TURNER’S TERROR

Building a Modern Muscle Car: Mark Turner’s 1963 Chevy Nova

Finding a Deal and Making it His Own

Building and collecting cars can and does become an addiction; buy one, buy two, and before you know it, the garage and the back 40 are full of “works to get to,” until we find there is no longer room to work. Just ask muscle car enthusiast Mark Turner.

For more than 20 years, Turner has been collecting vintage muscle cars, transforming them into modern-day cruisers capable of most anything you can throw at them. At any given time, Turner has five or six projects in various stages of completion, while continuously looking for the next sweet deal. We previously introduced you to Turner’s Incan Gold ’67 Camaro convertible. This time we managed to pry the keys from Turner long enough to photograph and drive his new ’63 Nova hardtop powered by an injected 406 small block.

It was by word-of-mouth that Turner landed his latest project. After the Nova’s previous owner painted the car and installed the new suspension, he lost interest and decided to sell the car. Word of the car spread, and Turner quickly jumped at the low asking price of $6,500 for the freshly painted Nova. After hooking up the trailer and driving to Cincinnati, Ohio, from his home outside Nashville, Tennessee, Turner purchased the solid Nova and brought it back to his shop for completion.

Upgrading the Chassis

Since the previous owner had already installed a Checkered Racing front suspension beneath the Nova, it was up to Turner to simply upgrade the already great IFS-style suspension. Up front, Turner retained the tubular upper and lower control arms, rack-and-pinion and coilover shocks, but decided it should have a set of brakes capable of slowing the car from speeds more common to today’s highways. To replace the small front disc brakes and rear drums, Turner installed a set of Wilwood 12-inch disc brakes and twin-piston calipers on all four corners. The chassis modifications, however, did not end there.

The previous owner retained the rear leaf springs in the car, limiting the rear wheel and tire size. Unhappy with the stock hardware, Turner enlisted Greg Blaydes at G&S Custom Fabrication and Suspension to install larger wheel tubs beneath the car, along with a complete four-link and coilover shocks. With the four-link in place, Blaydes narrowed the 9-inch rearend 4 inches on either side. This much-needed modification allowed Turner to tuck the massive 17×11-inch rollers and 335-series rubber beneath the rear quarters. Up front, much smaller 17×7-inch American Racing Torq-Thrusts get the car pointed in the right direction.

Building a Modern Drivetrain

During the previous build, the car had not received a powerplant. While Turner is a huge fan of LS-series engines, he decided to go another route and upgrade a traditional small block with modern-day fuel injection. But first the engine had to be built. To handle the task of building the small block, Turner contacted Bo Shacklett of Shacklett Automotive in nearby Nashville. Shacklett began by taking a vintage 400 small block and punching it 0.030 inch over to achieve the desired 406 ci Turner was after.

After assembling the short block, Turner topped the engine with a set of Edelbrock Victor Jr. aluminum heads, but rather than add the regular intake and a gas-guzzling carb to the mix, Turner decided to bring the fuel delivery system up to modern standards by adding a Holley Stealth Ram MPI fuel injection package. Looking a little like the original GM fuel injection of the ’50s, the Holley Stealth Ram features a beautifully milled aluminum intake system and billet 58mm throttle body delivering lightning-fast throttle response. To ignite the fuel in the cylinders, Turner installed an MSD 6A ignition box and blaster coils along with Taylor 8mm plug wires.

To make the small-block Chevy look as it good as it runs, Turner installed a set of killer GM Performance Parts aluminum valve covers, Lokar stainless throttle and kick-down cables and a set of ceramic-coated Hooker headers. As for the front drive, a Billet Specialties V-Trac system, complete with polished A/C compressor, alternator and aluminum water pump, was used. To transfer the more than 450 hp to the rear wheels, Turner installed a 700R4 equipped with a B&M Street Shifter and 2,000-stall converter.

Subtle But Effective Touches: Paint and Chrome

Since the previous owner had already taken care of the paint and bodywork, Turner decided to improve upon the silver hue by painting the rear tail panel in a matte-red finish. The subtle but effective addition to the rear of the car looks great. Once the paintwork was complete, Turner ordered the remaining trim missing from the car and took the damaged chrome to Perfection Plating for a coat of the shiny stuff.

Reimagining the Interior

To handle the arduous task of reinventing the Nova’s interior, Turner brought the car to David Lewallen in Cleveland, Tennessee, for upholstery. Lewallen began by reworking a set of Pontiac Sunbird bucket seats and reupholstering them in lipstick-colored leather, as well as building a set of custom door panels and kick panels. After reupholstering the seats and building the remaining panels, Lewallen installed the factory-style red carpet. All that remained was the addition of the Vintage Air A/C, ididit tilt steering column, Billet Specialties wheel and Covan’s molded dash filled with Stewart Warner Power Series gauges.

Powerband Perfection and a Flawless Debut

Once the interior was completed, Scott Bowen of In Tune Performance in Charleston, Tennessee, picked up the car and completed the tune on the Holley fuel injection system, maxing the small block out at a respectable 450 hp. Just after completing the tune, Turner made the maiden voyage to the Goodguys Nashville Nationals, and the car ran flawlessly.

1,000-HP Street Camaro: A Sneak Peek

Before we call it quits on Turner, we have one more killer Camaro to show you in an upcoming issue. It seems Turner is in the interior stages of an LS-powered ’69 Camaro that produces 1,000 hp! Oh, and did we mention it’s going to be his street car? Don’t you just love it?