SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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I have been posting for a few months on and off and recently listed some bits for sale so thought I would put a little about my build so potential buyers and other users can see a bit about me and what I do. 
I've been messing with cars for the best part of 14 years now. I had a few Nova's ageees ago when bits were cheap and they had a bad rep for being boy racer cars.
I sold the Nova to build a Ka RS Turbo back when people were paying Jamsport and Severn Valley about 14k. I did mine for about 2k in my garage and added alot of trick bits but sadly a van cutting me up ended it before it began or even got used in anger! I will build another one some day!
I lost interest in fast small hot hatches and got into the Euro scene so bought my Audi. I used this for a good few years until the mileage got close to 100k so I decided to sell it and move on.
I stuck with the VAG range and bought myself a Golf cab. I didn't have much free cash at the time so I stuck coilovers on it, some 9x16s and dropped a VR6 engine in. It was a really nice summer car and was super reliable.
Things picked up a bit so I started looking for Audi TT's. Somehow though I ended up with a Mini lol. I have owned this for about 4 years and still own it. It's a perfect all round car. I have used it for track days, had a mag feature and still use it for running around in. Its been through a few guises. I just stuck some image split rims on it and lowered it.
Then I wanted to make it a bit more unique and use it on track so changed the interior, wrapped it in Porsche style blue with the help of a few mates. The custom image split rims were copied by another Mini owner so I had to go a little more custom so modified some wheels off a BMW.
[Edited on 04-10-2013 by SimonTW]
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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And now onto my Nova. These are copied from my thread on PNG so they might read a bit odd.
Late last year I decided to build another Nova as a project to keep my busy and before I even got the car I started collecting bits.
19th October 2011
Nice little batch of goodies arrived yesterday. Going to burn the bushes out of the wishbones and take them for plating at the weekend.
I'm also going to burn the bushes out of the beam when that arrives from Colin and get the front hubs split so I can take them all for powdercoating.
14th December 2011
Few updates that I have been working on. Just images in chronological order
Picked up my batch from the powdercoaters. I had a look at them at the powdercoaters place but then they were all wrapped up so here is a picture of the hub carrier I unwrapped just to have a peek at.
Unwrapped a few more bits. I was hoping to assemble the beam up but I didn't get as much time in the garage as I'd hoped. I have the Golf rear disc conversion assembled onto the stub axles and the bushes fitted so shouldn't take too long to bolt together next weekend.
Mocked up the BBS for the Mini
Put the coilovers together with the compbrake topmounts
And quickly dropped the bushes into the lower arms.
I had a bit of time this morning so I partially stripped the steering rack, installed the front hubs and mounted the front coilovers. I also fired my compressor up for the first time in years so I could remove the nuts from the tie bars.
Also knocked this up.
Then I found some braided brake line from when I built my kit car and some fittings so made up the lines to fit between the flexy and the caliper.
Since these pictures I haven't really done alot. Works been busy, weather been ****, been ill and saving a little for the missus xmas pressies.
I did get some time to spend on the Mini bits too
I have had a few more bits coated. I'm going to finish assembling them and then crack on with the engine. I have my C16XE that's been sat in the garage for ages but I love my Mini Cooper S engine. It would be so awesome to get one into a Nova. I might follow that route when my lotto number come up.
I have been keeping my eyes open for the right shell but nothing that I have been 110% on. Ideally I just want to get it dipped at a place in Preston then round to my powder coaters to have the underside, inside, arches and bay powdercoated then have the outside properly painted.
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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18th December
Had some free time today. Spent most of it stripping the silicone off my BBS wheels I used to seal them with as it didn't take.
Also dug a few more bits of the Nova out. I found some of my SVA compliant nut and bolt head covers left over from the kit car so I stuck them one for attention to detail.
I also decided to put the C16XE on bike carbs. I was doing a bit of junk clearing in the garage and found an EDIS, coilpack, leads and RST wiring loom so going to use a mega jolt setup and asked Tom Reid to make me a suitable manifold so looking forward to getting that around early spring. It should make the whole installation of the engine very neat and minimal which I like the idea of.
11 January
Well not a lot to update pics wise apart from putting a deposit down on this. Thanks for Will F for getting in touch with the details.
All being well it will be sat on my drive Sunday evening.
16th January
I just hate the way the side trims look. I want it nice and clean like my previous one. I'm not even a fan of the smaller rubber style one so they have to go sadly. There will be quite a few bits destined to end up in the bin or sold. For a few hours last night I did think about having all the blue stuff recoated and making this into a normal tidy road car but I have the Mini for that so changed my mind back again.
I had a tough choice this morning. Brave it in the Nova or take the Mini with it's heated seats and windscreen... I chose the Nova 
I took some decent pictures of it too.
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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19th January
No much to report really. I have been part hunting though.
Bought some weld in seat rail kits
Some GTE bumpers
Also an SR grill and Euro rear light with fog. I'm also off to grab a set of the Astra GSi fan blade wheels from a mate this weekend.
I wasn't sure how it would all look together but found this on another thread.
I'm not sure what do do with the car colour wise.
Silver with grey bumpers and wheels.
All silver with silver wheels
All silver with grey wheel
Or stick to my original plan... All grey with blue wheels.
23rd January
Bumpers arrived but the rear is a little scabby so needs a repaint so will be doing them grey. Also will be leaving the car silver as I think it will work nicely with the blue bits etc.
This weekend I started taking bits off the car to sell.
I did some prep work on the grill I bought
Also discovered a nice oil leak whilst showing off the mint engine bay to some mates lol
26th January
My chosen Grey colour. I have stuck to the RAL colour pallet as I can then have anything powdercoated in a matching Grey.
First coat going on while I wait for my dinner to cook. Only two bumpers and 4 wheels to go!
28th January
Got a reply from the paint suppliers. Turns out they have sent me satin finish and not gloss. I'm pretty happy with the satin (standard almost) finish to it so I have decided to leave it and crack on with the front bumper.
and also the wheels (which the paint they had sent for that IS gloss)
Apart from the cock up. The Paints4u stuff is awesome. I can't believe how many cans of Halfords paint I have had over the years and failed to get a decent finish.
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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28th January
The bumper is now dry and it looks fantastic I think. The wheels could do with wet sanding and painting as they aren't quite as good as I'd like. I'm not sure if I should do the bumper again to get a nice thick coat of paint on there. I know it's going to get chipped within days of fitting it but I just hope all the paint doesn't fall off.
Another of the wheel now it's dry
29th January
Today I did some stripping. I took the majority of the interior out as it's pretty much all sold.
The passenger side carpet underfelt was a bit wet so I have a leak coming in from somewhere. Luckily the carpet hasn't been marked. I threw all the underlay away and the sponge/lead style sound deadening.
I removed the boot lock ready to smooth it over in the future. I also rigged up a ghetto boot release too lol
I also got round to changing the rocker cover gasket. Hopefully that should put a stop to the leak. I didn't get enough time to fit my coilovers fitted though which is a bit of a shame. Maybe next time I get some tinkering time.
4th Feb
I hate relying on other people to carry out work for me. I have had the seat rails welded in yesterday.
I dropped off the car and the rails I bought and told the guy to weld the rails in like the ones in this picture.
I picked the car up and he's basically welded them how he thought it should look. The front rail is about 4" backwards to the one in the picture and the rear one has been welded in so it lines up with the back of the seat frame meaning I have no room for adjustment.
I did mention he might need to trim the standard rails. I didn't want the spot welds drilling out as the floor would end up damaged. The floors ended up damaged and he has had to weld holes left by removing the bracket and the drivers side is just rough cut so also looks cack. What's done is done though so I picked up some red oxide primer to get it all protected.
6th Feb
The welds are all good. I can't place the brackets on the front side of the front rail as the rear of the side mount wouldn't even touch the rear rail/bracket.
I do try to attempt most things myself rather than rely on anybody. I had some welding done by him a few weeks back on my cage and it was good which is why I took it to him, but I was there during the cage alterations though to oversee it and make sure it was spot on. I thought the picture I supplied would have been good enough to work from this time as I wasn't able to be there. I guess I need to learn to weld properly next.
I spent a bit of time yesterday clearing out the grinding dust and filth that was coating the entire inside of the car.
