Hillclimb and Sprint Nova 1400cc 8v

[novarally]

I thought I'd post up a few pictures and details of a Nova hillclimb car that I've just bought.

I have no specific plans for it, but it was too interesting to resist buying.

It was built a long time back by Andrew Bradley, who now competes, and wins, in an obscenely quick 1.0 Nova turbo.

Andrew is a top-notch fabricator, under his firm BTEC Racing.

This was one of his first Nova builds, and was a very quick and successful car, winning several events and it's class in the CCC Speed Championship.

Sadly, it has sat unused (but with the engine regularly run) for the last 6 years.

The spec. is ;

ex-Andrew Bradley lightened shell - aluminium front crossmember in engine bay, perspex side and rear windows, cutaway doors (external shell only), fibreglass bonnet and tailgate

Welded in Roll cage with single door bars

Magnum fibreglass bucket seat with 3" 6 point Willans harness

Leda adjustable coil over front shocks with adjustable spring seat and eccentric roller bearing top mounts

Rose jointed tie bars

Adjustable rear coil over shocks (Koni, I believe, but still to be checked)

1400cc N/A high compression engine built by B-Tec Racing, with alternator removed, vernier cam pulley, 2 x Weber 40 carbs, adjustable rev limiter, lightweight wiring loom, 4 into 1 tubular exhaust manifold

Competition engine mounts

Fabricated rose jointed gear linkage

Large Armtech speedo with programmable change light and high rpm recall, water temp gauge, oil pressure warning light, oil pressure gauge.

Revolution RFX light alloy wheelswith Avon slicks

Bias adjustable pedal box

Alloy radiator

Small alloy fuel tank under the car for better weight distribution

Red top race battery fitted, with slave battery and Anderson plug connections

Total vehicle weight is (allegedly) 600kg - I have yet to check this.

Photos to follow shortly, it's in need of a bit of TLC, but has lots of trick little details, which may be of interest to Nova enthusiasts.

[BIGS]

sounds a good little car, and could be much fun

[novarally]

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/008-1.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/009-1.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/010-2.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/011.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/013.jpg

[novarally]

Alloy radiator and additional gearbox mount onto the front crossmember;
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/017.jpg

[novarally]

Welded in roll cage;
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/023.jpg

[novarally]

Rose jointed front tie bars;
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/020.jpg

Bias pedal box;
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/021.jpg

[corsakid]

absolutly lovin it, its mint

[Cle]

would you thing about selling it ??:thumb:

[burgo]

whats the benefits of the extra gearbox mount??

[loggyboy]

less engine movement, meaning less power loss due to rotation of the engine?

same reason that BTCC and alike cars have solid mounts.

[novarally]

would you thing about selling it ??:thumb:

I would consider it, but it would have to be a good offer. It's a car with lots of potential that I am keen to see competing again.

If you want to contact me, please e-mail;

colinesmith@aol.com

[Mike]

Theres some right trick little bits on that TBH. Really interested in the alloy front cross memeber (theory of it reminds me of Grp A Cos front memebers!)

[novarally]

I will try and get some photos of the underneath soon - with the fuel tank and pump installation, plus the rear coilovers.

[Mike]

Colin, i dont suppose you get me an underside pic of the extra front engine mount please?

[Cle]

Email sent :thumb:

[novarally]

Colin, i dont suppose you get me an underside pic of the extra front engine mount please?

No problem Mike, but it won't be for a few days. I had a bit of an accident with a Stanley knife yesterday, resulting in my knee being stictched back together, so kneeling down to get photos is a bit of a problem currently!

[greg1.4]

seems like it could be a right little weapon..

whats the engine spec?

[John]

saw this on the bay, would be a shame to break it i reckon. Did you have a blat colin before your knee accident?!

[BRoadGhost]

Sorry to hear that :o hope you get better soon. I've done a similar thing with a stanley knife on my leg but not to the extent of needing stitches - YOU ONLY DO THAT ONCE before thinking about things differently.

I wouldn't say the car's "mint" a fair bit looks in need of a recon, but some aspects are quite interesting ~ nice to see another type of pedal box being used. I guess the 4th mount will spread the forces more evenly up front which will increase it's life and feel :)

Thing is do you need another project nova?

[stevei]

loving it, you taken it out for a run yet?

[MC]

No alternator is cool.

[novarally]

Did you have a blat colin before your knee accident?!

So far I've only driven it (slowly) on some private land. I will give it a run up the road soon.

The engine has a very large valve head, gasflowed, high lift cam (not sure which one yet). The bottom is end is lightened and balanced. It's reckoned to be about 125bhp.

[Nova18E]

Is this the same car?

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk90/nova18e/img241.jpg

[t45_ste]

Is that not the 1l turbo?

[Ben]

Yeah as everyone else says, gem of a car. Something worth getting stuck into.

[novarally]

Is that not the 1l turbo?

Yes, that photo is of Andrew Bradley's 1 litre turbo Nova, it's far more highly developed than his old Nova that I've now got. The turbo engine makes about 180bhp if I remember rightly.

