I did post an intro in 'Pub Talk' but the thread seems to have disappeared, so I'll start again here!
I come from a Vauxhall background, yes it was a Nova... SHOCK HORROR, I bought as a 1.2spi with 26,000 genuine miles on it, and turned it into a 320bhp turbo'd torque-steering / under-steering death machine!
The Nova did well, and proved, after a good summer of events, that you can do a lot with the little 2 door hatch, it's just such a shame it gets such a bad rep!
A few pics of the car:
Pre turbo (redtop 2l 16V engine)
Post turbo engine (never did get round to hiding the FMIC - but that was the plan - wolf in sheep's clothing etc!)
Interior…. Minimal!
Always good to have good brakes with 320bhp in a bean can!
Lots of stitch welding to hold it all together…
The Nova was meant to be a track car, but it ended up with too much power, which resulted in more of a Âa mile car. PB was a 12.7 sec pass, running only 6psi of boost on road tires. Was wound up to 22psi soon after and was terrifying! Only got one trip to Pod when it ran the full 22psi boost on slicks, but it was rained off… Boo!
A few videos on YouTube: (All when only running 6psi, not 22psi)
Anywho, now that I've rambled on and justified the Nova, which is what I spent two years doing, on to more important matters!
Been car-less since the end of summer, when I decided to strip and sell the Nova for bits, as more and more power hikes seemed to mean more and more wheel-spin! That's when I realised (after years of being told this by friends) that I needed RWD in my life!
I do like a good bit of fabrication; having built the Nova, and having friends with cars such as a YB Cossie engined Caterham, few Mk1 Escorts, Westy Megablade, and the cream of the crop a Talbot Sunbeam with an RX7 engine in!
It's taken a few months of research to decide what to do as a next project. I wanted a shell that I can get lots of fibreglass / carbon panels for, and other motorsport bits. I was originally going to use my LET turbo engine out the Nova in an Opel Kadett C saloon, but decided £ for bhp the Vauxhall engine couldn't do the job, plus it meant a trip to Germany to fetch a decent shell! I then toyed with a Porsche 944 with a rotary engine in, then an Audi quattro which I planned to convert to SWB rally spec. A YB engined mk2 Cortina was on the cards for a while, then a Radical type bike engined car, but finally knew I was onto a winner when I saw this at the Autosport Show a few weeks back and fell in love!
When I got home I did a bit of google image searching and found these, which are all stunning! (Not sure if I want to have another sleeper, or a stickered up touring car rep jobbie though…)
I know they are all M3's, and they are a lot of money, and as I plan to a lot of chopping / fabrication, it would be sacrilege to butcher a nice M3 about, so I am going to settle on the normal E30. I've been doing a bit of reading around, and as I will be fitting a lot of fibreglass / carbon I'm toying with the idea of using M3 panels (arches etc) as I love the lines of the arches (similar to the Nova
), but I don't know yet.Also don't know the differences between the different models of E30 (facelift wise), but I am after a mint 2 door saloon shell without a sunroof, which is proving tricky to find!
Engine wise, after MUCH deliberation, I am going to use a Volvo 5 cylinder engine (T5)... Strange you may think! But having seen good results with both 4 and 5 cylinder engines, that is what I plan to use! It will be turbo'd and maybe charged too.
The T5's were all front wheel drive, however Volvo put the whiteblock engine in the 960, although it was a 6 cylinder but it was RWD and some were manual so the box from that will mate up fine... Whether it will take the power I want to put through it is another matter!
The 5 cylinder Volvo engine (T5 motor) (known as a 'white block' apparently), is 225 out of the factory, and with relatively simple mods like bigger turbo / injectors / strengthened rods and pistons (Sten Parner is the man), 350-400 brake is easy enough to reach.
The engines are 225 in the 850's, 250 in the T5-R and 850R (it was only a difference in mapping) then in the V70 T5 they were 250 standard. In the later V70R AWD's they were 265 with a bigger turbo.
The eninge I want is the B5234T that would be found in a 94/95 850 T-5.
I'll be fitting Sten Rods and Pistons or similar, so I want the 2.3 engine as it has thicker cylinder walls over the 2.5 and also the Pre-S/C/V70 engines will be non VVTi and easier to work with in terms of ECU's etc. Also theres a lot more about and less money spent on the engine means more for nice parts!
I will probably use 960 mounts and a 960 sump (shortened by 1 cylinder), as the mounts will be easier to adapt for an E30 chassis due to the crossmember location.
The M90 out of a manual Volvo 960 2.5 will bolt up to the T5 engine, (same bell housing pattern). Using a diesel clutch out of an 850 TDI will be a quick fix until it starts to slip!
A lot of the inspiration is being drawn from Ronnie Hilmersson's Manta A, which is worth a look in at http://www.hilmersson-racing.com/
I am in the process of selling my Yamaha WR450F supermoto http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=007 so am in the position to buy the E30 now!
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!
I absolutely loved it though with its flaired arches and clean lines and it was the famous vauxhall red which turned pink everytime the sun shined. I still miss it now. 
As you say its such a shame they have the image they do because they were such fun to drive.
