Craig's Finished Exocet Turbo

[h5ngs]

More progress yesterday and today, took the arms to work and started stripping down the hubs, removed the front bearings and removed the dust covers, unfortunately snapped one of the bolts so had to drill and tap it.






I removed the anti roll bar links as the bolts had seized and had to split the driveshaft as the cv joint was seized in the hub bearing but managed to press it out without a problem. Pressed the hub bushes out but i need to still burn the bushes out of the other arms.

No im left with 2 boxes of bits, one of parts that need to be powder coated or rubbed down and hammerited and the other one all the parts that need the bushes to be burnt out.




I'm going to remove the lower arm from my other mx5 at the weekend as the other was damaged when trying to press the bush out. Then ill just swap them over so i can keep a rolling chassis. Then all my parts will be nearly ready to go to powder coating.

[red5]

Beware of the difference between Mk1 and mk2 lower arms and roll bar links on the back.

I got a MK 1 lower arm replacement on my Mk2 and its differant ( didnt know any odds at the time and neither did the supplier!) - had to do a bit of cutting to get the link arm to fit on.

I maybe teaching a proper Mx5 nut to suck rear link arms there ! , but thought id just make sure you know.

[h5ngs]

Both the cars i have are mk1's mate so its ok.

[h5ngs]

Well I swapped over the passenger rear lower arm on Sunday the one that I damaged trying to press the bushes out, was an absolute nightmare, bolt adjuster bolts snapped and one of them has seized inside the bush sleeve so I had to grind the head of the bolt off to get the arm out. I pressed out all of the drop link bushes today without a problem just been waiting on some acetylene for the gas bottles at work so I can finish burning out the rest of the bushes on the arms then its all ready to go to powder coating.
I also received my flo-flex poly bush kit today. I got these bushes as thefreak has been struggling to get the xs bush kit for the same price he said the supplier had put the price up per kit by £70 and this kit came in at £102.75 delivered so cant complain. They look okay quality but we'll see when it comes round to fitting them.




All in all the projects coming along nicely now. How long is the waiting list on a exocet kit these days anyway. Front ordering to ready for collection? Cheers Craig.

[John B]

I was told by Stuart that the kit would be ready for collection 4weeks after the deposit is received.

[h5ngs]

Cheers john

[h5ngs]

Well I've got all of the bushes removed from the suspension arms, hubs and drop links now, so everything is now ready to go to powder coating. I'm going to see the guy who is doing the work tomorrow to arrange when he can make a start.



Hopefully ill be able to get the powder coating done soon then get the bushes fitted and start cleaning up the other parts to painted.

[John B]

How did you go about burning the bushes out? What did you use?
Is there any chance you can damage the metal work doing it this way or is the the method most people use?

[Stewart]

It's the recommended way of removing them. The rubber will burn before the metal gets damaged. You can use a gas torch at home, or get a garage to use their oxy torch to do it.

[h5ngs]

Well I finished off removing the bushes the other day and took all my parts down to get powder coated. Ive left them with him to do over the next week or so and they are all getting done in satin black.
I stripped down my pedal assemblies so they will be done also, and decided to take some pictures to aid putting them back together










And finally my pieces which will come back lovely and black


Decided to take these to not only help me on reassembly but may also helps others as reference photos if needed.

I now need to start stripping down my red 5 and selling parts off it to help fund more of the build, got my eye on some new seats, alloy radiator and stainless exhaust manifold to go with the build but see how funds are first.

[h5ngs]

Well got some more done today on my dinner break, I'm waiting for all the parts to be powder coated and I plan on refurbishing the hubs etc... as I'm rebuilding the front and rear sub-frames so they don't get damaged while sitting around.
So today I thought I'd make a start on the radiator. The standard radiator has a single cooling fan without air-con and twin fans with air-con, this means the standard position of the fan is on the end of the radiator. On my radiator all of the bolts were seized and rotten so needed removing and replacing, so decided to make some brackets to move the fan into the centre of the radiator.







Fan and all of the old rusty bolts removed.


Brackets measured and cut, just lining them up.




Finished and mounted.


I might make an alloy plate to cover the radiator so all the darm has to be drawn through the fan like most modern cars as this help to cool all of the radiator. I will also be cleaning and painting it black before its fitted with cut down bolts but will leave it as is for now and will be stored in my garage.

[sspogman]

Sounds like a good idea you've had there. Is the loom going to be long enough or will you have to let in a couple of inches to get the connectors to meet up?

[h5ngs]

Not too sure on the wiring, but not fused, i plan redoing the loom anyways to remove unwanted and unneeded parts, wiring's my strong point so I'm confident with the task. But I'm far from wiring yet

[h5ngs]

Right well it's been a while since i updated this build so here goes, been waiting for my parts to be powder coated (which is taking a while) anyways i decided with the bank holiday it was the perfect time to make another start on stripping down the red mx5 to make space to start building up my new shiney parts.

First off friday morning seen the last time the engine will run until the build starts coming together... which i expect a while yet, so after running up the engine i started on the strip down.

Started on Friday at around 11:30 and finished at 7:30, then today at about 11 until 5 so a good few hours on my own to plod on but I've pretty much stripped the full car. So from a near full car ( minus front bumper and wings) to all i have left to do is unbolt the subframe from the body and lift it off, the only reason i didnt do that part was i snapped my breaker bar the other day and have yet to replace it and id left my cordless impact gun at work. Anyways ill let the pictures do the talking as im pretty shattered now

First off some tools i brought from work as you dont need a lot to strip an mx5 down really


Start at the back and work forward





started to label the connectors


then came the roof





take the dash out and start on the wiring







headlights, rad, pipes, power steering reservoir and pump, then main loom time



all labelled when removed and then bagged for safe keeping/easy storage


next brakes, clutch, accelerator and steering


parts ready for the scrap man


parts ready for the skip at work


parts i need


and what I'm left with



I havnt removed the carpet as ive got nowhere to put it, also hardtops on ebay so finishes tomorrow and someones bid on it so thats that out my way and give me money for the powder coating.

