1974 13b-re Nova
 

Just wanted to share my project with everyone. I decided to do something different and put a 13b-re in a 1974 chevy nova. The typical comment is that a musclecar is too heavy for a rotary, but we have gone to great lengths to lighten the car. Without going into details, the car will weigh in at just over 2700 lbs. Love it or hate it, you gotta admit....................never seen one of those before.

Engine
13b-re Engine
1/2 Bridgeport
GT40R Turbo
Haltech e8 ECU
Gilmer Drive
FMIC

Exhaust
Custom schedule-10 SS Exhaust Manifold
Tial 44 mm Wastegate
3.5" SS Downpipe
3.5" Aluminum Exhaust
Burns Lightweight SS Muffler

Wheels/Tires
2" Rear Mini-Tub
Budnik Gasser Wheels
Front - 18 x 7 (235/40/18 BFG KDW)
Rear - 18 x 11 (315/30/18 BFG Drag Radial)

Drivetrain
TII ACT Extreme Pressure Plate
6 Puck Disk
ACT Streetlite Flywheel
Turbo II Transmission
Aluminum Driveshaft
12 Bolt w/ 33 Spline Gun-Drilled Axles
4.88 Gears

Suspension/Chassis
Chris Alston Front Clip
Front Coilovers
Custom Traingulated 4-link
Rear Coilovers
Subframe Connectors


And the list goes on....

More Pics......

All I can say is, wow.. that is bad ass!!

Last one.....

wow nice work and cool project, what is it being built as, street car, show car, race car etc?

it certainly has the shock value as a show car.

It'll do a little of everything. We'll take it to the track to see what it'll do, hit the local Sonic, and maybe a carshow or two. In all reality though.........we build 'em for the sake of building 'em. Right now the car is at the painter. It's going to be a pearl orange with nova style white SS stripes. There is also going to be a rotary symbol ghosted into the rear quarters.

Much props!

Looks nice so far, i cant wait to see this painted.
Def a nice change from the "normal" swap.

Nice!

Beautiful project man!!!!! My wife's parents live in San Angelo, maybe next time i visit i can come see your ride.

Looks good. This thread caught my eye when i saw 13b-re and 74 nova. 2 things I am currently working on. Good Job.

Can wait to see the video when it takes it's virgin run at the track.........

Sure thing. Drop me a PM when you're headed this way.

Very neat project! I wish i could be there to see all the hemi owners faces when you put them in there place! Kinda reminds me of the fast and furious mustang!

looks freaking sweet. good luck having that aluminum hold up to the wrath of a turbo rotary. can't wait to see it done.

Yeah, we'll see how it works. That's why I made the downpipe out of 304. I wouldn't even think of aluminum exhaust on a daily driver, but this thing will probably see about 50 miles/month. It'll crack for sure, the question is how long will it take?!

Nice work. You should post that in the other swaps section, just to get the V8 guys all riled up. :D

Might have to do that tonight.

Do you have any video of the car?

Like 50 cent said "Hate it or love it the underdog is on top, and Ima gunna shine..."

that shit is sick...dude keep us posted bro...

wow:shocking:

+1.....i would love to see a nova with the sound of a rotary comming from it!!!!!!!

Looks Good!!

nice work but just as i hate when people put anything other than a rotary in an RX i dont like when the rotaries go into something else.

so good effort and clean work but im just not a fan/i think its wrong sorry.

I was wondering what happened to you ;)

me? im around. lol i hide sometimes though when i get real busy

That's ok. I realize it's not everyones cup of tea.

Hey Sean. After working with you and A-Spec on doing the exhaust manifold, we realized it would be damn near impossible to do a manifold without the fabricator having the car. Sooooooooooooo.......I ended up buying a TIG welder and learning how to use it from a buddy of mine who is a welder. Best purchase I ever made. I think the manifold turned out pretty well for a first attempt. The project is dragging because the car sat at the last body shop for 8 months with no progress. Long story short.......the car got pulled and is now in North Texas with Andy Stapp for the paint. Hope all is well. Thanks for you patients and trying to work with us on the manifold.

Ha! No sir, but that's ok your still missed by someone I'm sure ;)

No hard feelings at all, I'm glad you came to the conclusion you did. I would have hated making something only to have it not quit fit or work the way it needed to, it is very hard to do without the car present. Good for you on the welder as well, once you have it down pat you wonder how did you ever live without it. Good luck with it :)



~S~

no sir here sorry

Did a little work on the car today. I wasn't real happy with the results on the first oil pan I shortened 1" so I made another one. Much happier with the craftmanship on this one. Total volume lost is about 3/4 of a quart. Don't think it will be a big deal. I'm going to pre-mix so the engine won't be burning the engine oil. There is some added volume in the in-line filter and ginormous oil cooler so overall volume won't change.

Also finished mounting the Haltech IAC motor a couple of weeks ago.

this is definitely hot shet the way it stands already... can't wait to see this beast alive and running. definitely something refreshing to see.

great project, brings back some good memories of my first car . a light blue metallic '73 Nova with a 307. I don't know what that car weighed , but it was light for its day.

some cars just look good from the drivers seat, the Nova was one of them.

Always love these kind of swaps!
http://www.nopistons.com/forums/inde...=67853&hl=nova
http://www.nopistons.com/forums/inde...458&hl=mustang

kudos...id like to see more rotary swaps like this more often....i belive it would help the community...and start a war...LOL

Nice job on the swap.It's always good to see a rotary hybrid. Just one ?.Why not a 3 rotor instead of a 2? There's still alot of space for one. Hopefully the next person looking to do the same will go the route. Still looks good hope everything goes as planed.

that is sweet!

i love you.. great job on creativity and car choice. love the 70's novas. its about time for a sick piston to rotor swap. GJ man. sound clips asap so i can laugh at my dad(big block fan)

20/20 hindsight, brother. Next one will be a 3 rotor for damn sure.

yup... this is definitely the next RX-7 / old school killer :)

keep up the great ingenuity.

Thanks for all of the positive feedback. I wish I took some more pictures of the car before I sent it off to paint. It is actually much more complete than what is shown in the pictures. Originally, I was pretty miffed about the fiasco with the first body shop. It set me back about a year. The nice thing is that now I have time to go back and redo some of the stuff I'm not 100% satisifed with (oil pan, coil mounts, trans crossmember, intercooler piping etc).

sending the car off to paint without pics is a no no...jesus man whats wrong with you...hahaha good stuff...def..take pics when it gets back

Great job! It's a payback for all these %#&! who toss out their rotary engines and punk in a V-8.

My dream swap is that same engine setup that you've used but put it into a 63-67 Vette convertible. Awesome.

that just goes to show when the piston motor just isn't enough the rotary motor is there to pick up the slack and make shit happen

Got the LS1 coil mounts I drew in Solidworks back from the machine shop today. I think they turned out pretty good.

I personally would never, ever do that. However I give you all the credit in the world, fantastic job man. Some people don't understand what goes into a project like that.

how much did the coil pack end up costing you...and now that you got the coils what box's are your running or stand alone?

Looks great!

Who is going to tune the car?

Gotham Racing is going to do the engine. They are only about 4 hrs away from here, and I hear good things about their work. On all of our piston motors, we do the tuning. It's ranged from dual quads on a big block with an 8-71 to DSMlink on a Mitsu GSX. Seeing as how the rotary is a totaly different animal though, we'll probably have Gotham do the tuning.