The morning commute in the general vicinity of New York City is a daily grind of traffic and construction, and can border on total mayhem at times. Needless to say, it's not enjoyable unless you can find a way to put all your worries behind you. What could be cooler than driving a vintage Chevrolet to and from work everyday? People stare, take pictures on the camera phone, throw you some thumbs up, and generally can't help but notice that you are obviously having a much better commute to work than they are.
The donor '70 Nova is an awesome...
The donor '70 Nova is an awesome shade of metallic mint green.
New Jersey resident and automotive technician Bob Twynam is living the good life. His commute to and from work is a Garden State norm of close to 80 miles. About a year back, a long-time repair shop customer of his reached the young age of 89 and decided to hang up the old key ring. Her pimp wagon, I mean, mode of transportation was a beautiful green-on-green '70 Chevrolet Nova with a 307 cubic-inch small-block and a bench seat. She sold him the car and he decided to turn it into his daily driver.
The body of the Nova is in beautiful condition. The black top is without damage, the body panels have yet to transform into Swiss cheese, the gauges still work--even the seats look like they have yet to be sat on. The only downside to the Nova is the powerplant. Without trying to offend anyone, let's just say that the 307 was not the most sought after motor from 1968 to 1974. Today, most of the 307's are long gone...and for good reason. Bob's 307 two-barrel was good enough for what he was using it for, but he wasn't entirely satisfied. "Who wouldn't want to drive a '70 Nova to work every day? The only problem is, if you don't warm it up for 10 minutes, it stalls, acceleration sucks, and it gets awful gas mileage," Bob says.
We threw it on the dyno at...
We threw it on the dyno at Tune Time Performance in Toms River, New Jersey, for some preliminary emissions and dyno testing.
We thought this was the perfect test mule for Edelbrock's new Pro-Flo XT electronic fuel injection kit. The multi-port injection system upgrades the ignition, fuel, and intake system on the small-block Chevy into a state of the art gas-sipping monster.
With the XT calibration handheld tuning box, maximum tunability is simply a button press away and can be achieved from the driver's seat. Also, a laptop can be hooked-up to the Edelbrock ECU for even more tuning features, such as fuel maps, spark modifier tables, and air-fuel ratio graphing, just to name a few. The 90mm throttle body, equal length intake runners, and 29 psi Pico fuel injectors ensure both maximum performance and optimal efficiency.
Our base numbers were 174...
Our base numbers were 174 corrected rwhp and 228 lb-ft of torque--surprisingly good, we think.
Given the present Great Depression and instability of fuel prices, there is no better time to be increasing productivity in your hot rod to achieve better fuel economy. We set some realistic goals, including a horsepower increase of 35, fuel economy increase of 5 mpg, seamless cold-weather startup, and a hydrocarbon parts-per-million drop off of 80 (exhaust gases). We installed the kit in a little over 12 hours (a hearty weekend) and given the plug-and-play nature of the components, most went on in a breeze. Follow along as we install Edelbrock's Pro-Flo XT electronic fuel injection kit.
Additional Parts Needed
To complete this install, there are a few pieces that are not included in the Edelbrock kit.
Intake gaskets
Silicone
Intake manifold bolts (8)
Thermostat housing
195-degree thermostat
Teflon tape
Low-resistance spark plug wires
Intake pipe and 4-inch filter
LS-style throttle cable (Lokar PNTC-1000LS1U)
Pull ties