I wanted you guys to give a guess on the time of a car I'm looking at buying. It's a 72' Chevy Nova. It has a full fiberglass front and a 'glass rear bumber. It's running a 406 SB with 12:1 compression, dart II heads, .630/.640 roller cam, what looks like a single plane intake (maybe a victor/victor jr.?), and a dominator 1250 carb. It's got a th350 with transbrake and 4.11 gears. It's got big street tires on it now, but it's not tubbed so...what do you think it's time would be on street tires and slicks? Also, the car is selling for $8000 with new paint. The interior and dash look like ****, but I'll probably gut it anyway. Do you think 8 grand is a fair price. BTW, I'll be selling my Formula to get this.

 

Any ideas? I know you guys have some opinions. I'm just looking for a guess. Ever seen a similar combo at the track?

 

sounds like its a solid 11 even 10 second car with all those mods, nova are LIGHT also, if the engine has all the goodies and its got a nice body and fresh paint i would say it would be a fair price, the engine alot i bet cost a good 6K plus the other goodies, plus its ready to rock, cant bet that! i would say get it, but dont forget with that 12:1 compression thats a race gas ONLY car, dont even try to run 93 octain with that.

 

There's no way I can play with the timing and stuff to get it on 93 octane? What octane will I need? How much power and ET you think I'd lose with lower compression? Desktop dyno says I'd have about 650 horses with 12:1, and I'd lose 30-40 with 10.5:1. 10.5 should be streetable, right? It won't be a daily driver, but I'd like to be able to drive it on the street some. You know, take it the the cruise spots, car shows, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't planning on street racing. What would I have to do to get it on pump gas? I really don't want to have a trunk full of octane adder just so I can drive it on the street.

 

you MIGHT be able to get it to run so-so on 93 octain if you backed the timing WAAAAAY down and just babied the gas anywhere you go, dont even bother trying to get on it, it will detonate like a SOB and keeping that up will ruin the engine. you'll probley be OK with 103 octain. with that massive cam and 4.11 gears you really are not going to be able to just cruise around anyhow, to and from car shows and race spots it should be ok but no way daily driving or to cruise around with. the only way to get the compression down is to swap out the heads or change the pistons, if there domed (most likely) with a 64cc head you can swap to a 72 and that will get it down to probley 11:1 area and you might be able to sneak by with a 93/103 mix

 

So how much ET do you think I'd lose by lowering compression and how low will I have to go to get it on pump gas? Any guys here with high compression motors that could give me an idea of how they run and what I need to know before I buy this beast? BTW, I plan on driving an older S10 to and from work most of the time, I just wanna be able to take this out for fun.

 

I'd recommend a minimum of 100 octane. 112-114 might be better.

My "guess" would be easily a low 11 second car if not better. Depends how well it can hook up. A 600hp car will only run 12's or 13's if it spins the tires all the way down the track.

There are a lot of early Nova's at the race track around here. Some are quick, some are not. They're a very popular car for drag racing because they're light.

 

So it looks like the concensus is that this isn't a street car. That sucks, I was hoping it could be. It doesn't look nearly as sweet if it'll be on a trailer. If you guys have any more opinions or ideas keep 'em coming though. Thanks

 

It's possible to street it (just not economical)
This thing is going to eat fuel you'll be lucky if you get 5 MPG. You could retard the timing to use premimum pump gas. My truck 355 SBC is 12:1 and most of the time its my daily driver. I use 91 (which is premimum here) and 2/3 bottles of gas dry and with slightly retarded timing I get away without detonation, but bet your but im on 115 when I hit the track. So yes I think its possibly streetable but do you really want to hassle with a gas hog? I suggest you talk to the owner and Get his 0.2 on what can be done, Im sure he/she has tryed it all.
Good Luck!
SSC