Dont We All Hate Rust???

[mattyd81]

Been working on my rally car this weekend. Was time to start the engine bay. So out comes the old engine and everything else under there. Nowe my nova is a J reg 1.4 but gosh there is one or two places with rust in. Should I get disheartened now and think this is going to start adding up for all this work or is it just a phase you go through lol.
The holes i have are one where the headlight is on each side, on the top brace what meets the bonnet and one on the right inside panel.
Do I have to cut out around the rust and weld a plate over the hole?
Does any people have any pre-rust photos and after shots to lift my spirits up a little lol.

I'm sure theres older nova out there that have far more rust holes that are now looking the business??

[Mike.]

all novas usually rust on the slam panel especially the edges because were the wings fit at the front they trap water. you can easily get a repair panel from sel imperial

[Geth]

Nah, I quite like my rust. It adds character to the car lol

Seriously though. It is just the begining of every Nova project and proably the most annoying and disheartening part of the build.

Maybe you could put some pics up of your rust so that we could see what the extent of it is and then advice on you best course of action.

[mattyd81]

ah cool cool. Think its just a case of welding over the holes and getting it painted. Once painted it will look more like a new car again

[mattyd81]

ill get some pics up in a bit for you

[mattyd81]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/mattyd81/DSCF0108.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/mattyd81/DSCF0107.jpg

[mattyd81]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/mattyd81/DSCF0106.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/mattyd81/DSCF0105.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/mattyd81/DSCF0104.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/mattyd81/DSCF0103.jpg

[Dan]

personally for a 'rally?' car i would probably start again with a cleaner shell if thats just the engine bay :(. They do exist and can be had for next to nothing. I bought a mint 1.2 on a g plate for 100 quid, it was just a case of keeping an eye out for the ideal candidate

[Geth]

Ah, the rust isn't where I thought it was. As Dan said, with it being for rally use you might want to think about a reshell.

[mattyd81]

everything else is done in it. i competed in it in feb with the old engine in. All roll cage, lectrics etc etc are done.
Just started on the engine bay. I have a friend who is a welder so do you think we will be able to do the job ok on this?

[Dan]

if you have sorted the rest of the car already (not previously mentioned) then yeh you just aswell crack on and finish it off. There's not tooooo much work or cost involved, i am just fussy when it comes to rally builds and prefer the shells to be mint. As it makes the stitch welding and all the strengthening far far easier for both the person prepping it and the person welding it.

[mattyd81]

then again i could go for a corsa b and swap everything over into that? The corsa's will have better shells?

[Dan]

heres a few pics of the g reg i got 2 years ago, and its still as clean now all be it a different colour lol............

http://www2.novaload.net/files/dan/car8.jpg

http://www2.novaload.net/files/dan/car3.jpg

http://www2.novaload.net/files/dan/weld4.jpg

The last pic shows that even all the inner wings down to underneath still very clean and about as good if not better than some corsa's available (+ the nova is lighter :thumb:)

[mattyd81]

wow where the hell did you find one like that!!

[Dan]

trade it/free ads etc etc in the 'under 500' section, was up for 150 but i took 100 quid and tried my luck. it just goes to show they do exist. Even the local papers with ones that have an engine failure or whatever, they are normally the ones that get crushed as noone bothers with them but are ideal for us

[Adam]

wow where the hell did you find one like that!!
They are about if you look hard enough, theres more about than people think.