Max's 1.2spi W.I.P

[Tidy Max]

Hello! Thought it was about time i made a W.I.P, and Dod off the forum also though i should make one so here it is, all suggestions, criticism (constructive) and advice are welcome with open arms, so thanks in advance!!

Bought my 1.2 when i had just turned 18, so about 2 and a half years ago, always liked novas and wanted one since i was about 12!
Heres how it looked!
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/ABCD0004.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/ABCD0003.jpg

Nice little runner, so then i removed the obligatory rubbing strips... good bye!!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/ABCD0007.jpg

And then that was that until the respray....... (will post pics when i find my memory card)

Had a cheap respray done by a relative, good job though especially for the money! Having a lack of taste i had my boot smoothed in the process, then i had it sprayed black.
(will post a good pic when i get chance, at work at the mo)

Then that was that for a year really, until i got my new job and started getting abit more money than i did from my part time one.
Having no mechanical experience i thought it was about time i learnt, so i serviced the engine, had the front wheel bearings changed (rear ones this week) AND bought a GSi dash + clocks.

The car before..(after stripping in interior obviously)

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/fdfd.jpg

Went through a nightmare with removing the old dash, basically couldnt get the steering wheel off, wrestled for about 45+ minutes then brainsnova told me his wiggling technique haha so i gave that a whirl. It came right off but i made a mistake by not leaving the nut on the last bit of the thread, so when the wheel flew off i flew with it clean into the back of the car onto my spare wheel.. ahh well, good times!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/dfd.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0044.jpg

so the sun went down, and i panicked, dug out the inverter and 110v building lamp and carried on working into the night....

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0047.jpg

Next problem... ignition barrel wouldnt fit back, wouldnt lock in place, it was the steering lock not fully returning to the off position.. another 45min gone, then finished!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0049.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0050.jpg

and thats what ive done up to now!!
next on the list
Door card fabric to me retrimmed dyed
Vinyl roof lining to be sprayed
Fix the front speakers and heater back in (got very stressed and sacked it off, should of just fit it at the time really)
Rear bearingsThen what!! Please give me some suggestions, i want my car lowering but i dont know what i want, wouldnt mind some billets but again... which to go for!

[Pistol Pete]

When it comes to mods, check with your insurance company first. Dont want to rain on your parade, but they may bump your premium up because of your age.

Lowering can be done with just a set of springs or depending on how low you want to go shocks aswell.

[Tidy Max]

cool cheers, well im under my mums name at the moment, so its not too bad but yeah i realise insurance is always something to consider, if i was to lower i would buy both springs and shocks, as my shocks are like 16 years old now anyway, and i dont think they will be in top cond. cheers for the advice mate!

[Ernie]

Keep up the good work and why the change of colour but it's upto you.

[Tidy Max]

i was 18, always wanted a nova, always wanted a black one, who knows, i realise now after being on the forum for a while the potential, but whats done is done! so i may aswell make me black beast even blacker lol, and thanks mate

[Tidy Max]

i have given thought to getting some SR bumpers (if they are the grey ones with a red stripe?) and putting it on those, maybe with skirts (wouldnt know what model/type) if they also had a thin red stripe, and then lowering it, as i think it would look pretty cool

[Ernie]

They are the same as what you have on there.

[Tidy Max]

how do you think it would look? better?

[Pistol Pete]

you have SR type bumpers on there already mate, or do you mean GSi front bumper? GSi skirts would look good.

[Pistol Pete]

http://k53.pbase.com/u26/rossclarke/upload/19660370.MYGSI2.JPG

Nova GSi front bumer, this one has had the slats cut out though.

[~~joycey~~]

Looking good :)

[Tidy Max]

cheers mate :)

GSi bumpers hmm, cool, maybe i should get some skirts then and put those on, i do think first things first i should probably lower it though, i have no idea by how much by, 40/60 seems the thing to do really!

