Well I fort now my nova is finally well and truly over I fort id post up the pics I have from the birth, the child hood, the life, the midlife crisis face lift, then finally the death!
Here it is as I brought it about 5 years ago,
A tasty little j-reg mk2 1.4 flair J
first weekend I cashed the tax in it had on it and ripped it apart!
first purchase was a set of 17s, tsw razors wrapped in yokos, those were the days when I had cash to splash lol
slightly wider than the standards
had bubberly rear arches so got some rear replacement panels and widened them round the 17s
wanted them as be as close as they could without touching!
front wings were also a bit bubberly, so got new ones and cut and widened them around the 17s
but this idea was short lived and took them all off again and ordered a rally-x wide arch kit off prima racing!
Hated the square skirts they came with so decided to get some artwork out and modify novadose skirts, cut and widened
the front wings were ment for a mk1 nova with the big indicators, so I had to make front indicator holes. Lots of trial and error!
welded up the door handles and locks, and smoothed it all off
flushed the boot aswel
mk2 front end complete
got all the arches in primer, still all been done in my driveway up to this point
as the kit is a proper rally one and not ment for bumpers, I had to make a recesses for the front bumper to sit in, seen below the indicator
with the bumpers both being ment for a ‘slim-line nova’ they both had to be widened out to match the monster arches
all this so far was done in my driveway, now it was time to take it down to my mates workshop to get in primer properly,
blocked it all down again
got the bumper and arch widened perfectly
next was to get it ready in primer propley!
my fave pic of it through the whole project
all in primer it was time to take it home again
bonnet looked a bit standard compared to the rest of the car, so got on the fone to quad conversions
fort the extent of the bad boy was a bit horrific, went down all the way to the bottom of the lights,
so cut it up to a nice even frown
so was all in primer and looking smooth
and wide!
next was the brakes, although it was still a 1.4, I couldn’t have those tiny stoppers staying! And as for the back I hate the look of drums! Luckily a mate of a mate had just writ off his mk3 astra gsi and sold me the front legs and full rear beam for 30quid! A steal!!
Heres the standard fronts
and the 16v ones
and as for the rears well! Embarrassing!
but got to work making the rear beam salvaging the parts from the astras item
much better
also while it was home had a bit of a change of plan and decided to relocate the filler cap to the door shut, so had to weld up the air vent
so far this part of the project has taken about 2 ½ years! Along time!!!
Back to my mates workshop, and finally after weeks of staring at colour charts, I chose Peugeot tangerine metallic
got the angle eye headlights, which looked good with the bonnet over one
painted the engine bay satin black for now
eventually got it all together!!
was on spax 60mm springs but always thought it sat too high at the back!
tvr style door buttons to pop the doors open
once on the road the project stood at about 3 years!
Drove it around for about a year, added a kent cam and pulley, and a few other bits, but after a while I was bored of having nothing to do!
So I brought this!
a 1991 1.6 8v gsi lump and running gear! Half been dismantled and all bits given in a box! Spent all winter stripping it down to a bare block and replaced everything from the base up, had the cranks reground, lightened and balanced flywheel, new big end shells and mains, new rings, new valve seals, skimmed head, every single gasket and seal replaced, kent cam, vernier pulley, 4 branch, and some other few bits resulted in this
re-routed all the loom under the inlet manifold
and did the box to match
seam welded up the entire engine bay while it was empty
and in it went
ecu hid on the back of the panel instead of the front
and I was happy again, but this didn’t last long, and after a year and a bit the bodywork was getting a bit stone chipped and the fibreglass was looking a bit ripperly,
so I took it into my wok and blocked the whole thing down
and treated myself to some fk coilovers down 100mm J
and a digi dash, and relocated my stereo and brought a 7inch screen
now I was happy!
dropping the back end down to the floor made so much difference! I was happy with the car, everything was exactly how I wanted it to be! Loved it!!!!
Until………………
Some one decided not to stop while I was waiting in the queue at a set of traffic lights one evening! Crashed into the back of me and pushed me into the car in front
bumper in its original place
luckily everything was declared, and I had a fixed value of 4 grand on it!
Decided to retain salvage of the car, and insurance offered me 3500 plus keep the car, I accepted
Then came operation cut up!
Looking sorry for its self
engine out without a crane
all that was left that I didn’t sell
and the last few broken bits went and are weighed in down the scrappy!
through the whole time of it, I did every single bit on it myself except the bronze top coat, I did all the bodywork, all the suspension, brakes, wiring, engine rebuild, engine conversion, all the sanding priming and prepping!
and that’s was the end of the 5 year ownership of my nova, was a lot of work, but god dam was it worth it with the looks and compliments I got!
