brucers GTE wip

[brucer]

hey everybody, just bought myself a new nova GTE and got it back home today. the only reason i had to source a new daily is that some nice yound man pulled out in front of my daily ive had for the past 3 years. some may have seen pics of it in my other WIP.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSC01795.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5654.jpg

i always wanted another nova or some small hatch to have to mess about with since my other nova isnt finished and i dont want it out in the winter. have been browsing ebay for a while to see what pops up and a 1 lady owned nova gte came up for sale this week. rang the bloke who now had it in his possesion to discuss a deal. went on the drive to have a good look over the car as it was going to be a daily i didnt want it to be a shed.

the car turned out to be a fairly decent in condition. the bloke told me that the previous owner (the lady) owned it up untill 2005 where he bought it and kept it dry stored ready to do some work to it for nostalgia reasons.

it currently hasnt got an MOT or tax but there easily sorted (as im a tester). the interior needs to go back together along with a little hole welding up just behind the the passenger turret. theres other bits and bobs that need tidying but got to sort out the essentials. going to keep it majoritaly standard as i already have another to mess around with, plus this one should hold some original value to it.

currently fitted is a 4 branch manifold and some branded mild steel system, has also been lowered on springs with new standard dampers.

enough with the talking, heres a few pics.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5671.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5672.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5676.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5677.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5678.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5679.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5680.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5681.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/nova%20gte/DSCN5682.jpg


hope fully have some updates due to come in the near future.

any comments welcome

bruce

[7ova]

looks quite tidy
seen that for sale somewhere?

[dannymcc]

Nice tidy car there, the original wheel trims would look well on it. Do you know how much it is lowered by?

[NOV4_SPORT]

Looks pretty good condition buddy, will look forward to updates and progress.

iain

[brucer]

update

small update on the car, been fiddling with bits and bobs and getting it up to scratch. with the plan of it being it daily car i wanted to try protect it as much as i could. i waxoyled inside the doors, rear quarter and around the rear sunroof drain hole. all seems ok now and hopefully it stays that way.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5817.jpg

a few bits were missing on the car and a couple bits damaged i had all the spare bits to replace them.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5819.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5818.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5820.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5724.jpg

the car has now got a full MOT, had one minor on the exhaust blowing but thats now sorted. had to be PRS'd on a number plate bulb though.
i wanted to keep the original wheels so it would stay with the standard theme, i looked into powder coating and was going to cost more than i wanted to pay. i decided to tackle the job myself as ive done a few wheels before. stripped the all down using a wire wheel on an angle grinder and drill etc.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5821.jpg

gave them a coat of primer and then a few coats of satin black, they came out pretty good. now was the time to sort some decent tyres.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5822.jpg

as ive got uniroyal rainsport 2's on my other nova i wanted uniroyals again. they dont make rainsport 2's in the size i wanted for the wheels so had to go for rain experts. i changed the size from 175/65/14 to 185/55/14

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5823.jpg

also gave the wheels bolts a clean and paint

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5824.jpg

after a bit of rumaging in my garages i found a few bits off my other one that i cant use, a strut brace and a mk4 astra ht lead cover. i have got new leads too but this ones got a differant dizzy cap. can i swap the dizzys as ive got spare of the other type?

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5719.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5720.jpg

while i was there i done the internal mods to the AFM. also drilled the base of the air box to gain some extra ponies. havnt got a uprated panel filter yet but apparently ill still get some gains

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5721.jpg

presuming the filters on it hadnt been done in quite a while i thought it be best to do them whilst i wasnt using the car as a daily. the oil filter was 1.30 trade price and 6quid for the fuel filter. not too bad.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5713.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5717.jpg

[brucer]

the brakes on the car were never up to a good standard and thought they would be seized on the pins, the mot showed they wernt, but i wanted to change them. trawling ebay i wanted to get some 256mm brakes. i came across a set that had vectra b di calipers with discs to match. they also came with mintec xtreme pads which are a very very minor upgrade on standard pads. once received i set about cleaning them up and painting them

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5728.jpg

got them fitted and bled out.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5808.jpg

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5726.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5727.jpg

future plans are:

braided hoses
fully stripped and undersealed again
uprated cam
lightened flywheel
head work
panel filter
heat wrap the 4-1
short shift
blank the egr
paint engine bay
new mudflaps

unsure what cam to go for yet, i dont want a 270deg cam but from what research ive done you cant go any bigger on standard injection. im hopefully going to try a 285ish cam and hope for the best.

think thats it for now, more to come soon guys an gals

thanks for looking

bruce

[moffat]

good update mate. liking this alot

[Benn]

Very nice looking start. Carpet is so clean.

