Brownnova’s eponymous vehicle... It might be over for my Nova.

[sloth]

also, it will run heaps better on 98. theyre hight comp and have a decent lift cam as std

[Madman Of The People]

A lesser-known brown Nova, yesterday.

 

[mk2_craig]

That’s ace!! Where was L trim in the Nova range? At the plusher end?

[dollywobbler]

1 hour ago, mk2_craig said:

That’s ace!! Where was L trim in the Nova range? At the plusher end?

One step above base I think? 

[brownnova]

9 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Great find and the ultimate purchase to go with your username. Have you got any photos of your original? It looks to have had a really low number of keepers-  I guess it's been previously giffer owned and then stored for a significant time?

Is the interior of yours the brown/cream stripy one? 

Yes it was with the same woman for well over 20 years as it was her first car (not sure exactly how long she had it), but dry stored for the last 18 years apparently... And yes the brown/cream stripy interior under the seat covers. Clock shows 36,000 so nice and low mileage!

As for my original: 

At 17 I was made up to have the SR version! Cost me a bomb to insure. Thankfully the car was free as it was my Grandma’s car and she gave it to me as a gift. 

8 hours ago, Marshall said:

Yes, they will be. That was mainly my reason for suggesting the product that I did. Back to black or similar would make a mess of it. But colourless stuff would hopefully return them to their original colour (I have no idea of the benefits of linseed oil as opposed to the product I suggested in comparison to it). Love the car. Looking forward to more updates.

Thanks for that, I’ll have a look at the product. 

6 hours ago, sloth said:

carb is a 1b1, so the same as all thw 1.2 models just slightly tickled jets. if you find someone with a 1.3 sr inlet and carb its a streaight swap and looks stock. or go for a weber 32/34, again on an sr manifold. will bump power massively and an easy fit. these little engines sing when twaeked a bit, and parts are pennies.

6 hours ago, sloth said:

also, it will run heaps better on 98. theyre hight comp and have a decent lift cam as std

And info like that is why I love this place! Thank you Sloth. I think an SR carb will be a probable subtle upgrade in time if I can find one. Let’s get it up and running. I’ll put a tank of super through too. It would have been 4 star originally and as it’s so low mileage I might put a lead replacement additive in maybe. 

[chaseracer]

9 hours ago, captain_70s said:

It's what I use, because i'm right.

EFA ?

[Jim Bell]

Fantastic!

[somewhatfoolish]

9 hours ago, Marshall said:

I don’t know about that tbh. I’ve tried similar myself and it doesn’t last that long. Saying that, this treatment might not either. Mine was £14.99 and you need hardly any... like it would probably last you a good ten years minimum. We shall see. 

Owatrol might be a more permanent method than either, it's not cheap though.

[sloth]

doesn't need lrp, theyre unleaded tolerant. 

bumpers use peanut butter. seriously. 

in the 1.3 l was the lowest trim. base was for povo 1.0 and 1.2 models. 

always wondered why no 1.4 sri saloon. woukd have been nice. 

[Twiggy]

That`s a lovely bit of kit.

[egg]

3 hours ago, brownnova said:

At 17 I was made up to have the SR version! Cost me a bomb to insure. Thankfully the car was free as it was my Grandma’s car and she gave it to me as a gift. 

What a first car! You must have been irresistible to the opposite sex.

[somewhatfoolish]

13 minutes ago, egg said:

What a brown car! You must have been resistible to the opposite sex.

EFA.

[New POD]

A set of 14 inch Iron cross wheels, off a mk2 cavalier, would make it look like a mini cavalier, and also allow the fitting of mk3 Astra gsi front calipers.  

DiD you know that the rear beams are interchangeable on nova, Corsa, mk1, mk2 and mk3 Astra, so a rear beam off a mk3 Astra gsi would allow rear discs to be hidden behind 14inch alloys.

My main reason to comment is that the 1.3 8V OHC engine can be built into a proper screamer, and was very successful in the up to 1300 cc rally class, in its day. 125 bhp quite "easy" to achieve. ? 

[sutty2006]

Friend of mine has a 2 door saloon in .... possibly.... burgundy red almost brown. Has the 2.0 ohc 8valve engine in it..... it definitely moves along quickly enough for an Audi A8 to keep up! And yes. I don’t think this family of engines need a lead replacement as the ally heads have hardened valve seats anyway....

[brownnova]

Fair enough, I seem to remember running my old one on 4 star back in the day. 
 

I can confirm that this will not be fitted with a 2.0 engine.... but... a set of alloys like my original one are a temptation... I’ll keep the originals for shows etc ?

[brownnova]

Thought I’d get out and get the Nova going tonight. Blazing sunshine all day.... and then on my way home from work the rain started to fall... 

 

Bloody hell... 

[AnthonyG]

Great stuff. I remember two things about early Novas - the strapline for the advertising was ‘the little better car’ and when I was 9 I had a red Corgi Juniors one which I think was an SR. 

Novas did seem to resist rust better than many of their competitors, if they hadn’t been the darlings of the Max Power scene I suspect we’d see more about.

I’ve seen more saloons than hatches as survivors, presumably due to giffer ownership and undesirability to 90’s modders.  A Nova saloon would have been an ideal replacement for a giffer looking to upgrade his aging Viva HC or Shuvit circa 1984...

[Fumbler]

BROWN - Nice

Saloon - doubly nice (my favourite!)

L - boing.

 

Congratulations, you've won the Internet @brownnova

[New POD]

6 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

Friend of mine has a 2 door saloon in .... possibly.... burgundy red almost brown. Has the 2.0 ohc 8valve engine in it..... it definitely moves along quickly enough for an Audi A8 to keep up! And yes. I don’t think this family of engines need a lead replacement as the ally heads have hardened valve seats anyway....

I saw a 1.8 L complete with pissburg carb, from.a mk3 cavalier in a GSI look alike 3 door hatch at a show, and had to think, why would you fit a 92 bhp large block lump, which must make it understeer, when a 1.6 16V from a Corsa or Astra in small block format would surely weigh less and have 105 or 115 bhp.  The only reason to go for a carb engine, would be for the ease of the mechanical fuel pump I reckon. 

Anyway I love the browness of it. 

[sutty2006]

12 minutes ago, New POD said:

I saw a 1.8 L complete with pissburg carb, from.a mk3 cavalier in a GSI look alike 3 door hatch at a show, and had to think, why would you fit a 92 bhp large block lump, which must make it understeer, when a 1.6 16V from a Corsa or Astra in small block format would surely weigh less and have 105 or 115 bhp.  The only reason to go for a carb engine, would be for the ease of the mechanical fuel pump I reckon. 

Anyway I love the browness of it. 

I remember pulling the 90hp lump out of my Manta and swapped it for a 20SEH.....on the 32/34 Weber carb. Pulled 124hp on the dyno lol. But yeah,  easy engine to work on and ooooodles of low down torque. 

[beko1987]

2 hours ago, brownnova said:

Thought I’d get out and get the Nova going tonight. Blazing sunshine all day.... and then on my way home from work the rain started to fall... 

 

Bloody hell... 

So you went out anyway and got wet for our entertainment yes? 

[brownnova]

Sadly... no. 
 

Possibly a long period with the bonnet up in the rain (No ideas how easy it is going to be to start) on a car which hasn’t seen the outside world for many years.... not today. 
 

Tomorrow looks promising. 

[sloth]

i had a h reg mk2 4 door in nordic blue. bought for $25 off ebay in 2007 with omgbhglolz. it was in the wirral, and im from hull. towed it back on a straight bar via all the Aroads. fitted a 20seh from a cav sri, and left the rest std. was a riot. 

 

till someone twoced it and ramraided a post office....

[face]

Make a Nova Sport saloon ??

[5speedracer]

If you'd been called purplemiura......

Sent from my R19 using Tapatalk

[brownnova]

Attempt made to start the Nova tonight... remember it’s been off the road a while. But the brother of the P.O. said he had had it running.

However there was no fuel in it when I got it. 

Charged the slightly rubbish battery from the Saab that was still kicking around age stuck 5 litres in from my Jerry can. 

Spun the engine but then the battery died... it really is shit. 

So pinched the Mazda battery and spun the engine, no catch. Try a bit of fuel in the carb and... we have splutters and it tries to run, but won’t stay running... 

By now it’s pitch black and the battery is failing (as the Mazda has barely run since March... so pop that on charge properly put another 5 litres in and go again tomorrow...

[Craig the Princess]

Did that come from Peterborough? It looks a lot like one I used to pass when going for a walk at lunchtimes from work.

[brownnova]

Nope, was in Oxfordshire, and Weston super mare before that. 

[HMC]

You could confuse people at shows by making a faithful replica of what would have been an SR saloon complete with silhouetted boot script chin spoiler etc. Pretend it was A prototype bagged from that upcoming auction where Vauxhall are flogging their  old car collection. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

13 hours ago, face said:

Make a Nova Sport saloon ??

It needs to remain brown. As the Americans say, period.