Continuing forward with the effort to get the Nova street-worthy (and legal), I've taken it in to a shop my mechanic/housemate used to work at. It's receiving a used, but clean 'Edelbrock Performer' intake to replace the stock, ultra-heavy intake it came with. They all say there should be an increase in power coming from this...

It's also coming out to be ~$260 so far, which--for as much work as they've put into that car (several days)--is a really amazing price, so far.

I'm gonna buy'em lunch and make them feel appreciated for all this. Also, this may not be the only journal entry I post from here on out. I figure it's not such a bad thing to be chattier around here.