ryan docherty
Member
Registered: 27th Aug 09
Location: glasgow (coatbridge) or little ireland
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Quality nova project seen more novas shown up on corsasport now lovin it
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
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Perspex with no heaters on a daily is a nightmare when its raining or damp. It a lifestyle choice though and thankfully I have the Mini to use when it all gets too much and I'm sure it will in the coming months. I've got my wedding in march so once I have that all paid for I can start spending a bit of money on sorting the shell out. PNG is very quiet compared to here. MIG has so much going on I struggle to follow it but this forum has a good balance of banter, chat and techy build threads.
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ianofbhills
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Registered: 10th Feb 01
Location: newcastle
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Definitely remember your yellow nova from back in the day.
I think i sold you some springs at pvs in like 2003 or something.
New project looks awesome I'll be watching this.
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Mark.W
Member
Registered: 3rd Jan 07
Location: County Durham
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Fantastic little nova mate love the attention to detail keep it up 
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Martin W
Organiser: South East
Premium Member
Registered: 10th Aug 09
Location: Welling, Greater London
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brilliant work so far! 
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sam-6
Member
Registered: 18th Nov 09
Location: Totnes, devon
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Wow what a great thread! Love all the attention to the small bits that make your nova look great! Keep it up!
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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Cheers guys! Yes I remember Ian! Do you still have Decs old one or is it long gone?
Well I've been looking into replacing the upper inlet for a while but due to most of the budget offerings on the market looking cheap, bulky and boxy I have never bothered doing it. I spotted this up for sale though the other day so decided to snap it up.
And I'll obviously need one of these with mine being a C16
It would obviously be insane to fit them at they are so I think a trip to the powdercoaters will be in order.
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gidged500
Premium Member
Registered: 18th Aug 09
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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Inlet looks good I need to find one now ! You decided on what colour your going for ?
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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Not 100% sure yet.
I saw this while googling which is the blue rocket/inlet combo I was thinking of.
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gidged500
Premium Member
Registered: 18th Aug 09
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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Yes ! Inlet looks ace not sure about the rocker though :s
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willay
Moderator
Organiser: South East, National Events
Premium Member
Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
User status: Offline
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project on the wheels is 
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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Rocker cover will look good in blue. It will brighten the bay up.
Cheers Willay!
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Kev_GSI
Member
Registered: 9th Oct 04
Location: C:\Uk\Chester_North West
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Simon me old fruit i wondered when you where going to crack on with this
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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I'm always on with doing bits to it when I can. I gave up updating on mig as it felt like I was talking to myself lol.
I keep finding myself looking for very clean basic spec Corsa B's lately. A nice black bumpered boggo one to slam on some speedlines and use as a daily.
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
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I did a bit of stripping on the mantzel and manifold today ready to be sent off for coating but I have a few questions
I bought an EGR blanking plate but there is a flange on the side of the inlet. What bolts onto that? Anyone got a close up of how it looks on the engine?
Also on the front of the manifold I have two threaded bosses. One is for the brake servo pipe but I'm not sure what that other is for. Anyone able to clear that up for me?
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SimonTW
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Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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Well its a year to the day that I made the trip to pick up my Nova so I thought I'd stick a little update up.
With the weather being rubbish lately and over xmas (and not having a garage to work in) progress has been a little slow.
I have been buying a few little bits for it though.
I have been putting off doing my rear disc conversion until I could get a proper bias setup for it to stop me having any locking up rear problems.
I just had this arrive this morning for use with the bias box. I also managed to pick up a second hand line lock too for a few quid.
I'd filled in a few engine mounts with Tiger Seal a while back so while I was messing with the suspension I changed the gearbox one that I hadn't previously got round to.
While I was messing around in the garage I trial fitted one of the BBS off the Mini. I reckon with custom dishes and baskets to make them a 16" wheel they would look awesome! But then one wheel would be worth as much as the car.
I also got round to fitting the modified Spax units I had made ages ago too. I ditched the Spax springs and put them on with some Mk4 Golf 1.8T springs I had lying around just to see how the car would handle. I had been getting some tyre to arch contact on hard cornering (as can been seen from the mullered arches). Adding a stiffer spring has improved the comfort which I'm surprised about but it also handles a lot better too. I'm thinking of sticking a set of Golf springs on the rear aswell to see what it drives like with them on. Overall I'm really happy with my Spax setup now though.
I still need to get round to fitting my Mantzel and the front polycarb windows. I'm also keeping my eyes out for a 4 point bolt in cage to just for a bit of safety. I don't want to go the whole hog with a 6 point weld in one just yet as I think it would slow it down a little too much.
Hopefully once my weddings all sorted in March I can see about getting on a track day or taking it on a trip to the ring.
I know. Maybe one day when it's looking mint I will go to the effort of turning them into a 16".
Just been out and took a picture of the car too looking very sorry for itself.
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Sean
Member
Registered: 14th Sep 10
Location: Eastbourne, BN23 7AZ
User status: Offline
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 you got a link to the kit you used for relocating the battery?
