Project: Gold Snowplough Turbo'd Nova

[Nova_Tek]

*Those on PNG will have probably seen the start of my project. I thought I'd share it with my fellow Miggers too*

The time has come!

After speaking to the bodyshop owner and sealing a deal that was too good to turn down, it was time to start the long awaited project.

We agreed on: boot & doors delocked, GSi spoiler painted and fitted, door rust cut out and welded, both rear arches cut out and new ones in place with them rolled up, dents sorted, engine bay stitch welded, Harry Hockley fast road kit fitted, strut top plates welded on, O/S chassis leg mod (for alternator and lower puller clearance), full exterior respray in original colour, colour coded door handles and snowplough and rear bumper resprayed (not colour coded). There's probably a few more things but I can't remember!

27/01/10

I got cracking.

I stripped the interior, mainly the rear half as most of the weld work is going to be in the rear arches and engine bay only. I was also pleasently surprised that the floor was so clean.





28/01/10

I took it to a mate to get the engine removed (sorry no pics ) and waited for the tow truck to arrive... 2 hours later he did

About to go bodyshop



Made sure the car arrived safely and headed off home to sort some other stuff out. When I arrived home I found these had arrived.

Strut top plates (Harry Hockley)


Harry Hockley Fast Road Plating Kit


Boot popper kit (Supernovas)


Thought I'd go visit the guys at the bodyshop. Luckily for me the bodyshop is literally half a mile from my house.

When I got there the guys had already started poking and prodding rust They were then working on an old school two door Merc coupé and a 1980's Ferrari Mondeal resto.

Driver door front corner


Passenger door front corner


Passenger door back corner


While I was there I though I'd take some pics of the rear arches for old times sake




^ Can't wait for them to go!

They also removed the locks ready for welding. This is how she stood as I were leaving.



Got home later that evening to find this lot had arrived



Got them from Rally Design for a bargain price of £44 all in

29/01/2010

These had arrived in the post.

Eibach EZ Camber adjustment bolts


Thought I'd start on the little jobs that normally make the biggest impact. So first things first... clean them bottles!



They aren't overly dirty but I wouldn't want to stick them back into a clean mint engine bay. Stuck them in the dishwasher, will see in a bit how they come out.

2 hours later...



Not bad hey? There were some little areas where the water jets couldn't reach but apart from that they came out spotless

30/01/10

Went and visited the bodyshop to give the geeza the GSi spoiler fitting screws and sealant. Whilst there we had a chat and he showed me the replacement arches that he got in and said that he would be starting on Monday to cut and weld the arches and weld up the door locks. So it should be an interesting and fun update.

In the meantime I got some snaps of the engine bay so peeps can see it's current state which is pretty much solid, if not mucky (well chuffed obviously).

N/S Chassis Leg


O/S Chasis Leg


Battery tray (mucky but more importantly rustless )


The otherside


N/S Behind Headlamp


O/S Behind Headlamp


All in all very clean. Makes things a lot easier and it's nice to know that all the important bits are solid.

02/02/10

Went and visited the shop and finally the car was in the shop getting some work done. They'd done all the major exterior weld work.

Anyway less chat more pics (Excuse the quality. I left the camera in my bros car, so I had to walk it there and take it on my phone lmao )

Boot lock


Passenger Lock


Drivers Lock


Drivers side rear arch



Passenger side rear arch


We had a quick chat and he said that he had to do some extra welding on the inner arch as it had rusted more than he expected when looking at the exterior arch. He couldnt finish it off completely as I hadn't given him my locking wheel nut , soon as I give it to him he'll get the arches rolled up and finalised.

10/02/10

I went and visited them and they had completed all exterior weld work.

Here's the pics:

Passenger door: (sorry for the out of focus shot, was rather dark)



Drivers door


For the drivers door the rust seemed a small hole but just behind the paint it started to go, so they cut away more skin to check the door inside, clean up and weld a bigger plate for a neater job and get rid of any chance of corrosion starting over.

The geeza said the doors apart from that were fine and the door bottoms were clean too. He said after paint he will waxoyl the doors.

They will be starting filler work for the whole body soon as other more important work gets completed. He said that the car had been repainted in it's life and it was done rather badly as the paint finish was fairly rippled when looked closely. So he will be doing extensive smoothing and filler work to get it 'glass' smooth.

12/02/10

Went and collected my 'new' GTE rear bumper.




Got it off a fellow PNG user.

Ignore the fact that it's a bit dirty, all the important bits are straight and in good condition and I got it for a great price too! Not worried about the colour as my man will be getting it sorted at the bodyshop.

I will be dropping off the bumper to the bodyshop and taking my pov spec one home.

19/02/10

No real documentable progress for this week. The bodyshop has had some fairly important insurance jobs on a deadline to sort out which has sort of pushed the Nova aside. No biggie really as the car is in the shop and safe.

