Geoff's Exocet build - Basingstoke

[geoff]

A great day yesterday, meeting Stewart and seeing the MEV UK Home, so much to see and take in...loved it.

Now all home and the fun can begin, so this weekend will be spent getting everything ready to attach the floors, including planning seat runner placement to plan where to rivet. So a weekend of planning, bear in mind I only get 4 hours or so, in total, so it will be slow progress.

[geoff]

So pleased to be working on the new frame, and I just stand and look when I go into the garage!

I bought some cheap matting from Halfords (only £36) to protect it from the garage floor, and found it fairly easy to turn it over in prep for amounting the floor.



I used PU adhesive and got it all mounted without any drama, leaving as much of the protective film on the floor as I can.




I have ordered the Braided Hose Brake kit from Stewart and also need to order some fuel line, and get those mounted with P Clips and Rivnuts before flipping it back over. Not sure the length required for the fuel line from front to back, so will have to go back out and measure, would 4m do?

[geoff]

So tidying up today, got all the excess PU adhesive removed from the underside, will do the topside when it is flipped back over, fairly easy to clean up. Ordered new braided fuel line, I went for 4m of the Ethanol compatible line so should have enough for front to back and plumbing around the tank, also ordered P Clips for brake and fuel line and Rivnut tool has arrived to mount those.



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I will have no time next weekend, so trying to do what I can in the early hours of the week...

[geoff]

Lots of progress this week, whilst waiting for parts, brake lines, clips, bolts, I decided to make a start on the petrol tank, I am using the one from the donor and got it all cleaned up and pulled out the Hammerite again.




I started reading up on fuel tank connectors and seem to be favouring AN fittings at this stage, I think it will look much better. Happy to hear anyones view on this.

The parts all arrived and I set about mounting up the brake lines and fuel lines, I decided to Rivnut the fixings, in the event that I need to replace the lines for any reason.




The only thing left before I can flip it over and mount it to the roller skate was to paint the floor with some stone chip shield, lots of masking and warming the rattle can under a hot tap, and it all went very well.





So next stage is to get it flipped over and lifted up to roll the skate underneath, I will use my wheel cribs, see my earlier posts, and axle stands to hold it up and then edge the roller skate underneath moving the supports as I go, and then using trolly jack and gearbox jack, try and lower it very slowly, an inch at a time to get it all lined up. I think it is a good plan, I do not have access to an engine crane, but my thoughts are that with my wheel cribs, axle stands, jacks, it will be more safe and steady being supported rather than hanging, and it could also make it a one man job....lets see.

[o55ie18]

Good work Geoff, coming along nicely. I went down to the factory earlier this week to discuss everything I will be wanting/ ordering etc so can't wait to get to the stages you're at. Good luck with mating the chassis to the skate and let us know how you get on

[geoff]

Hi all,

First, the hammerite stone chip paint on the underside looks amazing, it drys matt, and a shame that I won't see it that often!



Today I successfully brought the PPF and the frame together as one. I completed it as per the plan using cribs and axle stands and lowered the final foot with a trolley jack, it all went very smoothly and now it is starting to look like a car again.

I am so chuffed...it is possible to do it yourself, by yourself....sure it would help to have a fella on each corner but I got immense satisfaction from doing this myself....safely.

[geoff]

Moving along, I bolted up the frame to the PPF, no dramas, just made sure to follow the build guide on where to use washers and where not...and when all done it is all re-assuringly sturdy.

I took a look at the mud guard brackets next and quickly realised I need the 30mm wheel spacers, so got them on order and they arrive on Monday.

So I set about getting the pedals and steering wheel all in. There seems to be varying methods to do this, all due to the fact that the Exocet firewall is flat and the MX5's is not, it steps in on the clutch side, so you have to make some allowances for this, either getting the accelerator and brake pedal further back, by removing the spacers, or making the bolt for the steering column longer on the clutch side bolt and pack out with washers. I went for the latter, as per the build guide, just seemed the most sensible, and avoids having to make any steering column adjustments for me. 

