Tatty GSi

[opel2000]

Well I bought myself a slightly tatty GSi

Will get pics up as soon as I have a few posts to my name, I can't even link to the pics on my website as yet (need 15+ posts)

Car was bought as a non runner, I was told that an injector was stuck :confused: :confused: (never actually known that to happen on a car that was used daily) But had known it to happen to a car that had been stood.

Also was told that the Cam belt had slipped and caused a few of the valves to come into contact with the pistons and bend.

Now having had a 1.8 8 Valve Manta which had the cam belt go whist overtaking a lorry and caused no valve - piston contact
AND having fitted an SEH into one of my Manta's and when running a new cam in on an incorrectly supplied water pump the belt went at 2000 revs (slipped off the teeth of wrong water pump) I guessed that nothing would be really wrong with the valves and pistons on the GSi

[opel2000]

Anyway.
Removed head.
Bores seem very good at 113,000 miles.
Piston crowns look immaculate
Head looks fine and valves all seem to be seated in their seats.

Electrics have been messed about with by people that didn't know what they were doing.:( :(

Inner wing/engine bay area seams are corroded, and pass side suspension turret is just about hanging on in there.

[opel2000]

Car has had a slight bump at the front which has creased one of the wings, and caused the bumper to sit at an incorrect angle.

Doors have been de-locked by previous owners ex husband. (car was bought off of girl across the street:p ) it used to belong to her husband/boyfriend (whatever) but since he left she has had a bunch of cowboys trying to sort this car out for her, these morons obviously did not have a fecking clue.

Rear arch on passenger side has been skilfully repaired with filler, silicon and a superb non matching paint job of Halfords grey primer

[opel2000]

Car is currently red, well supposed to be red more of a pinky colour at the mo.
Plan is to decide if it is going to have a colour change, and simply put it to almost standard, "Almost Standard" is not exactly what I normally do to cars though, I normally modify things a bit.
But hey! this is my first Nova, I don't know a great deal about them and need to break myself in a bit gently and get to know the car before going ott.

But engine bay is hopefully going to be nice, got one or two ideas of things to do in there, as long as I can manage to weld the inner wings and suspension turret up nice and neatly.

Sorry for adding post after post but I really want to get some pics up.

[opel2000]

So here come some piccies

[opel2000]

So here is the car then

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/n1%20rsz.jpg


http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/n2%20rsz.jpg


http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/n4%20rsz.jpg


http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/n5%20rsz.jpg

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/n3%20rsz.jpg

[Mazz]

Looks quite sorry for itself :( Be a nice project though...what the plan with the engine?

[opel2000]

And here is what I see to be a bit of an area where a bit of good work is gonna be needed.
Now as I do not yet really know the Nova I need to get underneath the arches here and have a good look at what has happened beneath the seams on the inner wing area, as I would guess that all the corrosion has come through from underneath.
So over the weekend I'm hoping to find time to get the head cleaned and rebuilt and stored safely away "Out of the way"

Then I'm going to have a damn good look in the wheel wells so I can see exactly what i need to be repairing and where.

I don't want to go stripping too much off of this in one go, as I have limited storage space, and I do like to tackle a car area by area. As it can be a daunting task when everything is stripped and on show. I always find it best to do one bit and do it well, before uncovering any more distractions.

The yellow bit on the suspension turret below is basically a hole at the back of the suspension turret. The car had been MOT'd by someone filling these rusty holes over with seam sealer and then painting over the seam sealer.......
Talk about playing with peoples lives Eh!
Only thing that concerns me in this area on the passenger side turret is that the flange at the bottom of the turret looks a little higher to the inner wing area than on the drivers side, as if the turret has already been pushed up a little due to lack of integrity of any surrounding steel (if you know what I mean) .

Colour....... currently toying with British Racing Green (metallic) with a nice neat tidy engine bay with a smattering of a few shiny bits and as much wiring hid as poss.
But just cannot think for the life of me what style of wheel would suit the car in this colour. But I do have a fad at the mo for black multi spokes with the stainless steel lips/rims

Oh and the seam at the front of the susp turret on pass side is a big gaping hole now I have poked a lot of the crud out of it.
I guess all of this is common to you boys on here?

