With one Nova finished (well sort of ) It wasn't going to be long till the need for another came around

So it began last week when Turbo Gav (off migweb)and I started to think of a seriously cheap way of going fast on the 1/4 using maybe some bits we had and sourcing everything else including a car but keeping costs to a minimum.

Its Friday 21st September, I've just got in from work and Gav sends me a link to a Nova he has seen on Ebay, £130 tax and tested all original 1984 1.2 Nova ! what was even better was the 21k it had only covered !

Sensibly we got straight in the chavalier and headed straight for Ipswich via a bank heading towards the owners after already agreeing that were going to buy it whatever shape its in lol

We arrive to find a slightly rusty looking green nova, it was sold before we had even got out of the car, a quick deal was done with the old owners and we were off ! ( I might add that at this point we had been informed it had been round the clock once but this was no worry to us....... or was it ?! )

After not really inspecting the car much and the fact that it was as good as out of fuel we thought we would stop for a refuel and a good look round it, well lol the water in the header tank looks a bit suspect and the hole in the battery tray was well hidden by the battery ! Gav then informs me its been running on 3 so we head off sharpish trying to sort of nurse it home. Another 10 miles on and it blows the top rad hose, as were on the move it makes sense to keep going so we continue on our merry way home although within 30 mins its coughed and spluttered and will only run if I push it down the road with the Cavalier lol

After getting it home we sat around thinking what route to go down with it, enginewise it had to be a 2L XE, we thought about using a F15 smallblock gearbox but as good as that would of been for the track it would of been totally useless for the strip so we opted to stick to a big box for strength.

Powerwise the only sensible modification would be Nitrous as we both had kits and obviously the only cost was refills so a plan to maybe use upto 200hp was decided upon

Laying the best pasrt of 300+hp down isn't going to be easy though and a proper LSD isn't cheap and would cost our total budget limit so out with the welder and special edition drag racing welded diff was made on a budget of some welding wire.

Its now saturday evening and we start to strip the nova of everything important, the more we remove the more holes we find ! the car is certainly original thats for sure ! rotten as a pair springs to mind !

Here some of the first pics :



Possibly the cause of the misfire



More :






The weight loss mods now start taking place, firstly the hole saw comes out for a few test runs :



Then the Firewall as we needed a repair panel for the battery tray:





After those first modifications I started to remove all of the sound deadening and dash whilst Gav tried to do something with what was left of slam panel.

After a few hours we were left with this :





Monday night we hit it hard again and tried to get as much done as possible as on sunday we had decided to give the car a lick of spray paint as it was going to look outrageous if we left it a rusty green colour.

The engine bay was welded up the best you could get it, strengthening plates were made up for the crossmember and the old firewall was used to make a new battery tray and fill in the old heater matrix holes. Whilst I continued to sort the interior out and Gav finished off the bay a mate came over with his da and rubbed down the bodywork which saved a lot of time.

Here is the last pics I took of the shell before we left it on tuesday night:












The bay isn't 100% done yet as we ran out of mig wire but it is getting there, next on the list to do after that is sort the interior out as there is a few holes and the rear valance needs some attention ! After that we just need 2 wings and a door maybe 2 from the scrapyard and its ready for the prepwork to be finished and the spray cans to come out

Also on tuesday we got a reply to a wanted advert we posted about a engine being required. Tonight we headed over to Norwich to go and pick up a Calibra 16v at a very sensible price which still keeps us well under budget

The new powerplant : (although I suspect this wont last too long lol )





So in less than a week we are right on our way to getting this car ready for some Santa Pod action, our deadline although it may seem close is October 13th which is a Saturday Night Special where both Gav and I have done quite well in our old cars so maybe it just brings good luck to us !

So on that note I'm off to bed but expect to see very frequent updates and changes !