985cc Turbocharged Nova Sprint Car

[Lewis.]

at least it's better than some of my previous updates, which have simply been to announce that I've done nothing

I can't work out the relative positions of your sump/manifold/gearbox though. has the sump been modified, or am I up too late?

[novarally]

at least it's better than some of my previous updates, which have simply been to announce that I've done nothing

I can't work out the relative positions of your sump/manifold/gearbox though. has the sump been modified, or am I up too late?

Yes, the sump has been extensively modified.

[novarally]

Thanks goodness the engine has today been fired up for the first time since the paintwork and other rebuilding.

It needed a bit of detective work by someone cleverer than me, as I couldn't get it to spark........turns out one of the pins in the connector for the crank sensor was not pushed fully home, so I only have myself to blame.

There's now an arm-long list of jobs to be ticked off before the first race on 21st April.

[Jonlem]

Good to hear its running again

As a precaution I'd check all the connectors if you have had a pin drop out, you certainly wouldn't want it to drop a injector on full boost

[novarally]

Good to hear its running again

As a precaution I'd check all the connectors if you have had a pin drop out, you certainly wouldn't want it to drop a injector on full boost

I will check them all, but the crank sensor connector was the only one which had to be dismantled - as it passes through a tiny hole in the bulkhead, the plug had to be removed.

So at least I know it was not put back together properly (by me).

[novarally]

The Nova took a test run on Saturday afternoon, with no doors, no wings, no bonnet, no tailgate and no windscreen. Quite breezy.

The clutch has been giving us major headaches, and still isn't quite right, it looks like long term the master and/or slave cylinder will need to be changed. But hopefully it will be OK for the racing this weekend.

A few photos of it sat in my friends' workshop;







I would never have got it to this stage without his help, that's for sure. We've now spent 4 days pretty much non-stop on it.

Suspension geometry is now all set-up, the doors have now been primed, and will be top coated tomorrow. So I now have to bolt on all the bodywork (not a big job on this!).

I'll fit this rather natty new 'catch tank' tomorrow;



And then I need to make some panels to fill the rather gaping hole in the boot;





Other jobs to be ticked off are;

Getting the tyres filled with nitrogen (now available at our local tyre depot)
A bit of tidying for the wiring
Sealing up various holes in the bulkhead/floorpan
Bleeding the cooling system
Fitting the battery properly (I had to send the race battery back due to charging problems, and it's coming back to me tomorrow)
Machine polishing the paintwork
And a bunch of other little jobs, so more late nights.....

[mowgli]

colin, if there is no rule on what you need to make it out of, could i suggest using that corrugated plastic stuff they use on cheap coldframes & sell at b&q, correx it think its called... it weighs about a 1/4 of feck all...

[Nova_Tek]

Mental Nova!

[novarally]

colin, if there is no rule on what you need to make it out of, could i suggest using that corrugated plastic stuff they use on cheap coldframes & sell at b&q, correx it think its called... it weighs about a 1/4 of feck all...

I'm not familiar with that material, I was going to make it out of carbon fibre, but as I'm in a rush and don't really have time to make a lot of templates, your cheap and cheerful suggestion might be the one for me (no rules on what the infill panels are made of, so far as I am aware).

[Mike]

Crack on, looking the part now Colin!

Giving me some real good ideas/inspiration of something Im planning on building at some point.