I used the trusty angle grinder, turning out to be the most used tool on this build, and took off the back of the existing bolt, as it was welded to the pedal assembly, and put in a longer bolt and welded this in too.

[geoff]

Some small wins this week, no time on it today as had to do a brake pad change on my sons girlfriends car, nice and easy on an Audi A1 2017, was a change not to be tackling seized bolts!

So this week I got the rear brake line secured:


Then went about putting the throttle cable in, took an age to find a drill that could cut a square hole, but got there eventually but the cable on mine was not in great shape, the sleeve was stretched and non recoverable.. so managed to pick up a cheap one on eBay and fitting that tomorrow.

So then I started on the wing stays, and got the first one all sorted, and put the wing on top for a look to see some progress, not planning to drill a hole and install until much later, it will get knocked in my small garage!



So one down three to go, the front ones will be a pain, because all the dust cover bolts were seized, so will have to extract and re-tap the threads, but all fun really!

[geoff]

So throttle cable all in today, no issues, all very straight forward and it is very snug in the square hole cut into the bulkhead.





Also got the spacer and the wing bracket installed on the other side at the back.



Next step.....front wing stays....this will be a challenge, with all the dust cover bolts broken off and seized in, so this will be a slow process through the week I think. Let's see.

[geoff]

Font Wing Arms.....phew...was not looking forward to this, but when I got the wheels off all the holes for the wings have the bolts already extracted....what....did a miracle happen...what is going on, I had several of the Brake Dust guard bolts seized and broken off...this does not make sense....then my memory started to clear, and when I was working on these hubs, that I had wire brushed and painted, I must have drilled them out then...so memory actually not that good.

So, I had some drilled out holes and some iffy threads....so re-tapped what I could, what was too far gone, I drill out to 8.5mm and tapped to M10 and all sounds easy....but no, two broken taps....carbide drills to the rescue...these are really good to drill out taps, not carbide coated, get the real thing. Also the bracket on the nearside front did not quite fit, had to shave a little off the shoulder on the hub for it to sit square, a minor mod. So got there in the end.





Next step....bulk head...or side panels....or springs and dampers......

[geoff]

So lots of views on the colour of the coil springs, I initially thought red, but then quickly realised that they would be lost in a sea of red, so now thinking yellow or lime green. So not completely decided  and planning to put it all together and take a look around at the Kit Car Show and make some decisions there and buy the paint.

So onto installing the first corner, angle grinder out:



Banana plate on with a couple of M10's:



I also took the lip off the top mount for additional clearance.



Initially before bolting the top plate into place I thought I had clearance issues, but I had the supension very low, when the Suspension is installed it does not drop down half as far....happy days.

[geoff]

Its been a busy few weeks and I have grabbed as much time as could on the build. Initially started lining up the petrol tank to get this mounted.



I am going with on top of the bracket at the front and below on the back. I have retained the "Drip tray" as standard. I have not yet drilled the fixing holes.

I have also been fighting the trans tunnel...and I mean fighting...and have got a gear stick gaiter installed and used some edge trim to make it look good.



I have ordered a replacement fuel filter and mounting brackets and will get this plumbed in over the weekend. 

So I am still procrastinating on the trans tunnel, my gearbox is too high for it to fit well, and I am loathe to loosen the frame to lower it because those bolts never budged when I had it all stripped down, so thinking of rivnutting the tunnel with a spacer washer and running edge trim all round to fill the gap....lets see.

[wishful4444]

geoff

Have you considered putting a 'hump' in the trans tunnel so that it will fit over the protruding gearbox?

[geoff]

Hi,

The gearbox is high at the gearstick, it clears in the middle, so right at the end of the tunnel cover. So no opportunity for a hump, but many thanks for the suggestion.

Geoff

[wishful4444]

Could you not make the hole where the gearstick protrudes larger and cover the hole with a larger leather gaiter?