I had another great Saturday. Picked the Nova up from Nigel's workshop near Kilrea and was blown away by the work that he and Hargie had done in only two weeks. I was only really interested in getting the car straight and I wasn't that worried about how the car looked but it's good as new, all the panels have been repaired and there isn't a mark on it anywhere, amazing work. We got the car home and built it back up again from where it had been stripped for painting. Got all the glass back in, seats and harnesses back in, build up the "new" drivers door and other wee bits. Just need to get the engine back in and it should be ready to get back out on the road. Niall is servicing the engine this week and refitting it so when I get down on Saturday it should be all ready to fire up. It's great that Niall is so keen to help out, I wouldn't get anything done without him pushing me on, and also doing the work.
So to add up the costs of the rebuild:
New front panel, £123
Drivers door, £35
Nova saloon donor, £40
Hargie for the bench work, £170
Nigel for body work, £380
Service parts and oils for engine/gearbox, £80
Radiator, £54 + £20 coolant, added 06 June 2011
So a current running total of £902, not including diesel for towing the bent shell about the country, not too far away from my £1000 estimate. I think this was the cheapest option. If I had chosen to re-shell the rally car I don't think I could have done it for under a grand, and I would have struggled to find a shell as solid as mine.
