My Nova Build -WIP-

[nova ian]

at you licking my headlight, wondered why one was cleaner than the other!!

In all seriousness though, not had chance to do anything yet, the garage is still a mess from arriving home and chucking everything and the car back in! Been busy doing other stuff, you know how it is!

Going to get the petrol tank drained and out this weekend, then that is going for repair as the price of a new one is alot more than I remembered. £140 for a basic carb tank!

Then will get the back plate off. I've ordered yet another 8v bonded sump gasket and shorter bolts this time instead of using washers, so I'll have another go at the sump, also ordered an inline fuel filter as I thought I ought to add one just to be safe. Even though the pump and pressure reg apparently both have one.

[Iain]

You think the sump is still leaking then? I thought it was dribbling down onto it to make it look like it was leaking from there. If you're having the sump off again though it'd be worth seeing if you can get it machined/skimmed or replace with a better one as it was a bit bent at the pulley end IIRC?

Give me a shout if you need a hand this weekend

[nova ian]

Got some time in on the nova at the weekend to get it ready for another trackday

Fuel tank drained and removed. Dropped it off today to have the leaky return pipe removed and it's being pressure tested and any rust cut out and re plated/leaded. Works out alot cheaper than a new tank! They said it should be ready tomorrow.

Also stripped off the cambelt and backplate to investigate the oil leaks



Harvey told me to check out the threaded core plugs in the end of the oil galleries in the side of the head. Circled here behind the pulley's...





it does look as if they have been leaking, so I will check these out when I run it up again without the backplate on.

Also got another 8v sump gasket and the correct sized shorter bolts, but need to check the sump properly first for level.

Just bought a Mocal oil cooler setup aswell to keep the oil a bit cooler and thicker and hopefully help stop leaks

Added bonus aswell tonight as I got a trailer stabliser setup from my father in law as he was chucking it out. Will hopefully keep the car abit more stable as it was swaying a little on the trailer

[The Simps]

Glad to see you're using and abusing this dude!

[MattBrown]

You tow it with a mk4 astra?

Is that legal?

If I've missed something, and it is, then you have made my day!

[Iain]

Those oil gallery bolts look quite far out to me, maybe they were forgotten about when reconning the head? Let me dig through my pics to see if I have any of mine fitted.

Edit: Meh mine look like they stick out a bit too maybe not!

[nova ian]

You tow it with a mk4 astra?

Is that legal?

If I've missed something, and it is, then you have made my day!

I haven't towed it with the van yet as I haven't yet got a towbar for it... But the I've looked into the weights and all seems legit. I only have a single axle trailer too that is literally only just big enough to fit the nova on.

My dad towed it for me for me with a Passat estate and that coped fine, said it didn't know it was there

[Harvey]

I would remove both oil way core plugs and clean the threads with white spirits or similar and then pop them back in with Loctite of PTFE tape to properly seal them up. Running the engine up to temp might not show the leaks as the engine may need to be under load i.e. driven.

[nova ian]

I would remove both oil way core plugs and clean the threads with white spirits or similar and then pop them back in with Loctite of PTFE tape to properly seal them up. Running the engine up to temp might not show the leaks as the engine may need to be under load i.e. driven.

Cheers Harvey, deffo going to take them out and reseal them, you may have a point about it just idling and not leaking, but with the cover off I'll be able to see if anything is getting out there if it does leak. Fingers crossed I'm able to solve it as it's the only thing stopping me from using it! Hopefully when it's done we'll be able to get on track with the astra too

[Harvey]

Hopefully when it's done we'll be able to get on track with the astra too

I hope so as I've hardly used it this year and covered less then 200 miles. I'll start squirreling away some pennies for a track day. Ideally I'd like a full day open pit but not too bothered where.