My mum's nova!

[andyredtop83]

Officially this isn't my nova but my mums lol Just under 8 years ago when I was still living at home with my parents, my mum was after a cheap run around to go shopping, work etc., and was all set to buy a Nissan Micra. I decided to talk her out of that stupid idea and talk her into buying a proper car :thumb:. At first she wasn't interested in buying a nova but I soon wore her down and she reluctantly went to look at one. Back in 2005 novas were a lot more common than they are now so a quick look in the local free-ads brought a few up. I persuaded her to buy a 1992 Trip. It had covered just over 60000 miles from new and had only 2 owners, an old man who'd had it for the first 10 years then he had given it to his granddaughter for the next 3. She managed to get it for £300 and when we got it home she said now that I've bought it I don't want you changing it, just leave it standard, I promise I said. I kept that promise for about 3 weeks lol and then started improving it :thumb:Its had coilovers fitted as it looked like a tractor as standard, nova alloys and a GTE exhaust system i also removed the cat to free up a few more horses


http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/1897/1001228q.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/542/1001228q.jpg/)
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2997/1001227xh.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/820/1001227xh.jpg/)
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2568/1001226bv.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/254/1001226bv.jpg/)



Inside i fitted a full SR/SRi red interior including matching red heater controls, gear knob and headlight switch. Its also had GTE door cappings, GSi steering wheel and GSi dials with white SRi speedo and rev counter. As it was poverty spec it didnt have a clock, cigarette lighter etc. so i fitted all that as the cables were already on the loom and i also fitted electric windows and central locking.


http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1359/1001229q.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/11/1001229q.jpg/)
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/6979/1001232g.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/818/1001232g.jpg/)

[conza123]

lol my mum drives mine sometimes but she prefers here subaru impreza sti prodrive that i just stuck a blitz nur spec exhaust on it for her

[andyredtop83]

The front seats had the usual bolster wear so i had them repaired and while they had the seat material removed i got them to fit calibra heated seat pads so it now boasts heated seats :d

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/8830/1001230s.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/600/1001230s.jpg/)


I wanted to get Vauxhall velour floor mats for it but as most of you know they are rarer than horse rocking s**t so i got some vectra b ones cheap from a well known auction site and cut them to fit the nova and trimmed them round the edges with red leather


http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7568/1001231j.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/1001231j.jpg/)


Me mum only planned to keep the car for a few years but still has it now and drives it everyday, whenever i go round there i check it over for her and try to look after it as best i can but it is starting to show its age now and being flame red its faded badly so next on the list is a full re-spray and E16se engine conversion :thumb:

[marc69]

Great car, feel free to upgrade mine with some of those options, love the heated seats!

[pie]

nice little nova :)

[L33 LEG]

Looks a really nice car. Love the way you're modding it and looking after it as if it's your own lol Wish my mum was this cool and would drive a nova or something similar!

[paul james]

I'll ask the obvious question before anyone else gets the chance...


Photos of your mum? :p


Looks a very nice little nova, I'm liking all the neat little touches you've done with it like the heated seats and red gearknob etc. tasteful modifications are the best.

[andyredtop83]

Have a small update on this, nothing too exciting though. The car has matching rear red sr/sri seats but as the car is poverty spec theres no brackets in the middle. Took it for its MOT and they failed it on it :( even though the seats have been in there 5 years and they have passed it every other year with them in there :confused:

So i sourced some split seat brackets, sprayed them red and fitted them :) and now when my mum drives it they wont be rattling around anymore :d


http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6448/1001259f.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/1001259f.jpg/)


While i had the seats out i thought it would be rude not to fit matching rear head rests, there is a bar running through the seats where the head rests should go so i cut small holes out and fitted them in :thumb:

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3787/1001261k.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/43/1001261k.jpg/)

[kbnova]

sure you have enough novas in that yard

[andyredtop83]

sure you have enough novas in that yard

Got 4 at the moment, you can never have too many though lol

[kbnova]

your rite, tidy nova there

[andyredtop83]

your rite, tidy nova there

Thanks, could do with a respray though :(

[nova_niek]

Sweet looking Nova with some nice mods your mum has there! :thumb:

The joy of parents and Nova's... :d

Back in 2003, my (then 71 year old) dad was having his Toyota Avensis Verso thing serviced at a local dealership. With no temporary car available, he had to resort to my X16XE throttlebodied Nova. This brought back the spotty yoof in him LOL as he was giving it the beans quite a lot! :thumb:

[andyredtop83]

Sweet looking Nova with some nice mods your mum has there! :thumb:

The joy of parents and Nova's... :d

Back in 2003, my (then 71 year old) dad was having his Toyota Avensis Verso thing serviced at a local dealership. With no temporary car available, he had to resort to my X16XE throttlebodied Nova. This brought back the spotty yoof in him LOL as he was giving it the beans quite a lot! :thumb:

HA HA HA fair play to your Grandad mate, at least he got to drive a proper car for a while lol

[jimbob-mcgrew]

looks sleeper on the outside, all vamped up on the inside :)

where abouts in berks are you btw mate ? maidenhead ways ?

[andyredtop83]

looks sleeper on the outside, all vamped up on the inside :)

where abouts in berks are you btw mate ? maidenhead ways ?

