The Short Block:
• 434 cubic inches
• Olds Rocket block
• splayed 4-bolt caps
• ARP main studs/bolts
• Eagle 4340 forged steel crank
• Eagle H-beam rods w\ ARP L-19 bolts
• Wiseco domed pistons
• Speed-Pro Hellfire file-fit rings
• fully balanced and somewhat blueprinted
• Melling HV oil pump with steel driveshaft
• Moroso 7-quart oil pan w\ windage tray
• Moroso rear pan baffle
• 15.0:1 static compression ratio

The Heads:
• Brodix 18x--ported by Mike Stark at Creative Flow Management
• angle milled to produce 59 cc chambers
• 2.140" intake valves, 1.60" exhaust valves
• guideplates
• 7/16" screw-in studs
• Manley double valvesprings
• Trick Flow full roller rockers(1.6:1 intake and exhaust)
• Crane stud girdle
• Trick Flow .080" hardened pushrods

Other Engine Stuff:
• Solid roller cam custom ground by LSM (286/296 duration at .050", .813/.813" lift)
• Isky Red Zone solid roller lifters
• Cloyes Hex-A-Just timing set
• Brodix 1800 intake--fully ported by CFM
• Holley "black" 140 gph electric fuel pump--motor
• Holley "blue" 110 gph electric fuel pump--nitrous
• Holley 1000 cfm HP double-pumper
• MSD Pro-Billet distributor
• MSD HVC coil
• Accel spiral core plug wires
• MSD Programmable-7 ignition box
• MSD HVC coil
• CSI electric water pump
• Stahl headers (1-7/8" primaries to 3-1/2" collectors)
• 3.5" Dynomax Bullets (mounted right off the headers)
• NOS Big Shot system
• 1/2" aluminum and -8 braided fuel lines
• dual Holley fuel pressure regulators

Driveline and Chassis:
• Powerglide transmission with pro transbrake by Bradco Engineering
• Custom-built 4500rpm stall 10" nitrous converter by Bradco Engineering
• Performance tranny mount
• Lakewood driveshaft safety loop
• 8.5" 10-bolt rearend--original housing
• Richmond 4.10:1 ring & pinion
• Detroit Locker
• Moser 30 spline axles
• LPW aluminum rear girdle cover
• Strange c-clip eliminators
• 15x10 Weld Pro Stars with 26x8.5-15 M&H slicks for racing in Outlaw 8.5
• 15x8 Weld Pro Stars with 265/60-15 McCreary Road Stars out back for the street
• 15X3.5 Weld Pro Stars with 165sr-15 radials on the front
• CalTrac bars
• CalTrac split mono-leaf springs
• Competition Engineering subframe connectors--welded in
• 10 pt. chrome-moly roll cage by P & P Racing
• front sway bar removed
• QA1-R drag shocks up front from D & D Race Technologies
• QA1 double adjustable rear shocks
• Aerospace pro street front disc brakes with 4-piston calipers
• Chrysler lightweight master cylinder--listed for '89 1/2 ton Dodge truck, 1-1/8" bore

Miscellaneous:
• Griffin aluminum two-core radiator
• Late-model Chrysler electric fan
• 120 amp Delco alternator
• manual steering box
• manual drum brakes
• fiberglass bumpers from Bruis Glassworks
• fiberglass inner fenders from Unlimited Products
• 4" cowl induction fiberglass hood by Harwood

Interior:
• Poly race seats
• Autogage mechanical triple gauge set
• Autometer tranny temp gauge
• 5" Autometer playback tachometer w\ shift light
• Hurst Promatic shifter
• Remainder is factory black interior
• battery is in trunk with a Ford solenoid

Upcoming changes:
• tubular front control arms
• rack-n-pinion steering
• 2-1/8" headers
• parachute
• More nitrous!

2007 End of season update--It was a good year overall. I started off with a win and new personal bests, suffered through some mid-season gremlins and ended the year by breaking the 8.5" tire record with a 5.66@122! I qualifed #1 at the October race as well. I didn't quite win the championship for the year, but finished a strong third. So that's a one spot improvement over 2006. Not too bad.

For 2006, 2QuickNovas Racing (aka Craig) again campaigned the Nova in Outlaw 8.5 at Ohio Valley Dragway and Mild Street in OSCA. These classes are very similar from a rules stand point, which are very simple. In OVOS Outlaw 8.5, the car has to weigh 3200 lbs on nitrous or 2900 when I run it all motor. The nitrous weight is 3250 in OSCA. Then you have to run a 26x8.5" tire and that's about it! OSCA has a few more rules for Mild Street, but nothing out of the ordinary that would keep most cars from running the class. OVOS has no more rules, hence the name Outlaw 8.5. Pretty cool, huh!

