Questions on this 71 Nova I found

I'm so glad I found an awsome forum like this with knowledgeable people :)

I have liked novas for quite awhile and been wanting to get one in the 68-72 year range. I found an add for this 71 nova for $1200 and decided to look into it. The man who owns it is a mechanic and this is what I found out:

v6 with 2 cylinders bad (I plan on taking engine rebuild at colllege and drop a 350 or a 396 anyway, but it is drivable he said.)

In the left side panel there is a inch gap tear, but he said he found online you could get a replacement panel for $300

One weird thing he said is while under it the rear end seems to already be set up for a v8??

Automatic 2speed.

Color: green exterior/interior

No other mention of any other body work and I take the interior is worn from wear and tear.

My questions are is this worth going and looking at in person? If I did buy this I would replace the panel, defeinately drop in a v8. But I was wondering how hard is it actually to convert a automatic transmition to a manual transmition? I love driving cars with a manual tran.

Seem like a good buy for a project car? This would be my first project car and I'm going to be putting my hard earned money into it, so I don't wanna waste anything.

It's a 2dr.

Seems to me like a great project car as long as the interior is decent. I would suggest taking it out for a test drive. Its up to you though, if you have the money to spend on maintaining it and putting new parts in and know what your doing. I would totally go for it. Cool Man.
-Good Luck
-Cliff

i'd go for it, i just recently bought a 71' nova for $2400 as a project/ evryday driver while in high school.it was originally an inline 6 but the last owners put a 327 in it with still the powerglide behind it. i think you should go for it, but remember that it takes alot of $$$ but you can do it slowly like me.

For real, my 68 in the picture still has a Inline 6, right now im building a 350 in my garage, but I aint going to get it done till maybe the end of 2005. Its all about having money and where you can get the parts for a good and resonable price. Plus even after my engine is done, I have to buy a Torque Converter, Tranny, and a build up my diffrential, so thats even more $$ to save up for. LOL, hella crap!!

Go for it, you don't see green novas around

I would jump on the car. You said you dont plan on keeping the car stock, so just getting yourself a shell you can work and piddle with is worth the 1200 bucks, and you can probably talk him down a little more. Dont expect too much of anything with an inline six backed by a powerglide tranny :p :p , especially if the car is running on two bad cylinders as you say. When working properly, they are just about bulletproof, but you MIGHT be looking at a 100 horsepower engine. On a plus note. GM often put lower geared rear ends in six cylinder cars to make up for their lack of power. Where alot of people usually convert to 3.73 or whatever gears, the car probably already has them. The manual transmission swap wouldn't really be that hard provided you have some mechanical ability. The really hard part doing those swaps is locating all the necessary parts to do the swap (tranny, pedal, linkage, etc.) Its usually more economical to drop a turbo 350 in it and go. I personally think the war is worth 1200 bucks though, and would be a steal if you could get it in the 800-1000 range.

Rob

Called the guy tonight about going and lookin at it tommorrow morning and he told me he sold it last night.

*Runs away crying*

good project swapingtrannis is hard motor isn't bad as long as you have the tools it's hard to find old noas esp in green good luck