ER, was wondering?? is there any generally nasty areas to look for underneath on these cars?



http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/rust2.jpg

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/rust1.jpg

[opel2000]

Hi Mazz.
Plan for engine is simply to rebuild.
Head will be gas flowed, hoping to be able to pick up a four branch manifold and decent exahust.

For some damn weird reason I really want to keep this as close to original spec as poss.
I guess one reason for that is I have seen so many nova's butchered to high heaven over the years, and when it come time for me to find an original example they are so few and far between it is unreal.

Must say though i haven't even drove this car yet and I have fell in love with this damn cool little motor.
And so damn easy to work on up to now,,,, a lot to be said for having an 8 valve in an engine bay over an XE in my humble opinion

[Mazz]

I loved my old GTE 8v engine, not the quickest car around, but fun to drive...until a saw a complete XE conversion kit for sale and turned to the dark side...
As for the hole behind the turret, mine went in the same place and we welded a plate in top and bottom
Few pics, before:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/mrmazz/Nova/Pic381Small.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/mrmazz/Nova/Pic382Small.jpg

After:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/mrmazz/Nova/Pic397Small.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/mrmazz/Nova/Pic398Small.jpg

[draper]

looks like it needs some tidying but show me a nova that doesnt lol

how mouldy is that steering wheel

[philthepill_389]

i scrapped my gsi and it was no were near as bad as that just to long to fix with no time.

good luck with the project

[nova ian]

Nice project base there, I have seen worse!

As for areas underneath that are prone for rust, I would deffo check the rear chasis legs directly behind the shockers, and also around the rear spring seat on the chasis leg too. Also check along the front chasis legs under the foot wells, you can get some holes aound there if the underseals cracked and some ****es got in.

To be honest your best off checking everywhere you possibly can, end of the day its a nova and we all know there best mate is rust!!lol

Good luck with it, enjoy it and deffinatley keep us updated.

Ian :thumb:

[Mike]

Thats looking a little sorry for itself Clive, however im sure with your skills you'll be right at home with a few rust holes and a MiG welder :D

[bigbened]

nice too see anotherone saved from the novayard

[opel2000]

Thanks fella's.

Those pics that Mazz posted up are pretty much the same hole that i have behind the turret (except the welded up pics of course)

Was hoping to tackle a bit of this over the weekend, but I have fell behind with a lot of work this week, so I have to work all weekend :( (The joys of being your own boss eh!)

Last of the Nova SR's
Thanks mate, and er, well, I guess my MIG skills aint too bad, it always depends on cutting back enough crud to get to good steel, and unfortunately I have a crap MIG welder....... Just thought I'd throw the excuses up now for any forthcoming sh1te welding pics :D

And thanks Nova Ian, I think this car is an excellent project base, and TBH I think a car in this condition is still a good car, not a great deal wrong that can't be put right with a bit of time, and time more than money.

For instance this pic below is my V8 Manta (had to sell it this year approx 1 month after that pic was took) but this car was an absolute shed and was free to good home when I got hold of it. Took some time to get it to that condition though.
http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/rollers.jpg

[nova ian]

Wow that manta's a beaut! I love mantas.

Totally agree with you about your shell, with time and the know how anythings possible!

Keep us posted

Ian

[rednova]

that manta is gorgeous bud - a credit to your work - if the nova turns out half as good it will be a minter!!!

[opel2000]

Thanks for the Manta comments fella's. Car had to go when I needed cash when my wife and I split up at the start of this year :cry: oh and that smiley is for the loss of the car;)

anyway here's a few piccie updates, I was hoping to have had more time on this forum and to have had a bit more done on the Nova by now, but all been bit slow going.

Removed the head and dismantled to find what is possibly the cleanest head ever, all valve faces and backs were lightly covered and looking the correct colour (No huge build up of carbon) seats were good but got a good re-seating regardless no huge amount of varnish and black crud in the cam carrier, in fact everything internally was looking very very clean and good.

Outside though was a totally different story.




http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/e1.jpg

Not too clear on the above pic but the cam carrier and head was thick on the outside with serious thick black crud.

Then things started to get a bit on the dismantley side of things, just hope this will work properly when engine is back together and it has it's job to do :(
http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/e2.jpg



Things starting to look a bit cleaner here now with all the black gone off the cam carrier.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/e3.jpg


And Heck! all has gone back to black again now

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/e4.jpg


Bloody amazing the amount of time that it took to do that small amount of work, but arguing with the Gf constantly over the last 2 days via bloody mobile and in person did not help, as soon as it got to the point where she started having a go at me for buying this Nova, it was curtains for her, so now i have no more distractions in my spare time work on the GSi should all go a bit faster.

Anyway...
Rest of the head.. Hoping to do something quite nice with the top that goes onto the cam carrier, sort of a little ribbed ally plate that will fasten onto the top.
And also can't help but think about replacing the timing belt cover with something a bit more shiny, well at least the top part that sits onto the cam carrier anyway.
Well that's the plan for the rest of the heed, will get some pics up as things progress.

But, plan for tomorrow is to strip the front of the car down and see exactly what areas need welding up, and as the engine will get removed this will be in for a strip down and rebuild and clean up too.

As soon as I can expose all the holes and corrosion I shall set aside an hour a night to weld anything into place, after fabricating any needed bits of steel at work during the day.

hoping to get some "Not too bad at all really" pics on here tomorrow eve.......... "Hoping" he says.

Really want to be getting this car up and running and finished asap as I need a cheaper on petrol runabout. and something that will look sh1t hot too.

[burgo]

my good god. after the first few posts and then the first few pics i thought this was gonna be another crap bodge job and it ending up extremely pap. i have to say tho it looks like your very handy with the welder judging by that patch youve done and that engine looks the tits so im gonna be following this one closely and i think its gonna turn out really nice.

p.s. is that a load of mk1 cavvys and a 200sx in the back ground?

[SRimon]

Id have scrapped it lol

Good on ya restoring one though!

[opel2000]

Thanks Burgo, the cars in the background are my Manta Hatch and My 200SX I keep swapping between the 2 for my daily drives both totally different cars but both brilliant to drive in their own respects.
The other car a Manta coupe that is an absolute shed, the idea was to show the Opel Manta Owners Club just what can be repaired with just a little time and patience. Unfortunately this year went tits up for me and I have no time at all now.

The welded patch was from someone elses Nova who posted up on this thread, not mine I'm afraid. I haven't got the welding torch out onto mine yet but it will be sometime this week all being well.

Thanks again for comments, I best go and get changed and get stuck into the car really, the day will soon go.

[opel2000]

Id have scrapped it lol

Good on ya restoring one though!

Tell you what mate, I've uncovered a 5hit load of work on this, the Mig is gonna be one hell of a busy chap, and in fact already has been. and to be totally honest I think this car was actually a breaker. But I've started now so I shall see it through.

Got an absolute stack of photos's on this car at the mo to browse through, resize, upload and post up, but not getting too much time at the mo.

Basically the engine and gearbox is out, was hoping to strip the block, and get the bores honed ready for new rings and bearings this weekend, but ended up welding the drivers side inner wing up,

Gearbox is now looking an aluminium colour again instead of the black filth road grime crud and oily mess that it was.

Tie rods and anti-roll bar has been stripped acid dipped and enamelled ready for re-fitting.

Head cam cover and cam carrier have been cleaned rebuilt, along with the dizzy, got new followers and gubbings to fit in there yet and a clever little bit to do on the top of the cam cover.

Not a great deal done really as i've been on holiday for a week and last week was spent pretty much trying to catch up with a bit of work and sorting out my ex's Frontera (fecking nasty piece o 5hite is that)

One thing that is worrying me is..............
The car was a non runner when I purchased it.
Now when I drained the oil it absolutely stunk of petrol, in fact there was about a pint of water which came out before the oil followed by the runniest petroliest smelling oil of all time ever.

Now wary that an injector could have stuck open but have not got a clue which one. Bores all look very very good, so although there has been a chance of borewash, they are all gonna get honed and new rings fitted regardless.
Only thing i can think of to test the inectors is to put fuel pressure to the fuel rail and see which one if any is stuck open.

Otherwise I simply cannot imagine how fuel has got into the sump.