2006 Race Update--This year was a pretty good one. I finished 4th in points in OSCA Mild Street and 7th in OVOS Outlaw 8.5. I made every race at OSCA and ran half the OVOS schedule. Family considerations prevented a full season with OVOS, but luckily I was able to make all OSCA races and was in good position to compete for the #2 spot in points.
I was number one qualifier twice, runner-up once and went rounds on a regular basis. A win eluded me, but I'm on the cusp of a break-thru win. The car's performance is there and my reaction times are good enough that I'm very rarely beat on the tree. With just a little bit of luck and things going my way, the winner's circle WILL happen! The best run of the year was 5.84@120.5 at US60 in Hardinsburg, KY with a 60' of 1.32. The best mph of the year was 122.7, so we are making some power!
The real challenge right now is walking the fine line between tire spin and standing the car on the rear bumper. That's right, wheel stands on 8.5" slicks! That's how good those M&H tires are!

I want to thank all my sponsors for their continued support. These are some of the finest people you'd ever want to deal with and their products have proven themselves to me as first rate.
A big thanks goes to Brad Ector of Bradco Engineering for taking quick care of my converter needs and for a top notch tranny.
To John at M&H, you're tires rock! They hook like no tomorrow and last 3 times longer than the competition. Best of all worlds!
I also want to introduce Dennis Clark of Carnivore Performance. If you all are looking for the most advanced nitrous bottle heater/cooler, check out the Nitrousaurus-X. It takes all the hassle out of bottle pressure management, letting you worry about other things on race day.
Another big thanks to Mike Stark at CFM for his awesome port work on my cylinder heads. He got 10 more cfm out of my 18X heads than Brodix says they can. That speaks volumes!
And finally to rest of my sponsors...THANKS so much for your support and confidence in 2QuickNovas Racing!

8/20/05--Getting the new engine done took longer than anticipated, so I didn't even get the car out of the garage until late June. I knew the 8" converter was going to be too loose for the new motor, but it was all I had. In terrible air (5500 ft. density altitude), it went 10.56@127. That would have been a very low 10 in a cool fall air. In early August, I finally saved up enough for my new nitrous converter and also picked up a great deal on an awesome Powerglide. So that let me start spraying the motor. But rain has plagued me, even though much of the country is in the middle of a drought. So only three nitrous passes to report. Two were less than noteworthy, but my only pass on August 20th was a lot better. It was at Ohio Valley Dragway during qualifying for their outlaw street car race. The track was well prepped and the car launch like never before. 1.41 60' and a 6.31@105. That would have been about a 9.90 in the 1/4 mile. Still, the tune-up was a tad off due to an oversight on my part and this slowed me down considerably. So I'm confident that I could have gotten it to run a couple tenths quicker and about 9-10 mph faster if the rain had stayed away. Plus, that was just a 125 hp shot. More to come.

9/6/05--I finally avoided the rain and got some more test runs in last weekend while the Somernites Cruise had Lake Cumberland Dragway rented. I figured the track would be terrible all day due to all the street tires on it that morning, but the car hooked amazingly. The first run had a 1.37 60' and then it was 1.35 the rest of the day. The best ET of the day was 6.16 with a best mph of 112. That would be about a 9.67@140! So I'm well into the 9s now and still haven't sprayed it any harder than about 125 hp. Hard to believe a stock suspension, leaf spring car with 26x8.5" slicks can run a 1.35 60'! Eventually it'll do high 1.2s I think on its way to 5 second ETs. So I should be able to make some noise at the last few races of the season.

10/17/05--My official races are over for the year. Overall I'm pleased with the progress I made this year, even though I didn't get to race enough to do well in the points of either OSCA or OVOS. But I did accomplish being the first leaf spring car in the 5s on 8.5" tires, so that's something pretty cool to ponder over the winter. Best pass of the year was 5.95@116.5. I've yet to put it on a 1/4 mile track to get an official 9 second timeslip, but that'll come soon as I plan on testing some more this fall. With some luck, maybe I can squeak out a 8.99 if my aging 29x9" slicks will work as well as the 26x8.5s have.

11/17/05--I've been fighting some electrical gremlins for the past month and don't have any new best ETs or speeds to report, but I should make it to the track once more this year. Hopefully that'll yield some more progress with the tune-up and some good 1/4 mile timeslips.

Copyright © 2009 Bruce Johnson and Craig Watson