I recently purchased a 1977 Nova 250 I6 automatic. I bought it from the original owner, who had kept all the records, including the window sticker, purchase contract, etc.
I plan to keep it as original as possible, but with one exception. I would like to strip off all the smog-abatement parts and retrofit parts from a pre-smog era 250. I am not looking for a performance increase; I just can't stand to see all the vacuum hoses, diaphragms, and solenoids tacked on to such a simple engine. Of course, I will keep them stored in the event that I resell.
I'm thinking that maybe the only changes I would have to make would be to recurve the distributor, change the timing, and replace the Rochester carb with an earlier version.
The cam specs look pretty similar and although the head has an integral intake manifold, I'm wondering if it would still be OK since I am not looking for a performance increase.
Has anyone out there done anything like this? Am I close, or am I missing something? Any ideas would be appreciated.
