Craig's Finished Exocet Turbo

[h5ngs]

Well after being messed about waiting for a turbo to arrive finally got one from someone else a month later, still got an on going dispute at the moment ... anyway

decided to fit a Honda civic radiator and fan so I can fit my rs turbo intercooler along side it the rad was a lot easier to fit than the mx5 one and looks good too

Here's a quick preview




It will be ready to pull apart again soon for powder coating

[gwnwar]

That radiator look the same thickness as a MX5 one.. so you have lost 1/2 your coolant. why don't you put an intercooler in front of the radiator. they make IC all sizes. or run the tubes out the frame them back into the nose cone.. You start charging the engine you will need cooling.. What dia. hoses are you going to run to the IC. Why not have a rad shop modify the mx5 rad with 2 holes for the hoses to go through with new tubes for the missing one to join another tube to keep the flow going..

[h5ngs]

I plan on running an alloy civic radiator which are thicker but wanted to see fitment first and mock up the design, the radiator with fan was only £30 delivered so worth a try, I've looked at front mount but pipes were an issue I initially was going to run non intercooled but then decided against it, I''m going to use a standard rs turbo intercooler for now (£15 delivered) and if I need to upgrade at a later date I can use a double core one in the same location. Also with this set-up it will make my intercooler pipework shorter. Only time will tell with the cooling, at worst I can wire the fan to a switch to have the fan running more often.

[gwnwar]

Yes you can hard wire the fan in.. With only slight over heating it will take its toll on the engine.. Are you planning to race or really run this setup hard?? If so cool it better.. Have you thought of a thicker
(at lest twice) alum. rad and use a pusher fan..

[h5ngs]

The car will only be used for weekend driving so will never see hard track abuse, that's why my other mx5 is for
This is more or a show off, sunny day, car show type car. I do plan on fitting the double core rad tho.

[h5ngs]

Well it's up and running turbo power I've made a new coolant expansion bottle as space was tight but wish I had done this previously.

For anyone wanting to make one it was simple and cheap
aluminium drinks bottle £3.49
bottle holder £1.99
Original return tube £0
8mm plastic tube £0 got from work but mega cheap anyway
2 x 90 degree grease nipples £0 got from work but again pennies each
Short piece of brake pipe free with the kit and most people will have left overs from there builds




Right cut the top off the drinks bottle cap so it is flat,
Drill two holes in to screw in the grease nipples
Drill out the ball bearing of the grease nipple and enlarge the hole
Drill out on of the bottles of the grease nipple on the threaded part
Fit the grease nipples into the cap

Measure the brake pipe length to the bottom of the bottle leaving 1cm

Tap the pipe into the grease nipple you enlarged

Screw on the cap
Using the original pipes cut 2 2cm pieces of 8mm tube and insert them into the end of the pipes

Push the pipes onto the grease nipple ends
Fit bottle holder to your chosen mount
Insert bottle

job done

New vs old


Bottle fitted




Right that was one update

Main update is that the turbo is fitted and running



Few more parts are on order and then can plumb up the intercooler and dump valve, sort exhaust and rear tub brackets, then ready for the strip down and powder coating
Can't wait to give it a road test

[h5ngs]

Well time for an update again, been busy with new parts arriving and the turbo build is going well, did a few thinks tonight and also made a few changes to the dash design.

First was relocate the horns to the front.


I'd made a start the other day on the turbo inlet pipes and sorted that out which should work well and all fits under the bonnet too with no cutting required. I did have to change to my hks cone filter tho as its much shorter and fitted in better that the other one. I need to get a new red foam filter for it to match tho.






Moving onto the turbo cooling hoses, I used the hole in the turbo and made a small bracket to hold the pipe and then plastic clips to keep the pipes from rubbing on each other.





I've made and fitted a lower radiator hose also which I need to make a bracket to hold e standard metal pipe part. I've also fitted the turbo outlet pipe to the dump valve and connected the vacuum line to the inlet manifold.



Next up, due to using turbo boost, fuel pressure, air fuel gauges I decided to change the design of the dash to make fitting the gauges easier. I removed the wiring and the old shelf I had made, then made up a new panel with flat face to hold the gauges, it is also a lot deeper to fit the wiring in and some other turbo related parts which are required. The wiring is just laid in and I will be fixing it down then it comes to the final build to determine locations as I still need to moves some wiring for the cooling fan and timing controller.






Overall I'm very pleased with it and think it should look great with the gauges in it. I will be finishing all the interior parts off in carbon vinyl wrap too.
I'm getting there, I've bought the metal to make the rear brackets for the tank cover just need to make some up and drill and install the rivnuts to mount them.

[red5]

looks nice mate

[stubbers]

I see you've got the original ECU still in what are you doing for the fueling??

I plan to turbo mine after i turn 21 and the insurance will drop


Rich

[h5ngs]

Bipes acu and jr rrfpr, then once all the initial build costs and registration costs are over megasquirt ecu and loose the afm and run bigger intercooler and alloy civic radiator centre mounted. 7psi for now tho which should still make 180bhp

[welshy1]

Looking good nice to see some FI build on the go. Im planning on going supercharged after the iva next winter 250bhp would be awesome.

[tomaff]

Getting 250 from the supercharged side although no impossible is a lot harder than the turbo route. 200bhp or less, stick with a supercharger, 250bhp go for a turbo.

T

[h5ngs]

Well I've been waiting on some parts to arrive to get some more done. I've now pretty much finished the turbo install, with the exception of the timing and fuel control as ill now be taking it all back part again. I mounted the intercooler and had to move the coolant bottle again to the right side.

[gwnwar]

You may want to go to a RX7 AFM it is large for more intake air.. You just have to adjust the tension on the spring for the flap door under the black side cover.. Is that air filter going to allow enough air where it is located up to the firewall..

[h5ngs]

Hey thought I'd make an update on here as been busy recently. I fully stripped the frame and took to get powder coated, I went for gloss black which turned out nice. Also it only cost £160 for them to shot blast, etch prime and then powder coat my frame which I thought was really cheap. It has turned out nice however does have a few rough spots but nothing that I'm overly fussed on.

Frame off



I had noticed oil on the bottom of the gearbox and thought it was either rear crank or gearbox seal so whilst stripped I pulled it apart again. It turned out to be the cas o ring seal as I hadn't tightened the bolt because I was adjusting the timing ... Wups better found now tho and not when fully built.



Fitted the floor, brake pipes and fuel lines. I greased all the rivets before fitting to help prevent corrosion between the alloy rivets and steel flooring. I also fitted the side panels and greased the screws.





Whilst I liked my wheels I had I found a new set come up for cheap so got them. They are OZ Superleggeras 15 x 7j. These are one of the light wheels you can get and are now discontinued, also they are in the nice gunmetal gray colour too



Brake and clutch pedals fitted and bled. Steering column fitted.


Turbo, intercooler, radiator and ancillaries fitted, I heat wrapped the coolant line also as it's going to get hot down there.



Now it's starting to look like a car


I ordered rubber checker flooring but they managed to send me stud type instead, at first I wasn't too happy but once I put it on the car it looked pretty good so I decided to go with it. I'm really please on how it turned out and different too.





Bulkhead panels fitted but I wasn't happy with the silver bare metal look. For this I used faux leather and recovered all the panels. I've ran out of spray adhesive so need to finish a few bits off. But it looks much much better now.









Overall it's coming on nicely, I'm hoping to get the dash panels and instrument cover covered in the leather too which will finish off the inside but I need to cut the dash to mount my gauges and switches first. Can't wait for it to be running now