I then decided to get cracking on some more messing. I fitted the GTE bumper as it is as I find it easier to sand while its mounted. There is a lot of flakey paint I need to get rid of so that will be an ongoing thing. I also fitted the JOM coilovers I'd picked up as a temporary set to get the car a bit lower and fitted the Astra wheels I'd been painting.
18th Feb
I haven't really touched, driven or looked at the car since the seat disaster. I have been doing a few bits and generally wasting my time and money.
Edd kindly did me a deal on a rear brace. It's a perfect grey colour to match the bumpers too which is nice. I'll use that to mount my harnesses too probably.
I bought a pair of standard mirrors as I have been finding it difficult to use just the one small one to reverse out of the drive and down my road and the mattig ones I ordered never turned up. These were odd colours so I gave them a spray. I'm not sure if they would look better in silver so I may end up trying to get some spare covers to spray silver to swap them as I please.
28th Feb
Yeah. I didn't think there was any plastic in there. Ah well, got a nice garage ornament to show for it.
As the weather was nice yesterday I decided to take a look at the mess that was the seat rails. I painted the bare metal with some redoxide to stop any rust forming
The mess he made welding the old seat rail holes up 
Here's how the camber and toe in looked before I started tweeking as it was pretty undrivable like this.
Here's how the tracking looked after a bit of playing. Almost perfect just by sight but at least I can take it to be properly set up now.
Anyone know a way to remove the aerial without the hole normally found in the inner arch or is it a wing off job
General picture of the overall condition. If I want to graviguard inside here and paint it would I need to strip back all the factory underseal or will I just get away with cleaning it and making sure its fully dried out.
I had a bit of free time left so set about starting the battery relocation
I also tried taking the wheel off. I tried a bit of heat the a bit of WD40 but didn't have any luck. I think I might have to invest in a proper puller as I need my nice sparco wheel fitted.
I took the car out today though to see how it drove and I love it. Looking forward to getting my polybushes, quick rack, and other bits fitted. I need to get the MOT sorted next month first though.
7th March
My engine arrived yesterday and it all looks spot on as I'd hoped. I just need to pick up a few extra bits like the radiator top hose and a throttle cable. Not bad for a full engine conversion for £140 thats done 80k and had its cambelt done! Bargain!
I got a fuel tank sorted too. I spotted this badly listed item on ebay the other day and noticed it was an injection tank.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Nova-Fuel-Tank-/251007072299?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a712ff82b#ht_500wt_1361
Offered him £40, but didn't get a reply but ended up winning it for £26. I also bought a Sytec pump and filter and going to call in at B&Q on my way home to pick up some 8mm copper pipe.
I'd like to get to a point where I have everything ready to attack the car and get it converted over a weekend at the end of the month.
24th March
Not alot to update as I have been busy the last few weekends. Just mainly collecting a few little bits to build the running gear up.
Brakes coated and built up
Driveshafts, no point but as I was having the calipers done.
And the same with the tank straps
This morning I thought I'd redrill my discs. I used the 4x100 spacer I used for redrilling my BBS wheels. By a brilliant stroke of luck the spacer was an exact fit into the back of the disc so with that being bang of centre I just popped a few holes through them. The picture on the left shows the reverse of the disc with the spacer placed in.
24th March
As the weather was nice I did a bit more on the car.
Built my gauge panel up. I want to keep the original clocks so got myself a 52mm rev counter, water temp and oil pressure gauge in an old school style
Made the wiring loom for it
My garage find Jetex filter ready to go
Built up the front running gear. I just need to add the brake pads and whack it on there
All wrapped up ready to put away until go time
Shot of the power plant. Needs more cleaning though.
4th April
MOT is due on the 10th so I have finally finished my battery relocation and washer bottle relocation. I ended up having to use the washer pump off the old bottle as the new one (albeit not been used since I bought it about 5 years ago) didn't work. It will be nice to be able to wash the window again as I removed the old one about a month ago.
I've also been meaning to remove the roof lining to sell and make the car a little more stripped out. After about 2 mins it tore as it was quite brittle so I just ripped and cut it out. I still have a little cleaning to do on the insulation that was stuck to the roof skin.
6th April
I got home from work last night and got cracking with removing the wiring and plumbing from the engine.