Yer its sleeper on the outside but only because its poverty spec trip, i have got a GSi bumper and GTE spoiler to fit to it and when i can justify spending the money a respray, it dosent look bad in the pictures but i had washed it the day before and it had rained just before i took the pictures but when the sun shines on it, it looks terrible. People say dont bother with a respray your wasting your time but i hate to see a nova looking neglected :cry:

Yes mate live in between Maidenhead and Slough

[andyredtop83]

Havent done a lot with this nova recently but it did need new tyres on the front, I took the alloys off and put some steel wheels on for a bit so I could get the alloys refurbed . Wasn't sure how they would look but what a big difference, they look brand new


http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5562/1001369s.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/694/1001369s.jpg/)

The only problem was the center caps looked terrible all faded and scratched but the bloke fitting the tyres reckoned he could tart them up. He only wanted £20 to do all 4. The silver is a slightly different shade but im really pleased with the result and only £5 each :thumb:

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1722/1001371vl.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/33/1001371vl.jpg/)
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/5670/1001370lp.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/843/1001370lp.jpg/)

[nova_niek]

Result!

[Benn]

Very nice car,

[WA1D3N]

People say dont bother with a respray your wasting your time but i hate to see a nova looking neglected :cry:

Yes mate live in between Maidenhead and Slough

If your going to keep the car in the family and have the money spare then its worth a respray if you have the money spare :thumb:

[turbojolt]

If your going to keep the car in the family and have the money spare then its worth a respray if you have the money spare :thumb:


wtf bit of a strange bump lol

[WA1D3N]

wtf bit of a strange bump lol

It is now i am reading it when i am awake, it was late and i didn't realize i was repeating myself lol

[andyredtop83]

Believe it or not my mum still has this nova and still drives it daily and it still has its original 1.2 spi engine. The C12NZ is a brilliant engine if......
your after good fuel economy and reliability but not if you want any sort of performance with 44bhp in standard form it produces even less than the 1.0

My mum seemed happy with this but I know she keeps getting embarrassed at the local traffic lights! and struggles to keep up with more modern cars.

Several years ago when my GTE got written off I removed its E16se engine and F13cr box and they had been sitting in the garage gathering dust so I thought it would be rude of me not to fit these in. I talked my mum into going for an engine conversion and she finally agreed after I kept on at her everyday for a few months she said yes probably just to shut me up!

I had been busy collecting a few parts. I got this black powder coated inlet manifold with polished fuel rail. All 4 fuel injectors had been cleaned, tested and overhauled

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh525/andyredtop/100_3625.jpg (http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/andyredtop/media/100_3625.jpg.html)

I also bought a k&n air filter

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh525/andyredtop/100_3635.jpg (http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/andyredtop/media/100_3635.jpg.html)

So I set about removing the original engine and gearbox and dropped in the 1.6 8v with the F13

Before:

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh525/andyredtop/100_3624.jpg (http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/andyredtop/media/100_3624.jpg.html)

And after:

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh525/andyredtop/100_3638.jpg (http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/andyredtop/media/100_3638.jpg.html)

I gave the engine a full service when it was fitted and changed the cambelt to be on the safe side. I also changed the gearbox oil, I know this gets overlooked a lot of the time but I do change mine every couple of years.

After some digging around in my nova spares I found some more goodies for it, a lexmaul exhaust manifold, samco coolant hoses and blue magnecor HT leads so these were all fitted as well!

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh525/andyredtop/100_3637.jpg (http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/andyredtop/media/100_3637.jpg.html)

And now the nova has respectable power I finished the conversion by adding a PNG sticker in the windscreen!!

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh525/andyredtop/100_3636.jpg (http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/andyredtop/media/100_3636.jpg.html)

My mum loves it now but still cant get used to the fact she now has 5 gears after driving the 1.2 for so long lol

[nova_niek]

Your mum must be laughing at the lights now. :d

[andyredtop83]

Your mum must be laughing at the lights now. :d

Wouldn't quite say that lol but with 100 horses it now feels like its moving when you put your foot down. Still feels slow to me but im used to the xe

[jimbob-mcgrew]

quick engine switch there andy :thumb:

good job on the wheels too, look like theyve come out well

[andyredtop83]

quick engine switch there andy :thumb:

good job on the wheels too, look like theyve come out well

Yer I've only done the front ones at the moment but they look so much better. I shall try and do the rears later in the year as well.

[DAVIDKEDENS]

Awesome read, wish my Mum was as cool as yours, she won't even go near mine because it has ****e brakes, no power steering etc.

She passed her test in a 1.3 SR too..

[Southie]

Get your mum a massive sound system and a baseball cap and then she'll be cruising all night now lol

Mum racers FTW lol

[andyredtop83]

:cry:
My mum went and bought a Honda Jazz recently. So this nova has been sold, the bloke who bought it is into his novas and had already got it booked in for repairs to the doors and arches and a re-spray. He isn't on PNG but I kept telling him he should join so this nova maybe appearing again on here soon with nice new flame red paint

Im keeping my eyes peeled :wtf:

[nova_niek]

Well at least it's gone to a good home then. :thumb: