1973 Nova I/SA Chasing the Dream

[Tony Corley]

Cool story and great looking car!

[brent flynn]

THat's awesome... great story... and , indeed, working on a car with your father, as i did mine, instilled a good work ethic and many good memories... Cant wait to hear about your first outing, and hers too... Good luck!

[rboyle]

Made 8 runs on Thursdays test n tune and never got the car under the index. Chased bad radiator hose, changed plugs, fixed broken two step wire and timing among other things. During qualifying ran 12.45 on the 12.30 index and lost in class obviously. Checked for broken valve springs or rocker arms and found the valves were out of adjustment by about 20thou. Adjusted and was desgnated pair #3 for Saturdays first round elims. Car started vibrating in second right at 5000 rpm checked tach checked oil pressure 50 lbs thought maybe valve float or rev limiter was funky short shifted third to see if it cleared up and bang boom bam. Rod kicked out the oil pan and trans case cracked and driveshaft spit out. Dream turned into nightmare. Picking up the pieces thanks to the great friends involved and starting over.

[Tony Corley]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Don't get discouraged and throw in the towel. At least now you will know exactly what you have, and the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Good Luck.

[rboyle]

It will be all new and fresh and updated. It should be faster than the old combo ever was too so that's okay. Just wish it was by choice rather than need

[rboyle]

Took out motor and trans and tore down engine. Looks like bearings were tight everywhere. Block and crank are scrap, pistons and rods too, cam and lifters may be safe and heads are getting checked but didn't look too bad. The rebuild process will start now hopefully smoothly.

[HR9121]

I tried to talk a buddy of mine into buying that car, I think you'll have a great piece when you're done. Great story and good luck, just don't make it real fast lol.

[larrylomascolo]

I gota give you all the credit for buying the car on the fly and racing it as is,put it this way,now start fresh and put the best combo in for your nova,,great dream chasing

[MikeMoller]

It's always kinda of a crap shoot-whether to buy something already built or building your own from scratch. Money wise, it normally works out the same because what you buy often needs upgrades / fixes unless you really pay up. When I started on mine, I decided to go from scratch so I knew up front what I had and where I had tried shortcuts. Then any problems I had I could only blame on myself. Just a personal preference. Good luck with the car.