The Start

12 January 2010

On the 23rd of January, I'll become the proud owner of a 1973 Chevy Nova with a genuine millage of just over 52,000 miles. At the moment, the only real specifications I know is that she has a 350 cubic inch small block V8, I'm suspecting with a 2bbl carb. She's basically stock, other than the paint and alloys. She also has air/gas shocks at the rear so the ride height can be raised or lowered, but I can't find anything to say if that's stock or aftermarket.

Anyway, time for some photos. These were taken by the current owner for the the advert in early December. In the pics she's covered in dust, but with a bit of a wash and polish, she'll be gleaming.

...and a pic taken some time in the 80's...

he does need some work doing:

• Job 1. Install the new exhaust
• Job 2. Clean and bleed the brakes
• Job 3. Make sure everything's ready for MOT
• Job 4. Replace fluids and filters so that everything's fresh
• Job 5. Install central locking and new alarm
• Job 6. Try to straighten out the back bumper
• Job 7. Install an up to date sound system

Then comes the ongoing modifications and improvement jobs, because I own a car, not just a thing that gets me from A to B.

I can't wait

23 January 2010

I'm am finally a yank owner

Got her back to my Dad's house today where we're going to fit the new exhaust, and get all the other little bits done to get her through her MOT and out on the road... the sooner the better!

23 January - 22 May 2010

During this period of time, there was a lot of work carried out, which took longer than expected due to the weather, but you can't win 'em all. Here's a list of what was done, you can see some of the work in detail in the exterior, interior, and mechanical areas of this site.

• Underside of car was rubbed down and painted with rust preventative paint and/or waxoyl
• Fuel tank was removed, cleaned up, and painted with rust preventative paint
• Suspension parts, the driveshaft, rear axel, and the prop shaft were all cleaned and painted with rust preventative paint
• All suspension points were greased and the air suspension in the rear was fixed
• All 4 brake drums were removed cleaned/painted and fitted with new cylinders and shoes
• The car was given an oil change with Gulf Competition 10w-40 racing engine oil and a K&N oil filter
• A full exhaust system was fitted, however the stock muffler was replaced with a Cherry Bomb Stateside chrome silencer
• All 4 alloy wheels were cleaned and polished
• The grill was painted to match the SS grill
• The fan was painted
• A new positive battery lead was fitted along with new positve and negative battery terminals
• The carbon filter box from a partially removed emissions system was still in the car, so that was removed and the fuel pipe that was supposed to go to that box was plugged
• The horn was fixed
• The rear bumper was straightened out

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can remember at the moment

Pre MOT

15 May 2010

I actually got to drive the Nova briefly on Saturday

...just a quick shakedown round the block, due to low fuel and none of the essential road going endorsements ;), but now I've really got the itch to get her on the road properly. When she's running on choke you need a fair amount of brake to hold her still, and she got up to 30 with only the slightest touch on the gas... and what a sound ...I'm gonna stop babbling, but needless to say I'm getting excited.

If all goes well and my old car goes though MOT this week, I'm hopeful the Nova will be able to be MOT'd next saturday. If not It'll be another week, unless I can a day off work to get it done. At least, hopefully, all the main work is done, I don't see any reason why she'd fail anyway. All the lights work (and we're sure are adjusted fine), the wipers and washers work, the horn works, there's no play in anything, tyres are all legal, no CV joints to split, all the grease nipples have been greased, only a sniff emmissions test to fail due to the age which my nose says it's a pass, and from my 2 minutes on the road, she seems to drive nicely too. Regardless, next saturday she's going to get a bloody good wash, polish, and wax, probably won't have time to do the chrome properly, but we'll see.

Must remember a can of gas too, to get her to a gas station.

Come on car!!!

Drive to the MOT Station

23 May 2010

Drove her to the testing station today, and what a drive... especially considering the last MOT was in 1995 and the last tax disc I found was from 1993. That was probably the furthest she's driven in 17 years and everything worked perfectly. Nice smooth gear changes, the kickdown worked fine. As it was the first run, most of the drive was nice smooth progressive acceleration where you didn't even notice the gear changes, they were so smooth. But there was one roundabout which is prettty notorious for being a bastard, so i gave her a bit more juice and got a nice chirp and quick pull away, but everything was working perfectly. Breaking with no hands on the wheel was straight. The test is tomorrow at 1pm, but I can't honestly see any reason why she'd fail. I can see 3 advisories with 3 of the tyres (2 of them a from dodgy tracking which I'll get checked, but most of the tyre is fine, certainly more than 75% of the tread width all the way round is well above legal, and the other was run over inflated so will need replacing, but the current depth is no lower than 2mm) but other than that I can't see any faults.

That was my first real drive in a lefty too. Must say it's wierd at the moment having the inside mirror on the other right, and I can't wait for my new set of mirrors to turn up from the states, I'm not liking having no mirror on the passenger side. Still, they should be with me in 7-10 days.

My fingers and toes are all crossed, and I'm sure they will be til my Dad calls I guess around 2ish.

On The Road

24 May 2010

On the 24th of May 2010, the Nova passed her 1st MOT test since 1995. The testers were impressed with the car, and she only got 3 advisaries

28th May 2010

On the 28th of May 2010, I sat in the DVLA office for a ½ hour and got the Nova changed to the historic vehicle catagory. As far as I know, its the first time the car has had a tax disc since 1993

The Nova is now officially on the road!