Sky Blue Exocet Build Thread

[Andy888]

Ok, myself and my best mate are embarking on our first ever kit car build. We decided that this was the next step up from house refurbishment, flat pack furniture and building sheds!!

One accountant & geek, one engineer, we hope that we can actually make something that moves under it’s own power, and with a bit of luck still be friends by the end of this.

We started out in September with a decent enough little MX5/Eunos



and then we started the stripping process... After an evening or so of scuffed knuckles and contorting ourselves under the dashboard we ended up something like this



This looks a little daunting, but too late to go back! I'm pretty sure there will be some wiring we won't have labelled and forgotten about but hey it's all part of the fun!



Then we started basically disconnecting everything that we needed to keep which was attached to the body shell. The way the kit works is that the MX5 running gear (fr and rear subframes are connected) all stays in place and a new tubular chassis drops over the top and is bolted in place of the old shell.

Engine bay looking a bit barer now. I'll not bore you with all the detail. You can read our blog for more boring stuff!



Fast forwarding a bit through lots of unbolting, cutting etc we get to the fun bit, lifting off the body shell.

Get ready


And lift!


Please note this looks an awful lot easier than it was!!!!

Leaving us with - dada!!



Not forgetting we needed the fuel tank out so a quick lift

[Andy888]

Ok, I've updated the first post to show the beginnings of our project.

And now the fun stuff. We still have to clean up the running gear and paint it all. Also stuff like cambelt change, coilovers and so on all need to be done now, but to spur us on a bit, the kit arrived yesterday looking something like this







Of course we couldn't resist the temptation... and we have to store the chassis somewhere, so we started setting it all together to see what it will be like



Woo hoo, it looks like a car!!!



Me looking smug lol



Please ignore the height atm. The chassis is resting on top of the struts so once it's on properly and we have some coilovers it will be a lot lower. If you look at the original pic of the MX5 the wheel arch gap was massive and we've also just removed about 300kg of weight so the suspension is well up.

For those of you interested, our Build Blog is here, with loads more info and pics

[bigmal]

Oh mate, that is a cracking build diary.... plenty of detail & good pix without going into all the technobabble. The Exocet is top of my build wishlist, and it's great to see what's involved.

cheers

[Andy888]

Thanks! Just trying to keep track of what we've done and might help others coming along too. Pics speak 1000 words usually

[rafterman]

Hi Andy, I'm curious, are you guys painting the chassis yourselves? Any special plans for it?

Btw, am I the only one who thinks that these beasties would look better without the lower fairings installed? Your pic with just the blue bodywork has me wondering...

Thanks for sharing your build! Looks like great fun...

Cheers,
ash

[Andy888]

Yep we're going to hammerite the chassis either black or dark grey with black running gear. Means if we chip or scratch it we can touch it in easily enough. Probably start painting in the next few days while we wait for more bits to arrive.

Never thought about not having the side panels on. Also they are actually plastic, not alloy as I thought so you could stick them on quite easily.

[dfrs]

hi , just joined from donegal ,great looking colour you have picked for your car , how long did the kit take to come and what was the rough cost of transporting it , i would like to build one are there any in the south or is it just the 3 in bangor thanks

p.s this is a real ' bangor blue

[Andy888]

Thanks, we like the blue. Hopefully a bit different. Kit only took a few weeks to be ready. I think there is a chap on here from Kildare who was interested in building one. The other two MEVs in Bangor are Rockets. I think ours is the first Exocet to hit these shores.

I have a friend who owns a haulage company so couldn't possibly say how much he charged me! But if you want to fire him an email for a quote, he is very good - [e-mail]

As a side note, we went for the bare metal chassis as a powder coat would probably have been damaged during transport home.

[Kevin Patrick]

Andy - build looks great so far! I am very interested in how the frame turns out with the Hammerite paint.

[Andy888]

Yeah,no real updates at the minute - having some issues with Hammerite let's just say!

[buckalec66]

Nice one Andy....running a few weeks behind you at the minute.....just got the body off last night and sent her off to the scrappers this morning!!

BTW, I too have gone for that blue...didn't fancy any of the other colours....at least there will be Belfast Lough between us!! Keep at it!! Marty

[Andy888]

Bit of an update...

Been sooo cold the past few months we haven't ventured out to the garage near this. Lacking motivation etc, but with 2011 underway and a sprog on the horizon for my wife, we have started to get stuck in again.

After quite a few weeks of being an eyesore on my good friend's driveway I finally felt guilty and got rid of the MX5 shell. Thanks to Phil for giving me the number of two members of the "local travelling community" to remove it! Getting the shell up there onto the back of a flat bed was pretty scary to watch, but thanks to the front wall of the house and some forceful truck reversing, they managed it... I will get you back someday for this chum!!!



Ah the memories!!

The past couple of weekends have been taken up with dismantling the suspension and replacing the tired old bushes with some shiny new poly bushes. It was pretty difficult (slight understatement) to get the wishbone bolts out and even with the impact wrench two wouldn't budge. The fact that we are working on a rolling chassis didn't help as there is very little weight and you end up lifting the thing up trying to break the bolts out. Eventually we had to give up on a couple and leave them until the car is together and has some weight behind it. Plus, if we get it up on a ramp we should be able to get better access with a breaker bar.

Old rubber bushes


Shiny new polys


Next is putting it all back together and installing the new shiny coilovers. Kesha dog reckons they won't fit tho...

[tlight]

Andy,

Looking forward to seeing your latest photos....

Tim

[Kevin Patrick]

Me too!

[Andy888]

Me three lol! Have pretty much done nothing apart from change suspension bushes over the winter. Combination of being too cold and working a lot. Started my own business last year. We do need to get going again though. Thanks for the virtual kick!