Here it is as I brought it about 5 years ago,
A tasty little j-reg mk2 1.4 flair J
first weekend I cashed the tax in it had on it and ripped it apart!
first purchase was a set of 17s, tsw razors wrapped in yokos, those were the days when I had cash to splash lol
slightly wider than the standards
had bubberly rear arches so got some rear replacement panels and widened them round the 17s
wanted them as be as close as they could without touching!
front wings were also a bit bubberly, so got new ones and cut and widened them around the 17s
but this idea was short lived and took them all off again and ordered a rally-x wide arch kit off prima racing!
Hated the square skirts they came with so decided to get some artwork out and modify novadose skirts, cut and widened
the front wings were ment for a mk1 nova with the big indicators, so I had to make front indicator holes. Lots of trial and error!
welded up the door handles and locks, and smoothed it all off
flushed the boot aswel
mk2 front end complete
got all the arches in primer, still all been done in my driveway up to this point
as the kit is a proper rally one and not ment for bumpers, I had to make a recesses for the front bumper to sit in, seen below the indicator
with the bumpers both being ment for a ‘slim-line nova’ they both had to be widened out to match the monster arches
all this so far was done in my driveway, now it was time to take it down to my mates workshop to get in primer properly,
blocked it all down again
got the bumper and arch widened perfectly
next was to get it ready in primer propley!
my fave pic of it through the whole project
all in primer it was time to take it home again
bonnet looked a bit standard compared to the rest of the car, so got on the fone to quad conversions
fort the extent of the bad boy was a bit horrific, went down all the way to the bottom of the lights,
so cut it up to a nice even frown
so was all in primer and looking smooth
and wide!
next was the brakes, although it was still a 1.4, I couldn’t have those tiny stoppers staying! And as for the back I hate the look of drums! Luckily a mate of a mate had just writ off his mk3 astra gsi and sold me the front legs and full rear beam for 30quid! A steal!!
Heres the standard fronts
and the 16v ones
and as for the rears well! Embarrassing!
but got to work making the rear beam salvaging the parts from the astras item
much better
also while it was home had a bit of a change of plan and decided to relocate the filler cap to the door shut, so had to weld up the air vent
so far this part of the project has taken about 2 ½ years! Along time!!!
Back to my mates workshop, and finally after weeks of staring at colour charts, I chose Peugeot tangerine metallic
got the angle eye headlights, which looked good with the bonnet over one
painted the engine bay satin black for now
eventually got it all together!!
was on spax 60mm springs but always thought it sat too high at the back!
tvr style door buttons to pop the doors open
once on the road the project stood at about 3 years!
Drove it around for about a year, added a kent cam and pulley, and a few other bits, but after a while I was bored of having nothing to do!
So I brought this!
a 1991 1.6 8v gsi lump and running gear! Half been dismantled and all bits given in a box! Spent all winter stripping it down to a bare block and replaced everything from the base up, had the cranks reground, lightened and balanced flywheel, new big end shells and mains, new rings, new valve seals, skimmed head, every single gasket and seal replaced, kent cam, vernier pulley, 4 branch, and some other few bits resulted in this
re-routed all the loom under the inlet manifold
and did the box to match
seam welded up the entire engine bay while it was empty
and in it went
ecu hid on the back of the panel instead of the front
and I was happy again, but this didn’t last long, and after a year and a bit the bodywork was getting a bit stone chipped and the fibreglass was looking a bit ripperly,
so I took it into my wok and blocked the whole thing down
and treated myself to some fk coilovers down 100mm J
and a digi dash, and relocated my stereo and brought a 7inch screen
now I was happy!
dropping the back end down to the floor made so much difference! I was happy with the car, everything was exactly how I wanted it to be! Loved it!!!!
Until………………
Some one decided not to stop while I was waiting in the queue at a set of traffic lights one evening! Crashed into the back of me and pushed me into the car in front
bumper in its original place
luckily everything was declared, and I had a fixed value of 4 grand on it!
Decided to retain salvage of the car, and insurance offered me 3500 plus keep the car, I accepted
Then came operation cut up!
Looking sorry for its self
engine out without a crane
all that was left that I didn’t sell
and the last few broken bits went and are weighed in down the scrappy!
through the whole time of it, I did every single bit on it myself except the bronze top coat, I did all the bodywork, all the suspension, brakes, wiring, engine rebuild, engine conversion, all the sanding priming and prepping!
and that’s was the end of the 5 year ownership of my nova, was a lot of work, but god dam was it worth it with the looks and compliments I got!
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yea, was emotional
I'm going all nostalgic now - especially as I had a set of those rear lights on my Nova at one point 
)