View Full Version : Build time and price
Hi I was just looking at some build threads and was wonder how it has taken you to build your nova's and how much it cost people? Thanks dan
Bought in 2003.. So ten years in the making. Cost... A lot.
Hi mate, It took me about 10 months to bare shell rebuild mine working every saturday and a few evenings. Cost was around £600 IIRC. But I have spent much more over the years.
Bought in 2003.. So ten years in the making. Cost... A lot.
Not really worth working out is it!
Not really worth working out is it!
For the first time, I am keeping track of all expenditures on my current project.
As I would like to do that rare thing, make a profit at the end of it! lol
I agree that usually it is certainly not worth working out, especially as we mostly do it for the love and enjoyment.
Not really worth working out is it!
Nope, i enjoy it so spend what ever is needed/wanted.
Started working a bit out when doing my AV, amazed me..lol
Car cost me £100,probably spent about £3500 on it but the plan was never to sell it,got it done right as i didnt want to keep spending money patching it up,agreed valuation on my insurance is roughly what i've spent on it anyway so im not too bothered.
mate building a gsi as new 7k approx
turbojolt
13-02-13, 07:49 PM
a massive cost to my build is buying tools for the first time, i keep all the receipts ever since i got it back but i wouldn't go adding them up that would be a soul destroying task!
Started mine 4 years ago, although its on the road I doubt it'll ever be "finished", just not currently spending money on it while I save for a house. Build cost must be over 6k but its not with anywhere near that, not that I would ever sell it.
Considering mine was simply 'to drop an xe in over the weekend' it took over a year and half, and ive got somewhere in the region of about £3000 in mine, i did tot it all up but i forget now, but thats including buying the original cavalier, and buying the engineless nova aswell!
My new build is on the cheap, I am still doing it to a high standard but just trying to find bargains etc.
Not doing to bad either, Bought the air filter off ebay the other day for 99p. After a quick rub down and a lick of Upol bumper paint and it looks as good as new.
Seam welded and painted the bay for £25 and my time. Painted the engine with the old rattle cans I had in the garage, Used a load of hoses I had kicking around to plumb it in.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/526941_10151288913723775_1049457783_n.jpg
Dan
And where the funk is the project thread for this one then you slacker?
Dan that makes me very happy! I see you've got a spacer on the tb cable.. I did this years ago and it took all slop and travel out. Never seen anyone else do it...
I am I must admit. Been a little busy that's all.
Dan that makes me very happy! I see you've got a spacer on the tb cable.. I did this years ago and it took all slop and travel out. Never seen anyone else do it...
I noticed the pedal was a mile from where it should be so just used a bit of the hose i had kicking about.. does the job!
Make it feel so much better doesn't it... I have a bit of milled stainless in mine...lol
My first Nova added up to £1200, 1.6 converted, 2 bucket seats, coilovers and all the usual gsi bits and alloys and done in a month or 2.
Current one I've had for 3 1/2 years, cost about -£300 (yes minus, sold more than I've bought for it :p) still I think, and it's still a bare shell, one day I'll have some cash to do it and it'll get started properly.
Still regret not just keeping the first one and checking the fuelling/driving like a nun to see if I could save some fuel money instead of getting a diesel, but hindsight is great and all that, got offered my current shell at a bargain price and it was in my favourite colour though, so all worth it in the end hopefully.
Make it feel so much better doesn't it... I have a bit of milled stainless in mine...lol
Good idea, may get a bit bar and do it myself. What cable are you running? Mine is off a baby xe corsa.
.
Still regret not just keeping the first one
Do you ever think back and wonder how far you could of taken it?
Good idea, may get a bit bar and do it myself. What cable are you running? Mine is off a baby xe corsa.
Do it, looks sexy hence why i did it..lol I think mines a Corsa one too. But i rerouted it in about 2005 so i cant be 100% now
Do you ever think back and wonder how far you could of taken it?
Just miss it as a daily tbh, the E34 is nice, and in every way a 'better' car, but it doesn't beat crashing about in a 700 kilo tin can that people complain about riding in and stopping conversations with your right foot because there's fcuk all sound deadening etc. Also I could get way more huge ikea boxes etc in the Nova than I ever could in the E34!! It was practical really lol
It was always limited in how far I could take it because it was my daily car, anything that was more than a couple days work or could go wrong and take longer was a no go because I needed the car, which was the reason, or justification at least, for the mustard shell really. The mustard machine I'm determined to make a bit special and it's gonna be a fun build once I actually have something to play with. Picked up a lot of more practical chassis design, engine building skills etc over the past year and a half which I'm definitely planning to utilise :)
Martin.p
13-02-13, 08:46 PM
Would you ask a woman 'how much are you going to cost me per yr' lol
If you have love for it, you just spend what's needed and try not to think about it to hard.
:)
BRoadGhost
13-02-13, 08:50 PM
TBH just doing something yourself for the first time will take longer and often cost you more; that's without subsequent development too on any given modification.
How do you put a price on time spent of your own possession? That said the cost of raw materials / parts can be staggering too; best to space it all over decades ;o
Bought in 2006, got it back on the road with a 20XE for about 10 months or so then that came out in favour of the 3.0
I think last time I counted up, from buying the rolling shell, through having the 2.0, to having the V6 in, it owes me a bit under £1k. Not bad for better-than-LET-bhp lol
Too long and too much lol
Doubt mine will ever be finished and I won't be adding up the cost
turbojolt
13-02-13, 09:48 PM
base car £450
suspension £220
brakes £80+ (with new pads and discs)
wheels & tyres £250
engines £600+ (x2 c20xes)
bucket seats £160 odd
harnesses and steering wheel £180+
tools £300 odd
renting a house with a garage over my old place is £100 more a month nearly been here a year so thats 1200 quid, and im tied into the place for another 12 monts aswell lol
there is loads of other things to add up aswell brake fluid, oil, anti freeze, nuts & bolts, gear linkages, other wheels for winter etc.............
still havent bought any good brake pads for track days or any 2nd hand semi slicks so more will be spent
wish i hadnt just done that feel a bit sick lol
bought my nova in 1996 and fitted the xe then in its first incarnation
been off the road for over 10 years now :O
cost - dont want to think about it but its the wrong side of 10k
8valve-craig
14-02-13, 07:44 AM
Wouldnt like to add mine up, so never will.
Had it for 11 years now but it's been finished for over 4 years as I got interested in other cars instead. As for cost it's the wrong side of £20k with everything taken into account, got receipts adding up to about £16k.
Hi I was just looking at some build threads and was wonder how it has taken you to build your nova's and how much it cost people? Thanks dan
Price wise, it all depends on how much you want to spend really.
You can build awesome spec cars for as little as £3k if you keep your eyes & ears open.
If I'd have paid R.R.P prices for all the parts on a Corsa B I built it would of easily of stood me at £4k for a trimmed rolling shell. And probably another £3k for the engine & gearbox. The whole car ended up costing me about £2kish. And that had some rather top notch gear fitted aswell (Sparco Rev buckets, full carbon interior, GAZ fronts, Bilstien rears, Revoloution RFX rims, HHMS intake, GSi kit, hyd handbrake with rear discs etc).
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