welshy1 exocet lightweight build

[welshy1]

So after picking my donor up from stafford last saturday for the good price of just £420 of ebay 6 hours round trip and left it with a mate of mine as i have no room at home.

Its a 1993 enous model with the 1.8 170,000km roughly 120,000m.

So this is her before stripping it down



As you can see my car in the background ready to be filled up with parts









And after 2 hours of work after finishing college me and 2 mates manajed to get a fair biit done







I now have a boot full load of mx5 parts to sell. Its got some nice features out it that should see well the tan interior, mint convertiable with glass screen instead of the plastic, all the lights are in good condition apart from one headlight which i cracked crome roll over bar.

But all in all should get a fair bit back from the sold items.

[mathew]

....and the fun begins! ;D

I had the same steering wheel and handbrake handle, they proved very popular on ebay

[welshy1]

Day 2 on the stripping down.

She doesn't resamble much of an mx5 now, all the front end is removed wiring loom on the n/s is now in the cabin, the interior is completly removed and has most of the wiring loom init.

Some pics









Im going to have fun with the wiring it's been messed about with before and has had a after market alarm fitted badly so that will have to be ripped out oh the joys.

Should be 2-3 more days to have the body off.

[welshy1]

Day 3 doors removed, cut out the after market alarm, wiring loom in the back is now removed, brake servo, master cylinder and brake pipes to abs unit removed. Fuel filler neck removed.

Rad removed, air con system removed.

Some pics



Cut a bit out of the loom mainly the aftermarket alarm so there is less loom to lug around.





Hopefully have the body off with 2 more days working on it got a niffty way of taking the body off will revial soon.

Not to bad for 10hrs of work with 2 people.

Not have a update for a while next weekend got to help my sister move house ;D.

[welshy1]

Sorry for the lack of progress but have been busy split the body from running frame didn't manage to get pictures though but trailed the running frame back to my house to be stripped down this was 4 weeks ago






engine stripped, degreased and painted




Diff and gearbox cleaned and painted





Engine mounts and ppf bar that conects the gearbox and diff together



Propshaft painted



Shock and spring repainted



This is what i was going to do for all 4 shocks but have decided to get some gaz coilovers for it with adjustable damping and spring

Bottom wishbone stripped, painted and polybushed



Upper wishbone stripped, painted and polybushed the other side is also done aswel



And front and rear subframes stripped and painted





and finally the rest of the rear suspension that i will have to take to work to push the bushes out and undo the nuts holding the drive shafts on



This has taken roughly 3-4 weeks to get to this stage from it being a rolling frame.

Ive ordered the kit at stoneleigh meet stuart and julie very nice people ive gone for a few extra's alluminum fuel tank, fly screen bolt in roll bar so i can upgrade to a msa one latter on im going to source my own lights, seats and will be picking the kit up on friday.

Will be bolting on some extra's during the build gaz coilovers, braided brake lines, supercharger or omex throttle bodies decide latter on in the build and have some ideas that i haven't seen before.

As you can see from the painted parts i will be going for black body and gold frame which i don't think have been done before on a exocet.

[gwnwar]

FYI the pass seat will bring good money in USA as it's the drivers seat here.. put ad on miata.net just sell/remove the covers bottom and back box (roll/fold up tight) and ship. no frame or foam padding..take pics to send if asked for..same for the door speaker covers and mirrors..

[welshy1]

Another update managed to remember where everything went back onto the engine apart from 1 thing fortunently i took plenty of pics of the engine before i stripped it down. Good advice to anyone on stripping down anything take plenty of pics they may come in handy





still got to paint the exhaust manifold in the same paint as the inlet manifold.

Also managed to refit the diff into the rear subframe

.

Got a busy week ahead my rear polybush set should turn up tomorrow so got to remove the buses out of the rear wishbones, clean, paint the wishbones then fit the new bushes. The clutch for it should turn up sometime this week so that has to go back on to refit the gearbox and fit the exhaust manifold
Then pick my kit up on friday to start the build. So will keep on updating during the week.

[welshy1]

So after a 7 hour round trip thanks in no certain terms as the olympic torch relay coming through south east wales closing several roads the bridge works on the M50, knob head lorry drivers who spend 3 miles overtaking each other and some of the worst driving ive seen for a long time but that is for another day ive got the kit back to my garage.

Meet stuart and julie and had a look around at the mev facilites abd the X5 superlight which might become our 2nd kit after this one.

So a couple of pics of it back in my garage







Ive moved all the body panels and panels down into the conservatory my mother is not best pleased mind you.

Got the alluminium fuel tank, bolt in roll cage which makes it easier to fit the floor and a mod i would recomend, aero screen and the dash pod.
I will prime the frame then build the kit so it's running and everything is in place strip it apart and spray it in gold to try and eliminate scratching the frame to much.

Couple of problems though this week the clutch that i ordered was to small the bushes out of the lower rear wishbone are not coming out so will have to burn them out but apart from that i should this weekend be able to spray the frame in primer, cut the floor out and secure it using a couple of self tapping screws it will be riveted on after i sprayed the frame in gold. Fit the front and rear subframe reaseambly the front suspension and a couple of other bits aswel.

Keep you updated

[tomaff]

Looks good. Some nice progress.

Think you were picking up your kit when I was ordering mine on the Friday.

[welshy1]

Yep that was me picking it up started on it the next day will post some progress up shortly.

When are you picking up your kit and have you got a donor yet.

[welshy1]

Right after poping down to llandow to have a look at the kits cars down there mainly the racing exocet managed to start on the build so

Day1 (this was on saturday)

First thing to do was mark out the floor and cut to shape



Did start to drill the holes for the rivets after managing to drill 12 holes the drill went on the fritz and died so have to do the rest again.

So as it was upside down decided to bolt on the front and rear subframes this was a mission in it's self but after mayby half hour or so managed to fit the front and rear subframes.







Finished for the day and going to be having a bbq one thing i rather be building a kit during the spring /summer months than winter.

Tomorrow will reassamble the front suspension fit the roll bar and fit the steering collum.

[welshy1]

Day 2 (sunday)
rebuilt the front suspension mounted the roll bar and steering collum did start on trimming the side panels but had to stop to help a mate out so pictures of todays work









Layed a coat of red oxide primer in the places where im likely to touch so eliminating any rust from foarming.

Hopefully next week i should be able to burn the rear bushes out paint the arms and fit the new polybushes, my clutch should turn up and i got to get a servo, master cylinder and porportion valve of a non abs mx5 to convert mine to non abs.

So should be able to get an update during the week if i get time to work on it.

[welshy1]

Day 3 on the build.

Cut and trimed the side panels to shape got to get some screws to fit them

Fitted the pedal assembley, brake servo, master cylinder and clutch master cylinder pics







Might have to take a washer out of the left side of the servo to make it square with the pedal.

This was done mostly by my father as i was in colege.

Ordered a set of stainless brake hose arrived today so should have the side panels mounted, rear suspension fitted, brake lines fitted, wing stayes and wings mounted on the weekend.

Then next week start on getting the engine in and start on the wiring loom ??

[tomaff]

Donor is bought and body stripped and unbolted. Just waiting for scrappy to get his act together and pick it up. No room to store the body so just wait till then before we remove it. What are you painting your frame with?

Got a build thread on here somewhere.

T

[welshy1]

Gold frame but mocking everything up first before spraying the frame so i don't have to drill into paint.

Before you scrap the body where are you from.