I am soon to be picking up a 1979 Nova with the 4.1L Inline 6. Now the inline 6 is a great engine and all, but I would rather drop a 350 in it because parts are cheap, easy to find, and not to mention more power. Nice thing about that year of Nova was that it came standard with the 8.5" 10 bolt rear so it will be up to the task.

I was wondering if anybody on here knows if I will need to do anything special to drop a 350 in. Will I need the motor mounts from the 305 offered in that year of Nova? I know the transmission will be a direct bolt up but I need to know what I will need in addition to mount a 350 in it. Thanks.

For those of you that need to know; I am buying this car because it isn't in bad shape, it runs great, and I am getting it for a good deal. Maybe I will stick with the inline 6 and get a little better mileage than my 7 but still be able to fit the kids in it.

the 35o will bolt right in like it is supposed to with no mods to it. my nephew has a 1973 and the 350/350 turbo tranny fits right into it no problem.

I got it figured out... all I would need to drop one in would be the motor mounts from a v8 that was offered that year. Maybe I will stick with the inline 6 for a while for gas mileage sake.

I looked up the part numbers and the listing for the motor mount is the same for the straight 6 and the v8, so it looks like I just got to find a small block chevy v8 with a rear sump pan.

I told u that it would fit right in it.

only thing i know of is that when they put the i8 in there cars they usually put in a smaller radiator cause of the longer engine so you might want to think about a bigger radiator

The whole fuel dewlivery system on the l6 seems so inadequete. You got a 4.1L engine running off of a single barrel rochester carburetor. I got a tune up to do on it but other that that it does ok. Needs timing set and carb cleaned and possibly rebuilt, it doesn't like WOT or hard acceleration off idle. I have a source for a 305 including a 350 transmission which I will probably end up going with. By the time I spent the money to get more performace out of the l6 I could have already put a v8 in.

I'd stay away from the 305. It's not a very reliable engine, the horsepower is very low, and they eat cams rather quickly. You'd be way better off with a 350.

correct the 305 is very unreliable



as for the i6 is it the 250 or the 292 if it's the 292 i would concider keeping it as they have great power and torque potential and on top of it out of all the chevy 6 cylinder's they have the best power to weight ratio.

it is the 250 I am pretty sure. I timed it today and it does a little better when hammering the gas off idle or while cruising. It ain't the prettiest thing but oh well. I got some work to do to it and it will probably be a slow project if it even stays around long enough to become a project. Tommor I got to take off the steering wheel and tighten up a knuckle or something so that the steering column isn't traveling as much (had the same problem with a Jeep a few weeks ago and turned out to be a pretty simple fix). After a tune up and fresh fluids I will be taking it to the exhaust shop and getting it straight piped (maybe throw in a glasspack or something?). Then next will be removing emissions equipment and any "unnessesary" vaccum lines. Finally I plan on doing an electric fuel pump swap. I did an electric fuel pump swap on an old s15 a few days ago and the results were excellent. Who knows, maybe I will stick with the l6 and just get a good cam from Clifford and do a 2 barrel weber conversion. Only thing about the damn l6 is parts are not as easy to find, not as cheap, and wont yield as much performance as a v8. Actually, for how much it would cost just to do the weber conversion, and to purchase a cam, I could have a complete and good running 350.

I will keep my eyes open for a 350 (or maybe a 327?) but for now I will be enjoying the gas mileage of the l6.

as usual I will keep you guys posted.

Sorry I don't have any rotary related news. I guess as far as cars go (especially 7s) no news is good news.