[novaa]

looking good what did you do to the afm?

[Benn]

the oil filter was 1.30 trade price and 6quid for the fuel filter

You know a filter from Vauxhall is £1.02 trade yeah? lol

[Nova_Tek]

Nice mate, glad to see another GTE in good hands. Like Benn has said, filters and stuff are cheap as chips at Vauxhall trade

[brucer]

looking good what did you do to the afm?

you can weaken the spring for the flap inside it ever so slightly and move the arm further up the resistor track so you make the most of full throttle. minor things but all the small things count when you dont have much HP.


You know a filter from Vauxhall is £1.02 trade yeah? lol

nope, but more hassle for me and 28p extra aint bad for ease of getting it so local.


Nice mate, glad to see another GTE in good hands. Like Benn has said, filters and stuff are cheap as chips at Vauxhall trade

thanks tek, gotta love them

[LEWI007]

That is one nice Nova mate, very clean and i love the GTE's.

If your getting new mudflaps i will buy the ones you have on it at the moment because im looking for 2 of them, please PM me if you want to sell or trade for something.

[brucer]

update

bit of an update for the car, still not using it on the road yet. have got around to sorting out some niggles and minor upgrades.

eventually found a second hand new k an n panel filter for it from a member off here.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6118.jpg

had a few minutes spare at work to knock up an EGR blank. god knows if it really does anything.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5927.jpg

i had a spare throttle body to play with so decided to have a go at enlarging it. the standard flap is 55mm, was aiming for 60mm bur i was running out of material so had to settle for 59mm. in my oppinion id say it made a differance, but whos to say it did without a dyno.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5843.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5924.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN5928.jpg

i think it could do with a bit more fuel, i have got a 3bar reg from an LET to try, will most likely just over fuel

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6158.jpg

im currently changing the final drive from a f10cr box into a spare f13 ive got. waiting to find the 5th gear from a f13wr box so its on hold for now.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6120.jpg

as you all know, this time of year isnt great for working outdoors, had to bide my time when painting the engine bay. i had painted the one side one week and the slam panel and other inner arch the week after. hasnt come out too bad.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6152.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6157.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSC00024-1.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSC00025.jpg

with wanting a nice bay i also painted the airbox and AFM, coil, bonnet stay and bracket, plus the bonnet catch clip.

yet to fit the latter stuff back on as ive occupied with my other nova.

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6163.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6175.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6176.jpg

there is a good chance i may be selling it as plans havnt quite gone the right way, i could do with a bigger diesel car for towing stuff in the future.

more to come.

thanks

for looking

bruce

[Nova_Tek]

Good work - Two projects on the go :thumb:

[brucer]

cheers tek, got to try and keep them in good nick. :)

[bazil]

Loving this,

Makes me remember why I kept my red GTE lol

[Mieran]

Love it

Wish I had a Nova for a daily, they're so much fun

[gary_126]

Really nice car! comming along well!

[woodygte]

well done mate it really is looking good.

[brucer]

update

have started using this as a daily now so havnt done alot to it.

bought some centre caps for the steel wheels which i sprayed satin black to match the wheels, also with the rolling road booked i new i had to change the cambelt. with no history and the car not being on the road since 2005 i had no clue what so ever. to my surprise the cambelt and water pump were nigh on new, replaced them out of safety anyway.

went to the dyno today with just hopes it making standard power, it has got a 4 branch, mild steel system and modded airbox with a panel filter so it should have been good for standard power.

the results were 92.12bhp and 87.42lb/ft at the wheels which is calculated at 105bhp and 98lb/ft.

ive heard all types of storys about rolling roads being too happy etc but id take these results as pretty accurate.

click the 2nd pic for the video

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/DSCN6546.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/th_DSCN6547.jpg (http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/?action=view&current=DSCN6547.mp4)

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/img004.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z24/bachilds1988/img005.jpg

rather pleased with how it performed, hopefully more power to come when i get round to it.

bruce

[Nova_Tek]

Sounds like a decent result.