Keeping the Mrs Happy (project no 3)

[joff-turbo-nova]

Been a bit busy with other matters like the F1 at Silverstone and VBOA Billing, and getting the nova going again (which it is!) .

Anyway spent some time over the weekend finishing off the rear door - seems the rear regulator has been broken twice - there were two bottom tensioners in the bottom of the door ...



The plastic lifter part is a different design - the new one is all plastic - the broken mechanism has a metal sleeve around the lifter....





Anyway got the new mechanism installed and fully working , also took the opportunity to waxoyl the inside of the door....



Repaired the moisture membrane ....



And installed the VXR door card...



Also started refurbing the rear springs....



And rear dampers....



Managed to start replacing the all the brake lines with cunifer - not the straightest of pipes but they aren't going to rust ! Just need to do the other 4 pipes around the car and that's another job sorted!



I have some brake pipe separators coming which will neaten the job up a bit.

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

Did some engine bits last night ....

Swapped out the thermostat housing for a new one - the old one was looking rather tired...



Took the throttle body off...



To find it rather gunged up....





So proceeded to clean with carb cleaner....



Changed out the spark plugs for GM ones - the old ones were a bit sooty - I think from the very short stop/start journeys up and down my drive and around the yard at Coparts ...





Also changed the pollen filter - I don't think this has ever been done ...

Old


New


Got some silcone coolant hoses on order so should be able to get the front end built up sometime soonish - need to do a cambelt & waterpump change whilst access is easier.

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

More engine work today , I decided it was time to change the cambelt - so stripped the inner arch out of the offside....



And removed the cambelt cover , seems the original cambelt is still in residence....





So stripped the rest of the side of the engine and removed the auxillary belt and gubbings. Then tried to undo the tensioner pulley which did not go well , teeth duly stripped....



Again it was a drill or MIG time - limited access put drilling out a distance second , so out came the MIG welder again and a quick buzz saw the bolt off in no time (well about 15 minutes by the time I had got the welder out , buzzed a smaller nut on, which duly fell off, then buzzed a bigger nut on which worked and then packed up the MIG again).....



Anyway with the cambelt off the idlers came next and then the water pump , which when removed ejected a load of old coolant onto my shoulder .... nice ....



Old pump was the original factory GM pump, new pump was also GM so fitted without issues....



New idlers and tensioner installed with a new belt....





Also found some silcone hose in my spare which replaced a couple of hoses...



Amazon delivered the new dash cam which should record any of the issues my wife seems to have with other road users (always seems to be someone jumping out at roundabouts or pulling out in front of her - time and the recordings will tell!)




A new gear linkage also arrived this morning which has the metal side to side bar, rather than the plastic on which goes all wonky over time and makes gear selection a bit of a mare...



Offside suspension work tomorrow weather permitting.

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

Stripped the offside wing off and got busy with the hammerite again.....



Also installed the revamped damper (see above) - however then realised that the roll bar link bar bracket and Abs wire bracket were on the wrong side of the damper - seems I may have mixed up the sides - soon sorted this out - doh !

Hammerited the previously removed wing...



Then set about the engine bed which was rather rusty for some reason. Not sure what's going on with this car, but for a car that has lived in Wakefield all its life (about 80 miles from the nearest coast) it seems remarkably rusty in some areas..



The afore mentioned crustiness ....





Got busy stripping the bed of all its components...



And then got the wire wheel attachment going in the drill to zubb off all the rusty bits and then treated with Bilt Hamber rust converter stuff.

Next up was a good use of wheelie bins....



And more Hammerite!

Whilst waiting for the Hammerite to dry got busy building up the nearside hub...



Next up was the waxoyl and then rebuilding the trim at the top of the engine bay..



Tomorrow its rebuilding the engine bed with the various components and reinserting back into the engine bay.

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

Quick update...

Engine bed rebuilt with new bottom arms, roll bar bushes, link bars and track rods and ends for the rack...



Replaced the gear linkage but seems very tight moving between the gears, I think I will have to remove again and sand down the central plastic spacers which were tight on reassembly...



