1987 sr Brought back to life after sitting 6 years.

[nova23]

Thought it was about time I did something with my old nova which has sat in my parents garage for 6 years, not started for 5!

This is what it looked like about 6 months before I parked it up was looking to sell it but was only getting silly offers so when the mot ran out I serviced it and stored it away.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/Nova.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/Novarear.jpg

Since then I’ve got married, become a father moved, restored an Astra GTE 16v tracked a R5 turbo and now own a diesel Honda Accord, as well as the Astra which is stored in my garage.

So today I had some free time so though I would drag it out the garage and see if it would run, engine bay full of spider webs but looked ok, oil nice and clean water in the coolant etc, spun it over with no spark to get some oil pressure first then put some fresh fuel in the Weber, connected the coil and it fired right up. Couldn't believe it sounds great no rattles or smoke, forgot how loud the scorpion ss exhaust is lol.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0494.jpg

Left the handbrake on by accident so had to give the drums a whack and they freed of ok, put some air in the tyres and took it for a run down the private lane behind my parents house which is about a mile long, forgot how much fun the small 8v engines are.

Vid of it running, sound not really picked up by phone very well.


http://youtu.be/vDILp5SyUYA


Plan is to sort out at small amount of rust on sills and rear archs and mot it, thinking about stripping it out and doing some track days.
Love these seats.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0495.jpg

[Mike]

Retro'ness!

That an Irish plate??

[nova23]

No private plate came with the car, windows still show the old plate which is D plate

[pikey1986]

please leave it as it is, looks lovely :thumb:

[Graeme]

One of my favorite colours, keep it how it is

[nova23]

Only thing i'm going to do is put a low millage 1.6 gte engine in on carbs, and remove old sub etc

[brainsnova]

And a mk1 dash :d

[nova23]

Thats long gone, might remove the lcd and put the sr clocks back in though.

[Spudly]

That looks lovely, proper slice of 90's modding and still looks fresh today, id say leave it as it is, refresh the mot and enjoy:d

[ryansnova]

really nice mk1 mate keep it as it is but change the wheels to something like teardrops or something ?;)

[craig green]

Nice! Are all Novas in that colour a D reg?? Never seen them on any other plate.

I also like it just how it is.

[craig green]

Just noticed the Stil-Auto 'SR 300' wheels too. Proper ET49.

[John]

Very nice car indeed!

[Nova_Tek]

Nice example :thumb: My 1.2 started without any issues after being sat for 7-8 years (most of that outside :eek:).

[SRimon]

Lovely - I can too appreciate 90's styling! Looks perfect as it is.

[Southie]

Another vote to keep as is, looks top notch to me.

[Rickyb]

that does look the nutts as it is so im also a fan of keeping her like that :D
rick

[wwmnw]

Looks nice that.

[Connor]

Looks lovely that, any pics of the astra and r5 :d

[nova23]

Looks lovely that, any pics of the astra and r5 file:///C:/Users/Dell/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif

After fitting new inner and outer sills and front subframe.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/r5/SP_A00312.jpg

The reason me and a mate bought it was for the running gear, had a yellow spec bb tuning engine, big brakes adjustable suspension etc but decided to restore it and have some fun in it.

Did four track days and didn't miss a beat, got a vid some where testing the full throttle gear shift at Brands :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/r5/brands1.jpg

Astra bought as a project to keep, it's an early 88 16v needed arches.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Astra/SP_A0042.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/pv-1.jpg

[Mike]

After fitting new inner and outer sills and front subframe.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/r5/SP_A00312.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/pv-1.jpg

Lovely!

[JShannon]

nice collection there chap!

jealous isnt the word lol

Joe

[simonm]

Some cool cars there those 5turbos are awesome bet it had some prity big figures love the astra to

[nova23]

Some cool cars there those 5turbos are awesome bet it had some prity big figures love the astra to

I never had it on a rolling road but it was originally setup on one, it was laggy but if you kept it on the boil it was very quick, miss the noise it made on full throttle shifts.

[Ditch p]

love the colour of the nova and agree on keeping it as is.....

great looking R5 and that astra is just awsome looking...

[nova23]

Made a start on the old girl today in two minds what to do with it, wanted to turn it into a track day car and would probably end up with a cheap paint job ie satin black as it needs rear arches and the roof painting. But after looking through some old photos i think I’m going to restore it to its forma glory in the same monaco blue. I will be changing the engine though for a 1.6 gsi 8v lump, as i have had one sitting in my garage for ages waiting to be used, but will keep the 1.3sr engine in case i decide to change it back to sr spec.

Emptied the boot to see if the rust has eaten it as it's sat for best part of 7 years.

One side is good other not so good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0009.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0007.jpg

The floor is solid as are the chassis rails and rear spring seats :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0013.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0015.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0014.jpg

Both doors still look pretty good did pump them full of wax when I restored it in the 90's

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0011.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0012.jpg

Forgot how much I like these seats, really hug you.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0495.jpg

Engine bay needs some work on the turrets but the legs are good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0018.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0017.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/anthony25/Nova/IMAG0019.jpg

Next thing to sort is getting it shifted to my house to start the strip down.

Anyone have a flat bed in the Essex area??

[scott.parker]

Is the color silk violet in them pics?

I say restore it mate.

Scott

[nova23]

Is the color silk violet in them pics?

I say restore it mate.

Scott

No it's the colour it came with monaco blue.

[Spudly]

Awesomeness, glad youre going to make her pretty again, doesnt look like there will be too much work to do in all fairness, ive seen far worse restored to an amazing standard on here and judging by your pics of the five and the astra, it doesnt look like you will struggle too much:thumb:

[nova23]

Awesomeness, glad youre going to make her pretty again, doesnt look like there will be too much work to do in all fairness, ive seen far worse restored to an amazing standard on here and judging by your pics of the five and the astra, it doesnt look like you will struggle too much:thumb:

Thanks, i'm fully expecting plenty of tin worm once i get digging, what i could really do with is two front turrets as mine are pretty shot.

[AndrewJenkins]

thats a lovely lot of cars you have and looks like some good work


Thanks, i'm fully expecting plenty of tin worm once i get digging, what i could really do with is two front turrets as mine are pretty shot.

good luck on finding a set of turrets there non existant now only person im aware with a set is bazil but he has nearly a complete shell in parts lol

[Archie]

Love the SR in that colour, really cool to see something thats been hidden a way for years with age/period type mods.

Hope you bring it back to former glory, looked amazing in the 1st photo.

R5 looks sweet as does the GTE, have a soft spot for them.

I'll keep an eye for updates.

[nova23]

thats a lovely lot of cars you have and looks like some good work



good luck on finding a set of turrets there non existant now only person im aware with a set is bazil but he has nearly a complete shell in parts lol


Yeah i'm not after new ones, going to take a disc cutter to a local breakers and cut off the bits i need then drill out the spot welds, should be left with a factory repair panel :)