Anyways that was day one day 2 was more work less pictures and it was the boring stuff i just wanted to get on with so i did.

Removed the following:
front and rear brake assemblies
all flexi pipes
fuel lines
handbrake cables
steering rack and pipes (ive got a manual rack thats why the other is out for the scrap)
exhaust
wiring underneath
drained fuel from tank (and put in my other mx5)


all that leaves me is the 6 bolts front, 6 bolts rear and lift the body off. Then the fuel tank can be removed and off to the scrap.

Question guys - as this is my donor with all the documents i take it if i take a picture of the vin plate on the body then a pic of me grinding a panel out with it on then giving it to the iva man he will be happy with that just as proof it was the car i said i was?

Well that was day 2 over and done, no pics but like i said all the boring seized snapped stuff that takes forever... on a good note the other week i had a look at my 2 diffs i had which ill be fitting.

Now i thought one was LSD and one wasn't... well i was right, just the one i thought was, wasn't and vice versa. But i was pleased that at least one is. I thought it would be good to show the difference. I.e there is no way what so ever to tell if it is or isn't LSD from looking at it. You need to remove the drive shaft hubs and look inside, which is real easy and could even be done on the car by only removing the 4 bolts on one side driveshaft if needed (to check your mx5 maybe?) I did some looking online to check and from the info i found here im good.
www.miata.net/garage/diffguide/index.html

diff 1


diff 2

diff 1


diff 2


diff 1


diff 2


diff 1


diff 2


now for the important part, remove the hubs (big chisel and hammer and give them a tap, they come out pretty easy)

diff 2 the NON LSD

see the pin inside connecting the gears

diff 1 LSD


now the only down side was that this diff both of the driveshaft hub seals were leaking so i TFR'd and jet washed to unit, brake cleaner to remove the rest of the oil and then i replaced the 2 seals and drained, flushed and refilled with new oil. So now its all ready for a paint when the time comes to put it back in.

Oh i seen the seals available from mx5 parts and also on ebay. The ebay genuine part ones were about £17 each however a phone call the the local mazda dealer i got 2 for £20. Thats with a little bit of a discount as i work in a garage but still a normal customer it would be cheaper than the other suppliers.

Oh and before i go, I love the look of the multi spoke wheels on the exocet and think that KP has the ideal set which i think look awesome but the cost of those wheels are quite high so i was searching through the bay and found a decent set of Advanti SG40 wheels at a good price £160 delivered with 195/45/15 tyres on which are all good so decided they were the ones i wanted.





Here is the black 17" versions off ebay, Let me know what you think




Well i think thats enough of an update ill try keep them coming once i remove the body and start building up the refurbed suspension. I also plan a full engine strip down and rebuild too ready for the supercharger Cheers Craig.

[h5ngs]

Right well its been a long day but iIm now sorted for ready to start stripping the engine and re-furbing parts and putting my running gear together I've been told that my parts will be powder coated this coming week so decided to finish stripping the mazda. All I had left to do today was unbolt the body and lift it off.
This was easier said than done as I was working on my own and only had a 3 tonne trolly jack to do it. Was interesting but got there in the end.

After snapping my power bar i ordered a new one ready for today. Its a Bergen extra long 30" bar which came in very useful.



So here's where i started that day, 1:30pm after i had been at work since 8 this morning.



Undone all the bolts and jacked up both ends and placed 4x4 fence posts on the sub frames to create a gap.





Body starting to come off





Now i had the idea of trying to remove the body on my own, was a challenge but managed. I jacked the car right up and put 2 alloys with the 4x4 posts on the sills to create a pivot and some more wheels to support the car. I then split the gearbox from the prop shaft and PPF. Then i rolled the rear axle out, and same with the front.







Used a dumb bell as a axle and wheels for the gearbox which made it much easier to wheel out the engine and gearbox









This left me with the running gear removed but the dilema of the body sitting on alloy wheels and stuck inside the garage.




I had brought a small trolly home from work but was hard to get it stable so i had the idea of using the 2 dumb bells again, i cut a groove out of a 4x4 post and then put the post on the chassis rail with the dumb bell in the groove to create an axle, i did this on both sides which means i can now move the whole body on my own very easily and its very maneuverable.








I moved the body out of the garage and decided i needed a little tidy up before moving more stuff as the body was very rottern and the reason for it being stripped to build the kit.








Garage now looking a mess with stuff everywhere inside and out






now choices choices which wheels do i use for the build



BBS 15" s special wheels, chrome lip with gold centres - these are pretty rare in the 15" form and get lost from most cars but ill be keeping these for when the time comes to sell on my s special.



Wolfrace asia tec triad 15" wheels



My new purchase 15" Advanti racing sg40 wheels.



I am 99% on usign the advanti wheels and seen as tho i want them black i bought some anodise red wheel nuts to go with them they look very nice even with the wheels in silver




As I'm going to scrap the body i need the vin plate so took some pictures to show removing it from the car and ive kept the plates





So after all that i had a tidy up put my tools away and the bits back in the garage, then covered the mazda ready to be taken away.






Overall was a productive day just am shattered. Cant wait to make a start on rebuilding once my parts are powder coated. I plan on building up all the chassis, stripping and rebuilding the engine, then putting it all together before i order my kit so that once it is ready i can start straight away.

Id rather do a full nut and bolt build than just leave all the suspension built up and paint it just incase it needs to come apart to replace anything. Hope you like and I'll update it once my shiney parts are complete

Cheers Craig.