curts mk1 d reg build

[Curtoise]

right i got this car on the 16th of april, compleatly standard form,
plans are to lower it, get a set of 5spoke trims, and do the interior, and get it looking perfect.

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2297.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2299.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2298.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2302.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2301.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2300.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2303.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2304.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2306.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2305.jpg

[Curtoise]

right today i went to halfords in order to get some rust prevention stuffs,

i started off by digging out the black tar stuff in the battery tray.

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2317.jpg

it was pretty mucky so knicke the hoover to clear it out.

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2319.jpg

i started digging it all up and bad news, i heard a thud, went to look in the footwell and found a ruddy great bit of fibreglass fall down!

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2320.jpg

that kind of set the tone for the next few mins

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2321.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2322.jpg

so i am very dissapointed,

whats the best way to repair this then?

[Tony M]

Looks very clean mate. Whats it like in the engine bay/battery tray etc?

Edit : Too late lol

[Curtoise]

lmfao !

im pretty bummed out about this,

[mowgli]

get the rh wing off & have a poke about too, cos that cannot be the original wing in that state, there could have been some accident damage too

[Tony M]

I had a rotten battery tray but also where the water was running through to the inside leg of the car it rotted the s**t plate as well.

[Iain]

You're doing well if that's all the rust you find tbh! Doesn't look bad from the other pics, although is the passenger rear arch original as it looks a bit 'fillery' in the pics.

[Curtoise]

nah theres no filler,
mowgli i have suspisions to tbh, as in the door shuts, there was some paint flaking off, so i peeled it off, and there was red underneath?! i think i will take the wing off to, at a later date what can u do tempory i have some kurust atm on it ?

[LEWI007]

Looks good, lower it with some alloys and keep the bodywork original looking.

Like that white Nova SKi that belongs to someone on here.

[Curtoise]

original wing in the bubbley state ?

[mowgli]

nah theres no filler,
mowgli i have suspisions to tbh, as in the door shuts, there was some paint flaking off, so i peeled it off, and there was red underneath?! i think i will take the wing off to, at a later date what can u do tempory i have some kurust atm on it ?

kurust!!!!!!!

get a wire wheel on whats left of the tray, then get some wet rags & pack them in underneath to protect the interior & get some new metal welded in...

also after you have sorted it out properly, get one of those black plastic trays that the later models had to sit the battery on

[Curtoise]

yeh i need one of those black things, kurust to clean it up lol, i dont have a wire wheel lol and i dont have a welder / know how to weld lol. im thinking i wont be getting it lowerd for a while yet lol

[blue_peg_16v]

its not that bad though shouldnt cost that much to get that welded

[Dave.]

Looking at that, the badges on the boot are in the wrong place, and if your saying some paint flaked off the door shut, couldve had a rear end/side impact at some point?

Id keep poking tbh dude, see what you find :thumb:

[Curtoise]

what do you mean the rear badges ?!
it would be just my luck to get a ****ted car lol, altho the boot floor looks too good , maybe the arch got kyboshed, its a local car for its like and live 20 mins ago i might phone up the old woman and ask lol

[mowgli]

what do you mean the rear badges ?!
it would be just my luck to get a ****ted car lol, altho the boot floor looks too good , maybe the arch got kyboshed, its a local car for its like and live 20 mins ago i might phone up the old woman and ask lol

curtoise, so far all of the faults are noticeable from google earth.... didn't you ask about it when you bought it?????

[Dave.]

what do you mean the rear badges ?!
it would be just my luck to get a ****ted car lol, altho the boot floor looks too good , maybe the arch got kyboshed, its a local car for its like and live 20 mins ago i might phone up the old woman and ask lol

Well the vauxhall badge looks too low, and theirs no Nova badge

Take it from me, i work in a bodyshop, and some buffoons in there put the badges on the way round or not atall lol

What side was the paint flaking on? the drivers arch paint looks non-factory

[Connor]

I would ring up the ol' girl, and ask her if it has had any previous repairs, because as said before the boot and front wing look suspect to me

[Damo]

Also the rear bumper looks like its been pushed in in the middle to me unless there all like that.

But chin up mate keep at it and make it your own :thumb: .

[bmw156]

thats abit **** mate. there isnt really any easy way to weld it. have to remove some interior so it doesnt burn. and its just in a ******* of a place lol.

when you come down we could whip the wing of quickly and have a look. but i suspect bad news.

