Alexs Exocet #2!

[Deleted]

Having finished and fully IVA'd my first exocet, plus a summer of good use, I decided to take on another. Luck pointed me in the direction of an opportunity to swap the completed car for an unstarted kit.

the last exocet






so garage now full of kit bits and donor on the drive im set to tackle number 2!






Managed to find a 1.8l donor at a decent price as was happy to pay a little more for low mileage, leather seats, hardtop and wheels.
Been on ebay for the weekend and already fetched £700 for the roof, airbag & steering wheel, wings and bonnet. looks as though it could be a bit of a money spinner.

media blast for the chassis booked for mid october, so i best get a wriggle on!

[Kevin Patrick]

Congratulations on starting your next build! I look forward to watching how the next one progresses. Any specific things you plan to do differently on your second Exocet?

[Deleted]

not too many major things kevin, some aesthetics like bucket seats and aero catches, and smooth fuel cap, will mainly be speed upgrades this time round, maybe even a supercharger at some point! hows yours coming? you must be nearly done?

[Deleted]

so after a few hours things are going in the right direction, more bits sold on ebay and the interior fully stripped, and on ebay!

[Deleted]

so a few more hours squeezed in after work and over a hectic weekend, the bodys now loose and floating on the springs and the stripping is pretty much done.

back end stripped


interior (steering column now done)


rad etc removed


all the wiring (headache)


as she sits on the drive at the moment. bonnets resting for engine protection/antitheft of parts!

[Deleted]

Another few hours over the weekend and shes in bits!

after a failed attempt at lifting the shell off, I went for the novelty award and hoisted the front up, separated the subframes and rolled the engine out under the front, easy if your on your own.







then, plopped the front down, hoisted up the back and rolled the rear subframe out leaving two bits that are quite easy to roll about on your own.





then hoisted the shell onto one side for underside parts to be taken off.



bet my neighbours love me!!


next, full diamantle and off to media blasting!

[Deleted]

little more work done.
rear subframe dismantled ready for blasting, front almost finished, ready for blasting. engine and gearbox removed and stripped
garage looking full!

[jamessid]

HI Mate, could you help me with a small problem i have. the Breather pipe on top of the mx5 petrol tank, the one next to the fuel sender pump, where does that need attching to, stiggy says it's got to be where it was on the mx5 but didn't that pipe go along with the fuel pipes

[Deleted]

Left the breather on mine unconnected. Left the last 6-8inches attached to the tank and simply routed it to point down the back of the tank. It forms part of the charcoal filter system that I took out. Theres a handfull of pipes that scavenge unburned vapour from the intake and recycle it back to the tank or something like that. Do a google search for mx5 charcoal filter removal there's loads of walk through guides, follow them and blank off the parts they explain and the car runs as normal, but with a neater engine bay and a lot less pipe work!. As its hidden by the rear GRP the IVA man couldnt see or get to it either, but pretty sure it's not a requirement anyway.

[sspogman]

I did the same as Alex initially - just blocked off the ends of the pipes that weren't being used.

However, when I decided that I wanted to mount my filler cap on the centre-top of the GRP panel I did away with the breather totally and used the hole that it left behind as an inlet for the fuel filler instead.

[Stewart]

Alex, who are you using for the blasting? Are they local? And what's the costs like?

[Deleted]

using a chap down in newton abbot called Moorland Blasting. did the initial costings over email and phone and then promptly decided to chuck in a few extra bits for blasting.

He's doing both subframes, all suspension arms and hubs, ppf frame, subframe braces and all the calipers and caliper carriers, plus a handfull of smaller parts for £90, when I got there he thought I only meant the two subframes but was good enough call it £90 still as long as i took his advice and paint immediately after blasting to prevent any surface rusting and agreed to coat everything 3 times with Hempadure paint (which is what they paint the hulls and holds of ships with) which is incredibly durable, available in black and comes in a satin finish to match what I want.
In the end we agreed on £150 for the lot as long as I delivered and collected. Its cheap as he's having it for 2-3 weeks and fitting a few bits in with other much bigger jobs as he goes along, and using paint left over from these jobs.
had it a week, so will check progress on friday which will be 2 weeks.

I'll post some pictures once I get it all back.

[Stewart]

Ah, right. Shame it's all the way down in Devon Bristol would have been alright, as I'm either here or up in Gloucester, but a trip to devon might make it a bit more expensive than finding somewhere local.
Nice tip on the Hempadure. Are you buying a quantity of it? Could be interested as it sounds like something I'm looking for.

[samuelt]

£150 sounds about right, i was £100 for the 2 sub frames, 6 wishbones (he would not do the ones with ball joints) and the manifold. I was also told to paint A.S.A.P. I had no choice but to wait 4 days and you could see small brown spots starting to form!

It is strange about your time though, 2-3 weeks seems a long time. I got a call 4 hours later to collect!

[Deleted]

@ The Freak, Are you bristol based? I struggled to find anyone who would do car parts, and when i did they were reluctant to take on such a small job. I travel a lot with work so managed to time it in with a work trip so I dont pay the mileage. He' using any hempadure he has left from the big jobs, so I shouldnt have to pay for any at all so doubt there'll be any spare. If you struggle with a local blaster, let me know and we could always arrange for me to drop it down/pick it up for you.

samuelt I was happy for him to take longer so I could have the garage room and extra time to sort the engine! although 3 weeks is a bit of a wait knowing what you got yours done for!
where was that?