Nova Sprint C Rebuild [Archive] - Performance Nova Group

TWAG

07-02-25, 10:57 PM

So for those who don?t know the History of my nova, I?ve owned it for 22 years, it?s been multiple rebuilds over the years. The last rebuild was around 13 years ago, these pictures are from a Total Vauxhall shoot shortly after the rebuild. The car started life as a Merit+.

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After it was rebuilt I suffered a number of paint issues, then 2 years ago I discovered a crack in the front crossmember, I planned to replace it and get it straight back on the road. One thing led to another and 2 years later I?m getting ready to put the car back together.

I?m going to try and update this thread with the work completed over the last 2 years and then document the rebuild.

Updates to follow.

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Marc

08-02-25, 07:13 AM

I’m looking forward to this.

TWAG

08-02-25, 07:39 AM

15th March 2023 i dig the Nova out for the summer, whilst driving it back from storage I noticed a knocking noise from the front end.

Got the car jacked up to find a cracked front spring, whilst having a look underneath I also found the front crossmember was cracked. Strange because where it was cracked, there was no rust. My thoughts are that it was caused by having rose jointed tie bars, over time they have caused metal fatigue.

So I set about replacing the front panel. Plan was to replace it, paint it myself and get it back on the road for the summer.

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Turns out there was a lot more rust than I expected.

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I don?t have a garage at my house, so this was all being done on my drive, not ideal as having to drag all the tools out each time I want to do an hour here and there on it.

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TWAG

08-02-25, 07:59 AM

The new front panel was not great, it came a one whole panel but all the sections where spot welded out of alignment, so decided to assemble it in pieces.

Got the crossmember in position and check all the measurements until I was happy it was correct.

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Because of the Irmscher body kit, the front panel needs to be cut back quite a bit, so that was next up.

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I?d noticed that there was some cracking in the paint where the seems in the engine bay had been smoother. So though I?d better investigate whilst the engine was out.

Things were starting to grow arms and legs!

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So I had some work to do to repair these areas.

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TWAG

08-02-25, 08:50 AM

July 16th 2023, by this point I realised this was not going to be a quick repair and working out in the open on my drive was not working. So I decided to invest in a temporary Clarke garage.

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Managed to pick up a site box to store my tools.

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TWAG

08-02-25, 10:18 AM

With the ?garage? set-up, I carried on with the front end. I decided the make the headlight panel completely removable to make working on the engine bay easier

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TWAG

08-02-25, 10:59 AM

Decided I wanted to remove the Intercooler cut out from the front bumper, so bought a new rad and intercooler set up, this sits nicely behind the bumper. Fit is pretty good but needed a lot of fettling. I don?t think the kit is designed to fit with a F28 Mount.

Managed to get it to work and happy with the fitment.

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TWAG

08-02-25, 01:02 PM

At this point I had come to the realisation that this was going to be a full restoration. So I made some trolleys so I could strip the whole shell.

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TWAG

08-02-25, 01:40 PM

Knocked up a work bench, the temporary garage becoming more permanent??

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TWAG

08-02-25, 04:30 PM

At this point I?d decided the whole shell was was going to be painted, so I decided to investigate what was causing the blistered in the paint. The layers of paint peeled away with a Stanley blade.

The blistered were full of a solvent. I knew at this point it would need blasting back to bare metal and the fibre glass taken back to the gel coat.

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dan16v

08-02-25, 05:57 PM

TWAG

08-02-25, 11:04 PM

Loads of work going in to it then mate!
It?s still survived well over the years, were the seams starting to pull apart or all good?

Come along way from the picture [emoji23]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250208/1def6e71df8e6ebc504fcf9b47af05f4.jpg

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Yeah theres been a reasonable amount gone in to it. Seems in the engine bay had started to go. Caught it just in time.

That pic is going back a few years. That house is up for sale at the moment, I made an offer but wasn?t excepted. They want 685k for it.

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TWAG

08-02-25, 11:34 PM

With the new intercooler sitting behind the bumper, I had to address the gapping hole in the bumper.

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I have a spare bumper but it was in terrible shape compared to my original one.

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I found a local company who specialise in fibre glass/ Carbon Fibre, at first they told me they were scrap but after explaining the rarity of the kit, they agreed to take on the job.

First step was to clean up the spare bumper i had, in preparation for taking a mould of the centre section

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With the mould complete, they could use this to repair my original bumper.

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New stainless brackets where fitted for the fog lights, the original where steel and they had rust jacked the fibre glass causing it to split.

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Few more repairs completed and in to primer. The guy that done it has done an amazing job and it?s now so much stronger than it was before.

