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[justin91storm]

I have a 72' nova with a I-6 with 59K on the original engine, I was wondering should I put a V-8 in it or keep it OEM?

[AlmostStock]

To answer your question about swapping out the six, that's totally up to you. The V-8 swap is very popular, and can be nice if the time and money is spent to do it right. But a clean original Nova with a 6 that runs good certainly would be more desirable than a swap job that was poorly executed. If the car and motor are in good condition I'd keep it stock and enjoy.

The bottom line is if you do it right and make it into a nice V-8 muscle car, you'll be an instant cruise night hero, but if you butcher up a nice original 6 you get banned from AF for life. haha, just kidding.


What condition is your car in and what trans does it have? 59,XXX miles is pretty low. Either way let us know what you do and welcome aboard!

[justin91storm]

It's a 3 spd(3 on the tree) can't remember what exactly the trany is thou. It has been sitting in a garage for about 20 years and hasn't moved
here is my cardomain site for my nova http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2375381

[1986Z28]

probaly has a th350, its all preference,

[silicon212]

Actually it's probably a 3-speed Saginaw standard.

[dustyben]

Hi, and welcome! Well.....Do you like power? fuel economy? keeping an original?
The L-6 has an incredible history of being a 'never die' engine. gets reasonable fuel economy (noting of course that you are toting around a mountain of steel lol) It also is one of the few engines that produces that much power and has no common issues with the gear to gear timing set up.(most engines have a belt or chain). My 6cyl. 68nova has the original engine in it and was sitting in a field for 2 years not running. It boasted 120 - 130 psi in all six cylinders before I ever did anything to it.
8's big or small, are fun and you feel the power intensely in a Nova. Be warned though, if the frame has any small cracks they assuredly will get bigger handling theweight and torque. Go big block and enter a world of crazy power and LOTS of modifications to handle the weight, and size.
The 350's in the SS's are a great strong engine that you can get parts and accessorize very easily.
My choice this time around is to keep original but update where I can.

[NOVA71]

If it was me, I would switch it to a 350 at least. However I would keep any original part that you remove. I have all the original parts that I ever removed (unless it was something that was busted or no good of course) from mine. A big block would be great, but these light weights work really well with even a mild 350 between the fenders. These cars are lighter then most at just a over 3000 lbs. That's lighter than most, past and even present.