So my Nova has been sat gathering dust for 11 years..........

I still have my Nova that I built back over 10 years ago now that took me on a trip to the south of France and back to the good old midlands. It had a few breakdowns on the way, but overall proved it was a good motor. I still have a rather odd electrical gremlin that after a while of driving the engine would cut out but would get going again straight away.

Over these 10 years, it basically moved from old garage to new and has been removed only to allow me to work on my partners car. Two kids and a lot of expenses later and its still sat gather dust in my garage.

Its got a C20XE engine and I even have a few parts I have bought over the years, but regret now, like a corsa dash (luckily I never fitted it) etc. but I still have some mechanical bits to do, not to mention rust and MOT would need to get sorted.

The problem is what to do? I still don't have the time to fix it up or the finances to do it justice with a new paint job etc. but i worry if I do sell it when I come to find the time to work on it, I will majorly regret it if I get rid of it.

So I am after your stories or suggestions on what i should do. I probably would need at least 12 months to get it right and set up how I would like, but not sure if it is time to cash in and move onto something new?

What do you think?

Thanks in advance!

A similar story to mine fella.

I started my C20LET project in 2009. Had the car sent to bodyshop to get the usual rust sorted and bay strengthened, while in the mean time I sourced engine, box parts etc. Started doing all the small jobs and had 80% of the parts, but as I had just got married, moved abroad and then came back a couple years later, I had to prioritise what was more important i.e. buying a place for myself and the mrs, it would've been stupid to blow cash on a Nova, I'm sure no one would've appreciated it.

Fast forward a few years, I bought my first place (which had no garage), just a car port so wasn't suitable for the nova to sit in. Buying and running a house isn't exactly cheap so had to spend a couple years finding my feet. Then eventually my little girl arrived, so again my priorities were obvious and the project was 3rd on the list. Fast forward some more and now I'm looking to buy a bigger house, with a garage (which I did late 2019). Moved in but now the mortgage is double what it was not to mention my little girls nursery which costs a fraction more than my mortgage. Having said all of that, I don't regret pausing the project as I take comfort knowing I did what I had to do to build a family and home life.

Now that things are more accommodating, the Nova has finally made it's way out of my parents garage and into mine. Now that all the bits and bobs to make our house our desired home has been done, I'm slowly moving my attention to the project. It's been 11 years since the project started but the benefit is that I now am in a better position to do things properly and build a project to what I really want and not a "minimum viable product". Car tech has moved along so there are certain things that can be done which I couldn't then, and having been patient for 10+ years, even the mrs is eager to have me finish it (result! lol). Never-the-less, having a hobby which allows my mind to move from the everyday and relax somewhat is more welcome than ever. Plus lets face it, 11 years of no moisture, no salt and less mileage on the chassis of a 35 year old 80's rust magnet can only be a good thing! Had I finished it back in 2010 it'd have been a daily so would've had some wear and tear by now and prob would've needed some more work. "Every cloud..." as they say.

If you ask me, It's a case of reigniting your motivation to work on it and accumulating the funds to re-start. Sometimes setting yourself a hard deadline can de-motivate, especially if you have to pay for any financial responsibilities which delays things. I'd say get it how you want it to be in a slow and steady manner. I've set myself a goal of buying a recent/modern family car (still something rapid) but only once my Nova is up and running. This way I'll be motivated outside of the project to get what I'd like without getting to a point where the project has lost momentum again.

They are rarer than ever before and incidentally much cooler now. Anyone who comes round and sees it, their face literally lights up (partly because I have a flame thrower as my garage security lol). When it's on the road I'm sure I won't be left in peace :d

Hi Nova_Tek, thanks for the reply. I am quite lucky with my job I have a company car, so even when complete it won't need to be a daily driver. As you say with the more experience now, I can take more time and put more effort into getting things right rather than taking shortcuts and having to make do, like the one side sill I had to put on that had a dent by the drivers wing connection point. I have to just find the motivation, dump the crap parts, like the corsa dash and get the old car going again. I do have a set of MK2 GSI bumpers which will go on, but I can;t find MK2 wings or headlights at the moment, so may just have to settle or keep waiting and give Colin an email to see if I can get them sorted, then its likely the wiring loom will need sorting, they were never good in the first place let alone after all the chopping and my botch with the C20XE wiring etc.

So as you say take some time, prepare and make it the best it can be.

Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it.

Next to loose some weight while working on it so I can get in comfortably without breaking something.

Tough one, this.

I bought my first Nova (well technically a Corsa A as I'm on mainland Europe) in 1991 at a dealership. This car was traded in from an old lady. Over the years, I modified it (X16XE on throttle bodies, Quaife diff, lowered, ICE, alloys, the lot) and took it on holidays to Spain, the UK, Luxembourg etc. I loved it to bits and it became affectionally known as the Red Shed. I daily'd it until 2005, when a Fiat Doblo decided to kill it from behind. From that moment on, it's been sitting in a corner gathering dust and looking sorry for itself.

A couple of years later I sourced a decent shell from Germany which was going to the the basis for reviving the Red Shed. Since then, I made a couple of not-very-clever life choices such as buying a way too expensive house, shit jobs and going through a divorce and losing said house in the process. Such is life. But I held on to the Red Shed, the shell and all the bits I accumulated over the years.

Like Tek, I will get her back on the road once I have some nice new resources and a place to work on it. Not getting rid of it, despite many naysayers think I should.

Long story short, get yourself a decent place to work on your Nova, start collecting bits and take your time. Nothing can substitute the smiles you get driving your eighties rot box. :-D

If you add to your project with small bits at a time, like parts, or completing odd jobs that need doing, then you're still progressing, but at a rate that fits in with your situation. Then when the time is right you can move to bigger jobs/parts and put more focus on it.

Everyone's situation is different and thus projects happen at different speeds, just don't compare yourself to other's, it'll only make you think you're not doing it properly or doing it slowly.

Agree with the above comments. I brought small bits each month so collecting parts for the bigger jobs. Plus buying bits each month doesn't seem so much of a financial struggle.