[vaughanmc]

Remember it's an old car mate and it's bound to have some repairs done here and there but that passenger back arch does look like it's had some work

I wouldn't worry about it mate :) Just crack on

New Battery-tray FTW

[Curtoise]

thats abit **** mate. there isnt really any easy way to weld it. have to remove some interior so it doesnt burn. and its just in a ******* of a place lol.

when you come down we could whip the wing of quickly and have a look. but i suspect bad news.

yeh that would be good,

i have just done abit of repair work to it, there is definetly something suspisious going on....

will post pics in a min

around the filler cap and the arch flaking

i have every mot certificate from new so im going to look.

[Curtoise]

i sorted some of the bubbly stuff on the arch and the hole in the filler hole lol pics....

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2323.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2324.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2326.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2329.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2328.jpg


and finished !

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2330.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2331.jpg

all i need to do now is to flat, and cutting compound it, then polish the hole car, colour match was ok, better than i thought :)

[vaughanmc]

Getting there with it mate :)

[Tommy_nova]

looking good dude

[Curtoise]

Getting there with it mate :)

Yeh i need to crack on,

Its really bugging me about the repair thing i wanna know if its been done or not lol
And mowgli, i bought it off a trader who didnt know too much only that a old lady has had it for the last 19 years,
And all the paperwork proves this.
If this is all the rust on it i will be happy tho :)

[vaughanmc]

Chap the rear arch panel and if it makes a tinny'ish noise it will be metal and if its a 'dunk' noise it will be cataloy...If your not 100% about that strip the paint back and see what the craic is

OR - Take the inside quarter trim panel off and have a look in there check for rust/rot etc ;)

[Curtoise]

Chap the rear arch panel and if it makes a tinny'ish noise it will be metal and if its a 'dunk' noise it will be cataloy...If your not 100% about that strip the paint back and see what the craic is

OR - Take the inside quarter trim panel off and have a look in there check for rust/rot etc ;)

Yeh thats a dam good idea ! Then i will also be able to see recent welds ect,a

[Curtoise]

what is cataloy?

[vaughanmc]

Filler...

[Curtoise]

Filler...

oh lolz, yeh i will get the verdict from bmw lol

[muzzy]

If the battery tray issue and a bit of surface rust is all you find then it's no big deal. As was said, in a car that age you expect some accident repairs to have been carried out at some point.

[Curtoise]

yeh thats my thinking, altho im annoyed that one of the side vinals has been sprayed on and some badish overspray lol! so im not sure how to deal with that one

[muzzy]

At least it is all repairable, might be worth asking to previous owner if it was ever damaged.

[Curtoise]

yeh im going to sit and look through all the paperwork, thanks for reminding me

[muzzy]

Hopefully it all comes back OK and you can just carry on with improving it rather than fixing other people's half arsed attempts. Nothing worse than finding bodged repairs (been there many times!).

[novalovingned]

Its a 22 year old car mate. Theres going to be bodges,damage and rot. Would'nt let it get to you. Just crack on and get it sorted :)

[Curtoise]

yeh fibreglassed battery tray FTL lol, im glad i chose to dig it out now so i can sort it before it gets too bad.

something very weird is occouring

all the very old mots say it is 1200 cc!?!?!? altho i think its a 1l ?

on about 6 or seven there are 1200cc and and some are from differnt places.

[Curtoise]

i did have a knock and it didnt feel like filler, i should know, my old arches were made out of it

[MK999]

engine bay pic required :)

[muzzy]

engine bay pic required :)

Agreed.

My battery tray on the MK1 I have at the moment was full of fibreglass which was hiding a huge hole. On another the whole battery tray was bathroom sealer and some linoleum lol

[Curtoise]

lmfao not too bad then lol!

bay pics

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2309.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2310.jpg

^^ that little hole goes to the battery tray

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2311.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2313.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2312.jpg

as requested :D

[Curtoise]

you know i said about the thin line of filler i was not sure was paint or filler well heres a pic of it:

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2327.jpg

can you see the while around the paint?

however when i picked it off it didnt come off as filler does in lumps it was more like paint

[MK999]

199.99% a 1l pushrod that is, unless the old dear that had it before went for a 1.2 OHV conversion (came in mk1 astras or something iirc?) in her crazy 'early' years.

[MK999]

can you see the while around the paint?

however when i picked it off it didnt come off as filler does in lumps it was more like paint

It's called primer.

[Curtoise]

lol yeh it goes like a 1l aswell lol

[Curtoise]

It's called primer.

dam thick primer then !

at least 2mm

[Damo]

Looks like a thin skim of filler to me mate:( .

[muzzy]

I would give the metal around the turret a clean up on the drivers side, looks a bit scabby. Other than that a good clean would bring that bay up nicely.

[Curtoise]

Looks like a thin skim of filler to me mate:( .


yh possibly ile get a second opinion

[Curtoise]

I would give the metal around the turret a clean up on the drivers side, looks a bit scabby. Other than that a good clean would bring that bay up nicely.

yeh i have wire brushed it and treated it with kurust now,
that was the before pic :) yeh i think im going to shower it in gunk and then clean it all
:thumb:

[muzzy]

I am assuming that all was OK after you cleaned it up? overall the car looks good for the age, don't get too depressed if you find filler and stuff like that.

[Curtoise]

yeh, i will try not to,
yeh it was fine, a small hole on the lower strut top seam,
u can see it in the pics

to anyone to has owned a 1l, did it when accelerating from cold it rabbits about lol, like lurches abit , or is this me being a noob with the manual choke lol

[Dave.]

yeh, i will try not to,
yeh it was fine, a small hole on the lower strut top seam,
u can see it in the pics

to anyone to has owned a 1l, did it when accelerating from cold it rabbits about lol, like lurches abit , or is this me being a noob with the manual choke lol

I pull mine half out to start, let it tick over for 10 seconds on half choke, then nock it off completley

itll run, but shouldnt stall :thumb:

[Curtoise]

I pull mine half out to start, let it tick over for 10 seconds on half choke, then nock it off completley

itll run, but shouldnt stall :thumb:

it doesnt stall,
just jumpes about lol

[muzzy]

You more than likely just need to get used to the choke. Is it only when your using the choke it does it?

[Curtoise]

only when the engines cold

[muzzy]

Try playing about with the choke to find out how far you need to pull it out to keep it happy. On my old saloon I only just needed to get the light on to keep it ticking over nicely, on others I've had to pull the choke out a good bit.

[Curtoise]

ah rite so its too little choke thats causing it, thats for the advice :)

edit :) "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to muzzy again."

[muzzy]

Does it sound like its struggling to tick over when you say its jumping about?

[Curtoise]

its only when im pulling away, it ticks over perrfect with a bit of choke, if i leave it for say 10 mins i have to pull the choke out a lil bit for it to start

but when i pull away it sort of lurches about

[muzzy]

When pulling away try pushing the choke back in a touch or completely and see what happens.

[Curtoise]

yeh i think i have done that and it makes it worse, or maybe pulling it out made it worse, im sure it was pulling it out made it worse, i will check tomorrow

[Curtoise]

yeh i pushed it in and it was still jumpy but not as bad.

bad news folks, it seems tha car has had a full respray many years ago,
theres some overspray on rubbers, also on hinges and gaps in doors/boot ?!

very weird however the paint is faded so must of been agges ago

[dj_wudgey]

clean enough mate will be nice with a little care!

[Curtoise]

yeh its pretty good, i have a new headlight/ full set of trims for it.

also do you think i should stick witht he one piece bumper and grill or put a 2 pice on?

[dj_wudgey]

yeh its pretty good, i have a new headlight/ full set of trims for it.

also do you think i should stick witht he one piece bumper and grill or put a 2 pice on?

Late sr front id say mate!

[Curtoise]

i want a plough ! lol

[dj_wudgey]

get one then matey that will look good also!

[Curtoise]

there too rare lol

[muzzy]

Keep the one piece bumper, they look cracking. Keeps it really retro looking.

[Curtoise]

hmm, the plough is pretty much the one piece just with a massive splitter lol

[muzzy]

I've got a plough :p

[dj_wudgey]

hmm, the plough is pretty much the one piece just with a massive splitter lol

Id say plough over the one piece!

[Curtoise]

I've got a plough :p

gimmi gimmi gimmi

[muzzy]

Not for sale at the moment, think I am keeping it on my car lol

[Curtoise]

you know it would look better on mine :p swap for a gsi bumper :)

anyways plans for tomorrow are fit new headlight, put the other two trims on, then what else can i do?

[Curtoise]

fitted new headlight, looks much better

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2346.jpg

also put the 5 spoke trims on, put a new wing mirror on. and gave her a wash and polish

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2343.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2345.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2352.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2350.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2351.jpg

[bmw156]

:d

[Curtoise]

i also noticed that when i got her the front indicators were different colours one was orange and one was yellowy, take a look on the first page!

[vaughanmc]

Looks nice and factory :)

[Curtoise]

Looks nice and factory :)

lol should i put a wrap around spoiler on it?

[mowgli]

lol should i put a wrap around spoiler on it?

only if you really want to.

[vaughanmc]

lol should i put a wrap around spoiler on it?

Don't see why not...

