my baby 1.0 to a monster xe

[gunny]

well, i finished this project ages ago lol, but i thought id post it up now (as im bored) and see what kind of interest/comments i get:thumb:

i bought the car on the 1-08-2007 (i think) from Yoza (cheers pal) for ?300 as a baby 1.0 (which was then nicknamed sarcastically 'The NovaBeast by my friends) and it looked like this:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/NovaBeast.jpg

i ran the car as a 1.0 for nearly a month, then on the 31-08-2007, i started work on turning this humble 1.0 into one of leicesters latest beasts, an early start was in order and before long the Novabeast looked like this:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00461.jpg

and the engine was not so carefully placed in the back of my dead sr that some of you may remeber:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00460.jpg

the sr in its former glory:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00275.jpg

then looking a bit sorry for itself as i didnt take anyones advice to put it back on road:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/Srdead.jpg

so with the engine and running gear out of the way, work started on prepping the seams for stitch welding:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00464.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00465.jpg

[gunny]

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00466.jpg

dave in the engine bay with a little makita grinding tool lol :
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00463.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00468.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00467.jpg

that has to be the longest most boring process of the whole build!!!! it just seems to drag on and on and you never seem to get anywhere, please dont ask why i decided to clean off and weld up the seam on the firewall i have no idea!! heres some pics of ginges welding, and a pic of him turning up one morning with a fag in his mouth after he had quit for nearly a year, shows what my projects do to people lol :
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00458.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00473.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00472.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00471.jpg

[gunny]

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00475.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00477.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00474.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00476.jpg

the next day me and ginge went to pick my engine and fuel tank up, from wales :wtf: on returning we found that my little brother and his mate had kindly sprayed my engine bay up :D :
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00480.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00479.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00481.jpg

pic of the calibra redtop brakes and uprated nova suspension:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00470.jpg

[NovaLad]

Has ya bay been sprayed with rattle cans from halfrauds?

[novacabrio]

I'd be fuming if I had a little brother who painted my bay like that lol he has missed half of it!!

[gunny]

engine in air:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00482.jpg

going in for the first time to mark out where to cut for the alternator, as i decided it was better to cut in a box section rather than take a large hammer to the inner chassis leg which is a structural part of the engine bay:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00494.jpg

box section:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00495.jpg

box section was then sprayed up and engine was put in and bolted up. not as simple as it sounds, the rear gearbox mount would not line up at all, it must of took and hour and at least 5 of us pushing and pulling the engine, adjusting the crane etc, the it finally lined up and i managed to get the bolt in:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00153.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00154.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00157.jpg

after finally getting the engine in place we began piecing the car back together, ancillaries, running gear etc:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00184.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00188.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00284-1.jpg

[goldengraham]

lol i'd just be happy someone painted it for me

[gunny]

we had a lot of problems with wiring and a few parts missing from the engine, the loom had a few faults and was causing a major short which fried my battery and spat acid all over my cousins arm:roll: i almost completely lost heart and very nearly gave up on the whole thing, then we found the fault in the xe started loom, so i scrapped it and used the starter loom off of the sr, my dad welded up the manifold to the exhaust system which since has been replaced by a custom magnex with a flexi join as the sollid system kept ripping the back box off, so after going over my deadline by a couple of days we finally brought the NovaBeast back to life, so thanks to ginge, dad, my cousin dave, my bro conner and everyone else that gave a hand, and the missus for being so understanding:roll: lol she is on the road:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/09092007179.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00499.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00516.jpg

since i bought the car ive fitted uprated shocks, the c20xe, big brakes, full sound system, clear front indicators and smoked side repeaters, dont want to change the looks at i think yoza did a great job on the styling, just look at this wheel:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/gunny07/DSC00469.jpg

so car spec since the build:
c20xe 2.0 16v engine conversion
manzel power cap
green cotton induction kit
full custom magnex exhuast system with flexi pipe and 2.5" inward rolled tip back box
lowered 80mm rear and 60mm front
calibra 16v big brake conversion with nova gte brake servo

was thinking about making the car a gte replica but i think it would spoil it, what are your thoughts?

[gunny]

lol yeh it was rattle cans from halfrauds but with the engine in you can hardly tell, and as golden graham said im just happy i dint have to do it when i got home and wait for it to dry

[MK1-GTE]

what a cool write up mate ....
car really is a nice motor ya done well .....

[NovaLad]

Looks good mate!!
What's next lol

[Adam]

What welder were you using? Im no expert, but some of those welds look poor.

Looks quite cool with the grey cav rims, goes well with the bumpers.
Id leave it as it is, colour coded gte bumpers wouildn't look right on yours imo

[gunny]

not sure what the welder is, i know the welds arent great as it did get a bit hot but the engine bay was mint bar the battery bay so they'll be alright as its only a standard xe, thanks for the comments everyone

[gunny]

Looks good mate!!
What's next lol

thanks, thinking about another sr like my last one, well hopefully exactly the same as my last one lol but c20let

[lee coley]

nice 1 mate,new it was a good shell,i do miss it.rather drive the nova than my 182 clio.

[gunny]

lol if you lived closer mate id take u for a spin, shell is sound as fook, big jump from the 1.0 to the xe though lol, going pvs? all credit to you on the styling of the car aswell, bet you didnt believe me when i said i was going to put an xe in it did you lol

[Ste L]

nice little motor that :)

[gunny]

cheers :) look out for a new project thread in the near future ;)

[Ste L]

cheers :) look out for a new project thread in the near future ;)

oooo, im intrigued, what is it?

[lee coley]

cant even remember you saying,haha.only thing that puts me off novas is the fact you cant leave them in a car park etc,did you sort out the battery tray?

[burgo]

for the next project ditch the wire wheel and buy some paint stripper. much easier, quicker and gets rid of the paint properly

[lee coley]

^^good idea^^

[saloonwoody]

blow torch works well too !!!

[gunny]

oooo, im intrigued, what is it?

have to wait and see, im still a little un-decided but there will definitely be something ;)

yeh i did sort the battery tray yoza, still aint fized that door thoug, although i have got 2 new doors 2 go on it they just need spraying:thumb:

[gunny]

for the next project ditch the wire wheel and buy some paint stripper. much easier, quicker and gets rid of the paint properly

thanks for the advice mate, appreciate that:)