ADES GARAGE V2! **now with pics! **

[ade]

LOL!

for those that were around a couple of years ago, You'll remember -

ADES GARAGE! ::

Well IT' STARTED AGAIN!
:o :D 8) :o

Will be done over a period of months - rather than a period of weeks - intend on making a one off show car for display/shows only - and occasionally have a bit of fun with 8)

Project outline - to make a totally customised Nova - with one off home made body kit inc bumpers, side skirts, bonnet and modified front end inc lights from Punto Mk2. Full custom interior inc dash. May do a boot build...dunno though :?: Considering a GTE engine (which I have) or may leave the 1.4 with weber 32/34 on as is (less of a faff)

Sunday May 23rd 2004
rolled the nova out of the garage (literally - no fbattery or fuel!) and removed front end (wings, lights, grill and radiator, bumper etc).

Had a fight with the wings coz when I did the last rebuild 2 yrs ago I vowed I'd never do it again and used so much mastic the screws were merely superficial extras! Ruddy good stuff proper mastic is! However wings are showing sign of rust so need replacing.

Had a fight with the radiator - which was rusted to feck and was leaking slightly - have a new one though. Manahed to get it out and drain most of the coolant

Stopped for a bit and went and bought a strimmer and lawn mower and cut the grass for the 1st time since we moved in. Was about a foot long and wife was nagging I had too much "spare time" if I was playing with the car again! Kept her happy by mapping out the design for the back garden (doing it in tandem with the rebuild)

Had a fight with the front end and HAMMERED THE FECK out the light surrounds. Rebuild most of this in fibreglass at last rebuild so had to cut most of it away - then had to to cut and hammer and bend and hammer and hammer more to make the basic shape for thr rather wide and deep lights to fit into the smaller nova light housings.

Managed to get both lights to fit into their new hammered holes (will be reinforcing these and smoothing them over later). Discovered that on the process that for some reason the drivers side front end is 1" lower than the passengers side front end - which I think was to do with a smash I had several years ago :? Hammered it about a bit and finally got them to sit fluch (with the aid of alot of masking tape!) :D Both sit 20" from the floor and 6/5" at the corners out fron the nova slam panel (the bit the bonnet locks onto).

Realigned the old wings to assess fittability of the new lights. The wings have a curled in edge that needed flattening and the bottom corner of each where the indicators sit needed cutting straight about 10mm but they fitted really well and on the wholw followed the contour well. Will need modifying and smoothing though as the Punto lights are narrower in height than the Nova ones. Will also need a new Grill as lights closer together.

So did quite a bit on the 1st day...

Language -
moderate - slightly fragrant when trying to remove radiator

BodyDamage -
smashed my hand - although not on the nova - bashed it against the window sill (stone) when cutting the edge with a spade - thought Id broken my hand - was almost sick with the pain!

Cups of Tea -
4 and a freshly brewed coffee

I also decided to smash up the model and start it again coz I wasnae happy with it - however the new one (modified off ann old cast of the previous one) is much better and looks more accurate around the wondows especially - wasnt happy with the other one...

PICS TO FOLLOW of rebuild - as soon as I can find my camera :? :wink:

Further updates hopefully this Saturday...

:D

[badnova]

sounds good
hope to see pics soon

[Mel]

Welcome back Ade after the long silence, .

well done on starting the nova, sounds like you're makin a good start. ouch to that hand injury tho :?

i really gotta order my own nova model, but i'm skint

anyway, good luck with the project, cant wait to see those pics

[ade]

yer - been a bit quiet recently - must be getting old (cough cp cough)



::

[broody]

nice ot hear from you again ade, i remember reading your 'Ades garage' when i worked as an office junior, was great fun reading them in my dinner hour.

good luck with it all and dont annoy your work like your did last time with having to take an extra week, then another, then another.

Will your mum be giving you a hand with anything like last time, any more re-trimming?

And keeps us up to date with the drive-bys like people were doing last time!

Good luck :wink:

Neil

[Col_Mk1]

sounds wel smart

[Jim]

LOL, It's back! ::

Sounds good Ade. Have you taken time off work again, or are you doing this lot at the weekends?

Good luck with it all

Jim

[Dpnova]

Sounds cool

[cooper_nova]

well done ade sounds like a very ambitious project good luck mate and hope u suceed in ur task.

kep us updated wiv pics ::

[Jules]

Excellent - I look forward to reading this in the upcoming weeks / months / years (Delete as applicable!!!)
:wink: