We are big fans of 0 – 60 magazine, with Mike Spinelli running the show for a few months now. It was on their blog site that I discovered this Bat-Sh** crazy Nova. See if you agree with me that this thing is utterly insane.
Ok Ok, so a couple of other Blogs picked up this Awesome Nova as well, but its just so…. Hooniversalustworthy, Hooniverstastic, with just a bit of Hooniverstinian. Follow the links to 0-60, CarDomain, Build Threads, and of course VW Vortex.
Hooniverse Weekend Edition: A Chevy Nova with a Rotary Engine Swap!
By Jim Brennan
May 1, 2010
Jeff Glucker 
Antti Kautonen
Much respect for trying something truly different. I'd like to see it when it's complete.
So SBC go in everything…but here we have a car that came with SBC orignially, but obviously not good enough for this owner.
Sounds like a weed whacker.
My cousin spent the better part of the late '80s buying up, chopping up and eventually grenading and/or wrecking every '71-72 Nova in Southwest Virginia- he and my brother found out late one night that a jacked-up '72 + worn tires + rain + tricky interstate turn taken waaay too fast = thank god for the truck driver with quick reflexes and a fire extinguisher. As a result, I'm kinda over "traditional" muscle Novas…but this.
THIS.
I can get behind this kind of crazy.
A homicidal demon-possessed weed-whacker… and that's exactly why rotaries are awesome!
My thought process:
Wait, what did I just read?
Holy shit!
Its so tiny! you could probably…. fit two in there!
Certainly a wacky and salutatory idea, but a GM car with a rotary is actually nothing new. Mazda sold a model called the Roadpacer in Japan in the 1970s – it was basically a large Holden sedan with a Mazda rotary replacing the GM engine. It didn't sell well. Apparently, a big, torque-less, 9-mpg sedan was not what the Japanese wanted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_Roadpacer_AP
An interesting car, although that eye-searing orange makes my eyes water.
Wow, an interesting bit of info. Thanks for pointing it out!
Hah! Sounds like my old RX2 when I had the straight pipe on it!
I'd love to see a video of the tach while that thing is "idling".
Very cool.
This makes up for every SBC-powered RX7… ever.
have to agree Fuzzy. Any idea what the curb weight of an early 70's nova would be? looking at the engine, turbo, and intercooler setup, and listening to the idle, I'd guess after tuning that nova should be putting out 350hp easily.
That car has been running for years. theres many videos of it at the track lifting the wheels
It’s weird to find out just how many different blogs there are on this topic I don’t know if I’ll have to come back here, but it’s awesome to know I stumbled upon the one that has a lot of valuable information if this should come up for me again.