Hello everyone, this is Ed calling from Leeds, hopefully with the first of at least a few more posts!

I rescued a dying Nova shell from a farmer a year ago on a bit of a whim after misty eyed recollections of a childhood tour of Elam's in Mirfield, it looks to be mainly series 1 with a series 2 nose bonded in. It's not in very good condition...
It's currently perched on an MEV/RTR Sonic chassis and will hopefully use a mid-mounted Focus 2.0 engine from Great British Sportscars. I wasn't going to admit to this until it was a bit further on but progress might be a bit slower than expected in the next few months. The chassis deviates from the Costin and Phipps ideal in a few areas but apparently some maths and modeling has been applied to it somewhere.
Road Track Race, who now produce the Sonic, have been extremely helpful (apparently Paul the MD knew Richard Oake's daughter) and so far the body fits remarkably well. The Sonic uses a 2425mm wheelbase so only 25mm out. I might need some subtle wheelarch extensions but nothing too dramatic. I've trial fitted the body by cutting away the body mounting flange and most of the internal wall, the body then rests on the top rail of the Sonic chassis. Thanks to the current IVA silliness it might have to end up open with a wind deflector, to begin with at least. Apparently even the new windscreens may not satisfy IVA requirements. Apologies to anyone upset by this, but it was destined to be in flames if I didn't take it on.
The body is extremely rough, so a Mad Max style "I am the road warrior" approach might be most appropriate initially to get the thing on the road and shaken down. I can faff with details later. The plan is lots of satin black paint and a basic interior, but new Focus bits are so cheap on ebay it's not worth getting too grubby.

Photos to follow when it's a bit more complete. Any comments or suggestions extremely welcome!

Ed

Ed
Welcome aboard. The purists may be upset by the jigsaw being taken to the body, but in my view if you can rescue another Nova and get it on the road or track- good on ya. Not aware of anyone else trying the IVA route with the Nova shell but if you need any advice about the 'normal' Nova stuff then you've come to the right place.
Good luck with the build.

Mick

Hi and welcome you are not to far away from me. Why do you think a new windscreen might not satisfy IVA?

Dirk

welcome aboard, photos welcomed no matter how rough, would love to see how it looks perched on the chassis as it is now

Hi Ed, and welcome.

Just keep in mind you can't please everyone all of the time. Some love our cars, some hate them. Yours will just be more different than a 'stock' Nova, that's all.

So please, post up some photos.

Hi Ed, I've removed your duplicate post, to avoid this one getting split....... Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your build. Sooner the IVA gets passed and the roof goes back on the better, Novas just look like over-long beach buggies without a canopy!

Thanks very much for the welcome and interest!

I've cobbled together some photos, the ones taken this evening are a bit dull and grim but hopefully get the basic idea across. The chassis is smeared in waxoyl at the moment because it has to live outside under a cover. The workshop is full of Great British Sportscars (GBS) Zero at the minute.

The earlier (sunnier) pics show the section that has been taken out of the body. I hope no-one is too appalled by this!

One pic shows the car mocked up at a ride height of 125mm, the paving stones under the wheels are set level so I have a reference point. The body isn't perfectly set on the chassis in this pic so sits a little high at the front. I've made the cut in the shell to give a slight nose down rake of c. 40mm. I haven't dared cut the canopy yet, I don't plan to run without it, just remove part of the screen and roof but keep the bulk of it in place. Sacrilege to some, but it will help with IVA, improve rigidity and hopefully get me on the road in a realistic timeframe. I would probably find a taller Mk2 canopy more accommodating in any case, although having a flat floor helps in this regard.

As you can see, the wheels sit slightly outside of the shell, but not insurmountably.

The windscreen comment came via the IVA preparing crew at GBS, apparently screens will soon need not only an E mark but an E mark and 2 dots no less...!

These cars have too many detractors, which it part of the reason I'm drawn to the " rat-look". It will help to suprise people.

Do any Novas make it to the Silverstone classic?, I'll be in the Alfa O.C. area, GTV permitting.

Finally, if anyone has a spare rear panel, I'd love to hear from you!

Ed

2 more pics.

Hi Ed - welcome aboard!

Its certainly an interesting project you have taken on. From what I can see the MEV chassis fits under the Nova shell remarkably well. I'm guessing the chassis is designed to fit a transverse FWD engine and transmission?

I wouldn't worry too much about the front wheels at this stage - I would have thought you could get wheels with more offset to fit under the arches OK without compromising steering lock too much. The front track on the Green Machine is rather a lot wider than a VW as well. Even a 25mm wheelbase difference can be taken out by using rose-jointed wishbones (or does the MEV chassis use Nylon bushes?)

I'm not sure that a rat-look Nova would surprise that many people, but I understand your desire to get mobile completely! The majority of comments I recieve are generally positive, but there are always those who want to prove that their car is better than yours, usually by announcing very loudly that the Nova is based on a Beetle!

(trust me, nothing will change even with a MEV chassis - ask me how I know )

I don't think a Nova has managed to get to the Silverstone classic yet, although I would very much like to attend this event in mine one day. What model of GTV have you got (please say Alfetta)?

Could you get the Busso V6 into the MEV chassis?

Lauren

Thanks Lauren, I was hoping you would have some input ! Obviously your car has been a great source of inspiration!

It is designed for a transverse FWD installation, and the Busso V6 had crossed my mind. A spare Fiat X1/9 engine and box I have lying around also looked tempting. Several years ago Stuart Mills, the founder of MEV, produced a Mondeo based mid-engined kit which would take the 3.0 V6, but he wouldn't sell me one of those...I almost used a rather old-school Rover V8/Renault combination with a single seat central driving position to give me back some legroom. It looked like it would work if the Rover had a separate water pump to shorten the engine and I stretched the wheelbase by 50mm, but it seemed a bit antisocial! In-line engines make the suspension setup a great deal easier though.

I'm using Cortina uprights, the same as the Green Machine I believe. A 50 ET wheel would sort out the wheelarch problem and also reduce the rather excessive Cortina Scrub radius, but might prevent the use of a Wilwood brake setup that I have my eye on. I'm stuck with nylon bushes, but the wishbone mounts have a fair bit of shimming leeway. At this stage the wheels seem to fit the arches lengthways despite the wheelbase discrepancy.

Sorry to disappoint you with the GTV! I'm afraid it's a 916 model, or a glorified FIat Tipo depending on your viewpoint. It's saving grace is the V6, so I have a constant reminder of how well it would work in the Nova.

There are usually acres of blue and silver Cobras at Silverstone Classic, and the odd Clan and Ginetta, but I've never seen a Nova. I imagine the response would be quite mixed, as you say. I tried and failed to attend in a Marcos last year, but had to admit defeat a couple of days before the event.

I enjoyed your letter in the Alfa O.C. magazine by the way, I couldn't add to your list of Alfa based kitcars.

More (and hopefully better quality!) pictures to follow when I have a little more progress to report.

Ed

I shouldn't get too paranoid about chopping up the Nova to go with the chassis and transverse mid engine layout as TEAC was going to do just that in 2006 using MR2 parts for the Eagle SS, a project that died due to an underwhelming response. There are Novas and there are cars styled on the Nova.

Hi Ed - well, you certainly seem to know what you are doing. It sounds like you have been working on this project for some time now, and I am looking forward to seeing the results of your effort. I see Stuart Mills often contributes to the PH kit car forum, he seems to be one of the industrys rising stars. Perhaps a little forthright in his views, but I guess anyone who wants to make a living in this game has to be.

I agree, with enough inset you can get down to a very acceptable scrub radius, brakes permitting. What I would say is that increasing my negative camber (from about zero to -1.5°) has helped to shift the tyre contact patch inboard, and the steering kick-back, which was always an issue for me, is now reduced considerably. I might even try removing my steering damper and see what that feels like

I know that at least one (possibly two) in-line Rover V8 powered Novas made it onto the road, but as you say, space would have been at an absolute premium. In-line V6 might work, but again would require some clever packaging, as the cylinder banks are where your shoulders want to be!

My letter to the Editor was prompted by a comment by John Hammond in the Minari column in the previous issue. I'm afraid I saw red, although I know John didn't mean it how it came out. Incidentally, he has asked me to get in touch and the Minari guys agreed at their AGM to invite all Alfa/boxer engined kits to their meetings in future. Endangered species should stick together!

Well, the 916 GTV is a nice car, by all accounts (albeit a bit nose-heavy in V6 form), its just a little too modern for my taste

Donor engine and gearbox for the Nova then?

Looking forward to seeing more pictures, and following your build progress.

Lauren

G'day Ed,
I would not be too worries about having your "finished" ova lookig a little RAT. My "Finished" Eureka looks a lot rat. ever ment it to look rat, it is just how it tured out when I got told by Mrs Bushboy to stop dreaming & start building.

As for chopping the body about, if you need to you eed to. There are plently of "stock" examples kicking around, ad, well, mine has been hacked all over the place & then bits that should't have been hacked have been glassed back in. I think, however that you will have to go a long way to beat Steve with his body hacking.

See picture below



Keep at it man

Bushboy

Ed, if you want to have a look at more photos of Steves Nova, and how it evolved, click on the photo of my 'reek in my sig. It will take you to my Photobucket account, which has a folder of photos just of Steves car.

Ah, just to make it easier, here's the link to the folder of Steves car.

8]

Thanks for all the support! I wasn't too sure what to expect once I'd broken out the power tools...Steve McHugh's Nova puts my shell chopping well and truly into perspective. Thanks for the link.

You are very kind Lauren, but I have to survive with lots of staring at a problem and chewing through textbooks rather than an engineering background. I'm a veterinarian during the day (and night, sometimes, unfortunately). The MEV uses 1.0 -ve camber, so prefect! After a Marcos, I could do without any more steering issues, or braking issues, or cooling issues, or electrical issues....it's a good thing they're pretty...

I'm glad to hear all is well the with the Minari group once again! This can be a downside of forums and letters pages I suppose. We recently installed a forum system at my practice and now several staff members are no longer on speaking terms. I think your response was a bit more measured than some of our nurses, however.

If you have any more details about mid engine V8 Novas I'd be very interested, as I simply could not make it work with 2 seats set back as far as they need to be to cope with the windscreen angle. I'm intrigued to see how they managed it.

I had another look at fitting the V6! it's a bit tight to be honest. And you're right about the nose heaviness. The Mondeo V6 might be a bit more compatible and lighter, but only worthwhile if I could get somewhere near the Alfa sound with some cunning exhaust pipe work (by someone else!). The thought of a brand new Zetec for £750 is mighty tempting though, everyone on here knows how easy it is to spend weeks/too much money faffing about making a used engine 1. work and 2. pretty.

Garage is still frustratingly full of GBS Zero, a simple build that I am succeeding in making complicated by going for a 60's inspired cutesy look rather than the usual bright orange and serious.

Really must not look at the Aztec 7 on ebay that is very nearby! I'm sure Miura windscreens are very expensive.

Ed.