Winter doesn’t present the best environment working on a full-on engine swap, especially if the donor car in question needs pulling from a snowbank. Dan Malcolmson of DD Speed Shop is taking no chances turning his 1971 Chevy Nova SS project car into a street freak this summer - even if it means towing a 1956 Chevy wagon donor car in the middle of winter and starting it up with an engine bay full of ice.
It runs fine, but he’s looking to give it an aggressive look, a mix between the 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift and an old Crusher Camaro with blowers.
The street freak look needs the power to match, and Dan got this brilliant idea of pulling the motor out of a big block 1956 Chevy Wagon car he’s been working on. The original plan was to put the wagon together as a cruiser with a ridiculous tunnel ram hood turning it into a hot rod poser of sorts. But there's a big problem, the Wagon's engine is full of ice, but he's determined to fire it up.
Under the icy hood, the Chevy Wagon has an early '70s big block 454 with 781 heads, Lunati Cams, Edelbrock intake, Holley carburetors, an aluminum water pump, and an overdrive transmission (not the perfect idea for a big block).
Now that he’s looking to pull out the motor for his Nova SS project, he’ll replace it with a small block 350 that’s lying around in his garage.
With a little bit of snow under the hood, Dan cranks up the 1956 Chevy Wagon, and it roars to life but then immediately dies. After several attempts, it runs, but he suspects there’s a leak in the distributor.
We hope he fixes the issue. Summer is around the corner, and it’ll be amazing to see how his '71 Chevy Nova SS project turns out.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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