Neve the Nova

Well a quick update. Neve is still sitting on the trailer in Uncle Graeme's garden. We should have moved to New house 2nd October, then 23rd mentioned, then 9th, now the latest is 23rd again. TBH all looks good now for the 23rd this time so fingers crossed.
Meanwhile I have picked up a set of front pads for her in Glasgow while I was up for a funeral kindly given by Harry Miller.
On the way home collected a complete rear brake kit (2 x drums, set of shoes, bearings inner and outer both sides, retaining spring kit and a pair of handbrake cables) for £30. Slight dogleg via Kidderminster on the way home but worth it as Euro prices for that kit (after discount) was around £120.
Busy collecting things to do the work. Looking forward to getting into the the bones of it to see her on the road.

Photo 1 was Neve on Friday 7th August 2020 at Wetherby Services which is the physical half way point as she was taken north from Lowestoft to Glasgow.
Photo 2 was taken by someone on one of the Nova groups we are a member of. They spotted us and clicked the action pic before posting it online. Great! It isn't the type of pic you can take of yourself.
Photo 3 shows her resting for the moment in Uncle Graeme and Auntie Tamara's back garden. Wtapped up waiting for the final leg to the new family home 🏡

Excited like a kid with a new toy. Picked this up today so that Neve can be moved about in luxury lol
Cheaper than hiring a trailer to move her north (which will probably need to be done in 2 stages) and I can either keep it and put a towbar on Tabby the Cabby so they can go to shows together or sell her and get my money back so a no cost move - win win 😉

Simple things please simple people. Arrived today while I was at work. Looking forward to get the chance to use these on the rear chassis rails once work in the house is up to date. Poor Neve has been a little neglected. Things like this make life more worthwhile.

Well that's the second leg off. Easier having worked out how to on the first one.

New back end arrived this morning. After a lot of drilling out spot welds I have the first leg off. Pleased with myself.

Went to breaker's & bought the back 1/3 of 5 door hatch with good rear chassis rails £200 for the lot. How many of my previous Novas would that have bought? 😂

Some of today's work in readiness for when the mig arrives. Cleaned up some of the rear balance and will repair where necessary with angled steel. Quite proud of the wing repair. I just hope my welding and subsequent filling and paintwork do the work justice.

This is a page dedicated to Neve the Nova that will hopefully document the story of her make over and recommissioning to the road after a period of around 4 years in hibernation after receiving some schoolboy racer treament prior to resting. She is found to be in a very sorry state when she first comes home.

On the plus side she starts and freewheels forward but it is very difficult to move her backwards. Quickly discovered this is thanks to the wheels being oversized aftermarket that are quite frankly too big. The rear arches have been ground out to allow them to fit but thanks also to the top spring mounts being rotten may have allowed it to sag a little more and rub the wheels. She has been awarded the comfort and the sanctity of the garage and I have raised her rear end, removed rear wheels, disconnected the rear shocks and removed the rear springs to realease the strain on the rear chassis legs.

List of the obvious tasks on her arrival:
Rebuild rear chassis rails
Repair rear lower inner arches
Replace both complete sills
Both rear arches have had reair panels - require to be correctly fitted or replaced as returned edges have been folde (n/s) or cut/ground (o/s)
Driver's door door skin and inner frame rotted to extiction in corner - ideally replace or serious fabricaion required
Driver's wing (F/O/S) does not exist
Passenger wing (F/N/S) has rust hole approx 25mm plus surrounding rust at "wide" arch swage line - Mk 1 wing came with car - arch flair has same contour - intend to cut area from mk1 (which is rust hold elsewhere and had a section cut out already) to patch into mk2 wing - recycling at its best
Front slam panel/apron and crossmember well rotted requires new panel (approx £140)
Front chassis legs will require fuller examination and at least some patching
Front n/s inner wing behind strut requires fabrication, plating and welding
Front o/s inner wing behind strut requires fabrication, plating and welding plus into battery tray area.
Requires a front bumper and grille
Headlamps make require resilvering or replacement
Bonnet is Mk1 but no need to change at this time
Windscreen cracked in swept area requires replaced
Interior is a mix and match at the moment with SR front seats (drivers has a base but no frward/back adjusting lever) whilst passenger has no base. Rear seat original Luxe trim base has multiple cigarette burns. Dash is blue as is drivers door trim cap, carpet and rear quarter interior panels. No radio (or aerial) but may use Philips DC670 currently fitted to Tabby who will get period DC752.
All electrics ro be examined.
Mechanical - starts and drives (no battery) no better test drive tho. Brakes will require full overhaul - potential to upgrade discs and pads. No rear silencer.Suspension to be fully examined
External (and interal cabin, boot, engine bay) full respray required. We have still to make a decision on the colour.

Well if you have read this far you should be commended or committed. Thanks for your interet and hopefully you will emjoy followimg the antics and exploits of Neve and Alan on their journey of discovery and hopefully recovery