Mr Zee's Exocet Project

[lukiez]

despite the late start of this threat, i've already made some headway with my build. so i'll just lay it out to current events so far.

First of all after some research into mx5's i soon began a search for suitable donors back in april soon came across this one from a guy who trades all things mx5's

trouble was i liked it too much to strip down, "maybe after the summer..." then only a week later i also got this one which being crash damaged [not written off] which will be the donor.

ok the guy had sold off some bits already but importantly not the bits i needed [except the exhaust system and seats. but i was left with some useful parts still to sell.


very soon the strip down was in earnest removing everything from the top side, followed by un-bolting the body after pipes, brackets, tank etc. so it was completey free.


finally the car's skirt is lifted off!

sadly i didn't take many pics of the strip down - as i was too busy taking it apart ;D! basically took off the sub frames and suspension arms etc and left the gearbox and diff still bolted to the PPF as its mosty 'dry' from oil and dirt/rust

[h5ngs]

Looking good mate, im hoping to start my strip down soon keep up the pics good to see peoples ideas.

[autosolutions]

Coming along nicely, keep up the good work

[lukiez]

as so while the mx5 is now in bits, sent off the subframes and wishbones off to be shotblasted. since the bushes were in all in good nick (ahem! saving money) i first hand painted them then finished off with spray in hammerite smooth black. the rear subframe was pretty crusty on the top so had both front & rear powder coated (same workshop) to match

mean while i got on with cleaning up the drive train and painting it up


seperated the springs and dampers, sprayed up in white and then re-assembled with new [standard] springs


nice! love things shiney and new[ish]

so by the end of an evening i had the rear section assembled


ah! time for a beer

[lukiez]

thanks for the replies, while not my first kit it's my first 'build blog', i've got a few ideas planned how i want it to look

on the engine it looks as tho the oil was coming from the cam cover and the camsensor so gave it a spruce up as best possible. (brake cleaner seemed to cut thru the dirt best - must be the synthetic oil...). changed the o-ring and fan belt [cambelt recently changed] replaced the clutch and then 'detailed' the intake/plenum chamber - grind off the casting ribs a light rub down and sprayed to bling it up. i'll be doing the same to the cam cover later on.

bolted up to the gearbox and further cleaned underneath, yes thats me!


painted the exhaust manifold matt black, strangely it looks more like a race engine of old. i've sourced the downpipe and a 'cat' for it, altho i do need the rear pipe section to go from there to marry up to a new exhaust box.

all the rubber boots were replaced on the ball joints since they are fine, just repacked with fresh grease which firmed them up too

front hubs cleaned and painted

next up is the front subframe which offered up to work out which engine mount should go on first plus replace the broken one. as it was the righthand one can be left off the engine (starter motor side).


the front wishbones/arms were soon assembled

and then hoisted onto its temporary {soft} trolley ;D


all this was done during the week after finally shifting a grotty Focus thru the MOT - front springs, faulty ABS, corroded discs, broken exhaust (new manifold), new 'cat' while dealing with crusty nuts and bolts throughout thanks to road salt and sitting idle for nearly a year. it did pass in the end
a beer earn indeed!

[lukiez]

ah the weekend and the sun is still out if cold, figured i'd try and get the floor on and place the chassis on some wheels.

had a bit of a faff on saturday morning at screwfix trying to get a jigsaw and some odd bits, with service being rubbish as usual i gave up and went to b&q instead and came out with a new jigsaw and cordless drill in 10mins!

so down went a bit of carpet, and the aluminium panel, to keep wastage to a minimum lined up the chassis tunnel with the flat edge and marked out both sides all round (including chassis tubes)

soon cut out the two pieces with the new tool and marked out where the drill holes are to go and centre punched them.
started drilling the pilot holes this sunday and de-burred the top surface.

offered up the panels on the up-turned chassis and clamped in place, drilled out each hole in steps and inserting the rivets as i go. then took off the panel for a final de-burring and rounding of the corners

and so i was ready to fix the panel, applied some bonding/sealer laid the panel inserted the rivets... and then it went so wrong

at which point i'd heavily advise you beg/steal/borrow/buy a lazy tong riveter to do the job

as first we realised (my dad was helping) using the hand rivet tool very hard going and no shops open to buy one, carryed on. some shanks snapped off short way before being 'popped' thus the tool can't reach the remaining shank. with strength being sapped and the sealer slowly going off we tried to extend the handles for extra leverage only to break the tool twice! so had to retire for the evening and hope for the best in the morning

[lukiez]

had a more positive day today, bought a lazy tongue rivet tool - what a difference! so easy altho had to watch out a few times as the tool jumped after popping the rivet.
finished off last night's panel (guess the sealer stuck), de-burred the remaining one then bonded and rivetted in time for lunch

i did debate wether i would trial fit the chassis to check pipe runs etc. temporary forgot about the black plastic panels for a moment. then decided to bugger the lot and attempt to fit the chassis and aimed to get it on its wheels by the end of the day time permitting...

so time to employ the hoist once again so we can guide the chassis in gently rather than struggle - looks promising!

i did find i had to jiggle the subframes a lot to line up all the bolt holes, the rear one was especially tight...
i wonder if its meant to be that way to ensure its lined up with the chassis as best as possible?
got all the bolts in, in the end, lifted up the front and slipped in the shocks fitted them up and placed the wheel and set down.


at this point the steering rack is yet to go on, hadn't got round to it yet!
did the same again for the rear

ah at last looking more complete now (and yet so far away ) at least now i can push it around the 'yard'

thats probably the lot for this week, may do the odd bits like tighten up the chassis/subframe bolts etc.

