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Thread: Never ending Nova project

  1. #11
    Senior User Club Member paul james's Avatar
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    The front brakes on the car were already an upgrade over standard being Astra 2.0 calipers. I did consider replacing them, but I had always been happy with how they worked and multi piston calipers were an expense too far at that time. As were new Astra calipers or refurbished ones so I decided to rebuild my own. They were very rusty to start with, but cleaned up very nicely with effort. I put new pistons in them along with new seals, I was quite surprised how simple design a brake caliper is. I don't know why I expected them to be more complicated, I just assumed they would be. The bleed screws are stainless steel ones, can't be putting in anything that will rust!



    With the carriers (and some other bits) I'd experimented with different ways to remove rust. Leaving one in a bowl full of vinegar, and the other in a bowl of cola. Both removed rust pretty well after leaving them a couple of days, but the metal would rust over again exteremly quickly. I find it better to phyically attack the rust using wire wheels and polycarbide discs and don't stop untill theres no dark bits just clean metal.



    The drum plates were restored to as new condition, I even painted the bare metal of the drum cylinders. The unions on the brake lines didn't all come loose without a fight and a couple ended up getting rounded off. Trying to cut and reflare the steel lines proved impossible so I set about making my own. I used the originals as a template to work from, for the most part I found the bending tool I bought too awkward to use and found my thumb did a much better job. I used stainless steel unions on my new lines and bought union spanners which I didn't realise existed before to fit them back in the car.



    I had previously bought a four branch manifold to replace the standard SR set up, I soon regretted doing this as it didn't peform as well in my opinion. Since I'd foolishly recycled the original manifold I set about searching for a suitable replacement, which proved rather difficult. I spent months looking but eventually found a 4-2-1 manifold. Its a much better design, closer to the original one but no doubt lighter being made of steel rather than a mix of steel and cast iron.

    Last edited by paul james; 19-11-15 at 12:33 AM.

  2. #12
    Senior User Club Member paul james's Avatar
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    When I reprayed the car I'd bought new pattern wings to put on it, but unfortunately they had already started to rust and the fitment wasn't exactly great either. So I got some very nice fibreglass wings from the guy who used to sell them on here, he kindly drilled out the top holes for me and I did the repeater and bumper holes so they could fit as normal. Its a shame they aren't available to buy any more as it gives a nice peace of mind knowing theres two less panels that can rust

    Another added benefit is the nice bit of weight loss they give up front:

    MK1 patttern steel wing – 3.3 Kg
    MK1 Fibreglass wing – 1.49 Kg
    Making a 3.62Kg saving



    I wanted to freshen up everything I could, including things like the gearbox bottom cover plate



    I rebuilt the driveshafts with new CV joints on both ends which along with the shafts themselves got several coats of paint to keep them looking new. It wasn't just the dining room table that took on car part storge and assembly, I think every room in the house had something in it, bumpers in bedrooms and such.



    I spent a lot of time lying underneath the car using the angle grinder, drill and mig welder, removing all the rust and making the car strong. Numerous coats of etch/zinc primer, paint and stone chip were applied to keep it in good shape. When I later took it for its mot the tester asked how I put a new floor on the car! Which made me happy of the efforts I'd made in patching it up without it being obvious.



    My new brank lines were put in place ready. I'd refurbished the tank straps, the nyloc nuts and even the dowel pins that attach them to shell had to be stainless steel.



    The engine block got the rust killing treatment too, and then several coats of high temperature paint. The original sump on the car had suffered a dent at some point and despite being fairly well oil covered still managed to become rusty, so that had to be replaced with a new one.



    The original fuel tank wasn't quite rust free enough for my liking, so I didn't want to put it back on the car.



    The plastic ball in pipe thing that stops fuel flowing out the tank into the filler neck was a nightmare to get out of the old tank. But since I couldn't find a replacement one anywhere I had to persevere, and did manage to get it out in one piece without ruining it. The new tank had multiple coats of petrol resistant paint applied to it, along with stick on rubber strips where it meets the shell. I couldn't find a suitable normal hose to go between the tank and filler neck so ended up getting some fuel resistant silicone hose and putting a peice of that in. All the other hoses were also replaced with new ones.



    The front hubs were all fully painted up, and with more parts ready the car was starting to be built back up again.



    Hubs on, along with new track rod ends, bottom ball joints, lower arms with polyurethane bushes. The steering arms had new gaitors put on them, even the gearbox was treated to a new earth strap.



    The rear beam all cleaned up, painted and rebuilt. The anti roll bar makes a big difference, when I took it out the beam would flex a huge amount between each end. All new hand brake cables were obtained, and poly bushes installed.



    The rear beam attached to the car as with everything else using brand new nuts and bolts. I replaced the Koni rear shocks with Spax ones as they are adjustable in place rather than needing to remove them to make any adjustment. I re-used the -40mm springs I had as once they were cleaned up and painted looked great again.



    The rear brakes smartend up with new shoes, springs, cylinders and stub axles. The only bits I didn't replace were the few auto-adjusting parts which were in great shape anyway.



    New drums in place painted up with silver brake paint to match the calipers in the front, along with new bearings.

    Last edited by paul james; 20-11-15 at 09:58 PM.

  3. #13
    Senior User Club Member paul james's Avatar
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    I know the alloy TX radiators have a bit of a bad reputation now, but the one I bought was an older unused one and hasn't given me any issues. I attached a slim line fan which gives plenty of extra room and gives a nice little weight saving too:

    Standard radiator fan and cowling - 2.05 Kg
    9”/25cm 80w Slim Line radiator fan – 0.89 Kg

    I used to have a manual switch for the fan, but I put a new working temp switch in this radiator so it would come on automatically. The alloy radiator seems to keep the car cooler than the old standard one managed to.

    New heat wrapped 4-2-1 manfiold attached using stainless steel studs and new copper nuts. Used a small ratchet spanner which made it easier, wish I'd known about ratchet spanners before.



    The ITG filter never really fitted well into the engine bay, so I replaced it with two paired filter socks. It seems a shame to cover up those lovely looking air trumpets, but I won't risk leaving them uncovered to suck in anything they shouldn't. I attached the fuel pressure regulator to the firewall with a proper alloy mount, replacing the old cable tie method.

    One of the metal fuel union pipes which feed the carbs had developed a tiny hole so the first time I fired up the car it started leaking petrol. Thankfully I noticed this before taking it out and risking it catching on the hot exhaust or anything. So both pipes got replaced with new ones.



    Front suspension installed, front anti roll bar painted and polubushes between them and the also painted tie bars.



    The fibreglass wings fitted better than the pattern ones I'd had on it before. They are a single skin so to make them sit at the right position I had to make up some little spacers between the bottom bolt hole and the car. The finishing touch for the bay was a shiney sparco alloy strut brace.



    And with that the car was done and ready for its mot. For the first time it passed the test with no issues at all, and has done so since too. Its a nice feeling to get that piece of paper without a list of things to pay for.
    Last edited by paul james; 20-11-15 at 08:13 PM.

  4. #14
    Senior User Club Member paul james's Avatar
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    Some photos from its first outing after the rebuild and going back on the road again. I managed to get the car done in time to be able to enjoy some sunshine.

    I ditched the normal rear passenger side light for a Euro one with no reverse section, so both sides match. A bit of form over function, I just use the hazards to let anyone else around know if I need to reverse.



    A couple of under car shots. When it was off the car I polished up the stainless magnex exhaust, as it had been all dull and sad looking.



    The problem when you get a car to this point is you don't want it getting dirty again!





    The MK3 Astra alloy wheels cleaned up nicely



    Although I don't time to drive the car that often, its always a treat when I do. I'm overly fussy now and won't take it out in the rain, I guess the car is enjoying semi-retirement in its old age.





  5. #15
    Senior User Club Member paul james's Avatar
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    For comparison, a before and after of the engine bay:



  6. #16
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    Love the attention to detail!!!

    I'm starting my winter strip down on Monday, seeing this gives me the inspirastion of how good it could look inderneath!!

  7. #17
    Senior User Club Member paul james's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by House1983 View Post
    Love the attention to detail!!!