I did go there begining of this week to discuss what colour to do the bumpers. I have been thinking for a good few years what colour would look good and came across a few Gray's that looked very cool. I currently have Ford Graphite Grey as some of you may have seen (currently in all photos)

We had an in-depth discussion with the guys at the shop. Colour coding was a no no as the gold isn't a great colour for the bumpers and tbh we all said it would look cheap and tacky. I know that for most MK1 Nova's a contrasting colour looks best.

I opted for an anthracite then I had a RedBull which seemed to have made me a bit braver. After looking at some more GM colour chips and examples I opted for GM - Carbon Black.

I picked the Carbon Black for a few reasons.

1) I though I'd be a bit brave and different (RedBull)

2) It seemed to have a very slight tint/hue of a Brown/Gold and wasn't as dark as other black when compared to each other. Obviously I will only see the real deal when painted but I'm still very confident that it'll look sweet.

3) It's not something that is seen everyday on a MK1 Nova as most bumpers are either a standard mid-grey or an Anthracite of some sort, especially on a Snowplough.

4) Except for the bumpers, everything is black, window surrounds, rubber seals, petrol cap and door mirror frames.

So the plan is for the front bumper and the Snowplough to be entirely Carbon Black, the rear GTE bumper to be Carbon Black (If you look at the pic of the GTE bumper I picked up, the red area will be in Carbon Black). As the Carbon Black will be laquered and therefore shiney and glossy I opted for the bottom lip of the GTE rear bumper to be in Matt Black to help break up the colour and to give some sort of emphasis to the GTE lip. The petrol cap will also get a nice coat of Carbon Black.

That is all for now... to be continued

[Benn]

Comming along well there. Dont paint the bumpers black tho.

[tomZ20LET]

looks a good 1 will be following this 1 m8...

[Steve!]

welding looks poor.....

[Nova_Tek]

Comming along well there. Dont paint the bumpers black tho.

I know why you're saying that Benn, and I always thought the same but like I said that RedBull made me braver and I knew that if I didn't try black one way or another then I'd always be wondering 'what if?'

Only when it's painted will we see how good (or bad) it'll look. If it looks crap then I'll go for good old grey

looks a good 1 will be following this 1 m8...

welding looks poor.....

Why d'ya say that dude? Have had people say the welding is good have had people say they aren't sure.

I know what these guys are capable of when it comes to them doing major bodywork. One of the brothers (owner of the shop) live 2 mins away from me. He has a old skool Ferrari he restored and a accident damaged Porsche he worked on. His bro is in the process of doing a Mondeal resto too.

At the end of the day I have faith in them but if it turns out poo then they'll have to sort it simples.

Thanks for comments lads

[fennyLET]

good welds look abit like this

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[Steve!]

This was the main reason I said the welding is poor.....

[corsaXEV_chris]

good welds look abit like this

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not entirely true...

A weld could look like in the above link but not fused properly making it a crap weld that looks good, you can also have a weld that has fused properly making a good strong weld but looks like utter b******t, i know this as i done welding corses through my apprenticeship.

[antscott]

coming along nice mate, cant wait to see more

[Nova_Tek]

This was the main reason I said the welding is poor.....

I do see what you are saying. Astheically it don't look great, but in saying that it is a solid job. I made sure that I inspected any welding that they did (just to make sure)

So far everything done feels really solid. Also from speaking to a few bodyshop near me, the ones that mentioned welding arches all said that it can be a risky as sometimes the heat from welding can warp the skin. I used to work in a bodyshop and the welds we used to do there were very similar to the above pics I did, spot welds instead of a seam (obviously depending on what was being done).

At the end of the day the join inside the arch was very good and everything is solid. IMO these things are debateable and I suppose everyone has their own method and style. As long as it works then I can't complain.

They will be doing stitch welding in the bay so we'll see his skills there

not entirely true...

A weld could look like in the above link but not fused properly making it a crap weld that looks good, you can also have a weld that has fused properly making a good strong weld but looks like utter b******t, i know this as i done welding corses through my apprenticeship.

True ^ A mate of mine took his car for some minor welding to some guy he found, proper cheap cash job. Some of the stuff looked like it was gonna fall off lmao

coming along nice mate, cant wait to see more

Cheers dude. Should get some more progress/update up in the next week or so. We've sort of taken it down a notch on the Nova as they've got some more insurance jobs to get sorted and I'm away for a bit.

Waiting for them to start filler work. Need to get them curves nice and smooth Should be fully finished before end of March, fingers crossed.

[Steve!]

I do work in a bodyshop....

Anyways, keep the journal on track! Don't want to be going off on another subject about welding lol

[Nova_Tek]

No worries mate. Comments are always welcome even ones with concerns

[Nova88]

Looks like its coming along nicely. Out of curiousity, what price did you manage to agree with the bodyshop for the work???

[Nova_Tek]

Cheers dude. See I would give the price but whenever someone does give the price and it turns out to be slightly lower than the going rate, then people automatically assume that the person/s doing the work are amateurs or the final outcome will be a bodged one etc etc (I have said that too one a few occasions)

So I will reveal the actual price I'm gonna pay once the car is back home and the bodyshop is done with it

So stay tuned

[Nova88]

Fair enough, not to pass judgement....I'll keep a check on your project and see how hings come along. Looks like it'll be a top quality build. Good luck with it all coming together fella.