[sspogman]

Know what you mean about the rivets - I broke my old Lidl special pop-riveter so went out and bought a draper professional one from Screwfix. Whilst this proved to be strong enough not to break, it was a real struggle to complete each rivet. Father-In-Law had his 40-50 year old Rawlplug riveter that looked pretty much identical to my new one (okay, how different a design can you really get...), but what a difference in performance. That old tool is awesome! Just goes to show that 2 items that look pretty well near identical can have an amazing difference in the way they perform - bit like comparing a McLaren to an HRT I guess

[lukiez]

yes exactly! my dad has a few tools like that (20+ years old), luckily he don't mind too much that i 'borrow' them (make that sneak into my toolbox ;D) on many occasions.

mind you sometimes even the cheap set of spanners (Lidl a good example) are hard to beat even when taking a hammer to them to shift stubburn bolts/nuts

[red5]

Nice work cheif - but make sure you drill the mudguard supports before you go any further = epic if you leave it .Consider the fuel lines as well , so much easier with the body off.

[lukiez]

red5 - i've already bolted it down but see that i would need the master cylinders etc so i can work out the routing, however i intended to do the same as yours utilising the original bracket/clips then spotted it on your thread

i should be alright with wing stays since the exhaust won't be going on for a while yet so still have room.

just been doing odd jobs this week, tightening up the subframe bolts even the 'optional' ones on the front subframe as they sat slightly proud. cleaned up the steering rack and looped the pipes. put new boots on the ball joints... bugged up the first one, luckily i had a second set intended for my other mx5.
did the front anti-roll bar, seems it more forward since the drop links didn't line up initially... offered up the rack and bolted on, kinda regretted not spraying the sump now while it was off the subframe

put the disc on this time as it got too dark and cold when we got the chassis and wheels on


these wheels won't be used as one sustained damage (cracked rim) in the crash but i've already got fancy replacements and new rubber to go on them

while the wheel was off i trial fitted the 32mm wheel spacers (from rally design)

altho they fit, i'm not happy with them as the stud on them are too short (UNF ones i got sent by mistake were much longer), which only takes 4 turns(!?) of the nut to hold the wheel on! - about 6mm compared with 14mm on the original studs (no spacers)

seems to me they're intended for steel rims instead... might need to rethink this

[lukiez]

sorry for the lack of posts recently, pretty much slowed down for the winter and currently seeing to other jobs around the house, selling some vehicles to make room ;D

as you may have read in another thread, i found a solution to the wheel spacers with new sleeved nuts. and since the car was on wheels its now inside the garage before the weather got too cold/wet/snowed [well thats what the weathermen threatened].

the build will continue from time to time - probably pick up again in the spring

[lukiez]

hi all! happy new year!

feels like its been awhile since i done anythaing on the build, well now the main garage floor has been re-levelled and painted the car was swapped back in with more room to work on.

i thought i'd finally finished the cam cover, which i had already removed back in Oct/Nov and gave it a good scrub up with wet & dry, once cleaned up gave it a good coating of silver spray and left to cure. while it looked smart its not complete but was put away since

today i decided to dig it back out and detail the lettering on the cam cover as i had originally intended to do before winter, just used red hammerite thinned down with cellulose and a very small brush - took about 3 coats to get a decent thickness

after taking a good break from the fumes(!) cleaned up the head area in preperation to fit the cam cover - looked like they used loads of sillicone on a hardened gasket wondered why it leaked(!) came off easily enough, soaked up some of the oil in the spark plug holes. fit the new rubber gasket and popped the cover on.
while i was at it cleaned up the ignition leads (donor came with red 'competition' magnecor ones!) and promptly fitted it all up to finish the engine (bar the wiring...)

Wet wipe tissues works wonders on leads, wiring and hoses. thats one tidy looking engine if i may say so, glad i took the effort to tart it up ;D

cheerio for now!

[John B]

Hi mate, nice work. It looks like you've used alot of new bolts on your build, can I ask where you got them from or are they old ones cleaned up, if so how did you get them so clean?

[lukiez]

All bolts have been re-used! All rusty bolts were treated to a wire wheel using the bench grinder, watch the nickel plating on some bolts (best to leave alone if good). Bare in mind it will start to rust again so I used a wd40 can cut in half once the gas ran out but still had oil and brushed over. Some bolts I'll be painting over once torqued.
The cam cover bolts were cleaned in a degreaser and dried and later polished - try scotchbrite first if chrome is lightly rusted.

I did find the anti-roll bar linkage bolts had bad threads on them which could damage the nuts, so used a rethreading tap & die to clean them up and hopefully restore the threads.