'64 MadNov

[Ranga350]

Well this is where a build up starts, a garage full of boxes and parts.
My 64 GenI Nova...... "The Ranga".
Still out cruising and enjoying it at the moment but will soon be garaged and stripped bare to the firewall. Engine, auto and diff come out and strip the interior.

The One Year plan consists of:
New TCI subframe/front clip
Rack & Pinion Steering
Front Sway Bar
11"Drilled & Slotted Discs with big bore GM calipers
Sub Frame Connectors
Rear Four-Link Crossmember with 11/4" fat bars
Coil-Overs
Rear Sway & Panhard Bars
11" Drilled & Slotted Rear Discs
Shortened 9" with 31 spline Moser axles and 4.11 Posi
Mini Tubbed rear end
New 2" cowl hood
New '64SS bucket seats with PUI covers and new foam buns
American Autowire loom
New gauge set
respray dash and interior in gloss (Probably Black??)
Smoothed firewall and respray engine bay in body colour (orange)
Paint and Body-deaden under body & chassis
Dynomatting and new carpets
Engineers report and full rego !!

Still have lots of stuff to purchase while the dollar is good.
Hoping to restroke the 350 to 383 with forged crank & 6" rods and more aggressive cam (looking for 500+ neddies)

Here are some parts pics

[Ranga350]

Well i finally got off by butt and put some time into my car. With the help of my son, we did a trial mock-up of my TCI front sub-frame and 4-link rear end.

[70Nova]

Lovely bit of fabrication. Who did the welding its impressive?

[Anchor]

TCI do their welding inhouse. It's might impressive.

I've left my parts a bit long and they have some lovely surface rust

Not gunna bother cleaning it off before i mock up though. It's a good idea to mock it all up like you've done before final fit. Bolt on never means bolt on haha...

[Ranga350]

To keep the rust off, all i did was spray heaps of WD40 and wrap it in shrink wrap, they've been hanging in my garage for over 6 months.
Yes the welds are sweet work, TCI do an awesome job with their product. The mock up was easy, 99% of it fitted without swearing but i'll do it all again on the car just to make sure.

---------- Post added at 10:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:14 PM ----------

Guys, can you give me your honest opinion.....should i go the 383 or hock the 350/T700 and shove in an LSx??
This is one decision i've been struggling with for a while, what are your thoughts??

[YenkoSC]

Looks like a busy 12 months for your Nova. Looking forward to this build. If you were to go LSX, what would be your plan for the motor?

[Ranga350]

Plans vs reality sadly comes down to the budget.
I'd like to run an LS1or2 with low-rise carbie manifold and Fast EZI-EFI at around 480-500hp but cost is the issue.

It might help selling my 350/T700 but not sure what i'll get for it yet, the 383 is probably the cheaper option.

[Anchor]

Lsx.

Buy an iron 5.3. Slot in some arp hardware incase down the track you want to boost it. 600ish rwhp with chinese turbo and intercooler, flipped truck manifolds.

I have a thread over in imports about importing and someone gave me the details of a really cheap guy. Think it was about $250 for a motor crate incl fees. You just pay the gst.

Get the LS mounts from TCI to suit your clip.

You can pick up a 5.3 complete with auto for bugger all. Around $1000 if you shop around. I think they are about 2k on ebay.

[Ranga350]

Thanks Anchor, i'll check it out.
I've heard the US LY6 Gen4 truck engines are good too.
6.0lt iron block with L92/LS3 alloy heads.
Lots of research to do before i decide what to do.

[Anchor]

Yeah the 6.0 are a little more expensive. But posibilities are endless.. My motor being built to take 1200hp is still a 6.0 iron 4 bolt head block...

[Ranga350]

This "getting of my butt" might be turning into a habit. Went and bought my etch primer/undercoat, sandpaper and another spray gun today.

Still researching the LS plant, lots of ideas to look at !!

[Cogburn]

Will the tubular arms be an issue with Qld Transport? The front clip looks terrific.

[Ranga350]

Originally Posted by Cogburn

Will the tubular arms be an issue with Qld Transport? The front clip looks terrific.

Not sure about the QLD laws, sorry. Have an engineer in Melb doing my registration work. He seemed to be ok with everything, so maybe an engineer up there will do the same. I had to get a certificate from TCI to state the weight capacity of the frame but that was all he asked for.

[Cogburn]

Originally Posted by Ranga350

Not sure about the QLD laws, sorry. Have an engineer in Melb doing my registration work. He seemed to be ok with everything, so maybe an engineer up there will do the same. I had to get a certificate from TCI to state the weight capacity of the frame but that was all he asked for.

Oops. My bad. I thought you were from Qld. I think I got you confused with Anchor and his 67 Nova from Central Qld.

I really like this 64 Nova wagon and it looks like it has the same TCI front end as you have. I just don't know how it would go getting import approval and then rego in Qld.

Is there any chance I could have a look at the certificate from TCI?

[Ranga350]

Originally Posted by Cogburn

Oops. My bad. I thought you were from Qld. I think I got you confused with Anchor and his 67 Nova from Central Qld.

I really like this 64 Nova wagon and it looks like it has the same TCI front end as you have. I just don't know how it would go getting import approval and then rego in Qld.

Is there any chance I could have a look at the certificate from TCI?

Yeah, i'll dig it out. Probably archived with all my receipts in the shed somewhere. The wagon is nice, saw it myself on ebay last week. Not sure how you'll go with importing, they're getting pretty tough these days.