This morning I woke up full of a cold but decided to crack on anyway. I got the old engine out and fuel lines off and transferred the mounts and a few other bits over to the new engine.
And then two things held me up. The first was the drivers side out cv circlip isn't visible to get the pliers into. I will have to brake cleaner it and hope it's tucked away somewhere.
And found this lurking under the radiator. I'm pretty gutted as on the whole the car is really solid. This will put the car on hold for a while until I can get it sorted.
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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14th April
I decided to get the car running then I can drive it to someone who can do the weld repair and strengthening plate on the front panel for me. I'm going to use the lads up at Coastal Racing who do bits of work on my Mini and race in the Mini challenge so they should be able to sort pretty easily.
Tonight I went outside to extend the wires on the speed sensor before I ordered some takeaway. I ended up dragging the engine out of the garage and getting it mounted in the car. It feels a lot tighter in the engine bay than I remember it being last time. I can start on neatening everything up and sorting the wiring tomorrow
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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The servo has been causing me problems. I tried to re assemble more of the engine this weekend. The throttle body to afm pipe has an oil breather pipe attached. Once fitted it makes contact with the servo. I tried to trim the pipe down a little bit but its not really got enough clearance. I've now cut it off and blocked it up completely with tigerseal. I'll have to drill and re-add the pipe into the bottom of the hose maybe.
I also tidied the bay up with some split wiring cover.
General WIP sunshine picture
Few more bits completed making the most of the nice weather this bank hol weekend.
EBC Redstuff V6 Brake Pads
Stealthed them up with a bit of rattle can action so they don't look too noticeable behind the wheels.
Painted the slam panel brace to match the bumper so it's not as noticeable.
Front suspension all built up and refitted.
Up behind the fuel tank area. Nice and clean and mint around the tank vent area.
I didn't get much chance to take many other pictures as I was filthy but I managed to get the car built back up and got the engine running after tracing a dodgy earth causing it not to spark. I took it for a quick spin round the block and it all seems fine. I was very wary doing this as once I built the red one and took it for a spin I smashed a piston into the head. It's very tappy from the top end but I think it could be down to a lifter being a bit dry after being stood without oil for so long. Hopefully this will sort itself out with a bit more gentle running.
14th May
Something that has bugged me for a while was the leftover mess from when the guy who welded the seat rails in kindly offered to remove the sound deadening from the floorpan for not much money
A bit more of a reliable friend of mine who does detailing saw it and told me he had some spray that would remove it. I was a bit sceptical as it was fairly hard and having had a poke at it with a screwdriver it didn't seem to want to budge. Anyway, I sprayed the floorpan, left it for 10 minutes and the wiped it off. I'm pretty amazed at the results. I just have a few bit bits left. Having removed it all has revealed the mess of a floor pan that has loads of chisel dings in it now.
19th May
Bit of tinkering for Saturday before work, at lunch and a bit to come after work.
I sold the side strips that were fitted to the car as they were heavy and badly painted but as it's been fitted with the small mounting pegs coming out they look a little messy. I got a really good price for them on ebay so I decided to try my luck and keep my eyes open for some replacements. Count Vaux Alot listed some for sale so I quickly jumped on them as they were about half the price of the ones I sold.
They arrived in great condition but a little green from being mouldy I presume so I cleaned them up and got busy with my grey rattle cans.
After cleaning
A quick spray with my direct to PVC paint from Paints 4 U
I also masked up and acid etched the coilovers I'll be fitting when I fit my powdercoated hubs and V6 brakes. I'll probably just give these a quick blast with the Grey too to keep them from corroding up.
22nd May
If I go down the TX route I'll get it painted or powder coated black for a nice oem look. I'm going to also try mounting the fan onto the inside of the rad just incase it works better in pull mode rather than push mode.
Few more bits done on Sunday.
Coilovers all painted up and ready to fit.
I'm well happy with the finish and they should stay looking nice for a long while. Almost seems a shame to fit them 
I picked up both the side trims that I'd been painting and noticed the tolerances for the front wing moulds must have been a little out lol
2nd June
I had a bit of time off work so I decided to swap all the front hubs, brakes and coilovers over to my new parts.