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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No sorry. It didn't come as a kit. I get all my bits from car builder solutions. I found them when I built my kit car but they are very good for random build parts. http://www.nfauto.co.uk/
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wyley
Member
Registered: 2nd Jun 12
Location: Ireland
User status: Offline
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Savage build man bit early for my apprenticship training and read it. Top notch work
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Christopher
Member
Registered: 14th Oct 10
Location: Eastbourne
User status: Offline
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Such an awsome thread!
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flybikeslee
Member
Registered: 2nd Jan 07
Location: Liverpool
User status: Offline
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nice project, will be watching this!
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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(Copied and pasted from my thread on PNG.)
Not a lot to update but a few small goings on been happening. (It's a real pain not having somewhere covered to work and not had much time or cash free due to the wedding.)
Since buying the car I have always wanted it to look its best (even though it's a ****ty old Nova). Being pretty old now parts are becoming difficult to find. After going through a few different SR bumpers in average condition I decided to bite the bullet and buy a brand new one from Germany (It cost over half what the car cost me) but it was supposed to be perfect. When it came through I left it packaged up so it didn't get damaged but after recently unwrapping it to have a nosey it's going to need painting as it's not up to scratch.
A brand new SR grill
Brand new Hella indicators.
I'm currently saving for a pair of brand new genuine wings. They are about £150 each though so got a small wait until I can get those yet. I'm also going to go for a new rear bumper but that's about £200
Some new mesh style wheels (for until I can afford some E49's). I've decided to go gold with polished lips on these)
With having the bias box ready to be fitted it seemed pointless having the large holes in the front of the performance inlet manifold that are for the brake servo vacuum so for super neatness I got these welded up. I've also bought a couple of cans of VHT crackle black which I'll paint alot of the engine parts with.
Few little bits arrived today.
Home made brake lines will either be epic win or possible death causing fail.
And now I think it's time for a respray. I'm dreading it as I've never had paintwork done before. :S
There was a few marks on the bumper where its gone through the grey and you can see the yellow colour beneath but obviously yellow on grey is pretty noticeable
This morning I thought I'd have a dabble with the crackle. I sprayed a few bits, most of the floor at work and also my hands but hopefully it should turn out okay.
For those who haven't used it before... It's basically applied to bare clean metal with no primer. It needs 3 heavy coats with 5 minutes drying time between coats.
Pics after 3 coats:
Not very crackly so far but it needs 2 hours before it starts to wrinkle up. 24 hours to dry and 48 hours before assembling the parts back up.
No, the instructions say it can be dried at room temp for 48 hours or 20 mins in the oven but that gives tighter wrinkles. Luckily I have a little makeshift oven set up in my office
Well a few hours into drying and still no wrinkles at all so I decided to whack some heat on it.
and 10 mins later
another 10 mins later the wrinkles are tightning nicely
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Bprice91
Member
Registered: 2nd Oct 12
Location: Swindon
User status: Offline
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brilliant thread buddy will be keeping my eye on this
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gidged500
Premium Member
Registered: 18th Aug 09
Location: Lancashire
User status: Offline
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Turned out really well that crackle paint ! I'm defo gonna do my rocker , looking forward to seeing my old expressions on the nova
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SimonTW
Member
Registered: 28th Jan 12
User status: Offline
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With Christmas, New Year, some birthdays and now my wedding all completed I decided I can get back to spending some time and money on the Nova before it's time for starting a family. It's actually pretty much a year since I completed the engine conversion and I haven't really done anything on the engine side since then. I stripped down the front end to give it a good clean as it's been a salty winter and the car has been battered by it. I also want to throw on the new bumpers, inlet manifold etc and get it painted in May.
Front end all stripped down.
I gave the front end a good clean up to remove all the salt and thought I'd finally take a look at the rust on the cross member I ignored last year. At this point I got depressed and decided to use the Mini and leave the Nova until seeking some advice on the best way of going about the repair.
I'm on a bit of a downer about it as it's gone from being a fairly nice car to rusting all over which I know is just part of Nova ownership. Keeping it mint and using it in all weathers is impossible. I'm toying with selling it at the moment and putting my spray job fund towards it and buying something decent. I just know I would miss owning/driving it if I did that.
I have got it booked in tomorrow to have the front crossmember welded up, seam welded and also plated to strengthen it which should improve the handling a fair bit.
Also bought some other new bits which turned up. I ordered them whilst on my honeymoon (gotta love free wifi in the hotel!) lol
Roose silicone hoses in OEM matt black. I can't fault Roose at all. They sent the wrong rad top hose but even though it was bank holiday weekend they got it sorted next available working day for me!
And as stainless hose clips are too blingy for my plans I got some matt black stainless Mikalor ones.
I also decided to strip down an old throttle body to see how painting it crackle would turn out. It's not bad but not great as its difficult to get an even coat onto it. It will look better than the dull cast alloy anyway.
as I've got it booked in tomorrow to have that cross member sorted so while I was putting it back together I decided to throw on my new front bumper, new amber hellas, new sr grill and also re-cover all the engine bay loom in cloth tape.
Very happy with the way it looks now! I'm pretty excited about getting it sprayed!
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