doodars c20let gsi reshell project

[ben doodar]

well here goes, ive been meaning to get some sort of build thread going for a while now but just havnt had time.

asfter crashing my gsi in october last year, i decided that im going to do the next one to the best of my abbalitys and funds. A no time limit project, its finished when its finished and no cutting corners, like i did in my other 2 novas.
so i bought this white sri from a mate, i paid a little over the odds for it really 700 but it had the wilwood brakes that i really wanted and a sunroof which i really wanted so it could be an exact gsi replica it also had a pair of brand new gsi sideskirts in the packaging and a few other nice little bits with it.
and had 2 sills put on by a local body shop.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject006.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject002.jpg

tryed my speedlines ovet the brakes to make sure they fitted without spacers, happy days!
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject008-1.jpg

so the the work started taking the engine out.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject011.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject012.jpg

engine out
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject017.jpg

and pushed into the garage for a proper inspection.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject030.jpg

as i was able to having a proper good poke around, it wasnt as solid as i first thought.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject061.jpg

[LEWI007]

Looks like a nice project this mate, i think you got a pretty good deal for money for what youve got, some nice bits there.

also thats the 2nd SRi ive saw with strut top plates, i thought only GTE's and GSi's came with them ?

[John]

Hmm i spy mk1 astra and mk2 golf too! Nice cars you have there Ben!

[The Simps]

Looks like a nice project this mate, i think you got a pretty good deal for money for what youve got, some nice bits there.

also thats the 2nd SRi ive saw with strut top plates, i thought only GTE's and GSi's came with them ?

all sri had them too.

[ben doodar]

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject054.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject033.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject034.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject036.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject032.jpg

so i started to repair the rotten areas
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject073.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject041.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject045.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject052.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject074.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject075.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject053.jpg

started to seem weld the bay
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject078.jpg

gearbox mount
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject079.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject089.jpg

[ben doodar]

more pics to come shortly....

[L14MNP]

Nice one Ben. I was a huge fan of your previous GSi. I'm sure this one will look even sweeter mate!

[Pistol Pete]

Thats some serious rot! Fair play for sticking at it.

[Benn]

Welding looks good dude.

[craig green]

Fair play! Its all in the usual places.

[brainsnova]

looks ok for the money but since he's a mate and the rot ask for change :D

[ben doodar]

thanks for the comments all ready, .

l14mnp, cheers mate means alot, lol
benn weldings not great but it aint to bad lol
pete hold on a min lol.

thats half the story so far.

so i carried on seem welding and poking around it finding more and more rot and carried on working at it platting it up and seem welding the bay

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject006-1.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject020-2.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject058-1.jpg


i was chhatting to a lad one day and he said "o by the way ive got a front panel for one of them novas you can have it if you come and get it out of my shed" so that was handy
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject092-1.jpg
cut the old front panel off
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark084.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark085.jpg

i was originaly planning on putting an xe with bike carbs in it until i was scanning through the classifieds and noticed lee h was selling a let, after thinking about it for a while i thought id get in contact with him and see if he would come to some sort of deal with the wilwoods and my speedlines, he had bought the new gsi skirts of me a few weeks before for his let gsi, and he had mentioned that if i was ever going to get rid of the wilwoods let him know first, so i did, we come to a deal with the brakes, wheels and some cash. i was know the proud owner of a this.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark141.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark157.jpg

won a new gm clutch off ebay for 60 (note the engine stand lol)
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark158.jpg

at this point i was begging to get a bit p1ssed of with it i knew it would have to be a good strong shell for a let, with no rot like i had allways wanted. i was finding more rot and the more i poked and hammerd the more i lost interest in it, it was never going to be the car that i wanted in the first place.

i work as a delivery driver for an auto factors and had heard of a good nova in a old cow milking shed at one of the farms i go to to drop parts off. so i asked for a look around it, and it was really good 43000 miles owned by an old guy, the bloke said he wanted 500 for it, which tbh for me, is alot of money really just to throw at another nova, + it was a mk1 with no sunroof, i really wanted a sunroof so i could have an exect gsi replica, i also didnt want a mk2 on a f plate, so i left it and carried on working on the white sri.
a month or two later i went to drop some bits off at the farm, the guy come running out "oi if you want that nove give me 250 for it, its p1issing me off its in the way" WINNER!!!
so the white one went for scrap i had done alot of work on it really, but if im doing it im going to do it as good as i can.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark155.jpg

so here she is my new project
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject093.jpg

[Adam]

Another shell was a wise choice IMO mate.


Looking forward to seeing progress :)

[ben doodar]

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject094.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject095.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject101.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject102.jpg

started pulling it apart engine ready to come out
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject104-1.jpg

the arches arnt to good but it came with the repair panels.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject103.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject105.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject106.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject109.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject111.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject112.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject113.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject114.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark102.jpg

[AlexW]

Private plate needed!

The white shell was deffo worth the end it got lol
Dont worry about the sunroof, stronger shell :d

[Spudly]

Jammy cnut thats awesome, shame the old SRi had to go but youve got a far better shell in that one by the looks of the bay alone:thumb:

[ben doodar]

Jammy cnut thats awesome, shame the old SRi had to go but youve got a far better shell in that one by the looks of the bay alone:thumb:

ive got to admit ive been lucky with this project had some bargains and good fortune really.

a few mates thought i was mad doing all the work and time to the white one just to scrap it and do all the work again, but like i said before ive got no time limits with this car its done when its done as good as i can do it.

so i started working on it, seem welding the bay

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark107.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark108.jpg

made a cardboard template for this

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark112.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark113.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark118.jpg

on my gsi that had a 2.0 8v tbh i beat the funk out of the chassis leg with my mate mc hammer to make room for the alternater

on this i wanted to make a nice box for it so took the laptop into the garage and copyed the pic that simps had posted of when he did his for his let

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark121.jpg

so marked it out and cut it with this, a 1mm cutting disc on a grinder awesome tools. really neat cut.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark110.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark120.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark122.jpg

made a cardboard template for this

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark130.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark132.jpg

then made in metal, i cudnt make it all in one piece so addaed the rear curved part in after

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark134.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark137.jpg

was going to fit an f20 box but a mate was selling an f28 that had the rear 2 gearbox cross threaded where the rear mount bolts in paid 200 for it and 60 at the local engineering place to drill and sleeve the gbox and tap out the middle hole that isnt pre tapped. so i ordered the f28 front mount rear gearbox spacer, i did allready have one but wanted the one with the 3 holes and strengthning plate kit from chris astley who did me a fair discount for being a member of the club and got them to me the next day!!

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark145.jpg

[ben doodar]

didnt get to many pics of the stregnthning plates being fitted and before they were seam sealed over the batteries died in the camera whilst i was doing it.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark149.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark150.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark153.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark154.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark156.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark160.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject115.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject116.jpg

had to cut the top corner of the engine mount from my 2.0 8v as it was hitting the cambelt housing

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark162.jpg

borrowed this engine wheelie board from the back of co op ages ago, certainly makes life easier

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark163.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark164.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark165.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark166.jpg

engine in on the front o/s mount and rear mount jack under the gearbox to support it when i weld the front n/s engine mount on, also made some brackets to hold the intercooler

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark167.jpg

[ben doodar]

i cut the front panel for the afm pipe but did a **** job of it, it was way to big and scruffy, i had been working on the car for 12 hours was tired and hungry, so called it a night.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark168.jpg

got up the next day and decided to cut this piece from my gsi to weld in and neaten up the cut in the front panel.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/malorypark169.jpg

and that is where im about now have done a few things since these pics but thats all ive got pics of at the min, the cars under a sheet on the drive at the min as my bros had to use the garage for a few weeks and chucked me out, lol, hopefully will start on the car again mid november.

Ben.

[Rickyb]

now im realy liking this so ive subscribed to it good luck

[ben doodar]

now im realy liking this so ive subscribed to it good luck

cheers dude :thumb:

[The Simps]

Good work Ben. You're certainly going about it the right way.

I'd replace the std afm hose with a black roose silicon jobby. Its same size not oversize like alot of the samco ones etc and will tidy it up nicely.

[vaughanmc]

Good project you've got going - The F plate shell looks in not bad nick! Will be good to see it progressing

[ben doodar]

Good work Ben. You're certainly going about it the right way.

I'd replace the std afm hose with a black roose silicon jobby. Its same size not oversize like alot of the samco ones etc and will tidy it up nicely.

cheers simps.

i will do when i get around to it mate, just fitted it so i cud mark up, and cut the slam panel out before painting.
never noticed before that the samco ones were larger but now you mention it they do seem to be larger.

[Edd]

Quality work there Ben.

MK1 shell much better base to start from imo, looks a good shell.

good luck with the rest of the build.

[Will F]

Fair play for the amount of time - but for £700, I would have bought a belting std shell and started with that.

I find that you are forever chasing rust around at the best of time - you will end up cutting a lot of it out!;)

[ben doodar]

lol just rembered about this picture,
in the glove box i found this "device" couldnt think what it was or what it was used for.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject097.jpg


after much head scratching i discovered what it was used for.
the old boy must not of had much grip in his older days so made it to fit here

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee77/bendoodar/novaproject098.jpg

quality!!

[The Simps]

Lovin the handle! lol

[sparkie1401]

cool handle, great welding

whos and what is the Mk1 astra i spy? for sale?

[ben doodar]

cool handle, great welding

whos and what is the Mk1 astra i spy? for sale?

ha ha that astra it just sits there awaiting for some love should get a sheet over it really!

went to buy a 2.0 8v for my gsi off some random guy walked up the drive and asked the guy whos was it he said "its a project for some one"
"o its not for sale then?"
"yh its yours for £***"
"il have it"
i will one day, do it up will and probably sell it to make a bit of cash. it was so cheap i had to have it!

a few months later started dating my mrs turns out it was her uncle who i bought it off!

[ben doodar]

Now for sale due to my dad loosing his marbles. Theres loads of spares and parts included.
Also in cars for sale section. Serious enquirys only please.
07909526903.