PHOTOS and INFORMATION IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR THE MOST UPTO DATE PHOTOS

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HISTORY

During the 2005 Hot Rod Powertour Wheel to Wheel Powertrain stole the show at Indianapolis Raceway Park with a turbocharged 6.0L AWD Silverado SS shop truck.  It out ran two Corvette’s and a Mustang with three runs in the 11’s.  It was not the fastest vehicle there, but certainly the most shocking and that is what the spectators seemed to appreciate.  A few months later a 1972 Nova with a solid body but significantly aged original paint became available, the result was a mission to build the ultimate sleeper car.  Mind you, it’s not easy to spend hundreds of man hours and thousands of dollars on a car, just to leave it looking like anything but a show car.  When it comes down to it Wheel to Wheel really had nothing to prove by spoiling the sleeper mystique with show quality paint and body work.  After restoring a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-air convertible which won the ‘best in show – restoration’ award at the 2006 Detroit Autorama, Wheel to Wheel had already proven they have the talent and experience to turn this Nova into an award winning show car. 

CONCEPT

This Nova has been tagged with many names including SS Super Sport Sleeper, Joe Nova (reference to Joe Dirt movie) and others referring to it’s all go, no show attitude.  There were several features and concepts that this car setout to highlight;

1. Showcase how Rotrex Superchargers offer all the tributes which are crucial when choosing to supercharge the ultimate sleeper car.
   1. Whisper quiet operation
   2. Compact size – twin head units packed neatly under the original hood.
   3. Horsepower – well over 1100 hp
2. Demonstrate how eleven hundred plus horsepower cars can drive coast to coast on pump gas using the ‘Octane on Demand’ fuel system technology.  (This technology is to be used on Hot Rod Powertour and Drag Week, but be not used during Pump Gas Drags).
3. Exhibit the creative technical and fabrication services, examples;
   1. a concealed twin liquid to air intercooler system
   2. a well concealed roll cage
   3. parachute mount hidden behind the rear license plate
   4. added gages and switches are hidden above the driver, and in the glove box to keep the interior as inconspicuous as possible
   5. transmission shift control using horn pad
   6. maintain creature comforts including heater and air conditioning
   7. 5 point harness hidden under seat cover
4. Demonstrate our ‘boost ready’ 402 cid LS-2 engine packages

 FEATURED CONTENT

• INTERIOR
  • Factory bench front seat with aged discount store cover
  • W2WPT modified rear seat to accommodate and hide rear wheel tubs
  • 10 point custom chrome moly roll cage
• EXTERIOR
  • Wheel to Wheel Powertrain license plate
  • Polycarbonate door, rear and quarter windows
• CHASSIS
  • 7.5” x 15” Front wheels and 235/60R15 BFGoodrich tires
  • 10.5” x 15” Rear wheels and 295/65R15 Mickey Thompson drag radial tires, screwed to prevent rotation
  • Trunk mount battery, master shutoff concealed by rear bumper
  • W2WPT fabricated aluminum mini wheel tubs
  • Spal twin fan module
  • Vintage Air HVAC system with air conditioning, heater and defrost
  • All Star radiator
  • Mark Williams 9” Ford center section and axle shafts, W2WPT fabricated tubes
  • BAER ‘Serious Street’ 4 wheel disk brake system
    • Front 2 piston calipers with cross drilled and slotted 11” rotors
    • Rear single piston calipers, with cross drilled and slotted rotors
    • Dual chamber master cylinder
  • SMITH RACE CRAFT leaf spring rear suspension with anti rotation bars
  • Affco double adjustable front shocks
  • Varishock double adjustable rear shocks
  • W2WPT Modified upper control arm for additional caster
  • Energy Suspension urethane bushings front suspension
• POWERTRAIN
  • WHEEL TO WHEEL POWERTRAIN 402 cid LS-2 1250hp capable long block engine package
  • Twin ROTREX C38-81 Superchargers with custom fabricated mounting and drive system
  • Twin liquid to air intercoolers fabricated using Honeywell high efficiency cores
  • Twin Active Autowerkes by-pass valves
  • W2WPT fabricated aluminum trunk mount intercooler reservoir
  • Dual K&N cone style air filters
  • W2WPT 3.5” fabricated 304 stainless steel exhaust system with Flow Master mufflers
  • W2WPT fabricated 304 stainless steel long tube exhaust headers
  • Edelbrock ‘crab style’ aluminum intake manifold
  • Wilson Manifolds inlet elbow and 90mm throttle body
  • GM Power glide 2 speed automatic transmission drag race prepared with transmission brake and electronic shift (using horn pad switch)
  • ATI 6000 rpm stall torque converter
• FUEL SYSTEM
  • BIG STUFF 3 engine controller with staged fuel injection
  • Factory fuel tank with in tank fuel pump supplying primary injectors
  • 8 - 36 lbs/hr primary ‘pump gas’ fuel injectors
  • W2WPT fabricated aluminum secondary ‘high octane’ fuel tank
  • Twin Bosch Fuel Pumps and Aeromotive Fuel Filters, continuous duty first, boost controlled switch for second
  • 8 - 65 lbs/hr secondary high octane fuel injectors
  • Secondary ‘high octane’ fuel cooler
  • GM full size truck ignition coils

Prior to teardown and preperation we put the Nove on the scales to get a base weight.

Total before vehicle weight 3068 lbs.

 After the before weight was taken the Nova made it over to our techs Jim Bell and Greg Santavy who removed the original inline 6 engine and prepared the vehicle for chassis work.

Now on our chassis plate it time for chassis modifications as well as mock up 

 Upon teardown we noticed a not so pleasant amount of rust in some areas

 Our trusty fabricator Frank Lamborghini once again manned his Miller Tig and came to the rescue

welding in patch panels.

 Initial mock up of LS2 power plant

 In order to handle the 900 + horsepower our build will generate we decided to add

some mini tubs so we can run a much larger tire at the drag strip

With lots of packaging to consider regarding the twin Air to Water intcooler set up the space between the fender and the firewall was converted to house the intercoolers

Here you can see our twin system in fact clears the factory hood line without issue 

 With the available horsepower on tap as well as plans to drive the Nova hard we felt some sub frame stiffening was in order

 With the intercoolers mocked up in location it is time to start plumbing the system. Here you can see plumbing from the intercooler outlets into the intake manifold.

Can anyone see the main hoop of the roll cage?  

Ah, there it is! 

 Modification to floor pan to clear exhaust

Twin fuel cells for Race fuel and pump gas

Final assembly begins for 2006 Pump gas drags  

 Finished and ready for racing!

 Fabricated parachute storage location for quick access

 At the 2006 Hot Rod magazine pump gas drags Kurt Urban director of operations piloted the super sleeper Nova to a best et to date at 9.680 @ 146.91 mph with plenty left in the car once some bugs are worked out and. Stay tuned for further perfomance updates and be sure to check out the Nova on the 2006 Hot Rod Power Tour!

"Most legit 9 second vehicle" jacket awarded by Hot Rod magazine

HOT ROD MAGAZINE DRAG WEEK

SMALL BLOCK POWER ADDER CLASS WINNER

FINAL PREP READY FOR SALE