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What to look for - Bodywork
What to look for - Mechanical
What to look for - Interior

What to look for - BODYWORK

The oldest Novas are now 18 years old and even the newest ones are 8, so bodywork condition is something that is very important to look at when buying a Nova. In fact, it's safe to say that bodywork condition is the MOST important thing when buying a Nova....mechanical problems are usually easy and cheep to sort, but body work can be very expensive and time consuming.

I've compiled this guide to checking the Nova for rust. I've split it into two sections, one being a very brief list of places to check and the second being a more detailed explanation of the areas to check and why to check in those areas.

In Brief

Check these areas as you look round the car:

• Front Valance
• Front Wing to Valance Joint
• Under the bonnet
  • Slam-panel especially the ends near the joint to front wings
  • Behind the headlights
  • Front cross-member including tie-rod brackets
  • Inner wings and suspension top-mounts
  • Battery-tray
• Under front arches
• Behind head-light area
• Suspension top-mounts
• Rear arch top section and plastic-aerial cover plate area
• Front wings, especially from bottom rear corners
• Sills
• Front wing to sill joint
• Jacking points
• Rear-most bottom corner
• Rear wheel arches, especially on 3-door hatch models!
• Tailgate
• Boot floor under carpet
• Under and behind rear bumper
• Roof, especially on models fitted with Sunroofs

In More Detail:

Starting from the front of the car, check in these places for rust:

• Front Valance - prone to stone chips etc. and can rust very badly on any age Nova. On SR/GTE and ALL MKII models, the valance is protected by the full-height bumper/skirt, but it's still worth checking, as it can still rust here.
• Wing to Valance Joint - water and dirt gets trapped between these two panels at the joint and can cause severe rust. Again, this is not as much of a problem on models with full-height bumpers.
• Under the bonnet - With the bonnet open, check for a number of areas, as follows:
• Slam-panel - check at the ends of this section, where the wings join it, as it can rust very severally with age. Dirt builds up on the underside and can eventually rot through leaving very large sections missing! You can also check this as follows:
• Behind the head-lights - continuing from above, checking behind the headlights can reveal huge holes through to the wheel arches, where a build-up of mud has caused the area to rot through, which can be extremely severe, even on newer models. Also look under the headlights, as this area is also prone to rust, but it may be difficult to see as the bumper can obstruct your view of this area and especially on MKII models. You can look down from inside the engine bay, to look at the lights from behind.
• Front cross-member - look down at the very front of the engine bay and pay attention to the area under the radiator i.e. the cross member. Check that this section is solid and also inspect it from below the car if possible. The suspension Tie-bar bracket is part of this cross member and if damaged by corrosion (or accident damage), can cause dangerous handling and will cause the car to fail the MOT test.
• Inner wings and suspension top-mounts - these areas must be in good condition as the safety of the car depends on it. These are load-bearing sections and if badly corroded, can be extremely dangerous. They tend not to rot too bad on Novas, but the main sections to look at are the seams at the front and rear edges of the inner-wing to turret joint. This seam often rots through, but can easily be welded for the MOT.
• Battery-tray - at the rear of the engine compartment on the offside, is the extra section where the battery is located. This is under the external air-intake vents for the heating/ventilation system, which allows water to freely enter. The area is prone to a potential huge build up of dirt, which can cause the area to rot through to the interior. It's often not possible to see a hole from the upper side, as it may be under the battery, or it could have had a quick repair. Look from inside the car, up underneath the dashboard above the pedals. You should easily see any corrosion in this area. Also check for the same thing at the other side, where it can also rot through. Feel the carpets in the foot wells to check for dampness. If the car has been leaking, you will also notice a fusty smell from the carpet!

Moving on to the sides of the car:

• Under front arches - look carefully under the front arches and towards the front, which will show up any rusty holes behind the headlights that might have been missed earlier. Also carefully inspect the top of the suspension strut from underneath for rust....that can be difficult if the underside is dirty though. Also check the area of arch to the rear of the car, as this takes the force of all the water and dirt from the wheels and can rust quite badly, especially along the top edge and around the diamond-shaped plastic aerial cover.
• Front wings - rust can start to eat through the wings quite easily on Novas, with one main area being the rear bottom corners. Dirt can easily collect behind the arch panel and build up at the bottom corner. This is also the area where water from the battery tray runs down, so is at great risk from corrosion. The wings can also rot through at the front corners, on the outer side from the panel behind the headlights, which often rusts.
• Sills - from the front wings, look along the bottom edges of the sills, taking careful note of the condition near the front-wing joints, as they can rust under the wing joint. Check along the full length, particularly at the very rear bottom corners, as this area can rot through completely, leaving the car with no inner or outer sill! Any serious rust should be immediately obvious, but if the car is a GTE/GSi or any other model fitted with side skirts, then they could be hiding rusty sills. Generally, on GTE and GSi models, which have had the skirts from new, the sills are protected to a certain degree by the sills, so may be in better condition, but don't count on it.
• Rear Wheel Arches! - these are the most notorious part of the body on a Nova....famed for rusting into nothing, so pay particular attention to this area. My arches on my Antibes both needed replacing which I did myself....it's easy enough if you've got welding equipment and a lot of time to do it, but other wise, it can be expensive to sort properly. The problem basically is that water and dirt gets between the inner and outer arch joint, in the spaces between the spot-welds. With time, rust starts to form which pushes out this tight space between welds and you end up with a wavy shaped arch! Eventually, the arches can get severe and the only remedy it to grind off the arch section and either weld on a new repair lip, or a whole new rear quarter panel!
• Tailgate - check the tailgate carefully with it both open and closed. The bottom corner edges can often be rusty as the water drain-holes are in this area, but check the whole of the lower edges for rust. Surprisingly, it can get very severe on the tailgate resulting in a new one being the best way of repair...my old A-reg needed a new tailgate as it was rusty along the bottom edge of the rear window...it's rare for a Nova to rust in this position, but it should be checked none the less.
• Boot floor - whilst you have the tailgate open, also pay careful attention to the boot floor area, as this can get very rusty. Lift the carpet to inspect properly and look in the bottom rear corners and along the whole of the rear bottom edge. If you can, also remove the spare wheel (checking it's condition at the same time) and inspect the wheel well for rust, especially around the rubber drain plugs.
• Under and behind the rear-bumper - this area can be rusty so check by looking down the gap between the bumper and bodywork from above (tailgate open) and also look from underneath to check the rear-panel lower edge. Whilst there, take a look at the wheel well and at the chassis members at the rear most corners.....dirt often collects here in large amounts, making it easy for rust to penetrate causing the rusty boot floor as previously inspected.
• Roof - the roof only really needs special attention if a sunroof is fitted, but check for simply thins like dents and scratches as usual. If a sunroof is fitted (especially the Factory fit wind-tilt (early models only) or the slide/tilt (from about 86 on as an option)), check for rust around the outer edges of any seals and in the case of the factory fitted items, check around the drain-channel areas. With the slide/tilt roof, slide it open and look around the folded edges for rust, especially along the front edge.

That's about it for bodywork. Obviously check the overall paint condition for signs of re-spray and botched repairs. Neglected or simply old cars may suffer from paint fade too (especially red ones), but as long as it's not too severe, it can often be brought back to life with a good colour-restoring polish and the like. Look down the sides of the car with the light shining so you can see reflections making it easier to spot any dints or imperfections in the panels.