[Curtoise]

just put on my astra gte wheel, i think i might trial fit it with some masking tape to see what it looks like and get pics.... :)

[SRimon]

Lovely looking motor that! The red is very red.

[dj_wudgey]

lol should i put a wrap around spoiler on it?
Id say put one on mate!

[Curtoise]

the red is carmine red :thumb:

[Curtoise]

i think i will have to remove my washer jet tho, as mine is big, altho it doesnt work anyway as someone has cut the pipe at some point, and someone wrapped it up in the wing !! and when i flicked the switch i heard water running got out and it was pouring out of the sill! they didnt even bung it up, so i have bunged it up and tucked it in the wing now as i cba to run it through the sill to get a rear washer to work :(,

[kent14sr]

Looks a good project. Remember its 23 years old or thereabouts, and the rust etc is only age related. Had it not been looked after for its 23 years it wouldnt be anywhere near as good as it looks now and would have rotted away long ago!

I dare say it has had accident damage and a respray/partial respray at some point - nothing wrong with that provided it was repaired ok. Usually pattern parts are used in these circumstances and the quality of the steel is not as good as genuine - got same on my B reg, had a pattern wing fitted after a bump and I have replaced it as its the only rotten part of the car!

Keep on with it - it will be worth it once its done!!

[Curtoise]

yeh it seems they have been carried out very well :),
also a long time ago when the lady owned it as all the paint was faded badly again so must of been a few years ago!

[muzzy]

I wouldn't fit the spoiler, I think it would look good as it is now lowered and with different wheels. :)

[Curtoise]

hmm, i really really hate the look of the back of novas without a spoiler lol, makes them look lots sharper lol,

altho my spoiler doesnt have any screws so it will be stuck on so i can just remove it :D

[muzzy]

You should try it on and see how it looks, doesn't hurt to tape it up as you said to give you an idea.

[Curtoise]

i just rested it on to get an idea
what ya'll think?

heres a pic before for comparison:

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2348.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2353.jpg


oh and the good wheel back on, i feel as if i have much more controll lol! the other one was sooo thin

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2354.jpg

[MK999]

I actually prefer it without, which makes me wonder about mine... not sure how you can pull off the SR rear vinyl without the spoiler though lol

[bmw156]

if you taped it down into place, it would look alright IMO.

[Curtoise]

hmm maybe if it was red? it might look better

[MK999]

Colour coding them looks wrong/barried, check my breaking thread, should be a couple pics in there of mine as it is currently.

[dj_wudgey]

You should try it on and see how it looks, doesn't hurt to tape it up as you said to give you an idea.
Im with you on that mate! If you dont like it youve not stuck it on but you will like it!

[Curtoise]

hmm, looks abit out of place on that one, im gonna go and tape it down with masking tape, how does the rear washer jet come out?

[Curtoise]

right my paint it too silky and polished for any tape to stick :( oh well lol

i will leave it off untill its lowerd and then see

[kent14sr]

hmm, looks abit out of place on that one, im gonna go and tape it down with masking tape, how does the rear washer jet come out?

Just prises out, but beware the washer jet is located higher up for some reason on lots of base models. Just had that issue!! So I just left rear washer out and put a gromit in.

[Curtoise]

yeh i think i will do that, they are just bigger it think, the sr ones ect are small

[kent14sr]

Hole is about 1cm higher too on the ones I have done in the past!

[Curtoise]

weird! lol, are the sr ones smaller?

[dj_wudgey]

weird! lol, are the sr ones smaller?
Yea they are mate its only small the one in my sr!

[Curtoise]

hmm makes sense, i need some suspension!!
might have to settle for just springs? what do you think?
my last car had just springs and it was a bit bouncy but ok and handled ok

[Curtoise]

right small update i have orderd some gmax shocks and springs -60mm, so they will be going on in the week.
i want some audio now as the ariel is broken and it has the standard radio in it,
i want to keep it looking retro and keep the original radio, so i was thinking of putting the headunit in the glove box? has anyone done this, is it easy to sort out?
also i dont know where to put speakers as i dont want them on the parcel shelf.

on idle there used to be a terrible rattle i found out it was the original radio
how can i stop this shall i just wrap it in foam?

[Curtoise]

update the nova has been lowerd today goes well, and handles much better, the tyres squeeeeeeeeeel tho.
so need some tyres for my 14" gsi wheels
pics:

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2363.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2361.jpg

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii448/curtreid8/DSCF2365.jpg

[Connor]

YES BOY, looks alot better
Will try and sort my msn out soon, i brokes it

[Curtoise]

lolol no probs, yeh its way more fun too