[Nova_Tek]

Cheers Nova88

[Nova88]

Any updates mate??

[Nova_Tek]

As a matter of fact yes mate, just about to write one lmao. Give me ten minutes

[Nova_Tek]

Update time...

23/03/10

It was time to get a move on, went and discussed with the bodyshop and I gave them a deadline for the car to be completed to which they agreed.

24/03/10

Thought I'd make a start on cleaning and refurb/painting the bits that I received from fellow PNG members.

O/S engine mount fabricated by a fellow PNG user.


22 Spline GTE Shafts


Bosch 2.0 Fuel pump, M-Tech gearbox spacer & GTE/GSi Rear ARB


The mount was mint so obviously that needed no attention but the shafts and bits were a tad grubby, so I set off into the garage from some power tool fun .

Started off with the easiest part, the M-Tech gearbox spacer. Gave it a good clean with some washing up liquid, then a light rub down with some very fine wet n dry to remove the tougher dirt and polished it up with some t-cut.

Still has some slight corrosion around the mount holes but no biggie, still looks clean.

^ So that's what VTEC stands for! ^

The rear ARB was next on the list as that was quite flakey and dirty. Attacked it with a power drill with a wire brush attachment. It was going well but after a while didn't seem to cut through the paint very well. So I flicked the rotation direction to counter clockwise and boy did it shift the crap off it.

After some power tools treatment


Couple coats of acid etch primer


Let that dry for a bit...................................... still drying................

Then I thought I'd smooth it out a bit with some filler primer


Waited for that to dry out properly... and a couple hours later once it stood infront of the heater, it dried hard.

Then it was time to give it some good few coats of enamel black. I chose this as it's a very tough wearing finish, which can be easily recoated and has a rubbery feel to it.


Let that dry off in the garage overnight.

Was gonna attack the shafts and give them a good clean but, all that paint made me a bit high so I thought I'd leave it for another day.

25/03/10

I started cleaning up the shafts, at first I thought it was just a bit of road dirt, grease, but soon found out that wet n dry and a cloth weren't going to clean anything... so out came the drill and wire brush again. They were nowhere near as bad as the rear ARB and the wire brush cleaned them up rather swiftly.

Long shaft


Once that was cleaned up, I masked it up and started giving it some coats of Hammerite direct to metal paint.


Between coats I went back to the shorter shaft and cleaned that up, it took no time at all, infact cleaning the splines of grease and dirt took longer


Before masking it up, I went back to the other shaft and gave it another coat of Hammerite. Once finished coating it I returned to the shorter shaft, masked that up and got it ready for painting.


I alternated bewteen the two shafts and once I had applied 3/4 coats of paint I put them aside to set.

I then started on the fuel pump. Again, wasn't too dirty just needed a quick clean. I undid all the rusty jubilee clips (one had actually snapped whilst unscrewing it) then removed the fatter rubber hose and then the smaller rubber hose.... oh s*it! Dunno how or why but as I pulled off the rubber hose from the smaller end I also pulled off half the nipple where the hose clamps on to It will now mean I have to improvise a connection so that it doean't leak

Cleaned up the pump then thought 'hmm why not give it a light coat of silver'. 'Tis what I did.

Unfortunately, no pic of the pump as my camera is really doing my head in. I stuck in brand new Duracell Power Pix batteries, which last a hell of a long time in my other compact digital camera but only managed to take a total of 14 pics since yesterday on my bigger camera before it told my that it's going flat. Even using rechargeable batteries rated at 2500mAh only takes a max of 20. Really need to get that sorted.

I left the pump and shafts overnight in the warm garage for them to harden. With some fresh batteries I shall be taking some after shots of them.

Oh and as I had forgot to put these up previously on the thread I thought I'd do it now:

Mocal oil cooler


More switch-a-roos. These will be used for the heated screen and manual cooling fan override.


And the finished product (please excuse the blurry photo looked great on the cam lmao )


Plans for today: clean up the bolts for the rear ARB and gearbox spacer (although for the rear ARB I'm consideing actually getting a new set of nuts and bolts as they are fused with rust) and probably go visit the bodyshop and strip the engine bay further to remove as mush as poss.

[stuboy]

good work

[Nova_Tek]

Cheers pal

[corsaXEV_chris]

excellent progress!! great work on the refurbing!!

[Nova_Tek]

Thanks for the comments mate

Small Update

On closer inspection the ARB bolts will only do up to a certain point as the rust is fairly bad and one of the gearbox spacer bolts is slightly damaged. Looks like I'll be off to B&Q and the like to get some replacement nuts and bolts.

[Benn]

I don't like those rear mounts with only 2 holes. Box has 3 for a reason.

[Rick Draper]

I don't like those rear mounts with only 2 holes. Box has 3 for a reason.

I agree, especially on a F28. Pitty just at the moment the 3 bolt rear mounts seem nigh on impossible to get.