First off was modifying the strut top area. I had seen Iains pictures so used these as my guide and took it easy with the hand file.
Brakes before
Brakes after. Changing the topmounts has given the car a little more drop too which is nice. I was struggling getting the car any lower without changing the springs or using spacers to give more clearance behind the tyre.
They are a tight fit. Not sure if the blue is a bit too much though.
And an engine bay shot with an engine cover I painted up
I'm just waiting on my rear discs to come back from machining them from 57.1mm down to 56.5mm and then I can swap the beam over.
[Edited on 13-10-2012 by willay]
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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12th June
I managed up a decent condition boggo grey bumper for reasonable money so whipped the GTE splitter off the old bumper and attached it to the grey one.
Being grey it matches the wheels and front bumper/grill a lot better and it's in much better condition than the GTE one. I just need to give it a good clean and get some plastic bumper treatment on it to make it all the same colour.
Then I had a bit of a break till the 11th August
First off a hose burst on the back of the engine so I needed to replace that. Luckily I have a full spare C16XE engine so I dug out a replacement hose and that fixed the problem. While I had the coolant drained I filled it up with the distilled water and the water wetter solution. I haven't added any antifreeze at the moment. I also changed the thermostat for the 82 degree one I bought from LMF to try and stabilise the coolant temps a little. Since fitting the thermostat and changing the coolant the temp doesn't go above 100 degrees even when driving it hard even on hot days.
Sadly, while I was pulling onto the drive to fix the hose I managed to clip the wall and damaged the bumper. I mangled it good and proper! The seem to be a very rare part now though so I'm struggling to find something to replace it. I also managed to catch the wing and kink it splitting the paint. DOH! I'm a moron!
I rebuilt and fitted a quick rack I bought a while ago. While doing this I managed to damage the internal bush so it ended up having play in it once fitted. Luckily I managed to pick up a reconditioned unit that had been on a steering rack suppliers shelf for 12 years. It was a bit of a bargain at £30 delivered. While fitting the new rack that I encountered another problem with the track rod ends I'd fitted with it. The nuts rounded off which meant I had to take a grinder to them. I think once pulled into position there isn't many threads making contact and its just shreaded them. A new, better set of track rod ends later meant I was back on the road!
I also cocked up by buying a off the shelf strut brace, then getting it powder coated in my favourite colour. When I tried to fit it I found out it wouldn't go on due to the topmounts so I needed to take a flap wheel to the fresh powdercoat.
To cheer myself up I bought some Whiteline roll bars only to find out the Corsa B ones aren't a direct fit to the Nova. I should have also done a little research into them before buying but maybe I can heat up and bend the roll bar to make it fit. I have been doing some research on the internet and it seems like it should be doable.
I'm a little closer to being ready for a track day but I'm also toying with selling up as I drove the Mini for the first time in ages and the power and razor sharp handling blew me away. I'd forgot what a little rocket it was!
12th August
Another little update with other goings on.
I found a cheap second hand Pipercross Viper kit so decided an enclosed filter would be better for track days. It came in the dashing shade of red. A quick blast with some paint later makes such a big difference to the looks.
I had an idea to route a cold air feed through the headlight (for day use) but obviously I would need to retain an indicator to be legal and so people could see the indicator, hazards if being used on track. I had a spare headlight so salvaged the backing plate to mount the indicator onto. The nice round hole in the middle will be good to mount the cold air feed too.
Another problem I was having is when I was cornering hard the camber would slip and throw the alignment out due to the coilovers having elongated holes for camber adjustment. I got a spare set of front coilovers and had a washer welded onto the hole to use with an Eibach camber bolt. Since doing this mod I have had no camber changes when cornering.
After damaging the bumper I have been searching ebay for a new one to paint and fit to make the car look a little more respectable. I managed to find an auction on ebay for a Nova being broken for spares. I recognised the car straight away as it's one of my favourite Nova's
As with most things the seller described the bumper as just needing paint so I made a trip to Newcastle to collect. I managed to get the full front bumper from £80 which I think is a fair price. The plough is in need of totally stripping and painting and two small scuffs repairing. It did come with all the screw covers, towing eye cover, two end brackets, rubber top seal but only four of the plastic brackets so it's pretty much complete. I'm not going to bother sanding it down as it would need totally stripping back as no primer has been used. I found someone local who does soda blasting which is a safe paint removal method that can be used on plastics withouth causing any damage to the plastic or the texture. I would prefer an SR/GTE front so if anyone fancys a straight swap for SR bumper and grill for my plough and bumper let me know. Any colour bumper considered.
