Introduction: I was 18 when the Nova appeared on the kit car scene and financially I was in no position to buy what I considered to be the most unique and beautiful kit car ever created. I have been a lifelong petrolhead and over the years I have restored cars and , built a successful TR7 V8 sprint and hillclimb car but despite visited the kit car show at Stoneleigh every year for over twenty years I had up until now never owned, let alone built a kit car. However in December 2021 I hooked up with Paul Fryer via Facebook and he sold me a Nova body and later a pair of Nova high-back seats (more on those later).
The build concept:
First and foremost I want to build a proper car, not hastily plonk a Nova body on a chassis and drive it around but a proper functioning vehicle that drove, rode, steered, stopped and was leak and squeak free. Using a VW floor-pan and VW flat four engine was simply not an option for me. I did not like the way many built Nova's sat on their wheels, often the ride height was wrong and many look like they are dragging the VW engine around behind them. I consulted the UK Kit Car Guide and had a long talk with Ed Morton at Pie Valley Engineering which resulted in me buying a chassis, body, windscreen, Rover KV6 2.5 litre engine, MGTF gearbox, new MGTF rear subframe, jigs for front wishbones and a few boxes of very useful parts.
The story so far:
So eventually I has both bodies and the chassis at my workshop in Forest Row near East Grinstead and the first task was to put the body on the chassis and spend some time figuring out the ergonomics of the interior, which resulted in me making the decision to raise the body on the chassis by 50mm. I also bought a complete front and rear MGTF subframe with steering column, gear selector mechanism and a few instruments which will all be fully refurbished before use. While I was still in this assessment stage Mike Brown appeared outside my workshop and introduced himself, amazing that in the UK Nova community very few people are building cars with non-VW engines yet Mike was only a few miles up the road from me! His knowledge of the Nova and cars in general has been invaluable, as has his assistance and advice to this novice. With the second body now cleared from the workshop it was time to start work on the chassis. I installed the MGTF rear subframe (a simple bolt on) and then put the engine/gearbox in the subframe, at which point I encountered Jon Nield on Facebook who was installing a Rover KV6 into an MGTF and his advice and assistance were much appreciated. My install involved using the factory MGTF gearbox mounted directly onto the chassis rail and fabricating an engine mount which also site directly onto the chassis rail but I soon discovered that my engine was tilted towards the back of the car and trying to tilt it forward so that is sat level was not a simple task. After consulting with Ed and Jon we concluded that the tilt was acceptable so I need to fabricate an angled mount. I have also test installed the steering column and obtained a pair of 2 inch track rod extensions from the Latheman on eBay.