video taping now also which slows progress just a bit but it should be interesting with this kid. :D
https://i.imgur.com/MZ1Br6Ph.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kOl4r3ch.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FXhnJvqh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Another day of cleaning measuring and assembling.
https://i.imgur.com/pslyuBWh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wEGAavnh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KOB88Jrh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/u7tZzw4h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tTKWsgch.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/egVOsU5h.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

If you don't mind, tell us about the oil pump in the picture. It kind of looks like a High Volume pump body. PM if you want.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

That is awsome your kid is so engaged ,,,my son is also on his on car/engine swap ,,,,it's great when there is common talk between young and old

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Yes, it's a stock Melling +10% volume pump. The old one is a standard volume, I'm not 100% sure it hasn't been the problem all along. Gonna try this pump, extra oil in the pan and restrict the top end more than I had before. Time will tell on this one, the next one I'm going to start all new and cut back oil till it shows on the bearings on the dyno so I can see what I can get away with.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

We've been shooting video during this build phase and it's cool to go back and look at some of the interactions we have, very cool. Tell your son to keep up the good work!

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Todd the pick up tube appears it’s not all the way driven into pump housing. Obviously the strut lines up with the bolt. Is there another step on the tube that is seated on housing? Hard to tell and I’m not familiar with that pick up.

Thanks for posting it’s fun to follow!

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Jody, the pick-up tube is not installed yet. I just laid it up there to see where it would land in the pan, sort of a preliminary measurement because I added depth with this pump.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Too funny. There's gotta be a garden hose nearby....... ;) -Al

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

There is... and we're drinking from it. ;)

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Your daughter sure is focused on the tasks she has, wow

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Saturday was slow going, more fitting and checking than assembling.
https://i.imgur.com/j57Wtjxh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5jHlSgzh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ewE1TBVh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Sunday came and went with me riding the couch all day, that wasn't the plan but thats what happened. Worked on it some today and realized I never got any head dowels so I had to leave and track them down then go back for a couple hours so little progress but here's where we're at. Back to it for a bit tomorrow. If I could impart a nickels worth of free advice to any newbs like me I would tell them to pay close attention to how full you fill the block I paid close attention and still only have about a blade of grass worth of clearance from the torqued head bolt to the Hardblok after decking. I wanted to fill it as much as possible but after seeing it done I should have left it a tick lower. Some assembly required, warranty is pro rated and your results may vary.
https://i.imgur.com/6LE1MeRh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MqRSmINl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uFmX4sZh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Slacking on the pictures but we are getting on with it. Checked cam lift, got the break-in rockers on, a mixture of restrictors tested while pre-lubing, swapped onto a dyno cart and started bolting stuff on.
https://i.imgur.com/U2amuU3h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Y2td6h9h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mpjtRkMh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Everything is bolted on and moved into the dyno room, hooked everything up and found a few water leaks so we're getting them handled.
https://i.imgur.com/iy1zlEYh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rlL8PW0h.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6JwckX9h.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

I'm so excited for you !

Thank you for sharing your adventure, I have really enjoyed it.
Glenn

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Thank you Glenn, maybe we'll hear it run today.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

With video.;)

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

We've had issues with the intake sealing since day one, so at the expense of more issues I had some help from the cyl head guy at the shop. He said he'd never seen one cut so far off. We always had an issue with water wicking into the gaskets, and thet was because the bottom would seal and the top wouldn't so it would leak at the top of the flange. we milled the flanges and set it back on last night. When I test fit it after it was cut no more wobbling around and sloppy side to side.
https://i.imgur.com/yvtzhw7l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VInYnIql.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HSdGVMbl.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Never fails. Change one thing and it affects another thing. Usually, after heads are decked to arrive at the blueprint specs on the chamber volume and the block is decked to get the correct deck height, enough stuff has moved around enough to throw off bolt holes,gasket sealing surfaces, push rod lengths, valve train geometry, and all else, even after the intake is narrowed down so that it snuggles down between the heads like its supposed to, then the distributor bottoms out inside the engine before the distributor is correctly seated down on the manifold, so a certain configuration of spacers is necessary.If its not one thing,it's something else. Never fails. A really quick stocker motor is such that the whole package has to be reengineered in order to get everything to work. In my earliest days of doing this, I wondered why racers I knew had all these different blocks,heads,manifolds, valve train parts, and all else in excess of what one main motor and a spare would require. Now, here I am with a couple of cars, a spare motor and God only knows how many manifolds and heads and internal parts it takes to make this stuff all work. You have successfully shown us just what all that process requires in order to arrive at the desired end result. Ever seen people enlarge the intake manifold bolt holes in order to get the bolts in after all the machine work on the long block? If you had to do that, it means that it still doesn't fit right. Some people go back to the drawing board so much they wear out the drawing board before the motor ever gets test fired.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Greg, I have learned that one change at the bottom of the stack throws the whole deal so far off kilter it's an engineering nightmare for sure.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

That face you make when your crap has oil pressure for more than 5 minutes.
https://i.imgur.com/Z8sCLp7h.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

After much engineering and introspection,trial and error and work, some neanderthal invented the wheel. We've been re engineering and making it better ever since.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

So true!

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Autumn and Todd,
Congrats on getting it all put together and running!:D
Wishing you good luck on some good engine testing on the dyno.:cool:
Regards,
HB2:)
Dissident

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Several years ago on the Tech pages, a member told about his 66 Nova 283 car that ran the ET's that it did, then he changed the pushrods for a new set that was a different length. The car picked up almost two tenths and almost that many miles per hour. All he changed was the pushrods, but he found that the lift was closer to the .398" figure that was the maximum legal lift. It was less with the shorter pushrod. He was wondering if going to a 1.6 rocker would help as long as the lift stayed legal at the valve. That would have been a way to get back lift on a short configuration,but the rockers weren't legal. They must retain the original ratio. About a half dozen of us motor heads discussed this at length, and we created a multi page thread that sounded like an engineering textbook on how to determine proper push rod length and proper valve train geometry.When a cylinder head needs,let's say .075" taken off the deck surface to bring combustion chamber volume down to specs, the block needs .040" off the deck on it to get the deck height down, the pushrod is effectively 1/8th of an inch too long, and the tip of the rocker might not track well on the valve tip.Since then,roller rockers became legal,and it became a simpler task to achieve optimum valve train geometry by switching pushrods. I've seen engines with different length push rods on the intakes vs. the exhausts, This is one of the things that changes the relationship of parts to one another,with the inevitable conclusion that nothing seems like it will ever fit right.You got to that point with your intake, now you will have a much more trouble free engine assembly because everything will fit right. One thing about a small block Chevy that is great, if a casting gets machined too far and can't be made to work right, another intake or head is readily available. Can't wait to hear how your car runs!!

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Runs good but having some real tuning issues so we're on our way down to start addressing those and swapping some parts. We'll see how it goes today.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

And this is the face you make when your crap burns up again!
https://i.imgur.com/3yrwO0nh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

from the looks I hope it didnt wipe out the cam

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Yeah, the cam is in 6 pieces.
https://i.imgur.com/Gyz1yxrh.jpg

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Wow how does that happen? I can feel your frustration.

Re: H-I-J '76 Nova re-fit.
 

Ouch...
Like many others I was rooting for you guys.

Your not the only one, my new 565 for the dragster ran wicked for 10 passes before it broke a valve.

Was this the cam from the other motor?? Possibly part of you oiling issue?