I've built some Chevies, too, but never made a mouse/rat swap, or vise-versa. That's real interesting, though that they had the foresight to simplify things like that.
I liked the first two Nova body styles. That sounds like a fun project.
But you know with GM, Chevy was the bastard child with swaps. Buick, Olds, Pontiac and Cadillac can all swap between themselves, but Chevy was the odd man out. I always thought it was strange they did that.
My last one was a 69 Nova that began life, oddly enough as a 153 4 cylinder car. I blueprinted a 350 HP 396 for that car. Stone stock. It was not slow.
I just want to get back to basics with something. Just real tired of special and expensive parts. If I am to stay in this hobby, it is gonna have to be done as cheaply as possible. Even the RobKat is beginning to stretch the limits of the budget and it is very close to being on the road.