[Dave.]

looks like a strong sheel, tbh the respray looks poor and its only done the exterior metal, i say got it and get a full respray dude.. will look miles betetr :thumb:

[Rickyb]

looking good :thumb:

[Tidy Max]

yeah but how much is a respray? i bought the paint which was about 60 quid..... and that was it, got it done free, so im not going to complain! yeah im going to spray up the blue... sorry i mean lagoon blue lol bits inside the doors etc

[Tidy Max]

Well sprayed my headlining 2nite! wasnt alot of effort really, i had heard it can be a pain etc and alot of people dont do it for that reason, but its worked out pretty well! But i only bought one can last week so im going to do another coat this weekend.
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0071.jpg
What do you lot think? yay or nay? and do you recon i should do my grab handles (not sure what they are called, the things you hang stuff on above the doors!) if so what colour?
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0067.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0069.jpg

[brainsnova]

looking not bad mate did you use special paint

[Tidy Max]

halfords flexible vinyl spray, 10pound a digg, its good though, and it does look really good, i didnt spray upwards though, more at like a 30degree angle, otherwise the can spatters

i expect you already know that but i wouldnt want you to do it and spray up and mess it up!

does look really good though :) just gotta do the beam things on the corners and sides where the seatbelts are attached to, let us know if you do it!

they do other colours aswell, but i only saw red and blue

[Gibbo]

looks good mate:thumb:

[Tidy Max]

right well changed one of my rear bearings today, and also gave it a good clean, looking pretty good! still needs lowerings though hahaha

[belly257]

looking awsome mate:thumb:

[Tidy Max]

all cleaned up :)
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0095.jpg

sprayed pillars
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0088.jpg

[Ernie]

It looks very dark inside now but keep up the good work.

[Tidy Max]

not done stuff in a while, been busy with work and skint, think im buying some 5 spoke alloys off a mate 2nite, they are abit knackered no permanant damage just lots of neglect, he paid 60 for them and has nitromorsed (sorry about the spelling if its wrong) them

im getting them for 50 i think and im going to follow the refurbing wheels article, then maybe powder coat them white with black centres? not sure yet we will see!

any ideas feel free to put them forward :)

[raymond]

looking good is that mate. do you work in blackburn or darwen sure ive seen it round darwen maybe wrong lol

[Tidy Max]

yeah i work in blackburn and live in bolton, so i drive through darwen in the morning! do you go to a gym in little harwood?

(im not a stalker... honest)
haha my mates dad owns it if you do, he said theres a bloke who goes in there with a blue nova!

[Tidy Max]

some wheels ive bought and am about to try and refurb!!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0099.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0100.jpg

what do we recon??

[Ernie]

very old school.

[Tidy Max]

Before

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/99.jpg

After

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0116.jpg

Needs alot more though, then the other 3!

[raymond]

looking good is that mate. do you work in blackburn or darwen sure ive seen it round darwen maybe wrong lol

na mate not me lol have you seen the size of me i think i know who it might be though i see you going through darwen every morning

[Tidy Max]

haha!!! really?? where abouts! you should give me a honk, what car are you in?

[Dave.]

looks very smart mate... looks the part :thumb:

will need to see this sometime.. im only in sthelens lol

[Tidy Max]

yeah cool mate! do you go to the NW meet? i keep meaning to become a member but lack of funds is kinda holding me back at the moment lol

it does look rather good in that picture, its a one off! might just be sayng that because its my car but yeah, deffo, maybe you could give me some styling direction haha

one of my mates has just started at aspulls in wigan if you know it!

[raymond]

usaully in a royal mail van illbip next time lol

[Dave.]

yeah cool mate! do you go to the NW meet? i keep meaning to become a member but lack of funds is kinda holding me back at the moment lol

it does look rather good in that picture, its a one off! might just be sayng that because its my car but yeah, deffo, maybe you could give me some styling direction haha

one of my mates has just started at aspulls in wigan if you know it!

last one i went to was last november lol.. due to working after school etc i cant go lol

cant say i do matey, if your interested theres 4 novas in mallys scrapyard in haydock? :thumb:

[Tidy Max]

okay so i got stuck in again tonight after work, got the wheels ive been refurbishing and masked them up!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0124.jpg

then got a few coats of primer on and cut it down!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0131.jpg

But the down side?

they are 7 X 15 and ET38? apparently they wont fit on? :(

[Dod]

No they wont fit, but since they're such a nice wheel, MAKE THEM FIT!!!

Try the Jap style Arch Flairing on the front, but the rear might need a lil Professional work. Have you had the car lowered yet Max?

[Tidy Max]

im going to have a look into that jap stuff! cheers dod :) ive put alot of effort it with them, but i always had the intention of if they dont look right then i would sell them, they are in good nick just need a little bit of tlc in the styling depo haha

even if i do make them fit with this japanese techonmanolgy lol will the car handle like absolute turd anyway??
ta for the replies!

[Dod]

No, not really. The Steering might feel a little funny but its ok. But you really need to drop your car before you make the wheels fit. See Riggy or Rexy's WIP for fitting lairy wide wheels, his looks class.

[Tidy Max]

Yeah, ive had a look at wide-wheels, and think i may have to book an appointment, the more i work on these wheels the more i realise im not going to be able to let them go, got white gloss on and have started to laquer now, they are looking tip top :)

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0156.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/PICT0159.jpg

[joeSRI]

Think you should leave the centre caps off maybe? nice car mate

[novaowner999]

nice clean mate

[Tidy Max]

well, its been a long time since i did much with the nova, got my astra van beginning of june which i will post some piccies up of, but since then the nova has just been sat on the drive

ive decided im going to attempt to rebuild the engine and car, yes its a 1.2 but if i sell it now i will maybe get 200nicker (12month mot) but if i rebuild the engine, not only will i finally start to learn abit about engines and mechanincing (terribly made up word lol) and then maybe be able to sell it for abit more,

my intentions are full engine rebuild and respray, all done by yours truely, so wish me some bloody luck lads!

[Tidy Max]

Okay, well heres the van!
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/03062009382.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/03062009380.jpg
and on RH cups... (looks far better imo, unfortunatley they have gone now :()
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/04072009516.jpg
After cleaning out the garage... (which took from friday night at 8 o clock through till sunday 4 o clock!!

Got the nova in there, proved abit of a challenge as everything had gone very very stiff and the car would just rev its tits off before cutting out lol so even if i would bring the clutch up slowly it would wheel spin everywhere, needless to say i was on the recieving end of many dirty looks!
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/05072009522.jpg

Got the car jacked up and on a stand on the N/S, but the O/S wheel nuts are seized, my mate finally managed to get 3 of them off, but the locking wheel nut is well and truely stuck, so i made this so try and get a bit of forced behind it...
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/06072009527.jpg

... it didnt work, so thats one problem i still have to sort out, a few lads on here have given me some suggestions, so thanks to welshy and gibbo for those

[Tidy Max]

Last night i started to remove the bumper and panels etc, i know that behind the front bumper is a problem spot for rust, so i was quite surprised when i remove mine!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/06072009531.jpg

The worst place appears to be behind the n/s wing,
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/06072009532.jpg

stabby stab stab
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l119/mtmo25/06072009535.jpg

[Tidy Max]

Got a couple of engine bits off this week, and got the back bumper off, i cant say the rear cross member has lasted has well as the front one though! which is a shame!

http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee335/maxmaninstall/09072009575.jpg

http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee335/maxmaninstall/09072009573.jpg

rear cross member rustage

http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee335/maxmaninstall/09072009576.jpg
http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee335/maxmaninstall/09072009577.jpg

[7ova]

good luck with the engine rebuild mate,
your astra van looks cool
did you buy it as it is or did you get it painted your self?
have some rep fella :thumb:

[Tidy Max]

bought it as it is mate, its pretty shagged tbh, the paint job is at best average but looks good on pics/when its moving, handles well but is in desperate need of some smaller wheels!

had my mates rh cups on for about an hour and it felt and looked 200x better!

got some 15s that need finishing at home (think theres pics farther back in this thread? not looked since i posted it months ago!)

i think ill get them painted up and sack off the big plans i had for them and bang them on the van, better than payin 70< a corner every few months!