    I'm starting my winter strip down on Monday, seeing this gives me the inspirastion of how good it could look inderneath!!
    Thanks, I know it doesn't really ever get seen, but its nice to have the underneath of the car as mint as possible.

    Good luck with yours. If you can't get it on a roll over spit then try and get it as high up as possible on axle stands. Its not much fun using power tools under a car with limited space. Had a scary moment with an angle grinder a few years back. The safety switch had broken on it, so it would stay on without my thumb pushing on it. Lost control and it flew straight into my head, thankfully the blade didn't hit me but it was a frightening dash to a mirror to realise that. That evil grinder went straight in the bin and I bought another one, which hasn't tried to kill me

  8. #18
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    Great project looks great, nice to see another nova local to me

  9. #19
    Senior User Club Member paul james's Avatar
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    Since I have a daily car (now an unexciting but cheap to run diesel 206) I don't really need the Nova to be a practical car. With those Nova Sport twin 40's on the engine I felt why not embrace that racing heritage a bit more and make the car even more hardcore yet still entirely road legal. A few months ago I bought some nice OMP bucket seats from Willf, a very nice chap with a very impressive Nova. The seats were already on Nova sub-frames, which was ideal as I wasn't overly keen on adapting the shell too much. My intention is that it could be put back to standard if I ever felt like doing so. Being able to adjust the seat position on the rails is a good convenice to have too.

    Side by side with the GSi seat I had in the car:



    Trial fitted in the car, sitting in them seem to make the wonky position of a Nova steering wheel even more obvious to my eyes. The seats aren't really blue as these photos suggest and look black in real life.



    I was going to try and save some money buy getting some used harnesses. But after looking for a while they were always in a colour I didn't want or in shabby condition. So I got fed up of looking and bought some new 4 point OMP harnesses.



    Three of the four points on each harness could be bolted into the standard belt holes. The one in the sill, two in the rear, which left one to improvise. My initial plan was to drill through the exhaust tunnel, but I felt there wasn't much room on the passenger side with the handbrake cable mount being there. So I opted to replicate the standard seat method and weld a threaded hole piece onto the seat subframe.



    I used an old car mat to protect the seat fabric when welding the new mounts on



    Gave them a couple of coats of paint



    And the seats are in! The shape of the seats make getting into the car more cumbersome and the harnesses take much longer to put on than normal belts, but I love them. The extra effort makes driving the car feel like an event, even if it is just a Sunday drive somewhere.



    Part of my justification for getting the buckets was to make the Nova lighter as well as more racing car like. I weighed them as well as my GSi seats to see the difference, each seat is 2 kilos lighter. Which was a little dissapointing, making just a 4 kilo saving, however since the rear seats no longer fitted thats where the real weight saving could be made.

    Rear seats - 20.85 Kg
    All the original belts and fixings - 5.08 Kg
    Rear parcel shelf - 2.3 Kg

    OMP harnesses - 3.02 Kg

    So between the seats and belts I've ditched 29.21 Kilos out of the car.

    The Twin's 40's make such a great noise that I rarely listed to music in the car, so I took out the old late 90's CD player and put a plastic blanking plate in, saving another 1.4 kilos



    Its surprising how much noise those rear seats would soak up, I get a clearer sound from my exhaust now!
    I'd fitted the chrome strut brace when I put the suspension back in. I know it doesn't really achieve a lot, and actually is probably couter productive in a way since it adds weight (only 1.3Kg) but it does look cool and if nothing else adds to the image of the car.

    Last edited by paul james; 20-11-15 at 09:17 PM.

  10. #20
    Senior User Club Member paul james's Avatar
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    And now the thread has caught up with how the car sits now. I'll try and keep the thread updated with any new things I do.

    The latest small efforts include buying a Corsa C spare wheel holder. The original one wasn't long enough to reach through the bigger 15" alloy wheel. It dawned on me that if I should ever be in a shunt, a 15 kilo wheel flying about probably wouldn't be a great thing.





    The original earth cable between the battery and the shell has seen better days and was falling apart. I did look for a replacement standard one but in the end ordered one from a seller on ebay who makes them to whatever spec you want, it was only a few quid posted too:

    Last edited by paul james; 20-11-15 at 10:02 PM.

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