Tony’s Nova came to us as an incomplete restoration with a few performance add-ons. During the tear down we found some gnarly rot around the cowl area and knew this car had better go see the blaster. What seemed to be a pretty decent body to start with gave us a bit of a surprise once it came back- some really poor previous repairs. Since we were going to be in there replacing sheet metal already, the game plan turned to adding some cool body mods. Starting with the interior, a custom transmission tunnel was created along with a custom roll bar, sub frame connectors integrated into the floor, and a set of mini tubs installed out back. In the trunk an Aeromotive aluminum fuel cell was lowered down into the floor. Up front in the engine bay the factory wheel wells were widened to house the wider front wheels and tires while a new dash top and smoothed firewall were also grafted in.
New sheet metal was hung on the outside of this transforming Nova along with a cowl induction hood, a custom rear wind deflector, a racing style fuel filler integrated into the tail panel, custom exhaust ports in the rear bumper, narrowed front and rear bumpers, and a custom front air dam.
The under side of the car was blasted, coated, and a Speedtech complete Torque Arm rear suspension installed using the now narrowed factory 12 bolt rear axle. Up front the Nova’s complete sub frame and traditional small block was replaced in favor of a Speedtech complete front sub frame, including high clearance tubular control arms, QA1 adjustable coilover shocks, tubular front sway bar, and power rack and pinion conversion. Nestled between the frame rails is a 430 hp LS3 engine backed by a TKO 600 transmission.
All chrome was blacked out and the body sprayed a killer shade of blue-grey, accented with a wide single black stripe. Interior upgrades include Cobra racing seats, 5 point harnesses, and surrounding a tilt steering column are Moal cockpit style gauges in a custom panel.
Mounted to the sub frame is our exclusive stainless steel brake line kit, sending braking pressure to the Wilwood 6 piston calipers wrapped around 12.19″ drilled and slotted rotors. Out back braking duties are handled by 4 piston Wilwoods also on 12.19″ drilled and slotted rotors. Forgeline GA3s with gloss black rims and matte black centers wrap up the visuals, up front are 17×9″ wheels wrapped in 265-40 Michelin PS2s and 17×11″ wheels with super wide 335-35 Michelins fill the rear wheel tubs.
