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Thursday 17/08/2006
Today I are mostly be sticking my new light surrounds to my engine bay.
Took fecking all day! I bought this amazing stuff called liquid metal which is suposed to provide a bond almost as strong as a weld. Now I know it isnt as strong but with a couple of rivets in key places its perfect for what I'm doing as that part of the car isnt structural.
First thing I did was pop down to my local Vauxhall garage and order a ton of new clips and bolts - discoveres NovaFreak (Ali) another novaloader works there! V handy - got the parts for nowt!
:p Cheers mate!
I started by lining everything up and making small adjustments then clean off the paint where the metal would join, drilled holes for the rivets and stuck it all together -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights52.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights54.jpg
The 1st side took about 4 hours as I spent most of the time checking the light would fit, I could still get access to the back panels and could remove it if necessary. Its very tight but totally solid!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights60.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights59.jpg
That's both sides done - perfectly horizontal and lined up! Theres enough adjustment in the lights to make small changes if I need to but once bolted in place theyre more solid than the original nova ones!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights55.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights51.jpg
This pic shows exactly how far they stick out. Its about 4".
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights58.jpg
The next task is to work on the bonnet and then the front bumper.
Need to build an extension on the carriage bar somehow to support it. Should be fun!
:cool:
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look really cool. nice work with the mounting brackets.
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Saturday 19/08/2006 (part 1)
Today I are mostly be fitting my new bonnet extension!
The plan was to cut the front of an existing Punto bonnet and attach it to the front end of the existing Nova bonnet - however the punto bonnet is wider than the Nova one so it needed to be chopped up to fit.
The 1st stage was to remove the sound deadening and the washer jets. I'll be using the Punto Jets on my new bonnet as theyre really cool - they sit mid way up the bonnet and have 3 jets per head that can be angled. I'll also recycle the sound deadening.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights79.jpg
Then the punto bracket had to be drilled out
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights78.jpg
The Punto bonnet is excatly 10cm too wide between the lights so I need to cut a chunk out. I measured 40cm back from the front to allow plenty of metal to attach to the car and then drew on the cut lines for the section to be removed. The the grinder came out to play...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights76.jpg
Front section separated, the next task was to detach the inner super structure - this is held in place with big blobs of what looks like tiger seal.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights74.jpg
I need to remove it because its too big - I'll possibly be salvaging it later on to reinforce the inside once the outer skin is attached. I parted the folds at the edges and prised it apart -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights73.jpg
Once the inner support was removed, the outer skin could be cut using conventional metal cutters - it was surprisingly easy to cut. The excess metal from the middle was removed and the 2 sections offered up to the Nova bonnet for a test fit. The curves on the Nova bonnet are an almost perfect line up to the Punto ones!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights72.jpg
Both sides were held in place with masking tape for a visual check
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights71.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights70.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights69.jpg
I'll post part 2 of how I fitted the parts once I've had me tea...
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looks good ade, just 1 thing, what are you doing about the front of the wings ?
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front wings will be modified to fit the lights and marry up to the new bonnet. Theyre also a little tatty (new but dented inplaces) so need skimming.
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are they going to follow the lines of the bonnet and meet the original nova wing then ??
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Part 2
Fitting the extension was a bit of a problem as I wasnt sure of the best way to do it. Id toyed with the idea od cuting a slit in my Nova bonnet and slotting the new extension in - bonding it with liquid metal and rivetting from the underside, however the inside of my bonnet was covered in grease and dirt and it would have been impossible to clean up to make a strong bond.
So in the end I opted for violence. I knew where the extension had to go and knew I'd need to skim the joins with filler/resin so based on this decided to create a dent along a drawn line and then rivet each extension panel along this. The dent would take the extension level below the existing bonnet line allowing the panels to be rivetted in place and then skimmed.
To ensure both panels could be joined smoothly, I also had to create a crease along the edge of one of the panels dso the other one would lap over it without causing a raised edge.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights66.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights65.jpg
I then took a hammer with a pointed head and hammered the front of the Nova bonnet caving it in along a drawn line (see above pics).
I then sanded all the paint off the Nova bonnet panel at the front and the underside of each Punto panel to create a clean edge and bonded the panels to the Nova bonet using Liquid metal and rivets.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights63.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/danga/62.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/lights64.jpg
The grey line is liquid metal which will cure to a very strong bond overnight.
The front section where the grill would go needs to be cut back to about 2" below the top of the lights. I intend to fit a new style chrome Opel strip with badge and then a custom grill beneath bonded to the new bumper.
The next task it to reinforce the underside and cut the grill section back.
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Draper-Midlands - yes - they'll curve round to match the corners of the bonnet extension. New surrounds will be made to match the lights
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damn good work ill say!!! what plans you got for the front bumper? i rekon bat motorsport myself, also, i got one of those for sale!!!:D
good work like always:thumb:
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Good work Ade, coming along nicely now :thumb:
