Hi guys and gals. I'll start off saying I'm not a chevy guy (I drive a ranger), but I am very mechanical and am always up to help my buddies out. One of them has a 73 nova that he later found out (basically after driving it for a week), is a giant can of worms.

First and foremost, is the engine. The vin runs as a v6, but it has a v8, not a big deal, except he's not a mechanic, and I don't know a damn thing about bowties. From what he's found he thinks it's a 355?... How can we get a positive ID on what motor is in there? There's no tags, numbers, anything. The PO put some edelbrock shiny things on there to make it look nice, but I can't see any part numbers without taking the intake off (so I can see what motors that intake fits). I'll guess the valvecovers and carb will be generally interchangeable. The carb is likely to fit almost anything, especially with the intake being aftermarket... but you already knew that one.

Then, he let some idiot, and by idiot I mean needs to live in a padded room stupid, over torque the + lead on his starter, cracking the plastic cap on the solenoid, which was an original/early model starter. The part numbers came up to a new code of 323-255, prefix with AC for an ac/delco PN. Napa had one on hand, and it will bolt up just fine (tooth count/spacing/bolt pattern, all match). Problem with that is the bell housing casting doesn't allow it to sit in correctly because the new starter castings are bigger.

Maybe it's a chevy thing that the bell housing lower bolts don't mate up to anything? Leaving an exposed flywheel, and 4 open bolt holes. Or the ingrates (he got it from a shady neighborhood) that put it together used whatever would bolt up haphazardly...

I'm not even going to try and adjust the clutch (manual, not hydraulic), until we can get a starter in there, to make it run so I can get his timing right and it be driveable...

On the bright side, it's a slick looking car, the sheetmetal and suspension look good (SoCal has a few benefits), when it runs it sound good and strong, has a pretty new interior in it, and because its a 73 has lots of room to work on it easily. All the ducks are present, we just need to put them in order.

Let me know what ya'll think so maybe we can make this nova into a real nice car that he can be proud of.

 

Well, a .030 over bored 350 is a 355 basically.

The block casting number is at the back of the motor where the bell would bolt. IIRC passenger side

Perhaps it is the wrong starter. They are not all the same. Sure it is the correct transmission for the application?

There should be a tin cover for the bottom of the bell housing.

 

There's a 64-65 Muncie behind it, it's a 400.

Casting number for the motor is 3951509. The trans case says 3851325, which is apparently a 64-65 muncie 4 speed.

I confirmed with napa's reverse lookup that the 323-255 starter does fit a 400. I can't find anything on bellhousings and the application between the two (since it looks like the muncie has a removeable bellhousing). Upon closer examination, the bell housing has a small crack where the starter is hitting. Obviously from the PO trying to cram it in there.

So now we're trying to figure out if a more appropriate bell housing is in order or what?

 

It might be the big flywheel. Or big flywheel starter where it don't belong. They will all cross reference because they all bolt up. If you have the combination of part it will work but you cannot mix and match them.
I would have to look but one was 153 tooth and one was 148 or something like that.

 

What would be the best clutch for the vehicle? I have a new bellhousing that will fit 153 and 168 teethed flywheels but that search hasn't given me any answers.