JonnyBravo

To keep me in the spirit of novas after breaking mine up I was asked to build up another for a good mate. Its been a long time coming as things have gone up and down over the last year but things are now coming together very well.

The car had a full Harry Hockley plating kit installed to hold the front end together, the rest of the bay was stitch welded then all painted in the original flame red.

The engine parts were brought nearly a year ago, as per most specs it went from being mild to not so mild, I still feel we could of gone slightly further with the engine spec but its my mates money not mine

I have a lot of things to do now but hopefully I expect to have it ready for Santa Pod on the 4th June for him, and also there is a Rolling road shootout that day so should make a appearance there.

Here are some pics

Bay prepped and welded





Painted



The engine arrived back to me a few months back, Looks great and hopefully the power should be plenty for this car too



Me and a mate finally got time to get the engine in on Saturday, due to the competetion mounts it was a pain in the arse to fit as once mounted you could not move the engine about to get it sitting correctly but eventually we got there







Finally my mate trying to look busy with the impact gun, not getting far with a 17mm socket though



I will update the thread with further specs and progress as things get done.

Engine spec for anyone interested is :

Early xe Block bored to 86.5mm
Early lightened and balanced crankshaft
Cat Cams Steel rods with ARP 2000's
Accralite pistons with extra pocketing
Gated Sump
SBD Steel gear kit and nylon relief valve
Blydenstein GM Head with porous fix, ports and throats have only been modified
QED 450 Camshafts
QED Solid lifters
QED Double Valve Springs
SBD Vernier Pulleys
Jenvey taper TB's on MBE 967 ecu
Bosch motorsport injectors (not pictured)
Simpson race exhaust and manifold, fully slip jointed with re packable back box

Engine built by Odell Motorsport and will be mapped by Steve Greenald of Track and Race

Drjones

That will be quick!!!!!!!!!

I built two corsa b`s using the xe and they went well but nova is lightwight and more power

cossiegreg1

im loving that.i had a xe nove and loved it to bits

big_wig_074

looks
how much was the exhaust manifold?

JonnyBravo

Exhuast and system was Ł800-Ł900

red shed

iTrader: (1)

lovely car mate mine got rolled at the weekend my two mates are fine due 2 the cage but car is scrap .On the look out for a new shell

JonnyBravo

Update :

I have had the wiring loom in bits and taken out everything not required and now routed it back through the engine bay, fitted a few tanks and wipers etc..

I spent a while messing around with the engine mounts to get the engine to sit nicer only to find that when I fitted the exhaust manifold that it hits the drivers side tie bar some fettling is clearly required here

Got quite a few smaller jobs done too and hopefully tomorrow the bits from rally design should show up so I can get the coilovers back on and brakes etc..

Will keep updating as things get done

pics:

sbd16v

looking good but where are the new trumpets

JonnyBravo

He sold them

good excuse to stick some nitrous on it !

sbd16v

gla to see they went to a good home do miss them sometimes

JonnyBravo

Nice to see you had somewhere to put a oil catch tank

fook knows where I'm going to find a home for one in there without buying a bufty bailey one

sbd16v

coke bottle in the drivers side wing you girl

JonnyBravo

"cough" coke what !

Sorry but that would be disgraceful

was thinking more like plastic bag

JonnyBravo

Well nearly a year later the car is going back together, due to allsorts of reasons it took a bit of a backseat last year but I managed to convince my mate to hold out until things were sorted.

So with the new year we got back on it and started sorting things properly and hopefully fitting it up for the last time

Loom is now properly stripped of everything that had been added over the years, the front end of the car is now 90% complete.

Parts still required are:

90mm trumpets
Filter backing plate (without holes everywhere rob !)
Bailey catch tank
Aeroquip
Injectors

Then the interior needs sorting, its looking rather sorry for itself at the moment but it should soon be filled with aeroquip, buckets and a nice dash setup.

I'll just stick the pics up I've recently took, car WILL be on the road by April and mapped by May









Possibly a bit flat

















Next step is fuel system which really is the last major thing needed, hopefully will get all that by the weekend

NasRs

Looks nice buddy, i might go for an XE conversion on my mk3 Astra! I hear the X20XEV's aren't as tuneable??

Charlie Chalk

iTrader: (1)

I do like XE Nova's! Specially when done right

Very nice

JonnyBravo

The "ecowrecks" imo are no where near as good as the earlier xe's.