Andrew took things a lot further with that one, with a floor mounted pedal box, even less weight, much more sophisticated roll cage, better brakes etc.

If you ever get the chance to see it in action, it is unbelievably quick. I've had a search on YouTube, but I haven't been able to find any footage so far.

[SRimon]

In that photo however that looks like on OHC engine, so its not a 1.0?

[novarally]

In that photo however that looks like on OHC engine, so its not a 1.0?

You're right, it is an OHC, but the bores have been sleeved down to give a capacity of just under 1 litre.

The reason for this is that turbocharged cars have their cylinder capacity multiplied by a factor of 1.4, to arrive at their official capacity in terms of what racing class they can compete in. This is in order to try and bring some equity to the racing, as obviously turbocharged cars have a power advantage.

So a 1 litre turbocharged Nova is eligible to compete in the 'up to 1400cc' class.

By the same token, I race a 2.0 turbocharged Escort Cosworth, but I am required to compete in the class for cars of 'over 2000cc, and up to 3000cc' (as my car is considered to have an equivalent capacity to roughly a 2800cc engine.

[CP]

Thats smart thinking - really light and 180hp with presumably torque figures to match means its off the line like a scalded cat:thumb:

[novashed]

remember seeing that a few years ago in retrocars mag rolling road shootout, love the alloy fab slam panel

[novarally]

A few more photos;

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/001-1.jpg

The neat fuel tank installation;
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/003.jpg

The rear coilovers;
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/005.jpg

And one for Mike...............the extra gearbox mount from underneath;
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll66/hillclimbescort/006-2.jpg

[Mike]

And one for Mike...............the extra gearbox mount from underneath;


Thats superb Colin :thumb: good piece of engineering with perfect reasoning behind that, got me thinking so much so i spent last night AutoCad'ing one up for my road car!

[novarally]

Thats superb Colin :thumb: good piece of engineering with perfect reasoning behind that, got me thinking so much so i spent last night AutoCad'ing one up for my road car!

No problem Mike. I would be interested in one of those for the rally car I'm building, let me know how it goes.

[Mike]

Ill keep you posted Colin :thumb: my local engineer requires a minimum order of 20 :eek: so ill make up a prototype and check the fitment on my small block, then erm, go from there or something i suppose?

But as said, ill keep you posted cheif :)

[novarally]

I've been debating what to do with this car, but haven't made a decision yet.

I did have someone who wanted to buy the whole car, but they've changed their mind (same old story).

So for the moment I have put the race spec. 1400cc engine up for sale via EBAY, and I will see what interest I get in that, see this link;

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZhillclimbescort

The bodyshell is going to get some TLC, and then I may put in a small block 16v engine, or more likely I will sell it as a rolling shell, ready for someone to bolt in an engine of their choice.

[Rick Draper]

What did you decided to do with this in the end colin?

[novarally]

What did you decided to do with this in the end colin?

Hi Rick.

I've still got it.

I 'sold' the engine on EBAY, but nearly 2 weeks later it hasn't been paid for, pretty much par for the course with EBAY now. And of course I can't leave the winning bidder negative feedback............

What with my other Nova (the 2 litre throttle bodied one in my other Project thread) and my Escort race car, there's no way I can find the time to keep hold of this one, so one way or another it will be have to be sold.

[craig green]

Nice spec of car.

I've been a fan of Boyo Bradley's turbo for years, that's my scanned pic of it being whored out again.....

Any chance you could ever shed more light on it one day?

[novarally]

I've been a fan of Boyo Bradley's turbo for years, that's my scanned pic of it being whored out again.....

Any chance you could ever shed more light on it one day?

What do you want to know?

I have an article on it from 'Cars and Car Conversions' magazine from 7 or so years ago, but I'm sure a lot has changed with it since then.

I haven't seen Andrew out competing for a long time, although I know he still has the car, and it does go out from time to time.

I gather his Dad was killed whilst driving a Bentley on an event, whether that has (understandably) put the dampers on his racing I don't know.

[Mike]

I 'sold' the engine on EBAY, but nearly 2 weeks later it hasn't been paid for, pretty much par for the course with EBAY now. And of course I can't leave the winning bidder negative feedback............

I hear you there Colin! Since eBay has changed its policies, i get inundated with non paying bidders!! Funking nigthmare eBay is now :(

[Novaload_Nick]

i agree mike ebay is a complete nightmare now!

[novarally]

This Nova has now had the engine removed (just the engine).

Everything else remains on the car, including gearbox, coilovers, exhaust, driveshafts etc.

If anyone is seriously intersted in buying the rolling shell (and I mean SERIOUSLY), they can e-mail me at;

colinesmith@aol.com

or

colin.smith@novarally.co.uk

ABSOLUTELY NO TIMEWASTERS AND NO PM's.

[C14se]

mike i will have one of them extra gearbox mount pm me ya mate

[novarally]

Rolling shell now for sale on EBAY, please see this link;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280279674853&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:PIC&ih=018