Hey all - I'm going to go check out a '70 Nova tomorrow as a possible purchase. Base 307 motor, auto, nothing fancy. I know the car has spent some time outside. Any particular problem areas bodywise that I should be especially aware of? I'm pretty familiar with 1st gen Camaros, so would the problem areas be about the same?

Thanks for any insight and apologies for posting so close to the "let's go take a look at her" time.

Theyd be exactly the same ;) Good luck!

They would be really close to a first gen Camaro. Two things that seem to be slightly different is the 1st gen Camaro seems to rust out in the rockers more than the 3rd gen Nova. Also the 3rd gen Nova quarter panels tend to be affected more by rust than they are on the 1st gen F-body. Now these are from my experiences of looking at both body styles. I've actually considered trading my 72 SS Nova project in on a 1st gen Firbird (67-68 are the better looking ones) a couple of times. The problem was normally they were trying to trade a complete rust bucket that would need almost every panel replaced for my fairly solid body or the car was missing its vin plate (ran as fast as I could from these ones).

Thanks all. I have not been able to arrange the viewing with the '70 owner yet:confused: .

I did go look at a one owner '72. Nice solid car. While looking in the trunk I noticed on the rear seat divider panel just to the right (passenger) side of the spare, a rectangular metal section with an oval, chrome(?) canister inside. Anyone know what that is? Am I showing my lack of Nova know-how?:yes:

This was something new in mid 70 or early 71. This is part of the gas tank vent system/emmisions system. I'm changing my 72 over to a 69 Firebird style fuel system that will eliminate this little canister and give me a place to hide an amplifier or something.

look for rust in the quarters and underneath. also my original 307 was a solid lifter. ask if they knew this. if not youll need to adjust the valves asap. mine came with a 2 barrel carb and it ate gas like crazy. swap a 4 barrel and an edelbrock intake. that gave me a very noticable improvment in power and mileage. these are decent engines, i ran mine until it died, and it took along time to die. it had well over 225000 miles on it. alot more. if you want some GOOD POWER JUST PUT SOME CAMEL HUMP HEADS ON IT. the ones with the 1.94 1.50 valves in them. that will give you a big jump on power. the 2.02 1.60 valve heads with not do good on an engine with such a small bore as a 307, theyll actually hurt you more than anything.