nova gte reshell

[shanemc]

up to recently was doing a reshell of my nova gte(now on hold till i return from travelling),bought the car early last year with rotten rear spring mounts,planned to tidy up this area and use the car as a track car,but when i got round to doing this it turned out the shell was worse than i originally thought,so instead of chasing rust i said i'd reshell it into a clean strong shell instead,a better job considering the abuse itll hopefully get.
couldnt get a clean white shell anywhere in ireland at a good price,so ended up picking up this one in nottingham of flangy007 off here,had no tax or test and was blowing oil,but it was only £150 and had only 41k and has no sunroof,and was supposed to be mint,so i said id chance looking at it,is was mint as described,bought it and the aa brought it all the way home for me,god bless em.
pics below are progress so far,the new shell has been stich welded and harry hockly plate kit welded in,and a full length reinforced boxed crossmember.
the gte engine is fast road spec lightened and balanced with twin 40's,partly polybushed throughout,avo coilovers,eccentric top mounts,gsi2000 brakes all round,etc.
im using all the gte exterior spec again so it'll be old school enough,only thing im not using is the old shape dash,hadnt the time to go swapping em over.
pics to follow

[shanemc]

heres the new shell,and the original rusty gte shell
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17680&d=1202074240 http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17681&d=1202074289

[shanemc]

these are the shell getting stripped and washed,
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17682&d=1202078377

[shanemc]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17683&d=1202078525

[shanemc]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17684&d=1202078636

[shanemc]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17685&d=1202078871

[shanemc]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17686&d=1202078990

[shanemc]

one of the boot floor,unwelded and the spare wheel never used
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17687&d=1202079218

[shanemc]

few of the bay and inner arches being stitched and plated and prepped.
wasnt too impressed with the hockly tie bar plates,so the oul lad suggested a full length reinforcing plate,made it up and linked it with the engine mount plates on each side,so it should be very strong there now i'd say

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17690&d=1202080641

[shanemc]

splashguard being plated

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17691&d=1202080741

[shanemc]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17693&d=1202080972

[shanemc]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17694&d=1202081084

[vaughanmc]

Really good work mate - Keep up the level of attention :)

[shanemc]

cheers!

[shanemc]

more of the crossmember area,and starting the sealing and priming,zinc 182´d the inner wings first
after theyd being stripped off all underseal,and then primed the stich welded etc areas in the bay


http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17697&d=1202081819http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17695&d=1202081635

[shanemc]

then seam sealed all the joints after the first coat of primer

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17772&d=1203694583

[shanemc]

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17773&d=1203694708

[shanemc]

more of the seam sealing,then second primer coat,inners and bay etc
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17778&d=1203696988
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17774&d=1203695270

[shanemc]

stonechipped the inners next

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17782&d=1203697569
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17775&d=1203695387

[shanemc]

then painted bay and inners with 2pack,and refitted panels and bumpers etc,
old wings for now till i get back next year then new ones

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17784&d=1203698454
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17785&d=1203698647
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17786&d=1203698731
http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=17787&d=1203699103

[shanemc]

painted the hubs and tcas and arbs next,ar5e of a job and the parts dried to a gloss intstead of satin cos the garage was too cold and therefore they took too long to dry properly.
my compbrake eccentric mounts wouldnt fit the turret properly,the bearing housing is too big,so rather than taking a big chunk out of the turret and weakening it i got them taken down on a lathe,i cant understand why they make them like this intstead of designing them to simply fit properly.
fitted the coilovers and rest of suspension/steering assembly.

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18212&d=1206573603

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18213&d=1206573603

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18214&d=1206573603

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18215&d=1206573980

[shanemc]

started on the rear of the car next,needed to plate a few small rust holes on the inner arches,but then decided to properly turret the arches to properly accept the coilovers while i was at it.only took the bare minimum out of the chassis leg/spring support to allow me to run a seperate spring/damper setup again should the need ever arise/or if the car ever sees road,judging by the rate it takes me to finish these big jobs...
shaped the rear turrets to fit next,but had to leave it at that as i had a plane to catch!
when i start at it again ill be tipping it on its side and stripping away all the underseal and priming and stonechipping it same as the front end,and routing the pipes inside the car.
undecided on whether to freshen up the 16se or build a 16xe for it,getting a lot of ideas from the big spec 16v builds on here!
thanks for looking.

Shane

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18216&d=1206574844

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18217&d=1206574844

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18218&d=1206574844

http://www.driver.ie/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18219&d=1206574844

[twistysnovagte]

nice to see its stayed mk1:D

[wilson_sri]

Very nice project mate

[Mike B GTE]

awesome!! love it. the front inner arches look great :thumb:

[Dave.]

a white gte on 3 spokes with black bumper stripe? clear indicators! this is gonna be awsome dude :thumb:

[Neil 08]

cant wait to see it finished should be schweet

[shanemc]

cheers lads,looking forward to cracking into it again when i get home,cage,harnesses and perspex will be the next purchases hopefully.doing effective mods but keeping it as subtle and standard looking as possible is the aim:thumb:

[shanemc]

I've recently started back into the nova, after being away for two years globe-hopping.

I decided that the car isnt going to see normal road use again, i'm going to concentrate on building it with trackdays/hillclimbs and maybe the odd bit of tarmac rallying in mind.

When the rear inners are finished, and axle refitted, the car is going for a multipoint weld in cage to be fitted, this should hopefully be happening within the next month or so.

Here's some pics of the rear turrets in place. To be honest if i was to do a nova rebuild/reshell again i dont know would i bother turreting the rear again, the metal that i cut out seemed strong enough, as it was triple skinned. Saying that, a nova being a nova does need all the extra shell strength it can get, and its nice comfort knowing the back end is as strong as it can be. Hammerited the rear axle and fitted polybushes, next step is to finish the welding on the inners, prime them and refit the axle and rear coilovers and get the car rolling again. I'm just going to prime the inners for now, as the car is going to get a weld in cage fitted soon, so ill be giving it a full inside and out respray after that.

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Astranova306etc006.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Astranova306etc007.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Astranova306etc008.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Astranova306etc012.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Astranova306etc013.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Astranova306etc015.jpg

[shanemc]

And on saturday i went shopping, picked up a few bits and pieces, 6 revo rfx's, 2 raceline rl7's, all 15", an f13 with straight cut quaife internals and a transx lsd with a 4.8cwp, quaife internal gear linkage, matched shafts, pedal box, full set of polycarbonates with sliders, front thick tube bilsteins with 150lb springs and rears, tank and sump guards, facet pumps, front polybushes, spare gte bumpers and rad.
I'd imagine ill be using the bilsteins for stages, and the coilovers for tracks, when those days finally come.
The work on the nova is more or less at a standstill at the minute as my gsi astra tidy-up is taking up most of my spare time, but i hope to start back into it within the next few weeks.

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/002.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/003.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/004.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/005.jpghttp://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/001.jpg

[Tommy_nova]

Awsome word mate looks like a one to watch, nice collection of parts too,
whats happening with the front avo's now ?

[shanemc]

I think ill just hang onto them, be nice to have them if the car see's a bit of track work. I'd imagine they'd be a waste of time though out on the bumpy roads in a car thats pretty light

[Tommy_nova]

fair enough matie im looking for a set of front avo's thats all :)

[lukehamlyn]

nice work mate really like this :)

[Southie]

Welcome back after your tour. :) Anywhere nice?

Looks like a top little project, always loved white GTEs. Where are you thinking of hill-climbing it then?

[shanemc]

South America and Thailand, i'd go back to s.a. in a shot!

To be honest i'm not sure of where ill be hillclimbing, mainly events in Ireland though i'd imagine. Any form of motorsport with it will keep me happy, but stage rallying would be the highlight

[Nova_Tek]

Great work, top quality by the looks of things.

Looks like you had quite a fun day shopping :)

[shanemc]

Fun but expensive, still thou, be worse if i drank the money!

[shanemc]

Few more pics of the progress, haven't spent much time on the nova recently as i'm between a sierra that i'm rebuilding thats taking up most of my time, along with a corsa a that i recently bought

Getting the rear inner arches finished ready for the axle refitment, the bottom of the rear lh quarter was holed, so made up a new outer and inner section for that. Luckily that was one of the few places of rust on the shell. The inner arches are finished now, just bolting on the axle. coilovers and hubs and wheels at the minute, so i can mark out a suitable position for the coilover top hole in the rear turrets. I'll put more pics up in the next few days.

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0114.jpg

New piece tacked in place, final positioning and welding still to do
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0123.jpg

1.6 block, ready for building up
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0152.jpg

Some work on getting the inside of the car cleaned out, namely removing the remains of the headlining glue etc, the sound deadening from the floorpans etc, such an **** of a job, and removing all unwanted brackets etc, another prick of a job namely due to not having the right size spotweld bit to hand the sunday that i decided to tackle into it...

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0052.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0042.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0032.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0012.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0022.jpg

[shanemc]

Bit more work done to the nova over the last couple of weeks, finished off the welding in the rear inner arches and got the axle and coilovers fitted up. Gave the inners a couple of coats of white hammerite to keep the surface rust at bay for now, not going fully painting the inners just yet as it'll be getting sent off to get a weld in cage fitted soon, and the welding from that onto the turrets etc will just burn off any paint on the underside of the arch.

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0033.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0082-1.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0062.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0072.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/016.jpg

Axle ready to bolt in
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0013-1.jpg
Strengthened shock mounts, welded onto beam with coilovers bolted into place
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/0023-1.jpg

Almost back to a rolling shell, just having a few headaches with the rear hubs, the hubs used in the disc conversion the car originally had was fine for road use, but not strong enough for competition use, trying to sort a stronger setup at the min, hope to have it sorted soon, then i'll be bolting the hubs and brakes on, and it'll be going off to have the cage installed.
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/024.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/023.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/022.jpg

Mk2 dash taken out, and proper mk1 dash fitted
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/018.jpg
http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/tashiusclay/Nova%20gte/019.jpg

[connor c]

epic build lad what part of ireland you from

[shanemc]

Cheers, i'm in mayo