22nd August
Time is quickly approaching the track day at Oulton Park I want to do mid September and there is still a fair bit I want to get done in time for it.
I have been messing with coilovers for it pretty much since I bought it. I have had a few cheap sets on there to get an idea of what open and closed length dampers would be good and to get an idea of what spring sizes would lower the car the amount I wanted. I didn't want to go full coilover on the rear and I also didn't want to use AVO or GAZ.
After much faffing I decided to go for the AP adjustable coilovers. They are pretty much KW Variant 2 Basic coilovers. I placed the order but when the invoice came through it said the rears weren't damping adjustable which I thought was bizzare as they are advertised as an adjustable coilover, so I cancelled the order. I thought about the KW V3 for a while but I just can't justify the money for them at the moment. In the end I went for the Spax RSX as they were running a Diamond Jubilee trade offer of 50% off which they extended for me. The Spax kit is a really nice kit, the only downside is the rear springs were longer than what I want to run so the car won't sit that low on the rear end.
The bump stops and dust covers that came in the kit were very cheap and looked like they would break at any time so I ditched them in favour of some Powerflex ones. I also swapped the upper spring cap over to a shallower one just to get a few extra mm of lowering from them. I always ditch the helpers too just so I can run the spring platform higher up to give more clearance for the wheels.
Once I had fitted the rear kit to the car I set the dampers to soft and then hard to see how much difference there was in the movement. With them set all the way to soft I was really surprised at how much movement/travel there is in the springs. I have seen a few people switching to stiffer springs on the rear. This is a bit harder to do with the standard style spring but I have a set of springs in the garage from my old Audi after I fitted the air ride system. Looking at the Audi ones next to the budget Nova ones they are a lot shorter but also a fair bit stiffer. Can anyone see any problems with trying these on the car from a safety aspect? Would a stiffer spring help improve the handling as it would if I was using a GAZ rear coilover?
My Whiteline roll bars turned up. I had been panicking about not being able to use them.
The aren't a direct fit as I pretty much already knew but after looking at Mierans guide having bolts welded to the underside of the beam seemed the best way forward. Drilled a new hole and using a bolt is pretty much a no go due to the way the beam is made.
I'm off to get the bolts welded to the beam today which is no big deal. The main hassle will be doing this to my blue beam when I swap them over eventually!
I decided to add a vacuum gauge to the heater vent. No real reason other than I could and I thought it might be useful to monitor what the air flow is like
I'm also currently waiting on some pictures from Prey of my black flocked dash to replace my brown one with.
I finally got round to fitting my rear strut brace that I've had in the garage for ages.
Mounted using some big spreader plates so I can mount my harnesses to it.
I bought a replacement bumper from Mieran to replace my damaged one. Finding a decent GTE/SR one is a nightmare so this will do to neaten the car up until I can find a better one. I have pretty much decided to sell the plough. I thought I would like it once fitted but after trying it on the car I wasn't all that keen.
I sold the damaged one to Scott.Parker so it's worked out alight in the end and hasn't ended up costing me too much to sort out.
27th August
I made a quick trip to my local friendly welder who kindly opened up on a bank holiday to help me out (what a guy!) with welding the bolts to the beam to mount the roll bar.
Whiteline roll bar now mounted! JOY!
And an arty farty black and white shot
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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This weekend I had a break from messing the suspension and decided to work on the interior as not much could go wrong with that.
Dash out. A nice, simple job until I dropped the instrument cluster and kicked it pretty much ruining it. I also took a bit of time to remove the rest of the heater system that was behind the old dash which saves a bit more weight.
Nice shot of the dash in. Having it fitted not only actually looks great but does make a lot of difference to the glare and reflection up onto the screen.
I also got round to finally relocating the battery to the boot using the terminal posts in the driver footwell.
