Reasonable Budget for an Exocet?

[elder]

Hello everyone.

I know that this is a "how long is a piece of string" question but I don't want to start something that I might regret or be unable to finish so.................

I am aware of the kit cost & I can see the options list and I am aware of donor cost (even if I am doubtful about being able to recover as much of the cost by parts sales as the literature suggests). I know the cost of blasting & powder coating.

Most of you seem to build as I would plan to do - reconditioned brake parts, new bushings, suspension joints, new exhaust, timing belt, water pump, shot blast, powder coat  etc etc. If I don't have any major nasty surprises and start with a reasonable donor can someone provide a ball park figure for a sensible build parts budget?

Finally do I buy the kit powder coated? Many build threads seem to suggest that work needs to be done on the chassis which means that powder coating from the factory is a waste of time but the factory suggest that the car is bolt together and that powder coating is a good idea. Thoughts of builders please.

PS I tried search with no success - but that is probably me!

  

[papabear]

It would help to know if your talking US or UK costs? Some of the cost differences really depend on where you are.

[dietcoke]

I'm at around 25k on a modest V8 build with race chassis. I think you could do a nice stock engined 4cyl for 10k less then that, allowing yourself money for nice suspension/seats/wheels/tires.

[papabear]

I would agree with dietcoke. I pretty much figured it would be the cost of the kit for getting in on the road. So all in 15-16k without getting crazy but doing a nice build.

[lhintze]

I'm at $20,200 right now, its 100% complete to my satisfaction until this winter when I plan to slap a FMII on it, so add $6k more for the kit and a Happy Meal.

[elder]

Aug 5, 2015 15:57:17 GMT papabear said:

It would help to know if your talking US or UK costs? Some of the cost differences really depend on where you are.

UK.

Thanks for the replies so far. £15K seems average at the moment. Good job I asked as I would have guessed rather less than that.

[trident]

No you can do it for a lot less that £15k. I recon my car has cost me about £8,500 - £9,500 incl iva fee. If you've seen my build you'll know that i did a lot of fabrication and also got custom parts made etc.

if you kept the build to the basics and got a good donor I recon you could do one for about £6k to a good standard.  

[scooby1929]

I did mine for under £5000

[elder]

Aug 5, 2015 17:50:22 GMT trident said:

No you can do it for a lot less that £15k. I recon my car has cost me about £8,500 - £9,500 incl iva fee. If you've seen my build you'll know that i did a lot of fabrication and also got custom parts made etc.

if you kept the build to the basics and got a good donor I recon you could do one for about £6k to a good standard.  

That is about what I figured. I do like your build. I would be very proud if mine looked as good.

[jon]

I am looking at $15-16K US for mine. I have not gone cheap on much, but nothing crazy either. Replaced lots of parts with new.

[welshy1]

I would say for a good build between 5-6k forget the advertised price on the website its old and very outdate with regards to mx5 parts prices selling them and I break several mx5 over a year.

My exocet was at 6k before I decided to turn it into a track only car and ive stopped counting what ive spent on it, have bought a turbo kit and management which is nearly 1k plus will need to get bigger brakes etc so mine will be up to around 10k by next year.

Tbh if your keeping it a road car don't do the wishbone bushes the stock mazda ones are perfectly fine and theres very few polybush sets out there that are really worth having the il motorsport ones being the one to go for. Shocks and springs again don't get budget ta technics coilovers awful in every way. Gaz/hsd/mesisters are the way to go for that but budget 500 quid again a large outlay if the standard set up if fine reuse.

You can make it as cheap or expensive as you want depends what you want a track day only car or a road car.

[miket]

I'm a complete novice in the UK who's still building - I had little car-building equip beyond a trolley jack and stand. I'm doing a budget build whilst I make sure I can stick the course and not lose too much if I couldn't see it through. I'm now pretty sure it'll get finished and be followed by something else - so there are some things I'd have spent on if I'd had 20/20 foresight as well as hindsight.

To date my build has cost kit + donor + £2k.
My donor was a £330 Mk1 - next time I'd probably spend more on the donor!

Of the £2k:-
Bits for the car : £917 - biggest item spacers £150 (or wheels if you go that route).
Tools : £742 - biggest item dollies at £133 and worth every penny.
Consumables (only a vague subjective split from "bits for the car") : £208.
Misc : £141 (van, insurance etc).

Re powder coating - I have no ready transport to get a chassis to a coaters, so for me it easiest to have done already.

Re. selling bits - I've only made £300 from Mk1 bits so far. The key here seems to be to get a donor with great spec: leather seats (if you're not going to use them), hardtop etc.

Dive in!

[elder]

To be fair if you only paid £330 for the donor getting £300 so far for parts seems great. A donor for nothing is pretty good!

[greg]

I'm around 27k minus what I made back from selling extra parts (about 2k). So figure at least 25k if you want an all out turbo race chassis like mine. Keep in mind, I did all the powder coating myself though.

[golden86]

Here is a spread sheet I use to keep track of my build.  I'm only about half way through it without purchasing the coilovers, seats, and wheels/tires.  This should give you a good idea of a budget build, around $13k.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ci4nNReVcvtPC8ZCV297qAAxX4C7eT7ReJi3REXfoJM/edit