My GSi was for sale but I've decided to keep it and do some more restoration work.
I love Novas to bits and I've enjoyed owning this one and although it it needs time and money spending on it to sort out the bodywork properly, both of which, I'm short on at the mo, I just can't let it go!

Everytime I go in my garage and see it sat there, I don't see the bubbled rear arches, or the stone chips, or the odd car park dents, I see a gorgeous metallic black GSi, and who could ignore that!

Here follows the list of things I've done so far and things I've still got to do, plus the good points and the bad points!

Right, some good points:

Early in 2006, the engine top-end was fitted with new valve-stem oil-seals and a new head-gasket was fitted, so it's not burning oil or smoking, which is always good!
The timing belt was also replaced and it's also got a new engine temp. sensor.
Other new parts include a new rear off-side stub-axle (£60!), rear wheel bearings, fuel filter, fuel pump relay and driver's door hinge-pins. The interior is a real selling point as it's very clean and tidy, with only a small amount of wear on the driver's seat (small hole about and inch round) and the bolsters are still nice and firm and supportive!
Also, everything works, such as elecy windows and sunroof and the hazard-warning switch actually works too, i.e. you don't need a piece of card to hold it in! (usually a common fault!)

Now, some bad points:

The bodywork requires some attention in the usual places, although it does look very tidy to look at. The shell is solid enough although not perfect with welding being carried out on the front strut turret mounts, inner front wings, rear inner wings, boot floor, rear panel and a small patch on the floor-pan.
The rear arches need attention as a previous owner ground the lips right back to make their alloys fit! It means 17" alloys will fit, even with ET35 offset, but it also means there are no spotwelds holding the inner and outer arches together! Fairly easy and cheep to fix and I would have done it myself already like I did on my Antibes, but no time so far!
The doors are good although the near-side door has rust on the rear vertical section in the usual Nova trouble-spot.
The front wings were new and fitted by a previous owner a short time back, so that's a good point
There was some rust on the boot floor too but that's now fixed, then there's just general dents and scratches that you will find on 99% of 15 year old cars!
Mechanically, it's sound, apart from the engine running a little rich. It failed the last MOT 'cos of it but the garage managed to turn down the mixture to get the CO down to 1.6 and therefore pass.
The only problem is, since then, it seams to have started to run rich again. The air-flow meter was replaced with a second hand one, which made it better but it could do with tuning again, and I suspect that a faulty injector is to blaim - probably sticking!

I think that's about it......looks a lot when you read it, but considering it's 15 years old, with 119K on the clock, it's not bad.
With some time and effort, this will be a really mint Nova.....just wish I had more time to do it, but bodywork is very time consuming and that's the main area that needs work, but hey, I'm willing to put the time in, even if it takes 10 years!

Read on below for more info and the story of the car:

The Story

After some time away from Novas, I returned with this Metallic Black GSi.

The story basically is this: I was enjoying driving my Audi, but I kept getting some serious-sounding clunking noises when I set off from a standstill. It was so bad, that I decided to take it off the road to fix.
The problem was though, I was due to go on holiday to Scotland in only three weeks and I couldn't find the time to fix it!
So, what now?

I was left with the option of either hiring a car for the hols or buying a new one.
I had wanted a Calibra for a long time (since 1991 when they came out to be exact!), so I went about looking for one.
After already searching for months prior to this, I doubted I would find one in time, but looked anyway.
Well, quite by chance, I picked up a Sheffield Ad-Mag and found a Metallic Black Nova GSi for sale!

Obviously I was interested so I went to have a look, I liked it and bought it!

The holiday didn't quite go to plan however!

The car would suddenly loose all power and cut-out! A number of times, I was left in the hard-shoulder with no engine and no way to start it! I would leave it a couple of mins and it would start again and be fine for ages, then do it again! The prob was very intermittent however and after the initial problem, it didn't do it again all holiday!

BUT, I had another problem!
Imagine driving along the motorway in the rain, then the wipers stop working! LOL

It's funny now looking back, but it wasn't at the time!

There's a small plastic clip in the ball joint on the wiper linkage and that had broke. I managed to bodge-fix it with some wire, which worked for a while, but the only option was to buy a new linkage.
Luckily, there was a Vauxhall main dealer near to where we were staying so I managed to get one on order. The only problem now though, was that it wouldn't be ready to collect until the Friday, so I was stuck without wipers for the rest of the week!

I got through quite a lot of wire (was lucky really that I'd got some) during the week and many days it stayed fine, but it was still a pain in the neck! I used some Rain-X to help and most of the time, I didn't need the wipers, even when raining (good stuff!), which was a temporary fix.
Anyway, Friday came and I got my new linkage, fitted it and all was well!

