Scott's Exocet mk3 build.

[scottyboy]

Lifting the bodyshell is covered in the MEV mk3 guide, there is a sneaky bolt on the rear struts that you need to get from underneath. 





I attached the chains to the seat mounts, one front and one rear each side, however the bodyshell was very front heavy and I needed a rope to keep the front up. Later I attached the chains to the four front seat mounts only and it was better balanced. Remember that I still have the doors, bonnet and boot etc still on the bodyshell so maybe that affected the balance.














I did it myself with the forklift and it went OK, but if you are doing it with just an engine hoist I think you will need a hand from two or three mates.

[o55ie18]

Great work mate keep it up. Get ready for all the dust clouds once you start tackling the rust! Haha

[scottyboy]

I lifted the engine and gearbox from the subframes.

[gazzamk]

Scottyboy, I can se your building a MK3. just failed my IVA today due to some specific issues with the MK3. so happy to give you a steer on my experiences. email me on [e-mail] and I can walk you through them.

Top tips...
1. track your cluster backlight wiring as I think it comes from the centre console. I ripped my wiring out and had to install 16 LED's to get it backlite running.
2. your main beam will be positive switch and you dipped negative switched so you will need a relay.
3. plan on having fog lights otherwise you will fail the IVA like I did. only fail was rear fog come on with side lights if you use the standard MK3 configuration. this is not allowed and you either need to run you own switch with cancellation or run the fogs (and keep/remove after). I am going for a halo fog solution solution.
4. if its marked then it must work. i.e. I had the horn symbol on the steering wheel but have moved it to the right hand stalk. that failed and needs painting out where items are not used.

other than that, it was mainly plain sailing and went through just fine. a simple retest will fix the fails and it should be up and passed within a couple of weeks!

please reach out if you need to chat!

Gary

[scottyboy]

Hi Gary, sorry I've not replied before but not been on here for a couple of months due to work. I will probably have loads of questions as I progress and any advice is welcome.

[scottyboy]

Back in the garage after a mega busy 3 months at work on the farm, getting the harvest done then replanting all the fields.

Time to strip the suspension off of the subframe, starting with the rear. First the ball joints. I have a rocker type ball joint splitter and it got the small ones off, but it wouldn't fit the larger ones. So I went old school, a lever on the joint while whacking the side of the tapered hole. After some time I  was getting nowhere, with the hub being made of aluminium I didn't want to hit too hard fearing damage. So I retreated to ebay where I bought this 2 leg puller ball joint splitter. It worked a treat.

[scottyboy]

Many of the bolts are rusted solid needing a blow torch to free them. I am trying to save the bolts rather than cut them, I might buy new replacements but it is nice to have the option, but it is slow work.

So here are the 2 rear hubs. I have read on  the forums about some builders having real problems trying to separate the drive shafts from the hubs, so I am going to leave them alone unless I really need to separate them. 





The pinch bolts for the toe control arms are stuck solid, if I use too much heat it will knacker the ball joint so I will need to think about them.

[scottyboy]

The next job is to remove the arms from the subframes, but many of the bolts are stuck in the bushes. So plenty of heat to burn the bush away, then directly heat the metal tube which was the centre of the bush and then work the bolt free.

I think Mazda, instead of painting the MX5, sprayed the bare metal with salt water, never seen so much rust!