Got the engine bed reinstalled , connected up all the suspension pickup points and installed the radpack and front crash bar...



Also installed the Roose hoses for both top and bottom hose - top hose needed fettling a bit, but the bottom hose was a straight fit...





Trial fitted the front bumper which seems to fit fine - its the first bumper of my VXP - its a bit scuffed as it was blowing around in the back garden last year ! It has an Irmscher lower lip which makes it a bit different than the normal facelift bumper...




Trial fitted the bonnet as well, another outcast from the VXP project - this is the bonnet that has about 10 layers of paint. It will need stripping back to bare metal prior to the spray work being done....





Once the rad pack was in and coolant added I ran it up to temperature which was fine without issue. I turned off the engine, then switched it back on and strange things started happening. Firstly the car with the spanner light came on ....



And the engine was hunting on idle between 1000-1200 rpm and the throttle did not work at all. Not good.

Hooked up the laptop with Opcom and pulled P1526 and P1550 error codes which are :-

P1526 Throttle Position Adaption Error C-09
P1526 Throttle Position no Adaption C-09
P1526 Limp Home Adaption Error C-09

P1550 Electronic Throttle Control Reduced Power C-09
P1550 Electronic Throttle Control Forced Idle C-09
P1550 Electronic Throttle Control Power Management C-09
P1550 Electronic Throttle Control Engine Stop C-09

These pointed me in the direction of the throttle body (which I had only just cleaned out!) . I have spares so swapped the original out with the replacement and hey presto all codes gone and no re-occurance of the issues.

If they come back it could point to a ECU failure with circuits breaking down inside the sealed unit. Fingers crossed its sorted as I don't need the hassle of sorting a new ECU kit !





Need to swap the dash out at some point along with the airbags and airbag ECU.

Joff

[Mazz]

Nice to spares of everything just incase!

[joff-turbo-nova]

Been doing a few jobs over the last few days....

Replaced the n/s front door as the original had a crap repair on the bottom half and had a surface like the sea ≈≈≈≈≈ ....




Jacked the rear end up and removed the rear axle for a refurb as the discs and calipers needed attention....





Stripped the rear beam .....



Which yielded some rusty dampers.....





It's surprising how rusty these get on the leading edge facing forward - they must be in the firing line for all the stones and muck thrown up by the front tyres - however I have a plan on the refurbed dampers I have done.

We also had very rusty back plates.....





And some some more rust on the bearings and caliper mounting brackets....






Set about re-furbing the rear calipers......





And Bilt Hamber'ed the surface rust after a good going over with the wire brush drill attachment......





I will replace the back plates as they are just too rusty as as they are only a tenner each of Ebay .

Next up will the the prep work on the rear beam and a repaint.

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

Right, not updated for a while so here we go....

Got the rear arches stripped out and then a couple of coats of hammerite....






Did the same with the wheel well and the floor pan too ....





The exhaust is looking a bit rusty, but still solid, when it eventually gives up a stainless one will be installed.

Next job was to strip the rear out in preparation for fitting the tow bar....



Drilled a few holes and did up some bolts and we have a new tow bar installed....




The electrics for the tow bar had been previously attached with scotchlocks, which in my opinion are spawn of the devil and evil.....



The needed to sort the electrics for the rear parking sensors, tow bar electrics and new nearside foglight, so ended up with this pile of wires....



Which eventually after a fair bit of chopping and soldering ended up much neater....



And installed the new nearside fog light which came from Poland..



Whilst in the boot I found this strange thing bolted to the offside inner wheel arch, which has wires on both side - unsure what it does, and cannot find any mention of it in the Haynes manual (which is a bit dumbed down nowadays)....







Anyone got any ideas what this is ??? I'm thinking maybe a sensor for the airbags or ESP system??

Also removed the replacement dash out of the boot - will need to strip this down before pulling the original one out of the car...

[joff-turbo-nova]

Final job was to waxoyl everywhere...













Next up is replacement of the rear arch liners, then reinstall the rear beam which I have rebuilt.


Joff

[totalnova]

Fine work as always. Nice to see these car getting put back together properly, rather then just thrown together like some other accident damaged cars .