Rebuilding my MX150R

[mscott]

Well I guess it's about time that I finally did what I've been saying I was going to do for the last 2-3 years and I am rebuilding my MX150R.


I bought the car Built/Used from Stuart Mills as I beleive the original owner was moving into a Ginetta Race Car/Series.

The car was originally based on a Stock 1.8 Mk1 based car which I ran for my first season racing and had a great time and learnt a lot whilst I was at it.

The 2nd year saw the car upgraded to being Supercharged (Supercharged MX150R Build Thread Link) which got me to 200BHP and made a huge difference to the performance and handling of the car.

I also took the opportunity to make a few changes/alterations as part of the longer plan to rebuild the car in the future.

Year 3 was also Supercharged but due to a Shoulder Injury that later required Surgery I had to miss the last few races and park the car for the Winter. At least before I was laid up I was able to build my new workshop and move the car home.

Year 4 (2017) started the season/first race meeting still Supercharged but for the rest of the year and beyond the car is now Turbo'd. 250BHP on Stock Internals with a TD04L Turbo on a G19 Cast Manifold (lovely piece of kit it has to be said). More power hopefully to come for 2018..

The car has now become a bit tatty in places, has a few War Wounds (a Faux Pas at Snetterton on the last race of the year resulted in some rear suspension damage) plus as I used to keep the car in a 40Ft Metal Container for around 2.5 years this caused lots of condensation and surface rust on the floor/chassis.

There is also a few (lets just say Pigeon Shit) welds that need grinding back and re-welding plus countless superfluous holes that need not be there any more.

[mscott]

The first thing to do was to straighten the damage caused at Snetterton.

It would have been foolish to strip the rest of the car, clean and have it Powder Coated only to find I had to cut and weld something back straight afterwards.

Lucky enough it was just the Lower Wishbone Bolt that had bent like a Banana. Might as well be made out of Cheese as they seem so soft..

The bolt was so badly bent I had to cut it in half just to get the Polybush Sleeve back out.



After fitting the New Bolt back in it became clear that the Rear Hub had also become Bent in the accident, you wouldn't think it was possible but it was.



Didn't matter how much I adjusted the bolts it wouldn't line up, lucky enough I have a spare set of Hubs and Wishbones so after cutting a spare hub out of one of them it lined up perfect. Yeah, what a fun job getting those rusted bolts out..



Now the car was "Straight-ish" (will be fully re-aligned after the rebuild anyhow) I started the Stripdown.

Rear Panel Off (Keeping as a spare), spoiler removed for use on the New Rear Panel, Fuel Tank & Swirl Pot Drained and Removed.



Next was the Front End, Nosecone, Inter-cooler & Radiator, Exhaust, Prop then Engine/Gearbox out again. Done this so many times it's become easy now especially with a Load-Leveler for the Crane.



Suspension, Brakes, Pipework, Wiring, Seat, Battery Box, Steering Column, Pedals, Subframes & Diff/Driveshafts off. A bit lighter now..

[mscott]

Now the big bits are off it's time to address the old holes, bodged welds and other bits that wont be needed or need tidying.

The Rear Crash Bar had taken a hit at Snetterton so whilst the chassis was still together it was the best time to straighten it.

A Ratchet Strap latter and it was straight'er..




I had to remove the Roll Cage but before I did that I took the opourtunity to fabricate a couple of Camera Brackets to weld into the Roll Cage.

My original Camera Mounts were made from a couple of U-Bolt/Exhaust Clamps with a Mouting Arm welded on but these would damage the newly powdercoated Roll Cage once re-fitted.

The New Brackets are fairly simple but have lots of holes for locating the Cameras where I want them.





Roll Cage off and stored in my other garage for now.



Process of filling Holes & unneeded Riv-nuts is easy however where Riv-nuts were once on a Round Tube there will be a small amount of Deformation due to the Riv-nut having a flat Profile.



Grind Back to bare metal.



Weld up Hole/Rivnut



Grind Smooth



Sand Smooth with 80Grit Detail Sander.



Similar Process where the old Silencer Mounts once were.




Rear Sub-frame Exhaust Mount.



Floors, less Swiss, More Cheddar




The Steering Column Boot/Bearing or whatever you'd call it was originally Cable Tied on plus the hole in the Bulkhead had been Hacked so a bit of tidying up was in order.



A Filler Plate with a Captive Nut was made and welded into place. This was then fully welded afterwards and 2 more Captice Nuts welded for the other 2 bolt holes.




This Grinding/Welding/Grinding then Sanding process takes time,, a lot of it,, but I want a Clean Canvas for the re-build process.

[theancientone]

Interesting thread thanks. Have you ever had any instances of the upper rear wishbone hitting the chassis frame during track use?

[mscott]

Not that I'm aware !

The suspension setup if quite hard plus most Race Circuits are in a better condition than the Public Roads to be fair.

[davetherave]

Looks good look forward to see the progress on this

[mscott]

The next step was so finish welding the Captive Nut Bracket I'd made for the Steering Column Boot. I also welded another 2 nuts for the other Bolts whilst I was at it.



The original build had Aero Bonnet Pins and were located off the Front Strut Tower.
This had the effect of allowing the Bonnet to flap around more than I liked so I made a couple of Mounting Tabs and welded then about 150mm/6" from the Firewall. I'll use standard Bonnet Pins this time as the Aero had a habit of sticking towards the end of their life.




Now the floor had been welded and ground back on both sides to an acceptable finish (never going for "as New", that would of required new floor panels and a lot more work). I needed to drill some holes in it.. Arghhhh.. Just spent ages filling them, however I didn't fancy turning the car into a Bath Tub as we Race even in heavy rain. Better to control where it can go..




The only other thing that needed tidying up was the Tunnel at the rear.
When I'd blown the Diff originally it turned out it was originally a 1.6 Viscous LSD.
This threw its toys out at Oulton Park on a Track Day in Feb 2016 so I started looking for another LSD.

Stewart Mutch (Mr. FreakyParts) found me a Mk2 Jasper Conrad Special partially (very well in fact) stripped car in Bristol.

Problem solved apart from when I fitted it as the later LSD's have a longer nose it was rubbing on the Tunnel. Access was tight so I made a "less than surgical" trim with the grinder to clear the issue. Now was a good time to tidy that up.



Another modification I made is for the Marshall's Pull Cord for Racing. For those who dont know you have to have an Externally Accessable set of Pull Cord's to turn off the Battery Master Isolator and Activate the Fire Extinguisher.

Mine were located on an Aluminium Bracket mounted by the end of the Bonnet/Roll Cage on the Passenger Side but this meant that both the cable were in the way if I had a passenger on a Track Day but worst still as they originally pointed upwards they tended to keep seizing up as rain would work its way down the cables.



Better option was to fabricate a bracket and mount it to the side of the chassis by the pedalbox side by tyhe driver.



Cables Test Fitted



The last small modification was the Bracket that holds the steering colum to the chassis.

This had already been drilled and as such it made sense to trim the excess of and tidy it up.




Now the Chassis was effectively ready fopr blasting/powdercoating the last bit was to get get the Suspension Arms stripped ready to get blasted/powdercoated.



I welded up a Draw Bolt to help pull out the Polybush Sleeves.

I'm not sure if these were greesed when they were fitted but they will be when they go back in.




One of the Front Lower Wishbone mounts had been nicked by the original builder with a grinder, I guess the original bolt must have been damaged or rusted in!

I took the opourtunity to weld it back up and give it a bit more stregth.




The Rear Lower Wishbones had also been hacked in the past as it looks like the original Shock Captive Nut had either stripped or Siezed and had been replaced with a normal Nylock.

The hacking had been done to allow a spanner access to the nut. I decided to just tidy these up as there wasn't any merit in making them original as I too would need to get a spanner on them.




The last job was to remove the Front Upper Ball Joints. I've been meaning to buy a press for years so I finally bought an eBay 12Ton Press. Works like a charm.

I'll have to press the New Ball Joints in after powder coating so worth having in the workshop.




Once the Snow and Ice ease off and I can get the Chassis, Subframes and other parts loaded I'll drop them at the PowderCoaters..

I'm looking forward to being able to clean up the mess from all the grinding etc. in the workshop and I have more than enough to keep me busy with all the other parts taken off previously.

In an ideal world I'd like it back before Christmas but times ticking....

Ho Ho Ho...

[jgilbert]

Nice work. keep the posts coming.

[mscott]

Well that's that.. Off to the Powder-Coaters...







Looking very sad for itself on a pallet..

Hopefully if all goes to plan (fingers crossed) I'll have the next week where I have a chance to work on some of the smaller parts like the hubs and the Aluminium Panels with some room in the workshop. That said I think a clean up is in order first.

I've started putting a list together for the Nuts, Bolts & Washers and will hopefully get them all delivered in time for the re-assembly.

I've arranged to pick up all the new Body Panels and wheel arch stays (the racers Nemesis with riding the kerbs) from MEV next Friday (22-12-17) and while I have the van hope to also pick up the freshly Blasted & Powder-coated parts (plans are always made to be broken) as the Powder-coaters are aiming to get it done for then.

I can't wait, my bank balance says otherwise

[welshy1]

Some good progress there be good to get out for the first rd in April hopefully with few more exocets out this year.

[mscott]

Now that the Chassis and other "To-Be-Blasted/Coated" parts are away I tidied up the workshop and also sorted out the Blast Cabinet.

It had a habit of leaking Blast Media through the panel joins/seams where it is originally sealed with foam tape (like that was a good idea ! CT1 Construction Adhesive took care of that one, plus I'm now using a Henry Hoover connected to the cabinet which both keeps the dust down and the ability to see what is being blasted.. I should have done this ages ago...

A job that needed doing was to sort out the Hardware "Nuts & Bolts" required for the rebuild. 

I spent an age measuring bolt lengths and sizes, counting washers and nuts then proceeded to eBay for ordering.

Word of warning !, there's a limit to the amount of items you can have in an eBay basket and I exceeded it, however instead of it just going back to the last item it cleared the bloody basket, not a happy camper... I made to smaller baskets and ordered the first round of parts.



First parts to get sorted sere some of the Aluminium Panels..

Yes,, I could have bought new but as I have a TIG I welded them up and then ground/sanded afterwards to a reasonable finish, especially the Transmission Tunnel as this is a fairly Complex piece and already "Semi" fits the car...













The next job was to get the Front Stub Axles ready for the New Wheel Arch Stays.

These fit where the old Brake Disc Shield bolted to the Stub Axle and as these probably hadn't been touched since new around 20+ years ago I decided to leave them soaking in WD40 (run out of PlusGas) as they have access from the rear.



I mounted the Stub Axle in the vice, heated the surrounded area of the bolts with a Mapp Gas Torch then carefully worked the bolts loose. On both Stub Axles the Top bolt of the 3 snapped off (B*ll*cks)



As I had rear access I decided to drill out the snapped bolts using ever large drill sizes.

I started from the front with a Centre Punch and a 3mm drill, then moved drilling to the Rear and by around a 6.5-7mm drill size I was lucky with both axles that they both unwound. A quick run through all 3 holes on each hub with a M8 Tap and the hubs were ready for Blasting..

Note: The extra 8mm hole in the Stub Axles was from the original wheel arch stays.. And the Stud Extractors, might as well leave them in the Tool Box, they rarely work and didn't this time either..



Friday the 22nd Arrived quickly and this was both MEV collection Day and also Chassis Collection Day. They'd managed to turn it around in under a week but I had to get it before 1PM as they were closing for Christmas.

This meant I had to drive from Stafford to MEV in Mansfield, then to Birmingham to collect the Chassis. No breakfast for me today...

A fairly swift flying visit to Stuart & Julie @ MEV then over to the Powder-Coaters.

After a bit of shifting around I was able to get the Chassis, Roll Cage, Subframes and all other parts into the back of one of my works vans and drive it all home.



Once home my daughter and a good friend from work helped me unload the van and put the fresh chassis in the Workshop.
To prevent risking scratching the chassis I padded areas at risk from the Roll Cage and also used 2 Ratchet Straps to pull the Roll Cage slightly in to make inserting back in the chassis "Easier"...



I now have bits literally everywhere so I deciced to at least fit the Subframes as these are too large to leave lying around and the only parts that require a 2 man lift to avoid risking scratching the chassis.







The Aluminium Panels welded and sanded previously were now painted in Primer then Satin Black as this is a close match to the Powdercoat finish..



Now comes all the remainder of other parts to sort.....

[sheffjohn]

Good work with your attention to detail fixing the less than perfects ! Will make a massive difference to the whole build I'm sure.

Also really like the red cage black frame combo.

[mscott]

I decided to start by getting the Brake Booster blasted and painted, need this to dry before I can fit the Pedals back in.





Now was the time to try and get what I could straight back on the car, seriously I have bits everywhere.

The Sum of the Parts = the Whole... No,, just no room to put anything or work without tripping over bits...

Next was the Wishbones, they can go back on but only after I first cleaned some rust from the Polybushes.

A wire bush, bit of Emery Paper and they look much better.

I used WD40 Lithium grease on the Liners to enable them to slip in easier but the Polyurethane halves went in to the Swing Arms dry.





Out of the 8 Wishbone Alignment Bolts I had only 4 were any use and salvageable.
I'd had an issue on a Track Day where they'd worked loose and the Threads had seen better Days.

I blasted the Heads and the Eccentric Washers on the 4 good ones and painted them in Aluminium Paint. Should be a nice contrast against the black Subframes.

Have I gone Mad with this, the Jury's out !





For the other 4 bolts I found someone selling 3 on eBay with a "Make an Offer" so I did and got them at a reasonable and fair price, bought the 4th from MX5 Parts.

Now for the countless other parts the process is as follows so instead of having to see the same thing over and over again.

Strip part to its Single Part (where applicable/possible).

1. Degrease if required.

2. Use Masking Tape to protect areas "Not to-be Blasted".

3. Sandblast.

4. Blow Off with Airline.

5. Degrease with Acetone.

6. Prime.

7. Heat to Dry Primer.

8. Top Coat.

9. Heat to Dry Top Coat.

Believe me this feels Never Ending but slowly and surely they are all getting done.







Steering Rack had the same treatment however I only removed the Inner & Outer Track Arms off first.

I was going for a 2-Tone paint Job but decided make the Rack all Alluminium as it stands out nicely agaisnt the Subframes and the Black Boots & Black Inner Track Rod and Aluminium Track Rod Ends..







The Front Hubs (now freed from snapped bolts) were Balsed & Painted and fitted to the lower Ball Joints.

The Upper Ball Joints that I had Pressed Out now needed sorting and I saw some MOOG Problem Solver Ball Joints on eBay.

As it was a "Make Offer" Auction I made an offer for the last 2 of them, however this was rejected.

By the time I spotted this and went to make an Increased Offer they had been sold with no more in stock. Bugger

I contacted MOOG Performance in the UK, they said they didn't stock them and to get some from Amazon, instead I eventually found some in the USA and had them shipped.

2 Ball Joints, Delivery and Tax and they came in for both less than 1 could be bought in the UK.. Winner !

Even my LongAcre Mirror had a clean up, looks nice against the Red Roll Cage.



I removed the Top Hat's from my Gaz Gold Shocks and sent them to Gaz for a Serivce.

The Top Hats needed the Usual Treatment however 1 of them had a Damaged Thread so I pressed out the old Studs, Tapered 2 Bolts to match the original and Welded them in. From the top you couldn't tell the difference.









The Front Wheel Arch Stays are a Straight Bolt On job, rears however need a little work.

I now have 1 Mk1 Rear Hub and 1 Mk2 Hub (after bending it at Snetterton last Race).

The Mk2 has a few Holes that need Filling and after working out where I needed to drill the Holes for the M8 Bolt to hold the stay on. The other Bolt Hole being one of the Brake Caliper Mount Bolts.

I noticed that the stays need a small amount of spacing on the Claiper Mount but I will sort this out when I set the Wheel Arches against the Dry Tyres as these will be 205 vs. 195 that we currently run.







One issue I had is the Drive Shafts are from a Mk2 with ABS Rings fitted. These hit the Wheel Arch Stay so a few well placed taps and they were removed.





Now the Servo Was well and truly dry I fitted it back along with the Pedals. It's starting to look like a Car is Appearing before my eyes. Pedals are still to have a Non Slip Coating applied to them.. One for the "To-Do" List..





Once the Rear Hubs had dried I fitted them back to the Wishbones, fitted the Rear Discs & Wheel Spacers and Loosely fitted the Rear Calipers.
They will have to come off to get the Drive Shafts fitted once the Diff has been completed and re-fitted done.



The Ball Joints from the States arrived, they took about 5 mintues a side to Press them in, Fit a Circlip, Fit the Boot and put back on the Car. Unlike the Stock Mazda ones these have a Greese Nipple so should last a lot longer (especially the amount of time the car actually gets used).







I Now only have the 2 Front Hubs and the Diff left to Blast.
I split the Diff after draining it first, I hate the smell of Diff/Gearbox oil.

2 Bolts snapped (as they do) but I was able to weld on a Nut on 1 and a Bolt on the other to get them and out. Threads cleaned out and new bolts ordered.

I left the Old Oil Seals for the Drive Shafts in Place until the blasting was done. I took the Vent out before Blasting and Masked Up the Mating Flange where it fits to the other half of the Diff Casing.

Prior to Painting, I removed the old Oil Seals and Masked up the Holes. I'll fit new seals after it has been painted.







I've got to make a cover for the "Mechanical" half of the Diff before that gets painted but this bloody Winter Cold/Flu crap has come a visiting and slowing me down a tad...

Nearly a Rolling Chassis again, once the Shocks arrive that is.

[mscott]

Well the Flu has now gone so back to work... No More Excuses !!

With Lots (I mean LOTS) of masking I was able to Blast the Cast portion of the Diff.

I still ended up with a small amount of Blast Media in my diff (arghhhhh) but washed it out repeatedly in my parts washer tank.



The Diff Spacer/Mounting plate was originally snapped when I got the diff and I had previously welded it but now it needed replaceing.

Thanks to Stewart Mutch (Mr. Freaky Parts) as he had a spare in his huge stock of MX5 bits for me..



I Painted the Ally part in Aluminium Paint and the Diff Body in Black. Once dried I sealed it back up and fitted new Seals and Bolts.







The "Shiny" Diff was now fitted back in the chassis with the aid of my Engine Crane.





As I still was waiting for the Shocks at this point I turned to fitting the Gearbox Cover/Tunnel.

The superfluous holes had previously been welded up however the Cover was badly fitted originally and a "Large" amount of PU adhesive was filling the gap.



I used a wide block of wood and a heavy hammer to Re-Shape the panel to better fit.



Once to shape I Riveted the panel in place with Large Flange Rivets as I wasn't planning on making it an Easy-to-Remove panel, no real need in an Exocet..

The Passenger Firewall panel was also trimmed an fitted correctly, again Riveted in place.



Now the Shocks were back I decided to Blast & Paint the Rear Springs as most of the Powder Coating had been rubbed off and started to rust, thats a slow job...

Whilst I was at it I did the Front Hubs whilst in the Blasting Mood.





The Drive Shafts have had the usual Blast & Paint Treatment, I decided to make the Shafts Aluminium Colour and CV's Black to put a bit of Contrast into a large "Black" area..



Now I had Shocks back I could fit them with the Shafts, at last I can start to see progress on the Drive Train..





Rear Calipers, Discs and New Freaky Parts Wheel Spacers could now go on along with the Handbrake Cables.

No Flex Hoses yet as I still haven't decided on the Brake Bias location and need to measure all the Hoses at the same time..

I next turned my attention to the Front Hubs and Wheel Arch Stays.

The stays were rubbing on the Upper Wishbones and too close to the 195 Tyres and as I'm looking at going up to 205 tyres they needed a bit of tweaking with a little heat from some Map Gas and a tube as a lever I managed to make them "More Suitable" for the job.



As I was still waiting for some Aluminium Sheets to arrive I decided to Paint the Tunnel and Passenger Firewall panel, needed doing at some time so now was as good as any.



Next job is one that puts fear in many a Kit-Car builder, wiring !

My original loom was a Hybrid of the Original MegaSquirt Install Loom (when I still had a Full MX5 Loom fitted suring the early Supercharger Install Days) and the Custom Chassis Loom I had done after I re-wired the car after the Engine Blew at Silverstone a few years ago.







I was never happy with the Original Engine Side of the wiring and as I have now discarded the Mazda Dash and have something "Nice" to replace it the wiring might as well be re-worked to suit.







I taped up the Chassis where the Wiring Tray fits until I'm ready to fit it for good.



The Centre Console originally housed my Lap Timer/Shift Light Dash but this has been sold on and I will have to do something with the holes left behind.

I have a plan which hopefully will be beneficial to me during the Race Prep at Circuits... More to follow when I'm sure.!



My Aluminium Sheets have arrived so I made up a Paper Template of the Drivers Foot-well and transferred to the Aluminium Sheet. The original Panel was good for scrap and never fitted well.







The Foot-well Panel was then Painted and Riveted into place.

The only panels left to do now are the Side Panels and GRP Body Panels...

Getting there now..!





Now the only way I could work out where to put the Brake Bias Valve and the New Dash Mount was to sit in the car. This meant temporarily fitting the seat and climbing in the car whilst still on the Builders Tressels CAREFULLY !



I was originally looking at putting the Brake Bias Valve on the Dash Pod I'm planning on building, however once I sat in the car with the steering wheel back on I realised in Race Conditions this might be too difficult to adjust so have instead decided to fit it on the side of the Tunnel by the Gear Lever.

My hand is in that area during the race changing gear so makes sens to fit it there.

My New Dash Pod will have the Driving Lights Switch, Driving Lights Warning Lamp, Rain Light Switch, Rain Light Warning Lamp, and Dash Controls: Menu Up, Menu Down, Enter and Return Buttons along with a Waterproof USB socket for the Dash Data-logger connection to a Laptop.

The Dash Pod will also mount my Race Technology Dash 2 Pro and allow for somewhere to make the Electrical Connections required.

I'm looselybasing my Dash Pod on the SkunkWurx Carbon Fibre Pod for the Ariel Atom however I cant justify the £340+ for it and besides it needs to fit the MX5 Steering Column when I've finished.

I've made a Template from a "Not To Scale" drawing found on the Internet.



The Race Dash supply a Scaled Drawing of the Dash for Mounting Purposes to have printed and stuck this to a Cardboard Sheet, don't fancy dropping or damaging a £1200+ dash at this stage..

The Dash Pod Template had now been transferred to the Aluminium Sheet and I carefully Jig-Sawed it out and shaped it on a Flap Wheel in my Angle Grinder held in my Vice with a large M8 bolt where the handle fits.





Once I had 1 to size and shaped I transferred this to the Aluminium and cut the second half.



Now I have 2 panels I Clamped them together and again sanded the second panel to match the first half using the Grinder and a couple of Files.

Next step was to cut a strip of Alumium Sheet 70mm Wide 1M long so I can make the Pod.

Lots of Thin Aluminium Welding to follow, I can't wait...........



More to come when I get 5 mins..

[aterro]

Looks good

Where did you get your cv joints from?

Also, your rear diff bolts ( the ones welded/pressed into subframe)

Are they original? Is yours a mk2 rear subframe?