75 Nova

200r4 are the easiest TH350 swap iirc. Certain ones bolt right in. 700s require a new driveshaft and other mods.

From poking around this big ol' series of tubes, and my own experience with swaps, I think the best call will be to bide my time and put off an engine/trans swap (together) until an appropriate (or not) pairing comes along

Ross: More adventures!
My initial tendency would be to paint (or plastidip for now) the wheels, but the part of me that enjoys new things (and self-inflicted punishment) wants to tackle some heavy duty shine restoration...
chicks dig shiny stuff, right?

Progress update: the noise from the left rear comes from inside the shock.
Even if suspension weren't one of the few things I'm comfortable with as an automotive enthusiast, I'd still bet that a replacement is in order.
Good thing suspension is on the list eh?

SnowMongoose wrote: GHO: That's what I've been reading, though I haven't found a comprehensive guide just yet.

Ok, use 1st gen F-body stuff for the rear and Gen 2 for the front. Sub frame connectors from a gen 2 should fit with some mods.

Thanks GHO!

Dear Diary:
Today I seafoamed the engine.
Fairly certain my neighbors hate this car already, if leaving for work at 330 or 430 AM weren't bad enough, the smokescreen I created today must have gone over well. How concerned should I be about a fair amount of the seafoam smoke coming from the fore end of the exhaust, in addition to the large amount coming from the stern?
Just a matter of going through and re-gasketing?

New minor issue, it turns out that I can't start the engine from Neutral, has to be in park... thoughts on where to start troubleshooting?

In reply to SnowMongoose:

It's going to be hard for us to tell where the exhaust leaks are from over here. It certainly sounds like it has leaks! Does that help?

The park-only starting almost sounds like some kind of safety feature that I wouldn't exactly want on my car, but could imagine mid-70's GM installing because a lawyer told them it would be a good idea. A good electrical schematic for the car sounds like a wise resource to have.

SnowMongoose wrote: New minor issue, it turns out that I can't start the engine from Neutral, has to be in park... thoughts on where to start troubleshooting?

It'll probably start just fine in Drive or Reverse-or halfway to either. Such is the vagary of 70s TH350 linkage adjustment.

The neutral safety switch is on top of the steering column, so adjusting the linkage to the trans may not do anything. It may be a switch going bad or the adjustment is off. If it was always started in park, maybe the contacts in the neutral position are dirty/corroded. Probably easiest to just change the switch, heck I would change the ignition switch too while in there, it is in the same place.

81cp: thanks for the heads up, replacing things seems like a good rule of thumb here.

Discovered last night that I've a headlight out, hooray for easy fixes (knocks on wood)

Thoughts on sparkplugs?
I assume she'll run on just about anything I throw in there, any personal recommendations?
I appreciate the insanity of my being daunted by needing eight instead of my accustomed four, and not being able to access them right on top.

I have no idea what you 'murican car guys do, but as a Japanese car fan I use nothing but NGK plugs. I do know that Autolites suck though. Just my $.02.

NGK plugs work well in virtually everything.

Stopped off and bought replacement headlights, they didn't have the NGKs I needed so I opted to postpone that project.

Naturally, went to remove the old headlight and broke two of the three tabs that hold the chrome ring (that holds the headlight) on.
ebay here I come, good thing I have another car.

I've had good luck for years using NGK V Powers in small block Chevys.

Glad to hear it Tig, submitted my first order to Rock a couple hours ago, included 8 of those.
Was able to get everything I could think of needing off the top of my head (Spark plugs, wires, ignition module, Neutral Safety Switch, 'shoulder harness retainer', bits to fix the exhaust leaks, aaaaaaaand a dome light bulb) Everything save the headlight retainer ring... the bay took care of that one.

Admission of guilt time: don't really mind when rock or whoever has my order spread across three boxes, that's more for me to open!

That Rock order came in weeks ago, I've used exactly one of the parts
(the seat belt holder bracket guy, lol)

Had a few beers the other night, found myself ordering new shocks for all four corners...
we'll see if I can't get those installed before the weather closes in entirely until may or so.

The headlight retainer ring that the ebay guy sent me was wrong, thankfully he refunded my payment with only a cursory 'did you try it/are you sure?'
So, epoxied the old one, should hold steady for a while.

Obligatory questions for y'all:
Sometimes she diesels after I shut her down, only for a few seconds though...
tips?

Black out the wheels or re-shine-ify them?

Good lord, working on this has been so easy compared to the Miata.

There's room for my manly hands everywhere!

Just did the rear shocks, a whopping three bolts per side.
No swearing, no bleeding, no consulting the book or the internet.
Me rikey.

At some point I'll be more proactive about taking pictures, suffice to say she looks the same and there was nothing fun to look at during, other than a pleasing lack of rust.

Now, time for Turkey Dinner number two
(I'm getting extra fat this week, Friendsgiving last night, Thanksgiving + Hanukkah with my Pops tonight, Thanksgiving + Celebrating my surviving Black Friday dinner tomorrow, then Rugby Thanksgiving Saturday)

Found out that the leaky windshield was in fact...
Heater core related.

Since heat is overrated, it's about to be sold, and the weather is warming up a bit...
Dorman 02253 covered a core bypass at the cost of several dollars and under ten minutes.
No more puddle for the passenger, no more condensation, no more topping off the cooling system every couple days.
Not quite Borat 'Great Success' but I'll call it a win.

More, please.