71 Chevy Nova Sedan

Traded off my 78 Yamaha TT500 for this 71 Nova. I got it home Friday night. Unloaded it today and put a hot battery on it. The 400 small block fired up and runs smooth. Put some transmission fluid in and it took gear just fine. Its missing the back window and floor pans. If you drive it in the rain right now you will be taking a bath. It also does not have a lick of brakes on it. Going to get the brakes working. Put some tires on it and order some floor pans. Should be an easy one to get back on the road since its already running good. May put a HEI in it and swap out the intake and carb. Im in search of a back glass now. I did get 5 slotted mags with it. 2 fronts and 3 rears. My brother also said he has a whole set of nice 14s that match these rims.

That will make a fun toy.

Nice looking Nova. I've always been partial to wagons and more doors.

Cold Morning and it fired right up. Did some adjusting on the carb to take care of some loading up at idle. Found the master cylinder empty so filled it up. Will work on those after I get a couple of 14" tires tomorrow. Should have it driving soon. Been up for 26hrs time for sleep.

Headlights work good.

14" tires should be fun to find. No one hardly carries them around here anymore.

The last one's I got for my old white Ford I had to order. I've since picked up a set of 15" rims for the next set of tires. I really wish I could have found some cheap 16" or 17" rims that would have fit.

I bought a new set of 195/70/14 a few weeks ago at Walmart at $44.00 a piece. I got 3 at one store and 1 at another, though. I think that it was a closeout deal. They have other 14" sizes. 13", on the other hand, are about impossible to find.

I ended up with some crazy offset wheels with 4 1/2 BP that would fit my tow dolly. They are 8" wide or wider. I figured a set of 15" tires in a 60's series would get my dolly up and going. Ended up being 14's Should be fun trying to find a wide 14

The widest passenger car 14" still common is a 225/70/14. That is what I ran on the rear of my Malibu Wagon. There is also a light truck 14" in a 27X8.5R14LT. They can be ordered pretty much anywhere, but finding some local will be a chore...

Can still get BFGs in a 235/60/14 but they are $134 each.. These would look good on the back..

Looking at some Cooper Cobras in a 225/70 they are $94 each for the front.

Changed out a tire and found out its already got some Hi Jackers installed. And they hold air.. put about 50psi in and raised it up some.
With the help of my 8 yr old daughter we managed to bleed the brakes just enough to get it stop and hold. Took off down the road and decided to let some smoke out of a tire. Motor runs great, need to get the brakes working good though. Made some calls and located a complete floor pan. No got to find a rear seat.

The 235/60 wouldn't have enough sidewall for that car. Put the 225's on the rear and some 195 or 205's up front...

That Rear tire in the picture is a 205/70. I will get a 225/70 mounted on a rear wheel and see how it lays out.

You will be surprised what a difference it makes...

Picking up my complete Goodmark floor pan tomorrow. Also ordered some small parts to get this ready for the road. Shouldn't be long. May pick up the back glass on Sunday.

Really nice to see this one being saved and moving right along. That's going to be a super fun ride once you have everything ironed out.

Later,

Lee

Picked up these floor pans a few days ago. Turns out it wasnt the whole pan just both sides. Thats fine my tunnel is in good shape.,
Will be cutting out the bad floor soon.

Well worked on a few project items this week. I work a 4 days on 4 days off schedule so my weekends change every week. I did pull the Nova around and put a couple more tires on it that are not dry rotted and that will hold some air for more than 2 days. Replaced the rear license plate holder with a new one along with new tag light and dome light. Also put a battery tray in since it was missing and the battery was just sitting on the inner fender. Pulled it out on the road and let a little smoke out of the left tire. Tried again but the second time it hooked both tires and the sponge brakes would hold enough to get the RPMs up. Still gotta bleed all the brakes and get these floor pans in.





The right brakes are pulling hard since all I done was filled the empty master cylinder up and let it set. Its got some brakes but mainly on 2 wheels.

Decided to get some of this floor work done on the Nova.
Put the new floor in to get a line for cutting out the old floor.




Here is a pile of rusted floor pan..


New pan set it for mock up..

Fun times!!! Feels good once you get it done!

Once I get these floors finished and painted. I will be putting this one up for sale or may trade it for a really good Miller Mig welder.

No time to cruise it?