Ma wee Nova project

[Murray]

*Edit* Had planned to get a Corsa. Ended up with a Nova, instead. Never mind .


After getting shot of the Corsa, i'd bought for a tenner a while back.

Wanted to build a project car again (after Astra CDX I had), this time it wouldn't be a my everyday car. Melv's Corsa and Jack's old Corsa project had been giving me ideas too lmao.

So I bought a 20XE off a friend.


It's needs a good amount of work as the woodruff key snapped and mashed half the vavles. But with block, loom, ECU and a F20 it only stung me £60. So i'll spend a bit of time rebuilding the XE. Even managed to get a Corsa/Nova XE exhaust manifold too.

Then started looking for a shell for this lot. Thought I’d stuck lucky again with a chance of a black Corsa Sport. Even better was the 1.6 was shot too. Price of it too was VERY keen at £150 with some goodies attached to it. Had to pay it up though as my other car needed tyres at the time. No front seats either, gutted! Some really nice Cobra buckets too .





Then a surprise when the guy I bought the car from told me what it had nailed on to the 1.6.....



Which changed my plans. As I now quite fancy a X16XE now and the Sport shell is not the greatest either .

So i'm going to look out for another Corsa and break the Sport. That said i'm not in rush either. Which means it'll be slow progress for the time being.

[mac1976]

mines is up for sale

[Melv]

handy little surprise in the bay!

Don't suppose you were left the cobra subframes were you? lmao

[Murray]

Nope .

Did try, but the bloke told me to feck off .

lmao

You needing a set for your buckets?

[Melv]

aye, it would have saved me getting ones fabricated.

[paddy>gsi/turbo]

a rover vvc inlet manifold? these fit the xe?

[Murray]

a rover vvc inlet manifold? these fit the xe?

It was just sat behind the head. Never really looked if it even came close to matching the ports. It was ment for the Rover 45 i've got, CBA'd to fit tho.

aye, it would have saved me getting ones fabricated.

Are they hard to get hold of 2nd hand then?

[Melv]

not too sure to be honest. I've already bought a couple of bits and bobs to fit them but couldn't see direct fit ones at a decent price.

[Murray]

Well if you find some cheap....

Let me know too lmao.

[Murray]

Got Mk4 15inch steels as they're cheap enough not to care about bending 'em. Then got the centre caps off another Mk4. With 195/45 tyres.

[Murray]

Checked out the head off the 20XE today.





Number 2 and 4 cylinder are the worse off.

Got a few choices....

Rebuild head
Get a good 2nd head
Find a another XE block and head. Use the F20 and loom from this one.

Not in a rush TBH. As i'm now planning a small block XE, sourced engine already. Needs stem seals tho, that said i'll check out the head on the Sport i'm breaking. Good time to put that Mantzel to use.

Then the small matter of getting a car to throw this lot in. Again not going buy the first car and money also dictates that too. Ain't got any at the mo, so no Corsa shell YET!

Bought shocks and springs off Melv on Monday as well.

[Corsa_shep]

Where did you buy that black one from mate?

I recognise that car...

[Murray]

I got it from a guy in Forres.

Think he bought it mostly for the seats and wheels lmao

But have heard it used to float about aberdeen or was bought from there. Otherwise I don't know much else about it TBH.

[Murray]

More mince action today.



TRYING to take the interior/engine loom out and any other 'goodies' I can find. Got the engine loom just about out and the inlet to match the Mantzel. Been a bit slow getting everything off, But i've never this far into stripping a car. Been fun tho learn a little bit more about the small block XE's.

Bought a Sportex 4-branch off KennyBarbour on here, might help the engine breath a little better. Might get some ARP rod bolts at some point too. Might not need them for standard rev limit, but can't hurt to have them in case.

A base car MIGHT be sorted tonight as well. A 1.2 LS in flame pink for much cheapness, just waiting to hear back.

[Melv]

Good work. Flame pink rules. lmao Any interior parts going up for sale?

It must have been a day for working on cars. I've an update coming once I get tea sorted.

[Murray]

Good work. Flame pink rules. lmao Any interior parts going up for sale?

It must have been a day for working on cars. I've an update coming once I get tea sorted.

Indeed lmao

Orsum Sunday car related mincing . What you needing from the interior chief?

[Melv]

front and rear door cards and the carpet mainly.

[Murray]

If they're any use with them being electric window ones? Carpet's not great, but I doubt your going for a show winning finish with this one lmao.

I'm gonna keep the dash and any other black plastics. Too lazy to rip one out of another car lmao. Even got about 15 litres of fuel out of bugger too.

BTW that LS shell was no good. Too much rot to even worth bothering with. But i've got Curtis on the case for another .

[Melv]

Just reduced road noise will do me mate. Yeah, electric ones are fine. I can add a hole for the winders. lmao

Correct, carpet doesn't bother me. If it's that minging I can put a lightweight racing mat down. Either that or spray it with black paint lmao I will PM you.

There is bound to be a fairly decent shell come up with a boiled engine. Especially once the temp up here get's above zero

[Murray]

lmao

Yeah i've just got wait a wee bit longer for a base shell to turn up.

The carpet isn't that bad, just has a fag burn it. Was going to use the door cards and carpets, but why hang on to stuff when i've nothing to put it into.

[Murray]

Thanks to Marty (M4rtin on here). We got the dashboard, engine and dash loom out of the scrap Corsa.

As I thought it'd be easier to wire in the 1600 that way. Try and keep it simple for myself lmao. But I will give all the wires the once over. Might lighten the loom, doubt i'm going to bother fitting air con.

[Murray]

Oh for f**k's sake....

I've bought A Corsa, just not the one i'd planned to get......






After rambling about getting a Nova. I bought this one on a whim.

Found it sat in a local garage next to a fireplace shop outside of where my Granny lives. Laugh is, only gone to pick up a bloody bit for her coal fire and ended up with a soddin' car!!

She's a 1.0 Spin in Miami blue with a GSi front bumper and skirts. Also came with...

The Corsa C SXi's you see there
SR red door cards, rear seat and dash controls
Digi dash
Aftermarket steering wheel and gear knob
256mm front brakes
A shell that had all the worse bits welded up or they're rot free. Even the doors aren't too bad either.

Now broke, into my overdraft. But my word it was worth it!

[Murray]

Started messing with it a bit.

Bilstein front struts (B6's I think?) off the Corsa I broke.


To bin off, what looked like Standard shocks with Spax springs.


Then off with the SXi's for the Steelies with good tyres. Then rockin' the centre caps.




Binned aftermarket MOMO steering wheel and sparco gearknob for OE Vauxhall stuff.


Plan to source the rest of the interior that this 'Spin' was born with. Bar a set of different front seats.

Also hope to re-fit the 'Spin' decals some time in the future. But i'm going to do some thing about the 1.0 and 4-speed that's in the mo. Change for a X16XE with a F13, then add the Mantzel and the latest purchase. 4-2-1 exhaust fanimold. At a price far too cheap to turn down.

[GaryVaux]

looks a clean shell! Whats the engine bay etc like?

[Murray]

Cheers Gary.

It had the usual rot in the battery box, slam panel, front chassis legs where the inner wings meet. The rear chassis legs have had patches let in, but that's nowt new, she is getting on a bit now.

But someone has taken the time to weld those spots up. Only bit i'll need to sort is the corner of the boot floor, 20p sized hole to have welded up.