Jeff Gorjans' Behavior Style Shows Up In His '67 Pro Street Nova.
writer: Thomas J. Lyman
photographer: Mike Harrington
In case you hadn't noticed, the Pro Street scene is alive and well-just head out to your local car show to see one of these beautiful machines in all their glory. Pro Street takes us back to the early 1980s, when building Pro Stock clones that could be driven on around town as well as flogged down the quarter-mile was the "in" thing to do.
We as editors see plenty of these niche cars across the country at Super Chevy Shows, and various types of automobile-related events. While we feature all sorts of g-machines and hot rods in this publication, we figure it's time to try and resurrect some of the old-school in all of us, starting with some Pro Street machinery that often gets overlooked.
The Bow tie that covers the following pages in fantastic color one of those machines-a 1967 Nova, packing a blown powerplant and laundry list of go-fast parts. The owner, a man who has been around the block, so to speak, has poured his heart and soul into this Chevy ii, and is not afraid to run it down the track when he gets the urge.
Jeff Gorjans just so happened to attend high school during the early '80s, at a time when all the car guys he looked up to drove Pro Street machines. He specifically remembers a guy with a blown '66 Chevelle-a car that would prove to have a lasting impression on Gorjans. So much so, that almost 20 years later, he decided to build one of these big tire machines for himself, finally giving in to his self-proclaimed "type A" personality.
As Gorjans says, "I'm a pretty easy going type of guy, but I really enjoy getting a rise out of folks." We're guessing that's another reason Jeff decided to build this monster of a Pro Street car.
Gorjans originally built the automobile over the course of a year back in 1999, in florida. the current mill that resides under and through the hood is a 383 small-block, built and machined by TG's Performance in Hawthorne, California. The block includes an Eagle forged crankshaft, Eagle forged H-beam connecting rods, and JE 8.5 compression blower pistons (don't worry, we'll get to that soon). ARP bolts were also used throughout the motor. Pro Comp heads top off the block, with 2.05 intake/1.60 exhaust valves. the valvetrain also features a Herbert custom-grind cam and 1.6- ratio Crane rockers.
Jutting out of the hood is a Kuhl-built 6-71 blower that puts out 11 pounds of boost, bringing up the compression to a whopping 15:1. double Mighty demon 750-cfm carbs feed the forced air and fuel down into the cylinders. As if all those behemoth parts weren't enough to make some serious ponies, Gorjans added a Wilson Manifolds Pro-flow dualplate nitrous kit that adds a 125hp shot of the juice on command. Exhaust travels out through a pair of hand-built, 2-inch-into-3.5-inch headers and a custom exhaust system fabbed-up by Mitch's Custom fabrications in El Monte, California. Gorjans also added some killer Spintech mufflers to cap off the exhaust. The owner figures the car makes about 612 hp on the motor, and over 700 hp when it's on the bottle.