1400 Nova Rally Car

[kennybarbour]

had a few progress threads in the past so i figured i may aswell share what im doing these days...

my first real progress thread was for my rally car project which i abandoned due to costs.
LIB 1512 rebuild

this car and a huge amount of bits went to some boys up in inverness and hasnt been seen or heard of since....

at the same time as the rally project i was building up a tidy little 1200 roadgoing nova with the intention of using it as a runaround.
while im at it heres my road nova too

i got to the stage where all it needed was to have rear brake shoes and exhaust fitted, then prepped and given a quick spraypaint, but i had that unmistakable itch for an angle grinder.
this is the same car you see in this thread, im a rally nut and finishing bodywork and interiors to a high standard just doesnt do it for me, i want to cut and alter and weld and improve. you get the idea. this car is getting a new purpose in life!

poor little rare haze blue nova has been given the chop inside and underneath and a coat of primer on the topside.



its gonna be transformed into the perfect toy car, high revving 1400 16v engine, rally spec suspension and brakes, close ratio box and rollcage/seats/belts/extinguishers as per competition regs altho i dont forsee many if any competitive days out in it.

the budget for this project is sweet FA cos im a skint student so im gonna have to be thrifty. many parts i have already, for instance the 1400xe and all the wiring etc, the gearbox in the car currently will be retained after a rebuild and possible FD change.

[kennybarbour]

currently i am stripping all the old wiring, instruments, brake systems and all the 1200 engine gubbins off the shell and removing all sound deadening and sealer (lovely task isnt it?)

the loom will be taken back to basics and retaped to save some wieght and to avoid having dead wires hanging about. dashboard will be cut up in a similar way to the dash in the rally car altho i will be retaining the heater and blowers in this car.

seams will be stitch welded as i see fit and im on the lookout for a good bolt in cage to fit.

the front crossmember and front panel need replacing, altho i imagine im going to use a length of box section steel for this and dress up a front panel as necessary.

engine will be rebuilt and serviced (and cleaned!!) with some mild tuning i hope, but this depends entirely on how much money i have when the time comes. this is the beast here, 1400 xe out of a corsa sport, high miles and dirty as you like but it seemed to go very well indeed, i suspect some light tuning.

[kennybarbour]

so onto my main progress so far...weightsaving!!

never been fan of bumper irons so this car wont be using any. gonna weld some nuts here...


for 2 forward mounts, and ive put speed clips the same as what hold the bolts on the front wings, into the front wings, lower down. ive also cut out some of the material below the clips, the curve was my best attempt at retaining some rigidity in the panel. speaking of which, check out my holesaws attempt at cutting! (that was the initial plan)...




everything is getting trimmed down where possible, and im trying to find as many uses for all of the remaining parts as possible, i beleive that was colin chapmans philosophy and he seemed to do something right

doors and bootlid have been pillaged, will cover the door gaps with plastic or the like, also note the provision for a proper door closing handle.

[kennybarbour]

dash and loom have been fully removed and i have a whole day to work on it tomoro so look out for some pics of the restyled dashboard and prepare for alot of "WTF is this wire for?" kinda questions!

[alistairolsen]

I did tell you to stitch it before you sprayed the bay...

[kennybarbour]

yeah but at that point i was building it up as a 1200cc car which i was probably going to sell on completion, so it seemed a bit pointless. and that was well over a year ago too.

[alistairolsen]

indeed, but i knew you wouldnt got thru with selling it and getting away from novas, this was always going to happen in one way or another :P

[kennybarbour]

well yes, some pics to post up later of my dash

also fixed the links in the first post

[Benn]

Love the hollowed doors, proper hardcore.

[kennybarbour]

ok forgot all about this thread! so took some more pics tonight. no funds due to the fast approaching xmas period so im still concentrating on weight loss.



chopped the dash up, most of the metal frame in the back has been removed, so it wieghs about half of what it used to. also blanked off the vents on the dash, the only vents that can function now are the screen vents.


blocking up the manifold for the vents. got to block off the side vents on the heater body itself as seen in the next pic...



going to mount my switches on a panel where the centre vents once were, also trimmed as much off the moulding as i could. and cut the most part off the side vents as i still want them in the dash, but they just wont work.

[kennybarbour]

next up i mounted the bumpers. simple nuts and bolts thru the original mounting points, looks a bit rough but it will do for the time being. the bumpers have lost thier steel carrier bars and i cut out all the plastic moulding from the rear of the bumpers, you can see how smooth the insides are in this pic... also cut a small bit off the rearmost wheelarch end of the bumper, dunno why i did it but it looks slightly cool



had a rethink on my trimmed wings too, gonna cut some more off, and the overhang of the front panel and cut some vents into the bottom of the bumper to try and aid brake cooling. some proper moulded ducts over the hub would be a cool touch but god knows where id find suitable ones.





the external bumper mounts, rear bumper is done in much the same way.

[kennybarbour]

some more weight loss can be had from here:



and here, also gonna remove all rear seat brackets and other wee tabs and such.




next job is to get the inside fully stripped and cleaned then find someone to stitch the seams. first purchases after that will be a good spec bolt in cage, floor drain blanks and some seat rails!

also treated my "other" transport to some goodies






any skaters on here?

[chrisscirocco]

are you gooing to put the engine on the skateboard now? to save even more weight,,that things gonna blow awaylmao,, but should go like stink without much tuning

[kennybarbour]

well to be honest the skateboard has moved more engines than people recently! the grip tape isnt looking so hot anymore!

i dont mind if it blows away, its falling apart i worry about

[kennybarbour]

some more stupid ways of saving weight (only done to distract myself from scraping off sealer)




front panel is getting replaced so that is a wee experiment to see how important that overhang at the front is, turns out its not important at all. gonna cut some vents into the bottom of the bumper for brake cooling too



blocked up the side vents on the heater body!

also had a wee test of the colour that i want to paint most of it.


excuse the quality of the spraying!

[GaryVaux]

loving the ideas! Pait looks like silk violet in that pic?

[kennybarbour]

its the same paint as is on the GSI front bumper. looks a bit lighter there i suppose cos its so thin.

[alistairolsen]

silk violet then unless the bumpers been sprayed, cool colour. personally Id clean up the 14xe and sell it and fit a 1600 8v, but thats a personal thing cos I prefer the torque.

[kennybarbour]

no its ford mercury grey, which is what i planned on using on the bumpers initially.

[Benn]

Colour looks good dude,
For weight saving would a pined on bonnet not be better?

[CraigGreen]

Colour looks good dude,
For weight saving would a pined on bonnet not be better?

Its tricky to take the OE hinges off.

Fitting pins would add weight.

Unless you go for a composite bonnet, surely there is no point unless for added high speed security.

[kennybarbour]

the bonnet will be pinned at the front, but i want to keep the hinges. if i was to take the hinges off i would put triangle plates over the rear corners and slide the bonnet in underneath and then again with the front pins.

want the practicality of a hinged bonnet. rally car had FG tailgate on 4 pins and it was a pain in the arse.

[Benn]

Its tricky to take the OE hinges off.

No it aint,
I did it in the scrappy with a battrey drill.

[kennybarbour]

couldnt be any further from the topic but can anyone help with this...

who wants a wee jolly on photoshop?

[Rallycorsa]

Kenny keep an eye on MSA regs for weight on car, not 100% but think 1600 have to be no less than 920kg as from next year.

But as you probably no the MSA are not very good at getting the regs over clear and concise.

PS liking the build look forward to seeing you on the stages