Track / Rally Nova...

[GT-Dub]

Mainly aimed at the Dude's who rally/Track there nova's But even the styling guy's input will be ace...

From a basic 1.2 where do you start from, Did you fully strip and strenghten and sort any rusty bits out? Or did you Sort the chasis and handeling out side out first?

My idea's were Basically, Start from the Base and work my way up, Lose as much weight as poss, While sorting any bodywork / chassis problems along the way. I guess a good starting point would be to get it to an MOT'able state. Thus, working on a sturdy chasis start on the shell strenghtening, and rollcage.

I'm not going for silly power, Quite simply looking for a quick, nimble nova which has great low down acc in most gear's for use on Country lanes.

So any Gen peeps?

[GT-Dub]

Cheer's Dan!!!

[Stuart]

cut all seat monunts out that you dont need. cut anything that isnt needed eg dash mounts etc.

poly carb windows, 14" steelies OR 14" 3 spokes with spacers to go over the 256mm brakes.

ummmm just think diet :D

[GT-Dub]

Gotta retain a lot tho for the Road rally reg's... However, there are ways around it.

[Aragorn]

strip it down completely and stitch weld the entire chassis

fit some light weight front buckets and just run with the clocks and a basic switch panel - ie no dash

polycarb windows, fibreglass tailgate/bonnet etc

what stuff do they say u need to keep?

[GT-Dub]

All the original Interior...

Like dan said, the only way round it is to strip everything and leave the dash as a skeleton, along with the door cards etc.

[CP]

Dans car is the one you want! Try offering him some money - he keeps sayin he's bored of it - some people are hard to please :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: !

[nova_rally]

Rear Seats don't weigh anything compared to the fronts, ditch those and go with buckets. Anything inside the dash you can, remove it. Get rid of the Heater motor in the battery tray and the matrix - connect the pipes together.

Polybushes all round Uprated springs and sampers if you're in Standard production or coilovers if running Road Rally, stitch weld as much as you can get to and get an F13 CR box.

Fiberglass Tailgate and Bonnet if in Road Rally Class.

Uprate Headlight bulbs at least and if you can bare to be without spots remove the reinforcing bar from inside the bumpers - these weigh a ton but ean you have sod all to mount spots to unless theyre really light and well steadied! (I ran without Spots last event as my spots are on brackets welded to the reinforcer which I removed)

14 or 15 inch steels or Astra/Cav Alloys, big brakes and decent rubber and your all set with a seriously nippy car with good cornering.

[starkmotorsport]

Most has already been said, but it really depends on how seriously your taking things.

Serious would involve:

-Stripping shell (No point seam welding for road rallies unless its a 2.0, if so then just engine bay)
-Rollcage and bucket seats
-uprate sus/brakes
-engine work

Less serious involves:

-3pt harnesses
-uprate sus/brakes

Theres no point building a GroupA spec car if your only starting out. Not only will it waste your money, but you WILL crash if your pushing hard, so all your hard work will be pointless. Uprate the things that matter and get experience. Once you've got that then start to think about building something fancy. If you need any help/advice drop us an email.

[GT-Dub]

Cheer's Lad's... To start with, I want a nippy little well setup nova, To improve my driving skill's. Power is the least important thing on my list at the moment. Safety is a pretty big issue for me as if i roll it, I want to know i'll be safe and sound. Like you say, Baby step's are better then just throwing eveything in at once. I' did my first road rally a while ago and really need to get back out there.

i've got a lot to go off, thanks Guy's. I just hope this shell I'm looking at on monday is'nt a shitter.

GT

[starkmotorsport]

No worries. Best idea is brake upgrade to Astra 16v and proper suspension. Then seats etc. Its surprising how fast standard cars can go if the brakes and suspension are done correctly.

[GT-Dub]

lol, Thats kinda what i did with my 1300 Golf - Fk coilovers, Ebaich ARB's Poly bushes all round 16v Brake's (256mm) with brembo Max pads and Pagid fast road Pads.

It went Surprisingly wel for a 1300 in honesty, It certainly impressed me and my Navi at the time. Shame the gear box died on the way there and the engine was playin up all the way threw lol.

Bring the Nova :D

[PeteG]

They are huge fun, my first Nova was a 1300SR and just had lowered springs, cav gsi wheels with the gsi brakes and a few bits of interior removed. Absolutley huge fun and it helped me to learn a lot about car control. Since moved onto a GTE with even more stripped out and a bit more playing about in the suspension dept. It was highly entertaining. I've now taken the plunge and building a really focused road car. Something similar to Dans is the plan.

[Aragorn]

from what ive heard when dan stitch welded the entire chassis it made a BIG difference to the handling even over the full cage so it would seem that its included in the group a spec list for a reason ;)