Wayne's '64 Project Nova

The Project is a 1964 Chevy II Nova 4 door sedan. It had some interesting stock features like 283 V8, 3spd column shift, front and rear "bumperettes", AM radio with rear speaker, and (possibly dealer installed) block heater.

The project was found, in the condition seen here in Youngsville, North Carolina. It was sitting on 4 flat tires, and right on the ground. The car had been parked here since 1982. It was purchased on August 7, 2000, with 83,438 original miles!

(The following info isn't complete, more info will fill in the blanks later with more pages of the project's progress up to this point. Check out the bottom of this page for future additional pages.)

(This picture was taken the day I picked up the car, after 4 cans of Fix-A-Flat)

The car was purchased not knowing the true condition of the motor, only that you could turn it slightly by hand with the fan. It was obvious it had not moved in all that time prior to towing it back to my house. It was brought by Rollback.

Nova with a new home

Here are some other pics of the car in its as purchased condition:

Obviously the project has come a long way in that time. So here are a few pictures of the car's current condition.

(This picture actually needs an update. With the new exhaust you can see the tailpipes, and the signals lights are clear now.) No, it hasn't been painted yet. The rust was "bleed through" from very fine eggshell cracks in the paint. It cleaned off with some aluminum polish, and a ton of elbow grease!

(Flash forward to present day)

Even though the 283 was running beautifully, the clutch was starting to slip and the engine didn't seem to have much power after 3,000 rpms. The ideas of the project has always been to turbocharge the 283, and convert to automatic trans, but the motor needs to be rebuilt and freshened up in order to do that. With that in mind, a suitable interim replacement motor and trans were purchased. The trans will end up staying in use, whenever the turbo 283 gets dropped back in the car. The motor was found here in NC, advertised in the local auto parts trader magazine. It's a 350 2 bolt, rebuilt with 0.030" over pistons and mostly stock parts. Edlebrock intake and Holley 600 top things off. The trans is also a fresh rebuilt and beefed up TH-700R4, with new converter, Corvette servo, higher line pressure, firmer shifts, and hydraulic lock-up.

The entire engine and trans install was performed over my buddy John's house with his help. We had quite a time squeezing that engine and trans down in there and lining it up. I'm sure glad that's over.

Here's what she now looks like under the hood:

Hard to believe it's the same car, but this is after a lot of hours and hard work.

Here's an interior shot with the new shifter and restored speedometer cluster with dash installed tach.

More pages and info to come with more descriptive write-ups and information:

The Clean-Up

Dual Exhaust Installation