[Mike]

Clive, sounds like its going to be a top thread and a brilliant car once its completed (if your Manta is anything to go buy in the pic)

If it turns out your injectors are fcuked, ive got two complete sets of injectors that I know definetly work.

Mike

[opel2000]

Thanks mate, comments much appreciated. :)

Just ordered the Engine rebuild stuff, which I'm about to go and collect (rings, big and main end bearings and the conversion gasket set ?85.00 for the lot)
As the weather is absolutely dire here today, can't see much welding getting done so it's gonna be block rebuild today.

Many thanks for the offer of the injectors, just need to try these out first to see if this is where the fuel was coming from into the block

[macc nova]

quality work mate, can't wait to see how this thread develops, by looking at the manta this projects going to turn that nova into a masterpeice.

[peester]

looking full of promise this; youre previous drives are anything to go by; and the start youve made on the engine...
sweet

[craig green]

Good work!

Just use some other injectors if it involves costs to sort yours... It might have had some dodgy engine flush at some stage that wasnt drained out....

Keep it up anyhow & more pics PLEASE!

[opel2000]

Well here are a few pics of what I've been up to.
Typically it is all taking far too long to get done, for example it took about an hour just to get the timing belt pulley off of the crankshaft this eve, then I ran out of thinners and de-greaser, so had no-way of cleaning up the pistons and everything that had been removed from the block this eve.

Anyway.... Piccies

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/engine out.jpg

Possibly the most stupid way to remove a FWD engine ever, I was sort of hoping to roll it about (like a tw4t) with its wheels still connected to the driveshafts DOH!:tard: :tard:



Next up a pic of the anti-roll bar and tie bar things. All horrid and dirty, and REALLY not looking forward to cleaning these bloody things up.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/tie n stay dirty.jpg



Anyway they got cleaned up, and I really didn't enjoy cleaning these bits up, pretty much as I expected I wouldn't. but at least they look better now.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/tie n stay clean.jpg



Next up is on to the inner wing area on the drivers side, had a bit of time to contemplate what to do with this, ideally a new inner wing needed to be fitted, but as I don't even know wether they are available coupled with the fact it is going to cost me money that i would rather spend on other areas of the car, AND the time it would take me to remove the front panel and the inner wing followed by the attempt to get it all aligned correctly led me to think "A Good strong patch should do just as good a job".

Unfortunately I had a good poke at the chassis rail which the inner wing is supposed to weld to only to find that the chisel went through it in a couple of places, so all this needed to be at least covered and have new steel tied into the chassis rail as well as what was left of the inner wing.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/inner wing 1.jpg



http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/inner wing 4.jpg

The above pic may look a bit of a mess at the mo, but the welds were well penetrated, and as much as I do not like removing or grinding off welded seams in this case there was enough penetration to be able to remove some of the weld beads/seams in an attempt to blend the new steel into the engine bay area on the chassis rail.
Also the inner wing suspension turret area has been welded from beneath, I was toying with the idea of joggling this peice in an attempt to make it sit flush, but the more i looked the more there was no way it was going to sit flush unless I spent a day making up patterns and doing some trial and error fitting etc, a bit of seam sealer and a splodge o' filler will smooth this out a tad hopefully, all fecking good and dtrong there though now.

Next pic up should be the undersidehttp://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/inner wing 5.jpg

All nicely tied into the suspension turret

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/oh feck it.jpg

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/outrigger.jpg


Well that is about as far as i have got up to now.
The block is stripped and should hopefully be back in one piece tomorrow, the outrigger mud/splashshield area shouldn't pose too much of a problem for me, then there is the other side of the bay to sort out plus a few niggley awkward little bits of welding.
will try and keep this updated as much as poss.

[Mike]

Superb work there Clive! Welds look top too, nowt to be sniffed at by the looks of the welds mate.

[Saloony]

His work isnt to be sniffed at all, this is Clive of 'Custom Solutions' this nova with all the work on it should be childs play for this fella.

[opel2000]

Hey Saloony, How's things? just came in from working on the nova to post a couple of new pics up and see a post on here from your good self.

anyway, a couple of pics and a bit of text to update this.

Engine is all cleaned, I mean by that all the engine components have been cleaned, ok not a great deal in the just a crank and some pistons, but there were also crudded up bearing caps, along with the windage tray and a filthy filthy Flthy and I mean REALLY FILTHY sump, quite clean on the inside but baked on crud from the exhaust on the outside.

Block has had a light hone, and has been painted and will be rebuilt tomorrow as i need my bench back to get on with some work.
Just need to get the engine bay finished and decide on what colour i'm gonna be painting this car.

Anyway II
God only knows how the water pump got like this, it is at times like this I'm so damn pleased that I supplied a person with a rare part through an owners club forum when he had one post to his name, turned out he supplies motor factors, as such he now gives me prices for stuff cheaper than the cheapest motor factors:cool:

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/w pump.jpg


Next up is the inner wing area looking a little better after a bit o' filler, now I don't really like using filler, for a few reasons.
I do like to make sure that the metal is in the shape it should be and very little filler used in the first place.
Filler tends to crack, especially after spending hours on a little bit and standing back and saying to yourself "That is fecking brill" only to see it all crack up when the car hits the road.
And lastly,, my filling is absolute cr4p. Waffle over here is a pic.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/better.jpg

Actually didn't need a great deal of filler in there, and tbh when all done and painted and engine and gubbings fitted, there aint gonna be a great deal of this on show, but as far as I'm concerned it needed doing as good as I could do it.

[Mike.]

first class work mate, well done for rebuilding it :thumb:

[opel2000]

Thanks Mike. TBH it grieves me when cars like this disapear from the roads due to the fact that they only need a little time and attention.

In my opinion Vauxhall do not have many "True" Classics, the main ones from my era and quite possibly the main ones of all time ever will be the Nova and the Calibra.

For me to get hold of a Nova GSi means a lot to me, I shall try my utmost to turn this back into the car it should be, it won't be 100% original but I'm hoping i can turn it into a really nice practical head turning daily drive for myself, with repairs that will stand the test of time.





And perhaps a tad more power to come in the future too....... :cool:

[peester]

Thanks Mike. TBH it grieves me when cars like this disapear from the roads due to the fact that they only need a little time and attention.

In my opinion Vauxhall do not have many "True" Classics, the main ones from my era and quite possibly the main ones of all time ever will be the Nova and the Calibra.

For me to get hold of a Nova GSi means a lot to me, I shall try my utmost to turn this back into the car it should be, it won't be 100% original but I'm hoping i can turn it into a really nice practical head turning daily drive for myself, with repairs that will stand the test of time.





And perhaps a tad more power to come in the future too....... :cool:


brilliant post.. more people like this please.
Top man.

[Saloony]

Its all good mate, glad you've got another project on the go. You should of sold me the manta, i know you were in unfortunate circumstances but it was criminal to let that go.

All the ressies and covers still look as fresh as the day you made them you should know.

[macc nova]

top notch that welding matey, come up and do mine if you wish. lol

[opel2000]

Its all good mate, glad you've got another project on the go. You should of sold me the manta, i know you were in unfortunate circumstances but it was criminal to let that go.

All the ressies and covers still look as fresh as the day you made them you should know.

Thanks Craig, good to know my work is appreciated.
As for the Manta, I just had a look at a couple of pics, and have to stop myself from crying, at the time of sale material items just seemed so unimportant to me. But now I look at pics like this.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/show1.jpg

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/show2.jpg

And I think "WHAT THE HELL POSESSED ME TO SELL IT"
Car was one of a kind.

Engine was built to a 250 BHP spec, only pushed out 203.3 on the rollers though but carb was seriously badly set up, and engine mileage was only at 1000 miles, still felt as thoughit needed more running in. Plus there was 100BHP of Nitrous to use in there as well.
Car was supposed to have been ran in and took to northampton motorsport early this year as they have a chap there who knows the Carb i used inside out, then it was destined for Santa Pod to do some 1/4 mile runs and to mess about with the NOS, interestingly enough this years PVS would have been an ideal time for me to have done this as the track was so quite around lunch time.

Anyway I'm off to have a good cry, and get back to the project in hand

[opel2000]

Anyway, Apologies for the pics of the Manta on a Nova forum.
SOooo here are some pics of the latest stage of the GSi.

Decided to go for Diamond black, for a couple of reasons, 1 being that i love this colour, and the over being that i still had a litre left from my old Calibra, sort of wish at this point that I had kept the engine now:(

Also had to cheat a little with the spraying, as not only is the Nova engine bay a bit of a bast to paint, BUT How the feck are you supposed to spray the scuttle area????
So unfortunately that area got hammerited, but I'm hoping that yopu shall soon see why that was not too much of a problem, covering the red however was a real bitch so many litty nooks and crannies everywhere where red was showing was beyond a joke.

Couple of pics.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/Nova bay 1.jpg


http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/Nova bay 2.jpg

[opel2000]

Just thought to mention, all this is being done on my drive at the moment, the calm still mild weather over the last few days has been an absolute godsend to be able to spray the engine compartment up.

Next on the hit list is to try and reapir the bumper, get a couple of new wings and possibly a new bonnet too.

Got a sill on one side that is absolutely shot, passenger side is immaculate.
And at least one of the rear arches needs a replacement arch fitting. Not a favourite job of mine as it can be just too damn easy to make a pigs ear doing an arch repair, but then again I'm not a body man by trade so I have my excuse.

[craig green]

Great progress mate, I'm a tad saddened that you didnt keep it flame Red, but it couldve been Citrine Yellow. So I'll let you off.

Keep at it & look forward to maybe seeing it in the metal at a show in 2008 perhaps.

[Steve]

Excellent work mate, I dont think alot of people would have bothered saving it but if its repairable, then why not repair it! lol

Black looks good on it, we need more novas in black!

[KITT1972]

Hi

Looking good. Am about to do the same. How and what did you use to polish the dissy it looks amazing

[Mike]

Consider you said your not a bodyshop man by trade, that looks bang on :thumb:

[opel2000]

Mamy thanks For the comments Craig, Novasteve, Kitt and Last of the Nova SR's

Was very very tempted to keep the car it's original red, but I have had an aching to do a dark mettallic colour for ages. it should also set a bit of shiny stuff in the engine bay off a bit too.

And as for being repairable, it does seem to go very very well when being repaired, quite a nice easy car to work on, but the engine bay does tend to get a bit tight in certain areas where repairs were needed, still worried about doing the arch repair:eek:

Dizzy
This was polished up by totally dismantling it, then using 120 grit emery, followed by 180, followed by 320, followed by 600, followed by 1000 with brasso.
The idea is to go one way with the 1st grit, then go across those lines (at 90 degrees or so) and remove the lines with the second grit/grade emery, then the same again with the finer stuff etc. etc.
Bloody laborious, and I think the pic actually does the dizzy more justice than it possibly deserves, but at least it is shiny, never quite removed all of the emery marks in my case.

As for not being a bodyshop type chap, well I have got used to spraying, but still can't use filler very well, bugs the **** off of me when people say "Ah it'll just need a light skim o' filler over the panel and it'll be fine"
"JUST" nedd a light skim????? HA! never actually seen the people who come out with comments like that come and "JUST" give my panels a light skim of filler when needed.
I always end up with bloody ripples and dips and when i do get a bit of filling done well, it always has that little bit of "not quite filled enough in that little bit of area there" when rubbing down.... Hard to describe but I bet there are many that know what I mean.

Anyway a quick piccie from tonight

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/stuff in.jpg

[Steve]

Good work mate, bet its nice to have the bay done first, I know what you mean about the filler, Im no expert with it, and every time ive used it I always seem to sand it back to far and having to apply another layer!

Whats next on the repairs list?

[opel2000]

Next on the repairs list is going to be the drivers side sill, this is absolutely shot and been repaired in the past about 5 times.

first off though I want to get the head on the block and try and get the damn thing fired up, but really need to try and remove the Clifford immobiliser first, as the person that had the car before me had loads of problems with it.

gonna be a lot of wiring pics coming up, this is going to be my biggest downfall on the car.:( :(

[Steve]

Hmm wiring... im ok if I know whats what, if I dont... well, something will probably catch light! lol

Just take your time with it.

[opel2000]

Was sort of hoping to have had the inlet manifold bolted onto the head, and the head in place today.
No such luck.

Firstly i had forgot that the inlet manifold needed some sort of repair to the water inlet. (or outlet :confused: )

Anyway, this area was absolutely solid with corrosion and it looked like barely any water had been passing through here when I dismantled it all.
Also the hose had swelled with all the corrosion beneath, and basically this area was a serious mess.

All I thought I could do easily and cheaply was to build the area up around the hose connection with Chemical Metal, just to get it "round" again so the hose would sit tightly on it.
So after having a real good poke about in order to give the Chemical Metal a good seat to adhere to, A bloody hole appeared. :cry:

So decided to round the hose fitting off as best I could with the Chemical Metal, and being a bit wary of the bodgeness of this on a bloody hole, I decided to sleeve the hose connection with an Aluminium tube bonded into place with Chemical metal.

Other option would have been to cut off the hose connection and tap the hole and fit a threaded tube into the hole, OR try welding an aluminium tube into place.
As the hole measured 12.5mm (approx) and the hose id measured 19mm this wemant one serious tap and die to screw a tube in, and then the tube would need to measure 7mm over the dia of the thread. And I can't weld ally, so hence the bodge

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/inlet 1.jpg


http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/inlet 2.jpg

Just hope it works otherwise it is going to be a bit of expense to get it sorted, and don't really trust welding to this cast aluminium.

Also got the EGR Valve area blanked off

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/inlet 3.jpg


Also tested the injectors before re-fitting them.
Coupled up the air line from the compressor to a bit o' tube and connected each injector in turn to the end of the hose.
Took some electric from my car battery, and connected up to the injector one at a time, unfortunately due to the air line hissing, and hands being full it was actually hard to tell if they were opening and closing although there was a healthy ticking every time I touched the contacts, so a put a little cap of fluid there for the injectors to blow into.

Well they were all fine, and I've said this time and time again "I've never known an injector to stick........... Apart from when a mate of mine rebuilt his engine and it had stood for 2 years without firing up.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/injector.jpg

Taking far too long to get the engine area finished now, really wanted this car back on its wheels by today, but a lot of little problems have been cropping up on the inlet. Like forgetting where all the hoses go, and all the little vacuum hoses etc, not to mention corroded fecking hose connections.

[Mike]

Love the perfectness of the EGR blanking plate Clive :thumb:

How you getting on with this now anyway matey?

Mike.

[opel2000]

Thanks for comments on the Blanking plate Mike :thumb:

TBH progress on this has been really slow of late, due to various problems in my life. One of which was filling up the Manta with BP ultimate.................................. Diesel :tard: :tard: :tard: :tard:
Took me over a fecking week a 5speed conversion and engines in and out and over a week of trying to figure out why the bast would not fire up before i realised what i had done. Thought I'd blown the engine with all the white smoke coming out the back. bloody muppet :tard:

Basically the Nova has the engine and box fitted, Injection loom fitted and mostly connected up, as I have been trying to tidy the wiring in the engine bay. Don't want a lot of it on show as per Vauxhalls intentions.
Still have to locate a couple of things yet rather than leave them just hanging out of sight.
Also need to finish tidying the wiring to the nrake res switch and washer pump as the loom has all been extended and routed differently to keep most of the wires out of sight.

New brake master Cylinder has arrived, as the old one had the flare nuts seized into the bottom outlets, so need to fit this and plumb in the brake lines, a job I do like doing.

rest of engine bay is pretty much connected up, but a few things such as the coil and the horns not connected properly yet as they are going to be replaced for a new coil and horns that are not covered in rust.

Timing belt and water pump not fitted correctly yet as timing belt cover is absolutely stuffed to bits, and I do not have the correct water pump spanner type thing to set the belt tension correctly and easily.
Also would like to do something a bit clever with the timing belt cover but it does not look bloody easy with what I have in mind.

Engraved the rocker cover, which again took a lot of time to work out the material thickness of the rocker cover and then work out what I could do with the material I had there.
Unfortunately when I re-fitted the filter I use a wrong bolt on the underside of the rocker cover and the b4stard cracked due to the "wrong Bolt" being forced against one of the camshaft journals and the mounting pillar for the filter on the underside of the cam cover forced its way through the top and my lovely engraving:cry:

Mainly all stupid petty little jobs left now in the engine bay area, but was hoping to have had all this sorted long before now, and have the engine running. And was hoping to have had new wings and bonnet all painted up and fitted.
Keep looking at the pics of the car before it was just sat there with it's wings limply held in place and the bonnet shutting properly, and often look at the nice finished Nova's on this forum and really want to see mine finished off.

This is a piccie from a few days ago, really need to get a K&N for the AFM so I can see where and how to make a nice bracket to hold the AFM in position, but until i get the air filter I can't do anything in this area yet, etc. etc.

http://www.customsolutions.me.uk/cars/Nova bay 3.jpg

[adam c]

starting to look really good and what a transformation!lol.is it going to be ready for some shows for next year?

[opel2000]

To be honest I was really hoping this to be done before the end of the year.
Was hoping to have sold one of my other cars by now and was hoping to be using this as a daily drive.
Just using too much petrol with my other cars, and couldn'y really see myself ever driving anything below a 1.6.
And needed a 1.6 that was going to have a little bit of poke as such I had been after a GSi for quite a while really, so all being well it shall be at the shows next year.

Just so damn busy with loads of stuff at the mo. and everyone is asking me to work on their cars for them lately. Need the cash, but also need time for myself too:confused:

[Mike]

^ Sounds like youve been keeping yourself amused then, what with the problems youve had an all!

Love the look of that engine bay though Clive!

[burgo]

holy fooking hell. just looked at this again as i havnt since the first few posts and you are a god imo. the transformation is outstanding.

[nova_al]

thats going to be one nice nova when finished... some real effort gone into that mate, well in :thumb:

[Mike]

Clive, how you getting on mate? Hows things lately?

[draper]

none of the pics are working for moi ??

[nov4801]

i cant see pics

[Mike]

The pics have been removed thats why.

[opel2000]

Sorry about the pics disappearing, I was hosting them on my website, but a friend of mine wrote me a new website and everything on there all got deleted.
I'll have to find rime to get some piccies posted up again.

And thanks for asking Mike, but as from a few weeks ago everything went absolutely pants for me.
All started when my daily drive (S13 200SX) got re-arranged by a lorry, which meant I had to get another car on the road, went to Tax the Manta and found it's MOT had ran out 7 days previous, and that set the tone for the last 3-4 weeks if anything could go wrong it did, business fell flat on it's face, and come very close to losing the house, but just kept on going..........

Anyway enough of my sh1t.
Been getting back on with the Nova, and the biggest thing that has been holding me up was the Clifford total closure remote engine start all singing and dancing Alarm/Immobiliser.
Which didn't sing and dance at all, in fact it was fooked.

Scary thing about it was......... There was more wires to it than there is in the whole of the Nova's original loom (ok not quite but plenty of nasty looking wires anyway:( )
So I spent the day yesterday removing the dash and seeing exactly what it was all tied into and what wires had been cut.
2 yes TWO wires only had been seperated, a thin black one and the black and red starter wire.
All the rest of the wires were just tapped into the original loom and merely needed cutting off.

Only thing now is the remote C/L won't work, so will need to get a cheep 'n' cheerful set up off of Ebay.

Also broke a bit of dash (heater controls) where the flap cable connects to the plastic control housing, so need to source one of these and a new or better stering column cowling, the original one was held together by insulating tape.

Currently driving a Peugot 406 around as a daily drive, as I may end up travelling a fair distance to work 10 hour days when business falls flat, so wanted something with a bit of comfort that was cheap, but after sitting in the cleaned and re-fitted interior of the Nova yesterday I just want to be driving this car.

Also picked up a rear arch repair section and a new full sill, car doesn't really need a full sill, but thinking it would be easier and better just to fit a full sill rather than patch up the one that's currently on there.

Quick question .......
Is it normal for the steering column be able to move a little when exerting force on it?
I noticed when using my steering wheel puller yesterday there was a bit of movement that I thought should not have been there.

Will get some new pics up soon, should be starting on the arch this weekend all being well, and not really looking forward to it either:( don't like doing arch repairs

[Mike]

Long time no hear/see/speak Clive! Hows things coming along for you mate? Back on your feet now?