1969 Nova L78 M22 4.88 on Lost Muscle Cars
 

that was well worth the read. Unbelievable car with great window sticker and pics. Thinking about the 6000 miles with those gears makes me wonder if he changed out the rear gears vs if those were all on the 4:88. Holy grail car.

more holy grail if it was a 68 but still a cool car!

Looks like a sweet car. Wonder if it's still around??

1969 Nova with special order 4:88 gear ratio is very interesting.

For some reason 69 Chevy Nova Power Team charts list the highest number gear ratio as 3:55 with the 375 HP L-78.
1969 L-78 Camaro and Chevelle Power Team Charts list 4:10 but Nova lists 3:55.

The 1969 Yenko 427 Nova ads list 4:10 gears same as the Yenko 427 Camaro and Chevelle.

I have been looking for any documentation that Yenko some how got the Novas built with the 4:10 gears to save the time and cost of changing the rear gears.

I was thinking Yenko either did a special order rear gear or a COPO 9511

The COPO 9511 was used to get 4:56 or 4:88 in 1969 because the Power Team Charts list 4:10 as the highest. I have seen documents on COPO 9511 4:56 or 4:88 on 1969 Camaros and Chevelles but not Nova.

This 4:88 Nova appears to show a special order and not COPO 9511 on the build sheet.

How so?

just not many 68 l78 novas built. 667 in 1968 and 5200 and change in 1969.

Hard to read the window sticker clearly, but I think I see '9511' followed by two letters on the left side of the line where it lists the axle ratio. Too bad there was no picture of the Trim Tag, but no one paid any attention to those back in the day.

L78 Nova...
 

I don't think the number built really applies once you drill down to 4.88s. I'd imagine less L78 4.88 '69s built than '68s.

I believe the 3.55 gears were standard for the L78 Novas. Anything lower, like 4.56 or 4.88 you could order.

Since the axle was available, they probably just placed the order, it went through the F&SO office, and some 4.10 axles were shipped to the plant.

The window sticker shows the COPO number 9511CA

There is a RPO HF8 listed for 4:88 gear ratio but I don't know if that was used in 1969

was thinking about your car when i posted.

Chevy By The Numbers shows rear axle code for Novas with 4.88 posi as BX.

Are there any other documented L78 '69 Novas with 4.88s?

I know a few guys that begged Chevy to let them order something lower than 3.55's but to no avail. I don't think I remember seeing any 69 nova with even 4.10's let alone 56's or 88's. Dealer installed maybe?

I had a 69 L78 Nova with a BW (4:56) rear in it. No paper to document, but the cast date (D 11 9)and build date (04 18) were perfectly matched to the TT and original engine cast/build date.

slicks and those front wheels are off the ground

I believe some of the Yenko 427 Nova's were ordered with the 4:10 gears using the COPO number 9511 like the car in this thread but have not found paperwork or a POP from one of the cars.

The two letters after 9511 are the ECL code and would be specific to each model of car, and what "standard" axle ratio was getting replaced. Each ECL points to a different component parts sheet, which lists what parts "go away" (the standard axle, the standard speedo driven gear, and possibly the transmission if a different internal speedo drive gear was necessary for the 4.88), and what parts get added to replace those items (plus a speedo reducer if they used one for that combo).

Camaros, Chevelles and Novas would each have different axle part numbers, so would require a different ECL suffix code for each car. And if COPO 9511 covered both 4.56 and 4.88 (and 4.10 for cars that had no 4.10 RPO available), then there would be a different sub-code (the second letter) for each of those ratios.

Anyone have any Camaro or Chevelle window sticker examples with 9511?? on them?

here is a post I did on the black Yenko sold 69 Nova that has a BV code on the POP