The car was fine other than that although it was using coolant at an alarming rate, which I had to keep an eye on.

The car fan fine but the annoying cutting out problem returned.....suddenly no power and the engine would cut-out and not re-start. Sometimes, I also had the problem that it wouldn't start at all from cold! (previously, that had not been a problem). BUT, again, it went away again and the car was fine for a while. A few weeks later, me and my Girl Friend (now my Fiancé ;-)) went to the VBOC Show at Billing - the car ran fine all the way there but on the way back, I noticed some rough running problems and by the time we got back to Sheffield, the car was smoking! NOT GOOD!

The following day, I inspected the car to find no coolant in the system and immediately came to the conclusion HEAD GASKET!
Sure enough, that was the prob!

As for the cutting out and not starting, a new fuel pump relay sorted that!

Anyway, in order to have enough time to strip the engine and do the head-gasket, plus stay on the road, the only option was to put the Audi back on the road! The storey is that the Audi problem was soon fixed with new front wishbones (bushes all gone to shreds - no wonder it was knocking!!!) The Audi stayed on the road until I got the Calibra, which then died when the engine went bang (fully story on Calibra Page) then it was the turn of the Nova again!

I like the game "Musical Cars" lol

Anyway, so Nova was fixed, back on the road and I was having fun, then came the Holiday in Scotland 2005! Oh dear!

As you've read, I had probs going to Scotland the year before with cutting out and the wipers going, but this was worse!
A week before going on hols, the car needed it's MOT. It failed on a couple of stupid little things which I sorted and all was ok (I thought!)
Driving along the motorway up towards Carlisle all was well, when suddenly, the back end wobbled and shuck and I was all over the road!!! I thought I'd had a blow-out on the rear-off-side. I pulled over to the hard shoulder to see the tyre was fine, but oil was running out from the centre of the wheel! Eh?
Well, I jacked the car up (not very safe since I was on the motorway hard shoulder!!!), grabbed hold of the wheel and it just wobbled all over the place!!! The wheel bearing had collapsed!!! Bugger!!!

RAC to the Rescue (again!)

The RAC, once again, came to the rescue - it couldn't be fixed at the side of the road, so they drove me to the travel lodge we were heading for in Glasgow! Quite a trek! Once there and after a nights sleep, me n my Dad (family holiday and he was in his own car) went to buy some new tools (not taken anything major with up - only basics) then I stripped it all down to have a look - the bearing was buggered!
What's more, with the heat generated, the bearing had welded it's self to the stub axle! We tried all sorts to get it off, even a kind local lad called Jon came to help! He was a Nova nut himself and had a valver in the past, so was willing to do all he could to help! He went home and came back with a mate with a big works van with tools galore! He got the blow-torch on in to heat it up to try to loosen it, but nothing worked! It was well and truly welded! We figured a new stub-axle was only option - we phoned round every scrap yard in Glasgow and not one had a Nova in!!! You're jokin! I wish I was!

Time was getting on and we needed to get on as we were hours behind or schedule! My Dad and me said the only option was to get a hire car for the rest of the week, source the bits were need during the week and fix it when we get back to the travel lodge. The management at the lodge said it was fine to leave the Nova there all week so that's what we did! I spent the week cruising around in a Ka! Nice little car and fun to drive to be fair! Lovely gearbox!

After a great weeks holiday, in which me and Samantha my Girl Friend got engaged ;-) we returned to the travel lodge, collecting a new stub axle from the Vauxhall dealers in Inverness along the way. Tools in hand with all that was needed, along with new wheel bearings to do both sides, the job was done and the Nova was back on the road!

I have to be honest - the Ka, although quite slow, was nicer to drive!!! It had power steering and the Nova with 195's felt really heavy! Also, the Ka gear change was a lot smoother and more positive! But at the end of the day, I'd still rather have a Nova any day!

Well, a short time after this, the Calibra had it's new engine and that was back on the road! The Nova was put up for sale with MOT, no one bought it, the MOT ran out, me and Samantha got our own house with garage and the Nova's been sat in the garage ever since!!!

I've recently spent many hours working on it to get it ready for the MOT, including fitting a new band-brake cable (after the old one snapped whilst trying to park it on our steep drive - oops!), doing lots of general tiding underneath and some welding up of small holes (boot floor and back end of sill) and it's about ready now to get a new MOT. I'll wait until after Christmas now as expensive time of the year, but some Jan, it'll be done and really to sell!

I'll be sad to see it go and I've had lots of fun in it, but I need a larger car for every day use so keeping the Calibra now. If you're interested, drop me an email