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Thread: Nathans Nova Fun Project

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    Default Nathans Nova Fun Project

    Hi PNG Fellow Members, some of you will already have seen my Nova on here through random posts and at shows last year but I thought its time i finally do a project thread.

    Pic Heavy.
    I have had this car since i started to drive, previously owned a nova before that to play with when i was 15 also which got sold on.
    Since owning this car ive had a further 4 novas, 2 gsi's, one was a nice blue but rotten and was scrapped, a pearl blue rj automotives one with turbo 1.6 conversion which some may have seen me in a few years ago and a black 1.2 gte lookalike which i also did a few shows in before selling on.
    But there is something i love especially about the nova ive kept all these years.

    After driving the car for a couple of years after passing my test i decided to go for a complete rebuild on the car and wanted something to mess about with on weekends so took the car off the road and stripped it back to a bare shell.
    Over 8 years yes a long time i have finally got it back together and on the road now stored away in my garage.

    It started life as a 1.2 spi FUN and i went through the dreaded bodykit phase.











    And the now for the process of the strip down
    Last edited by Nutty Nova; 06-02-18 at 11:30 AM.

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    So now i started to take the car apart piece by piece and using the Nova GSI i scrapped i used most of the components to build up my fun to a gsi design but i also wanted to go wider with the arches so i ended
    up buying a wide arch kit from a company called SID. cant say ive seen anyone else with this wider kit as its not massive.
    Anyway i went with it and this is how things progressed









    Inner arches were cleaned up, i removed the undersealer from every part of the car and resealed the whole thing including the bottom of the car on axle stands with a wire wheel


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    engine now out i could make a start on tidying up the bay and repairing any rust areas, it was fairly good news as i did not have much to deal with


    I removed my gmax shocks and decided then to go with the AVO coilover kit to get the drop i was looking for


    More rust patched and repaired


    They taped the arches on to see how they would look

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    After removing some of the rear arches to get an idea of how much to cut away i was greated by this underneath my side skirts so this had to be repaired first



    I then worked how much i could remove to get the low drop i was looking for without tyres rubbing and so on so trimmed and welded inner and outer arches for a water tight rear end

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    I then top coated all the rear end and moved onto fitting the rear arches





    And then had an idea for a badboy bonnet which i bonded together but later decided against it but it went on for a couple of weeks

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    I then continued to get on with the bodywork sorting out all the areas then needed repairs and fitting up the front wings ready to fit the wider arches


    I also decided to move the filler cap and fibreglass sheeted over the original filler point in the wider arches, welded up the vent in the drivers door area and cut a hole and sealed through the inner arches to meet my new fuel cap.


    After another trip out to newport i visited welsh coast customs and picked up this louvered bonnet


    After moving away from this bodykit look i also decided to get rid of my smooth boot for something semi smooth so went and got myself a mk1 boot and smoothed over the lock and wiper holes.



    At this point i needed to get finishing touches done and into paint so i took the car over to a place within an hour of hereford where they fitted my wider front arches and gave it a full respray in lamborghini white


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    Finally a couple of weeks later i get her home and start to do my refitting of parts, While it was away i took my old gsi components in to be powdercoated with the rear axle and front hubs etc ready to go on once it was all nice and clean




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    Loving those 'small' wide arches, would barely know the rears are not OE.

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    I then went onto rebuild the front gsi calipers and fit the coilover suspension



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    Will update some more later, sposed to be working today but its nearly christmas so dont want to do too much

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