First Post
Well, this is my first post. I suppose I should do a little overview of the project so everyone who is not already familiar with it can get up to speed.
So... This is a budget build of my 1974 Chevy Nova Custom. We picked the car up in November of 2012 from a guy in Littlerock CA. It was missing the engine and trans and the interior was completely demolished. Once we got it home, we looked it over and found several bad rust spots that would require repair, so we ordered up some new body panels to replace them.
The fact that the car had no engine or transmission was actually a plus for us. We started this project because we already had an engine and a transmission, but did not have any car to put them in. The engine is a 496 cu. in. 8.1L Gen VII big block and the trans is a TH-400. From research we found that the motor was ~350 hp and ~480 ft/lbs bone stock, but it was a fuel injected motor with a cast aluminum intake manifold similar to that of the composite LS manifolds. Since we wanted to go old-school with it, we threw away that cast manifold and began fabricating one from scratch.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have an infatuation with turbochargers. I had a 300 whp 1989 honda CRX, a 400 whp 2002 honda Civic, and a 250 whp 1998 Honda Civic 4-door automatic (my wife's car). Basically every car I had ever owned had been turbocharged at one point in time. So it should be a given that the Nova was destined to be turbocharged. So two months ago we ordered a pair of T68 turbochargers, pair of 60mm wastegates, and a 60mm blow off valve.
Ah.... another thing..... by trade I am a Senior Software Engineer and I wanted to bring a bit of my technical expertise into the project. I thought that since we were carbureting it, all of those nice modern sensor would be going to waste. So I have began designing a system based around a Netduino microcontroller that will take all of the sensor input and send it to my Kindle Fire HD via bluetooth, where the data will be displayed on a virtual dashboard application I am developing. The microcontroller will also integrate with the car's ignition and starter systems, so I will be able to turn the ignition on and start the engine remotely from my Kindle.
Anyway I think I have rambled on long enough. So look forward to my next post that will help bring you up to speed even more with the current status of the car.
So... This is a budget build of my 1974 Chevy Nova Custom. We picked the car up in November of 2012 from a guy in Littlerock CA. It was missing the engine and trans and the interior was completely demolished. Once we got it home, we looked it over and found several bad rust spots that would require repair, so we ordered up some new body panels to replace them.
The fact that the car had no engine or transmission was actually a plus for us. We started this project because we already had an engine and a transmission, but did not have any car to put them in. The engine is a 496 cu. in. 8.1L Gen VII big block and the trans is a TH-400. From research we found that the motor was ~350 hp and ~480 ft/lbs bone stock, but it was a fuel injected motor with a cast aluminum intake manifold similar to that of the composite LS manifolds. Since we wanted to go old-school with it, we threw away that cast manifold and began fabricating one from scratch.
Anyone who knows me knows that I have an infatuation with turbochargers. I had a 300 whp 1989 honda CRX, a 400 whp 2002 honda Civic, and a 250 whp 1998 Honda Civic 4-door automatic (my wife's car). Basically every car I had ever owned had been turbocharged at one point in time. So it should be a given that the Nova was destined to be turbocharged. So two months ago we ordered a pair of T68 turbochargers, pair of 60mm wastegates, and a 60mm blow off valve.
Ah.... another thing..... by trade I am a Senior Software Engineer and I wanted to bring a bit of my technical expertise into the project. I thought that since we were carbureting it, all of those nice modern sensor would be going to waste. So I have began designing a system based around a Netduino microcontroller that will take all of the sensor input and send it to my Kindle Fire HD via bluetooth, where the data will be displayed on a virtual dashboard application I am developing. The microcontroller will also integrate with the car's ignition and starter systems, so I will be able to turn the ignition on and start the engine remotely from my Kindle.
Anyway I think I have rambled on long enough. So look forward to my next post that will help bring you up to speed even more with the current status of the car.
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