True Street Challenge
It wasn't all late-model F-bodies at the show. J.D. Lawson showed up in his twin-turbo '70 Nova that engine builder Jim Voyles slapped together (their words) to compete in the True Street class. What make this car vicious are the twin turbos and the street demeanor. To qualify for the True Street class, racers must drive the car for 30 miles through nearby towns without a total meltdown. The Nova pulled it off with 1,000 hp under the hood. This car was designed to go fast, and as J.D. puts it, "We might want to drive this thing to Wal-Mart on Saturday night. It's just for fun."
Tech Notes
Who: J.D. Lawson is the owner and Jim Voyles from Earth Motors is the builder.
What: '70 Chevy Nova
Speed: With a heat-soaked engine and intercooler from a 30-mile drive, it went 9.83 at 139 mph.
Block: The base for this combo is a 6.0L block from an '02 Chevy van. It came from a fleet of vehicles J.D. uses at his company.
Rotator: The 6.0L uses an Eagle 4.00-inch stroke crank and Scat 6.125-inch H-beam rods. To take on the boost, the compression ratio is 8.3:1 courtesy of a set of JE 28cc dished pistons. It was assembled knowing they would hit it with a turbo.
Heads: The heads are L92s from an '07 Chevy truck. Jim ordered them from Scoggin-Dickey after he saw our article in the May '07 issue of Car Craft.
Cam: The Cam Motion hydraulic roller has 240/233 duration at 0.050 and 0.568/0.527 lift on a 115-degree LDA.
Induction: The intake is a stock GM L78, and the turbos are Precision 67 GTQs producing 18 pounds of boost. The plumbing was hand-fabbed with 3.5-inch exhaust tubing. There is a 7-gallon tank in the trunk for the intercooler.
Fuel: It has an Aeromotive 1000 fuel pump and boost-referenced pressure regulator.
Spark: The ignition is stock with the coil packs and a BigStuff3 system controlling the fuel maps and the ignition curves.
Transmission: The Nova uses a TH400 with a 3,000 Mark Bowler converter and a transbrake.
Rearend: The rearend is a stock 12-bolt with a spool, 3.73:1 gears, and Moser axles.
Suspension: It is narrowed and uses QA1 coilovers and ladder bars. The car is in the low 9s on 315/60R15 M/T Drag Radials.