disaster day, we have all had them

[Tidy Max]

<can this be moved to the muppet section, if its in the wrong one, sorry!>
Right, so i have never done work on my car until recently, ive had a nova for 2 years now, got a cheap spray job, looks alrite, i was happy

2 years of neglect have made me take some interest in it again, serviced it last week, and bought a black gsi dash with clocks, so yesterday i tried to fit it, here is a pic before..
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/fdff.jpg
interior was a piece o piss, but we couldnt get the steering wheel off (posted up on here, thanks to brains nova for his technique lol) and yes i did go flying into the back when it came off
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/fdf.jpg
then the dash was out, by this time the sun was well on its way, and im panicking as i had work in the morning, so i hooked up a 110v building lamp ;)
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/dfd.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0045.jpg
pretty much managed to get everything in (other than back seats) and get packed away for just after 11, i dont know if i chose a big job for my first proper effort at doing something to my car, but my god
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0049.jpg
i think if i did it again now i would be able to fly through it, one of my main problems was my getting my ignition barrel back in its fitting, the problem was the steering lock mechanism had not completely returned and was stopping the barrel from totally sliding home

anyway thanks to anyone who replied to my panicked threads yesterday!

all i have left to fix now is putting some of the air venting back in behind the dash (it was one of the parts left over, whoops) attatching one of the speakers, and securing the dials to the dash as it had been cut so no screw hole.

the end job
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0048.jpg

[Jack]

Nice work :)

I remember the first time I did a dash swap, I just kinda fumbled my way thru it. Most of the time was spent in the haynes manual trying to figure out which wires did what lol

Second time round it was a lot easier ;)

[Tidy Max]

yea i can imagine! i snapped the clip on the dash that thecable of the fan direction clips onto, theres like a cable with a white clip on it that snaps onto the dash then the actual steel cable fits onto the switch, the one that choses fan direction!

and i forgot to put the stick back on the speedo aswell, so i drove to work this morning without one, bit dodgy, i took the satnav as that gives a rough idea of speed, but it didnt bloody work! ah well, better get it done tonite, think i might spray the headlining aswell

[Dod]

Big Job ant not to be take lightly either!! But it looks well.

On a different note, I reckon you should paint the Door Jams and under the Arches in your car mate, they'd help it no end. And fit standard coloured bumpers. They'd help as well. :thumb:

[Spudly]

My first major job on my first nova was a mk2 dash swap into a mk1!

It took me four and a half hours and i went through nearly 20 cigs after seeing the nightmare of wiring i had to chop and rejoin for all the new plugs, everything worked fine apart from the rear wiper as the corsa B stalk was buggered so i just tie wrapped the rear wiper switch under the dash lol

Looks good bud but youre not the only one to have tragedies (sp) a five minute job is never five minutes lol

[Tidy Max]

yeahh, that might be my job 2nite, im just gona spray it with a matt rattle can but it should look alrite? what do you recon?

are the grey bumpers with the thin red stripe around them srI bumpers? as i think if i lowered the car on those it would look alrite! cost me 60quid that paint job ;)

[Tidy Max]

although i hate to admit it, i wish this had taken me 4 and a half hours haha, but the steering wheel took about 40 min, and the ignition barrel the same again, didnt half puzzle me!

[Dod]

LOL, do the door jams gloss black but make sure they're well and I mean well cleaned before spraying.

Lower it and as said, fit the standard bumpers (unpainted) and you're onto a winner. Novas are best kept subtle.

[Tidy Max]

yeah, i wish i didnt have a smoothed boot to be honest, but id just turned 18 when i got it, seemed like a good idea at the time lol, id wanted one since i was 12 infact :)

gloss black out of a rattle can? if i do it i bet it runs like a biznitch!!

ive got some of that flexible vinyl spray for the headlining, and im gona take the seat belt covers (i dont know the real name, the bits in the middle of the car between the windows), and do those aswell.

can the plastic in the back of the car be covered? where the ashtrays are? as its just standard plastic! if i spray it i bet it will just chip off! unless laquer would stop it?

[Dod]

Its not plastic IIRC mate, but you can paint it with normal spray paint but it can get damaged or scuffed easily enough. Use Plasti Coat paint as its semi flexible and worked a treat on my Dash.

[Tidy Max]

cool, mine is the luxe plus if that makes difference to whats in the back!

i need to colour the fabric on my door cards aswell but have been having trouble learning how! ive made a post about it in the styling forum anyway no replies as of yet!

just at work, yesterday didnt half knacker me out, i didnt bother winding my clocks on either, ive noted the mileage they are at and im going to add it on when i can be ****d, started it yesterday,

i got the long grey cog and stuck it in a drill and wound it on, but wasnt good enough, so i plugged in the 240V mikita drill haha that did it better but it would have took me ages, even if my nova was doind 300miles an hour as far as the mileometer was concerned haha

[Dod]

I replied mate, see how you get on with my advice. If its unclear, lemme know and I'll try and sort something.

[Tidy Max]

yeah i read it, to pop the metal pin out i would need to widen the little circle which keeps the preloaded spiral in place, seemed like if i did it id never get it back, thanks though mate, i will definately bear it in mind, cheers

[Tidy Max]

put my steering wheel on straight when i got home haha, having a strange problem now though, i took the alarm horn out, and now when i lock the car, it sets a differant alarm??

the indicators flicker, then when i get in, they go crazy till i put the key in, the vauxhall standard alarm i took out never did that! any ideas?

[brainsnova]

sounds like it has two alarms best to strip it all out follow the wires back and join up any cut wires etc

[Tidy Max]

yeah, it puzzled me! cool, thanks

[Dod]

Has your car got Central Locking mate? It sounds like a Standard Vauxhall Alarm and an aftermarket alarm. The Vauxhall Alarm will sound the horn, seems like somethings been disconnected, but there should be a fuse or a relay to ditch the Vauxhall item.