Shame as most modern engines are far better than the older stuff but the xe will remain one of the best NA engines about for a few years yet

Myers-Wigan

this will be a road warrior

JonnyBravo

TBH, its more of a track car than road car, will certainly upest a few others on the road given the chance

How about trying it out on the PF test track

sbd16v

might have to get a few vauxhalls on the pf test track next year


looking good mate ad's will be well impressed

when shall i drop mine off so you can finish rebuilding it ???

JonnyBravo

I was expecting a much cheekier reply lol

Yeh I agree I'd like to test it out but tbh I imagine 90% of the others wouldn't Are they afraid ? JOKE

Whenever matey lol, garage should be clear soon, think I'm going halves on a proper unit so we can build my escort and a mates Ultima yeeeah.

Now wheres that payrise

M.A.D.RST

danrs2k

AGAR-COSWORTH

Lovely

fezzajsy

iTrader: (9)

am luving that Nova...

smitsturbo

cool, had a few myself, here was my latest, now sold but it only cost me 700 quid to build

JonnyBravo

Ok small update.

A few parts showed up today so thought I'd get them fitted and finally find out how little room (if any) we had to fit the filter.

Originally the trumpets were chopped down slightly and drilled for nitrous injectors, these were fine for when using nitrous but shocking when your not so a new set was purchased. The problem was that they are big and clearance between them and the bulkhead was extremely tight so it was hit and miss if the firewall was going to have to be cut off.

After squashing the filter into a shape it wasn't overly happy about I managed to get it on which although its tight to the firewall shouldn't be a problem as the engine is nigh on solid mounted, time will tell though.

Heres the pics of the trumpets etc..











As you can see its mega tight but I'm confident that it will be alright.

Only other part that showed up was a 11" Pacet Fan, it took all of 5 mins to fit but its another step closer to being complete now



Whilst I had my mop to hand I thought I'd just buzz over a part of the roof to see if there was anychance of improving the paint where it had faded so much, besides making a fooking mess everywhere I think it will come up fine, the edges are always a pain on red cars as you cant go anywhere near them with the mop so they will need to be finished by hand.

Please take note of what is reflecting in the roof lol



And thats it till the weekend, still waiting on the aeroquip and a few other parts but its really starting to get close to running finally.

ram

iTrader: (4)

coming along well

donny murdo

JonnyBravo

Ok at last "most" not all the fuel bits turned up today.

I hoped for blue and red fittings but at the price I got them for I wont be complaining lol

Weekends job as the owner is up again is to get the underside of the car finished, some interior work done and fit some fuel lines where possible.

Heres some pics to tease you with

ram

iTrader: (4)

love the fuel bits with the anodised blue

Billy_RS

iTrader: (5)

Where do you get the aeroquip fittings from?

I used to have a Nova GTE. I loved it, until it blew up at 130mph on the A1!

JonnyBravo

Well I've just been informed there not actually Aeroquip but they are Goldline fittings, apperently more expensive so I await the bill

I got them through a guy I know locally, mainly extras he has left over from rally car builds so the other ones he didn't have will have to be brought at rrp

JonnyBravo

Well I think for once we might be on the homeward straight

Sorted out the expensive aeroquip issue and replaced it all with normal fittings and correct hose.

Whilst in the aeroquipping mood we decided to run all the brake lines inside to keep it simple under the car.

The only other problems we have encountered is the oil cooler having the wrong fittings welded on for me wrong fittings for the bias lever and master cylinder and a exhaust system that is going to require a fair bit of modication to fit nicely.

Time really is getting on now with only a month till the Performance Vauxhall show, I have hardly anytime to work on it so its going to be a long month !

Heres a few pics I took the other night, should hopefully have a few more bits done by tuesday









Also got to fit this once its been sent back for a tacho change

JonnyBravo

Update pics :

















Probably wont get a lot done till wednesday now but next weekend could be the final stages

Munch

Love that

JonnyBravo

Just got a few more brackets to make to hold things like the FPR and washer bottle.

Also got to make some serious modifications to the Simpson exhaust as the system is far too long for normal bumpers. As its fixed straight to the body I hope to get the exhaust nice and tight under the car to avoid any scrapages

Csm

pjv7771

thats going to be a right handfull !!!, very nice

sbd16v

looking good so up to mine on the 6th of august to finsih mine off then
????