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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Awful weather and worse to come, no blowers or heaters. How could I make driving this any worse
And there we go, bang up to date on the Nova project.
Thanks for looking!
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craig55
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Registered: 12th Jun 10
Location: Bristol
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Seen this in wills garage realy is immaculate with hardly any rust
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Darryl H
Organiser: South Central
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Registered: 19th Nov 09
Location: Camberley Drives: Porsche 944
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Great work mate, love the cars you've owned and great work on the nova
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Linch
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Registered: 4th May 06
Location: Whickham, Tyne and Wear
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Seen this on PNG Great work, More novas are making me think about mine again!!
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*CorsaCal*
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Registered: 3rd Oct 10
Location: Leicestershire Drives: 20XE Corsa
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Mate this is gonna be bloody beautiful! love all the cars youve owned! (except the KA although it would have been rapid) Keep it up
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ArdenblueDan
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Registered: 23rd Aug 12
Location: Basildon
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Dude this car is beautiful love the attention to detail that you have too keep it up
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willay
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Organiser: South East, National Events
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Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
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awesome thread/read! keep up the updates man
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M Sutton
Member
Registered: 11th Jan 03
Location: Northamptonshire
User status: Offline
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Seen this on PNG, all your cars are/have been stunning!!
Keep this thread updated as I've got a project nova and I'm always looking for ideas 
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gidged500
Premium Member
Registered: 18th Aug 09
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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Need to get it on some track days ! I'm game when mines done !
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DansCorsaSXi
Organiser: Yorkshire
Premium Member
Registered: 13th Jan 10
Location: Worksop
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Darryl H
Great work mate, love the cars you've owned and great work on the nova
Star silver C20XE SXi Project thread
Smoke Grey Corsa GSi Project thread
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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Thanks for the kind comments! Much appreciated.
Really the best project I have ever undertaken is the wheels for the Mini. I'm so proud of them and to look at them on the car you would just pass them off as a regular set of wheels.
Heres a bit about what went into them.
Thought I'd also add a little bit about the wheels on the Mini. Might interest a few people.
I bought some BMW 328i RC041 wheels for about £50 (7.5x17" 5x120 PCD)
But being 5x120 and not being able to use adapters I had to fill and redrill so bought a lathe and made some plugs
As I was going to so much work on the inners I decided I should make the barrels wider. For this I had to cut the lips of them. I didn't have a big enough lathe so this was done by hand.
I then ordered new lips from image and set about drilling them for the new wheels.
Then I drilled the new PCD using a hubcentric spacer
And then once everything had come together I ended up with 7.75" and 8.75" BBS RC041 with staggered lips in 4x100.
Here is a picture of the wheel redrill.
Then I had to go about modifying a set of tuner bolts to suit them. As regular tuner bolts were too long on the heads and too wide.
[Edited on 13-10-2012 by SimonTW]
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vx-scottw
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Feb 11
Location: sheffield
User status: Offline
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Nice looking cars you've had there mate some good money spent
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Sean
Member
Registered: 14th Sep 10
Location: Eastbourne, BN23 7AZ
User status: Offline
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Looks great! I am having the same problem with people who think they can weld and do more damage than good!! Only got the engine bay and wheel well not looking forward to it atall!! Also got a name of that stuff for removing the sound deadening left overs? Got to tackle my interior soon he undersealed the rear of the car 
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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Yeah they have absorbed alot of cash over the years. I dont drink or smoke so its my only vice I guess.
The product I used on the deadening leftover was autosmart tardis. Its a trade product but can be bought off ebay.
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Sean
Member
Registered: 14th Sep 10
Location: Eastbourne, BN23 7AZ
User status: Offline
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I'm the same, don't drink, don't smoke... Work a lot got my mrs and the car  cheers for the name, ill ring around a few part factors we use at work :thumbs
Also going to have the same problem with steamy windows too got no heaters/blowers and polycarb all round with sliders in front 2 haha
[Edited on 13-10-2012 by Sean]
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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This is awsome! I defently want to be able to pay this much attention to detail with a project soon! Also in the same boat as you and sean, most of my income is on the car and i treat the mrs every once in a while Lots like alot of work went into those wheels! they look great
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