Hi

C

Chevytu

Member
Hi all,
I'm Martin from Ushuaia, Argentina. My current car is a 1966 SS Nova hardtop with a 496 BBc stuffed in. Car looks bone stock from the outside, but has a mustang II front end, 9" rear, and 4 wheel disc brakes. Manual trans of course!
Like everybody else I love all cars but musclecars and european sportscars are my favourite.
 
welcome to the site!
please post lots of detailed pictures as soon as you can, that sounds like a rather interesting car
 
Will take the time to do that.
Car is currently half dismantled, took the motor & trans out and motor is apart to change cam and also wanted to check all the rest for sure. Also wanted to repaint panels and fix the window cranks so everything is apart but I will post a pic anyway!
Installed a 9" rear salvaged from an Econoline that I had to narrow (those are very scarce down here), but everything inside was beat out. Has new Strange center with truetrac diff. will post a pic of the install.
This is a garage proyect that has taken me 14 years now... Of course it'ss just a driver, far from a show car, but meant to be used at least a few times a week. Ran the motor on another Nova that I had but sold cause I needed more funds. Getting parts is both very time consuming and very very expensive.
 
True that! Just spent about a 1.000 US on the new cam, rollers and timing cover!! And now they have to get all the way down here...!
 
welcome to the site! i would love to see pictures of the car! very cool that there are still people in latin america that enjoy muscle cars... most of the guys i meet are all into japanese and european cars
 
Sorry for the delay but been a little busy...
There are plenty of people in my country that are into muscle cars, however these are actually few models produced here by GM, Ford, Chrysler, and also a company no longer in business that built the AMC Rambler under license (down here known as Torino, not to be confused with the american Ford), and none where as powerful or exotic as the american versions. Some of them where built right until 1990 (Ford Falcon). Sadly all of them where only available with 6 cyl engines although some quite potent (only the GTX from Dodge, built on the Valiant platform had an optional 318 V8 for it's 2 door version, and the Fairlane from Ford the Y block 292, however this model was only available with 4 doors).
We have some american cars also but these are scarce when compared to the rest (and usually quite expensive). For the most part these are Impalas and some Camaros and Mustangs.
A cool fact is that the 68-72 Nova was built here with no body changes whatsoever from 1969 until 1978, first only the 2 door sedan, and then the 4 door starting around 74 or 75. These where called simply "Coupe Chevy SS", and "Chevy" for the 4 door version, as "Nova" means "doesn't go" (no va) in spanish... Only available engine for the coupe was the 250 six. We had a special version called "Serie 2" with more cam, compression, and revised induction that put out 174 HP.
All the "Argentine" models are extremely popular even today, and some have been converted to V8 as well.
These are pics of my car, as you can see it's quite dusty as the road leading to my house is gravel... Also the engine before I tore it down a few days ago, and the 9" rear install finished about a month ago... Hope to have it running after the winter!
 

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Ive always liked those NOVA body style cars and with a serious big block installed the cars got serious potential, what manual transmission and rear gear ratio are you using?
LOVE THE BRODIX HEADS, MOROSO OIL PAN, AND REAR DISC BRAKES those are obviously quality parts on a well built car
 

That is one nice Engine and Car combination!!!
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Do you know any of the car's history, how did it get to Argentina? Do you
have a place to race besides the street?

 
buddy that s just plain awesome... and yea i second rick's question... is there any drag strip in argentina or do you guys race on the street? maybe an abandoned paved air strip near your city?
 
Thanks for all the good comments! Currently car has an M-20 4-speed tranny that I went completely thru and also installed a nodular iron mid plate, however I do know I'm walking on thin ice... The rear wheelwells are stock so I only have 235 tires, so that's the fuse right there. 245's might fit but wasn't sure so I bought the 235's just to be sure they wouldn't rub.
Rear end is actually new, as I removed the old 8.2 10 bolt (you can see it on the floor on the 1st picture). Those are very scarce but luckily I found one here from an old 80's van. Currentrly has high (3.25 gears), but I also have a new 3.70 set laying around. I did drop a new Truetrac diff, complete with new nodular case and daytona aluminum support.
I do all the work myself in the garage except body, paint, and block machining. By far I've spent he most $$ on the big block (all forged and now soon to be roller cammed) and drivetrain/brakes... Paint is not top notch but in my city there are not too many paint shops. Might repaint it in the future but for now it's OK. Subframe is also tied together and I'm running a flat floor as used for road racing here.
Drag racing is not the huge sport that is on the States, but there are a few strips in some cities. For the most part straights from road racing circuits are used (closed circuit and rally races are by far the most popular motorsports here). The closest circuit from Ushuaia is about 100km (63 miles) away.
By far the most popular drag race scene is in Buenos Aires (3.400 km away from here), every Friday night. I've been there a couple of times a few years ago as my brother raced his street VW when we were studying there.

Oh the car was actually made in Canada, went to Chile and finally was imported here in the late sixties. Previous owner is a friend of the family and actually gave me the car for free as it was a real basket case. At first I was going to use some parts (like the Muncie) for my 75 Chevy and discard the rest, but it's the only one I know of in the country so I decided to build it and finally had to sell my Chevy in order to finish it... A cool fact that I haven't seen in pictures is that the speedo is in KM/H instead of miles, maybe it was the option for cars that where to be sent overseas.
 
alot of the later cars built for export had that option for the km/h but i dont know exactly when that started. i guess thats cool for you tho as it keeps things simple for the mathematics. by the way have you lived in argentina your whole life? because your use of english is better than most of the young people who haved lived in miami their whole life! just saying
 
Yes the km/h speedo is great as we use the metric system in my country.
Thanks for the compliments! I think my english not the best but reading and writing does help a lot. I did live in the US for a semester during high school (sadly a little more than 20 years ago...), and then again for a year in Phoenix as I went to study motorcycle mechanics and also did flight training (as you can see if it has an engine of some sort I will probably like it!).
I do travel to the US from time to time, usually the Miami area, but I've been in other cities/states as well. Like buying parts, traveling is dependant on our rather crappy and everchanging economy...!!!
 
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