My Nova's Rebirth

[Benn]

Popped to see this man yesterday...



He nicely had one of these for me...



Looks like my engine might be out over winter then...

[astra v6 230bhp]

lmao he's a dodgy bloke!!!


f28 i guess benn?

[Benn]

lol Yeah it is, gonna have to save now... Need a billet flywheel and diff... haha

[Nick J]

The F28 will be a nice addition ......... could get all bufty and polish it before it goes in

Nick.

[Benn]

you know me... Need to learn how to strip a f28 now..lol

[Benn]

So being not one to shy away with my car, i'm happy to show the bad bits with the good.

So i spotted this,



Thinking it was dirt or something in the blue base coat i never thought much about it, till i thought its getting bigger.. Then i started to keep an eye on it. Its not got any bigger, but a smaller 2nd one popped up. Time to check it out..
Gave it a gently tap with my key and found it pushed thru.. Bugger!



Still its only about 1mm x 1mm so now bad, now its right next to the sunroof, so i know what's happened trapped water and all tho. Talk to the bodyshop and doing, Keith said best to hit it and do it right, dont wanna cover it up ad it come back.
So remove the head lining *eek!!* Drop the sunroof cassette *bigger eek!* clean and sael in the the under said and repair the top.

So i thought to this afternoon lets just crack on as i was missing Combe.

Dived in..

Worse one.



Not as bad.



Next was stripping the insides.. Not a fun job. But did it slowly and took alot!! of care.
Got this out with out to much hard work



Leaving me with this.. (yes before some one says it the reds still red, didn't see the point of painting that as its never seen)



Then found the rust is under the bracing that the sunroof bolts on too...



Looks worse than it is, dragged a screw driver over it and its mostly flaking paint. Got a wire brust in there and gave it a good clean, then slapppped rusting killing gel all over it. I'm guessing its all from where the sunroof is fitted..

While it was doing it's work i pulled all the leather out as i dont want it getting damaged or marked.



Then moved back to the roof its self. Had a ripple in it for ages, perfect time to sort it out..



You can see it it the reflection of the boot..



Noticed a small one the other side.. Same thing in the reflection..



Masked up the hole.. Them charity bags do come in handy!

Nice satin roof too..lol



Gonna do more sanding tomoz and fix the dents. Then off to the bodyshop on Friday to fix the hole, paint on Sat i hope.

[corsadonk]

It's good to see your day wasn't wasted.

[Grim Reaper]

Oh dear lmao I never see any flaws in your nova when I pop down though I think you have a terra le case of OCD lmao

[Steve!]

At least the red will go blue now

[Benn]

It's good to see your day wasn't wasted.

Meh was still mostly.

Oh dear lmao I never see any flaws in your nova when I pop down though I think you have a terra le case of OCD lmao

Most likely, but that's what you are like on your own motor.

At least the red will go blue now

Some of it, not paint all the inside. Just no point plus it would be a c**t. I wanna put the head lining in and not touch it again.

[Grim Reaper]

Most likely, but that's what you are like on your own motor.

lmao i guess youre right

but the difference is you make it look good, if it were me then my policy is "if it aint broke, the dont touch it untill its broke..." lmao

[Benn]

Tbh i could have left it alone, and really should of till after billing. No clue why i didn't. Still need to get my doors done too.

[Grim Reaper]

because then it will be almost perfect for billing lmao

[Benn]

Hahahaha never...

[Grim Reaper]

Hahahaha never...

hence the almost lmao

[Steve!]

YOu going Billing? Whens it on.... I need to see this car in the flesh.....

[Benn]

Always. Its the 12-13July. See my sig, it shows all events that Mig are doing.

And please do come have a lookie. I was gonna let Grim drive it last weekend..lol

[Gaz86]

lmao Steve! did you not get your events list like all members do.

can't believe your roof rusted through, that's bloody rare even for novas.

[Benn]

Yeah, i cant see any reason for it either which is the worse bit.

[Grim Reaper]

*must attend next Sc meet* lmao

[Benn]

Right remember my new strut brace? The plate on the brace are nice and thick. This gave me this problem..



So after talking to my dad, we worked out counter boring it might lose some strength.. So we have a talk and a think and came up with this..

So using a M12 bolt and these.



We came up with..



My dad (he's making them) had a few issues doing them. Cue a few tests..



So can you see where we're going? A M12 bolt, with a M8 hole drilled and taped up the inside, so this will go thru the brace and screw on to the top mount thread. So it will hold the brace down nicely.
These are test ones as he cant get the hole to be center, so he's gonna get a man at his work to drill them on a lathe.





And he's done his own write up..lol

Stainless steel hex head bolt was so hard, the angle grinder was taking a long time to cut it, so abandoned as too hard.

Ordinary steel Allen cap head bolt was grade 12.9, so would be hard and where allen key socket is would take away from the M8 thread length, so not tried.

Ordinary steel hex headbolt #1 - miss-judged and cut too short with angle grinder. But tried drilling, centre carefully marked, but drill wouldn't stay centred even with centre punching and predrilling with a small drill.

Ordinary steel hex headbolt #2 - Drill still wouldn't stay centred.

Ordinary steel hex headbolt #3 - tried marking centre and drilling from head, still wouldn't stay centred.

Ordinary steel hex head #3 - centre carefully marked, centre punched, 2mm then 4mm then 6.8mm hole drilled ready for tapping, hole started centred but hole ended up not concentric by the time it got to the end. Evidently due to platform on pillar drill not being square to chuck. Had to find straight bit of rod to put in chuck, to use set square against, to get platform horizontal. But why is every bit of rod in a shed bent? Bit of near-straight rod found, platform set up as square as could be judged, hole drilled. Nearly concentric - must be how bolt head is held in vice that's putting it out of position. Tapped M8 thread, proved it can be done.

Next - use lathe at work to hold bolt whilst drilling 6.8mm hole in from head end, to get concentric.

Lessons learned - when cutting a bolt with an angle grinder, it stays VERY hot for a long while.

[Grim Reaper]

Had to find straight bit of rod to put in chuck, to use set square against, to get platform horizontal. But why is every bit of rod in a shed bent?

Lessons learned - when cutting a bolt with an angle grinder, it stays VERY hot for a long while.

your dad is friggin legendary lmao that second one is sig worthy lmao

so basically, what your dad is trying to make for you is a bolt, with the threaded section cut off and a thread going inside it??

[Gaz86]

Hmm I have one of these things you're looking for supplied with my rollcage, it's basically a high tensile long nut that has had its flats lathed off along the majority of its length.

[Steve!]

I don't get it?

Why not angle grind of those stubby little buggers that ain't long enough to go through your thick strut brace, and weld on some longer ones or is that to simple?

[Grim Reaper]

I don't get it?

Why not angle grind of those stubby little buggers that ain't long enough to go through your thick strut brace, and weld on some longer ones or is that to simple?

they are part of the chock leg (i think)...not something i would want to cut and reweld TBH as it might lose its rigidity...plus, if you note, if it was part of the bay it wasnt in use before, so benn would have gotten rid of them much earlier, and if you look close the threads are missing paint...