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TWAG

09-02-25, 07:13 AM

Next up was sort the rear arches, plan was to widen the inner arch so that it meets the wider outer arches.

I cut back both inner and outer watches and welded them back together. Had to cut back a bit more of the inner arch due to rust.

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Then made a template,

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All welded in, not the prettiest but plenty strong enough.

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TWAG

09-02-25, 07:19 AM

Had do deal with a bit more rust I found on the inner arch.

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With that done, have a quick coat of etch primer to stop it rusting.

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TWAG

09-02-25, 07:28 AM

Last piece cut and test fitted.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250209/b12527b323d8fbdc638b0ea0811263a0.jpg

Then repeated the same in the other side.

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Really happy with how they turned out, I?ve been wanting to do this for years.

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dan16v

09-02-25, 11:37 AM

See the house still has the original kitchen!
And you know there is a swimming pool buried if you wanted it
Would be a decent buy at 650?

Arches look much better extended
Bumper looks amazing, they did a quality job, bet that wasn?t cheap!

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TWAG

10-02-25, 06:47 AM

Fast forward to may 2024 and the shell was ready to go to paint.

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TWAG

10-02-25, 06:55 AM

Unfortunately my bad luck with paint work continued, when shortly after the car left, the body shop shut down.

Luckily the painter started up at a new location and took the car with him but it ment there would be a delay whilst he set up a new Bodyshop.

Eventually things started to move again and the shell was sandblasted and flash primed ready for metal work to begin. On the whole it wasnt to bad but the shot blasting did reveal a few repairs.

Most i?d already accounted for, like new seals and rear panel.

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dan16v

11-02-25, 11:38 AM

Not too bad at all considering the age
Did at any point you consider putting standard arches back on?

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TWAG

11-02-25, 11:48 AM

No, I?m a big fan of the sprint kit and for me is what makes the car unique from all the others.

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dan16v

11-02-25, 12:03 PM

Didn?t think you would consider it!
Get another offer in on that house so you have a garage to rebuild it in!

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TWAG

11-02-25, 12:08 PM

I wish I could but it?s just too much,600k was my limit and that was a massive stretch.

Currently looking at another house down Rollestone road that?s not on the market yet, fingers crossed that one comes off.

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dan16v

11-02-25, 12:17 PM

To be fair 600k wouldn?t be too far off that place in some respects as it needs some cash spending on the interior by the looks of it!

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TWAG

11-02-25, 12:19 PM

That was my thought, needs a fair amount of work. They didnt even come back with a counter offer ,just a flat out no.

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TWAG

11-02-25, 11:14 PM

Whilst the shell was away, I set about giving the engine a refresh. Plan was to just to cambelt, water pump and seals.

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Started by completing a leak test on the cylinders, this unfortunately reviewed that I had pretty bad valve let by on two cylinders. Cylinder head went away for a complete rebuild, this revealed that it had 8 cracked valve spring platforms and work exhaust valve guides.

Being a Coscast head, parts seemed to be retry hard to get hold of but got there in the end.

Bottom was treated to a coat of paint, then all new seals.

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New water pump inlet pipe

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TWAG

12-02-25, 08:57 PM

Assembled the engine and then made up some trolleys from some scrap metal I had lying around, this will make it easier to move the engine around and to slide under the car when I come to refit it.

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TWAG

12-02-25, 09:05 PM

By this point i was really starting to suffer working in a big tent, rain would run in as its sat over a low point on my drive. The water then evaporates and condensation forms absolutely everywhere.

Came up with a plan to level the ground with sand, sheet the entire floor with a waterproof membrane and then cover with plastic gridlock flooring.

It has worked a treat, also added a vent to allow some air circulation and I no longer have any condensation.

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TWAG

12-02-25, 09:19 PM

Knocked up a paint booth[emoji23], used a fan heater which kept it out 20DegC .

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Spent hours cleaning the gearbox up ready for paint. Gave it 2 coats of etch primer and two coats of black.

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Then moved on to a few other parts, all shotblasted prior to painting.

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TWAG

12-02-25, 09:21 PM

Rear calipers rebuilt with new seals.

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TWAG

13-02-25, 07:21 AM

Next was tie bar mounts, I had been running rose jointed Toe Bars but I think this is what caused the cracked front crossmember. Coupled with wanting a little more comfort, I decided to go back to standard tie bar mounts with Poly bushes.

This ment having to modify the original mounts to lower them and clear the F28 Gearbox.

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Sent for powder coating

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All built up with a set of poly bushes.

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TWAG

13-02-25, 06:02 PM

I have bought a set of Gaz coilovers so thought id best strengthen up the shocks mounts on the rear beam.

Once done , the beam went off for powder coating

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