84 Beige Nova (Project parchment) Op rust must die

[Speedle]

some simply gorgeous welding/fab work there chap! I can see you'll have this beast ship shape in no time!

[darrenh]

beef tastic, much less wobbly for the tie bar mounts. that engine bay is going to be solid

[countvauxalot]

Feb 3, 2012 11:09:35 GMT Speedle said:

some simply gorgeous welding/fab work there chap! I can see you'll have this beast ship shape in no time!

;D ;D

Feb 3, 2012 11:51:43 GMT darrenh said:

beef tastic, much less wobbly for the tie bar mounts. that engine bay is going to be solid

Thats the idea, hopfully it shouldn't rip its self to bits like they usually do!

[Leth]

This looks familiar, although I think my Rekord Van project is worse. It's a lot of work to save a Nova, but I could have done the same :-) Keep up the good work...

[countvauxalot]

Feb 3, 2012 14:05:09 GMT Leth said:

This looks familiar, although I think my Rekord Van project is worse. It's a lot of work to save a Nova, but I could have done the same :-) Keep up the good work...

Your right the poor old thing needs some work after many years of neglect but for some unknown reason i love them so it will be worth it!

[ScORTED]

hell of a good job sir

[countvauxalot]

A little more progress this evening

Started here



Ran some weld down the seam





Cleaned and blended this end off nice and smooth





A little more work (read as grindy, weldy, grindy, weldy etc) on both side to get it spot on



Began blending and smoothing every thing in to one







Then moved on to a finer sanding disc (40 grit to 60 grit)







Shot some primer on it and left it to dry off





Thats that basically sorted now next will be fitting it to the car.

front cross member basically finished minus the holes needed for the tie rod drop links.
That means the cross member needs to be attached to the rest of the car some how so here goes

Cross member in place to jog the memory and engage the brain cell



The areas that require plating and boxing in









The first plate i made previously now needing finalising to fit



Rough scribble of some ideas



I'm wanting to keep these holes open so i can remove the roll over frame supports more easily once the front panel goes back on, i know iit wont look as smooth and pretty but chin chin.



Again more rough scrawl



First hole cut



Second on its way - two hole saw cuts then joined with the grinder



Bam



And in place



Tacked it there for the time being - it still needs some alterations





Position of the holes for puddle welding marked



Then i offered up the new front panel to see what it was going to fit like and how much clearance it had











Happy with the results i continued making some more plates

This time to go on the end here



Measurements transferred to a paper template so i could offer it up ans see if it looked right





It did so i cut it out of metal



Then made a slight clearance modification to the end of the new cross member to clear the front panel



And tacked the end plate in place



Leaving the gap below as the last piece of the puzzle



As well as the boxing off of this corner



I started out template making - the first goes under o/s chassis leg to tie the two plates i've made into the chassis





Then decided that my time would be better spent concentrating on making a start on the other side so some more drawing followed - the plate has to be slightly shorter on this side due to the engine mount.



To give me this





Cut out in metal



Bent



And some holes



I then changed my mind and decided it looked better cut straight up as so





Again a plate on to the other side



Tacked in place for the time being



I'm now left needing to fill this space



And that will be done a little something like this



However it will be cut along the bottom to follow the cross member as below

[task]

Mad skills, some serious attention to detail here! I'll be keeping track of this, I've just spent the past 20 mins being excited by your cross member

[countvauxalot]

Haha thanks I wish the missis was as easily pleased!

[countvauxalot]

Various plates made up and cleaned off for the N/S



N/S chassis leg cleaned off



Holes for puddle welding added to the plates



First plate welded in



Then for some welding inside





Penetration



more welding here



here



And the cap on the end





Then cleaned it up









Holes drilled in the end plate



And some priming



Cleaned the chassis leg of under seal



And tried it on for fit - all good here





Then on to the other side

End plate cleaned up anded tacked in place



welded on







Small plate shaped and fitted



welded



Cleaned up







Primed





Chassis leg cleaned up on the O/S



Holes drilled in the end plate



Plate added under the chassis leg



Welded



And cleaned off although no one will see it lol





And the whole cross member tried for fit



Good on the N/S side



And good on the O/S

[Colonelk]

Awesome work chap!

Re: 1.5 vs 1.7 Ive been told the 1.7 has very little meat between the bored and can cause it to have head gasket issues when running a lot of boost unlike the 1.5.

I'm currently toying with the pump on one of mine at the moment, theoretically they are pretty tuneable its just most people in the vauxhall community leave it at a simple pump and boost tweak. Look forward to seeing how this goes

[polodan]

Fantastic work mate. Great welding and fabricating. Quite liking the early Novas at the moment, and i know where theres one this colour that could do with saving...

[countvauxalot]

Feb 10, 2012 13:59:20 GMT Colonelk said:

Awesome work chap!

Re: 1.5 vs 1.7 Ive been told the 1.7 has very little meat between the bored and can cause it to have head gasket issues when running a lot of boost unlike the 1.5.

I'm currently toying with the pump on one of mine at the moment, theoretically they are pretty tuneable its just most people in the vauxhall community leave it at a simple pump and boost tweak. Look forward to seeing how this goes

Cheers I have also read the 1.5 is a better option when tuning due to the increase in bore in the 1.7 however as i said before i made 120hp at 1.2 bar on the standard turbo (which is ting) so with a different turbo enlarged exhaust manifold etc i should see good results.

There are also boost plunger mods and possible swaps from other pumps too all worth considering!

[Franknstein]

I cant believe how much rebuilding of chassis and bodywork you guys in the UK do. No wonder your good at it. Great skills, your work is fantastic- Looking forward to seeing this project come together.

[darrenh]

i agree, well considered and applied.

if half the conversions were as good as this, and not just some shonky tie bar drop blocks and alternator clearance, they woudlnt get such a bad rep

[countvauxalot]

O/S plate removed from the chassis and holes drilled - pilot holes first





Primed the rear (the face that faces the chassis)



Cleaned up the chassis leg mounting surface



And the same for the other side



Tacked this one in place again



Let the welding commence N/S end plate first





Then the O/S





Tacked the N/S plate in place



And made it a permanent fixture

[countvauxalot]

Getting there - cleaned the floor too while the welder was cooling off lol



I give you penetration



On to the other side







More penetration

[countvauxalot]

A little more for you

Started here



Welded up



Another plate shaped to fit





Welded in place





On to the other side - template made then transferred to metal



The plate fits here





Tacked in



welded





Another plate made to fit the hole

[countvauxalot]

Zapped that too







And on to the other side -made this kite shape up to finish off the boxing on this side



To go here





Small hole filled in the corner



Then i began to clean off the welds just to see what they would look like









Getting there

[leigh]

Loads more work there man, you're really soldiering on fair play to you