Bruce's Exocet Build

[bruciebonus41]

Hey Guys,

Just started on the fun part build after picking up the kit just before Christmas so thought it would be useful to get a build log going. 

My donor was a 1998 Mk2 1.8, that I picked up for a bargain £500! 




The body was in ok condition, couple of panels were knackered and the roof was leaking like a sieve, and along witha few other minor issues it that meant the impending MOT was going to be a failure for the previous owner.

After spending a solid week off work taking apart the donor, labelling everything on the loom with the wifes Dyno printer, and a Saturday afternoons help from a couple of mates we got the body off and waved goodbye to it when the local scrap dealer came to take it away. 



Managed to sell this lot (minus the seats as I'm still undecided on what to do in that department), and a few miscellaneous bits for about £400, so the donor owes me virtually nothing at this point.

[bruciebonus41]

Next it was time to start cleaning up what was left. I was determined to do as much of this myself as I possibly could, so began the laborious (but oddly satisifying to me at least), process of clean, file, wirewheel, sand, paint, repeat.



Started with the PPF, and the rear subframe 

   

I also decided to swap out the diff and pick up a torsen. My donor had a welded diff, which was great fun for the weekend I drove it, but not something I could live with long term!!



All bushes are being swapped out for the Energy Suspension kit I got from FreakyParts, and I managed to press out all but 3 of the bushes using my vice and a cheap tool that annoyingly broke with 1 wishbone to go. For the stubborn one I got the blowtorch out:

[bruciebonus41]

With the bushes out, I relented on the DIY approach for the control arms, and took them off to a powdercoaters in Eastleigh who did a cracking job




Pressing in the Energy Suspension bushes was a nice experience compared to some others I've fitted in the past, plenty of grease and they slide together with minimum fuss



Note on the diff bushes for those using the Energy suspension kit. Keep the old diff spacer that sits on when you take the diff off the subframe, this will need to be reused.

[ritchie624]

Looking good mate. Solid start hope you manage to keep the pace up...

[bruciebonus41]

After a few coats of paint on the rear subframe, I had the joy of putting something back together and after a couple of hours I had a rolling rear subframe again. Putting something back together was a mini milestone for me.





Then it was the front subframes turn to get some attention

[bruciebonus41]

After the subframes were tidied up, I set to work on the engine. I'd bought a kit for a cambelt & waterpump service, and in the process of taking various bits off I ended up spending a lot more on various seals etc that had gone off, still better to find it now than later on when everything isn't as accessible.






The biggest pain was the rear main seal had gone, coating everything in a nice thin film of oil inside the transmission that was a complete pain in the ass to clean out.

I've also swapped out the clutch and flywheel for the Bofi Racing clutch and comp flywheel- forgot to take a picture before throwing it back together though! 

Everything had a good clean and presto, good as new!

[bruciebonus41]

I got the message from Stewart that my kit was ready, and it was time to rent a van and get down there. 

Had a great time down at the factory, and spent an hour or so having a good chat and snoop around. Stewart is a great guy and managed to answer a lot of the questions I'd had.





Got everything back home safely and into the garage.

[bruciebonus41]

Got the floors fitted at the weekend, fairly straightforward to do, spent a lot of time measuring before cutting and drilling any kind of the holes.

After a thick run of tigerseal the floors were riveted into place.







Next up is to run the fuel & brake lines, and then I can get the PPF back together and the chassis the right way up and facing the right way as it's currently sideways across the garage due to lack of space!



A note on the fuel hoses, from one newbie to any others who might not have done this before, make sure you get the right type. I initially bought something that was fuel rated, but not the right pressure, and this was thankfully noticed by someone on the Facebook page before I started fitting it. Make sure you get something R9, I've bought 8 metres of this after returning the wrong one www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/codan-sae-j30-r9-high-pressure-rubber-fuel-hose-2008532/

[bruciebonus41]

Jan 9, 2020 13:52:02 GMT ritchie624 said:

Looking good mate. Solid start hope you manage to keep the pace up...

Thanks Ritchie, I'm about 5 months in so far, so playing a bit of catchup on the post side of things!

[Stewart]

Looking good! Keep the pics coming!

[bruciebonus41]

Missed out on a couple of weekends due to messing my ankle up playing football 🤦‍♂️, but got in at the weekend, ran the fuel and brake lines and flipped the body right side up which felt like an achievement. Next up I'm going to get the brake system plumbed in, and need to find a suitable place to put the ABS cylinder, what have you guys done with this?

[garman]

Nice progress! You are going to have a sweet Exocet when you are finished. Your color scheme looks great. You are taking the right approach with replacing seals and bushings while you can. Once you get it together you won't want to be bothered with small repairs. All you'll want to do is drive it. Keep up the good work.

[bruciebonus41]

Jan 27, 2020 20:35:27 GMT garman said:

Nice progress! You are going to have a sweet Exocet when you are finished. Your color scheme looks great. You are taking the right approach with replacing seals and bushings while you can. Once you get it together you won't want to be bothered with small repairs. All you'll want to do is drive it. Keep up the good work.

Cheers Garman, so far it seems that a load of hours goes into certain bits and it doesn't look like much, then all of a sudden it all comes together and it's a big step forward.

[Stewart]

Jan 27, 2020 18:35:00 GMT bruciebonus41 said:

Next up I'm going to get the brake system plumbed in, and need to find a suitable place to put the ABS cylinder, what have you guys done with this?

[bruciebonus41]

Jan 28, 2020 10:01:50 GMT Stewart said:

Jan 27, 2020 18:35:00 GMT bruciebonus41 said:

Next up I'm going to get the brake system plumbed in, and need to find a suitable place to put the ABS cylinder, what have you guys done with this?