NITRAM'S BUILD

[gwnwar]

nitram.. Just cut out what you have and grind down what is left of PU and rebond a new grill in or bond on tabs to attach different ones to till you get what works and you like..

[nitram]

The fly screen trials.

Without a fly screen, driving is sensibly limited to about 40 mph wearing ordinary sun glasses. The fly screen was made out on 1 mm polycarbonate sheet that I had lying around from a greenhouse project. Cardboard templates, lots of them, resulted in the fly screen being cut out with scissors and fixed to the car. See previously for the packing wedges I had to make.



The screen appeared to be working well through the 50 mph barrier but at 55 mph began to ripple and at 60 mph collapsed flat. The sensation was a bit like being hit in the face with a cricket bat, but, on the plus side, all my ear wax was sucked out.

I tried stiffening the screen with some trim but the speed trial results were no better.



Stuart's recommendation, a while back, was to use 3 mm polycarbonate sheet and I have some of this on order. I'll also be making the screen a little higher and should be able to report on results next week.. In the meantime, I'll be using the wrap-arounds which allow a sensible top speed of about 50 mph.

[red5]

I have been cracked on the bonse one to many times by small stones or insects whilst driving mine

I always wear a skate/ snow board helmet, and rated glasses / moto x goggles when driving on the open roads.

3mm Fly screen is defo a must

[nitram]

The 1 mm polycarbonate screen was, to be honest, rubbish. The 3 mm polycarbonate screen is excellent.



Ebay provided the 400 x 1220 mm sheet which should be big enough for anyone to carve a fly screen (I'm 6 ft 2 in and sitting "up" on MX5 seats). I've mounted the screen about 5 mm off the bonnet. This allows a layer of air to pass up the inside of the screen and reduces turbulence off the trailing edge. Same principle as a slotted flap, for any aerodynamicists around. I've been up to 70 mph + VAT and the only thing that stopped me going faster was the realization that I had built this thing myself in my garage and I had promised myself to take it easy for a lengthy shake-down.


Toed64 has been running an interesting thread on his hot running engine. I've noticed my temperature gauge reading more than half. Additionally, the transmission tunnel has been hot and the car has a "hot oil" smell after a lengthy run. The mev grill mesh does not allow that much air through.



I've spent the last few days looking at production car grills and have been surprised how big the holes/gaps are. So, I've dispensed with the mev grill, found some plastic mesh in the garden shed



painted some of it black



and fitted it to exo.



The upper grill in the bonnet has been removed completely.

The car certainly looks more aggressive but the aim has been achieved. Temp gauge now reads below the half way point, the tx tunnel now only gets warm and the hot oil smell has gone.  Thanks Toed64.

[jgilbert]

Gap under fly screen is a very useful tip. Love the last photo, think the colour works well, the continuation of the black chassis lines 'black horns'. Mean looking motor you must be very proud!

[greg]

Jul 19, 2014 9:46:17 GMT nitram said:

The 1 mm polycarbonate screen was, to be honest, rubbish. The 3 mm polycarbonate screen is excellent.



Ebay provided the 400 x 1220 mm sheet which should be big enough for anyone to carve a fly screen (I'm 6 ft 2 in and sitting "up" on MX5 seats). I've mounted the screen about 5 mm off the bonnet.

Thank you for this idea! The windshield solution has been holding me back from purchasing an Exocet because the state I live in requires all Specialty Constructed Vehicles to have a windshield. This setup may be the final piece to registering one legally.

[Toed64]

Your new grille looks great. I've just ordered an off-cut of stainless wire mesh with 1 inch holes, but I really like yours.

My overheating problem proved to be a a temperamental thermostat... and the original grille. My car is now minus the grille and runs with the gauge at half mast - cooler than it did when it was first built. I think the expanded metal grille is too flow restrictive.

I love the yellow BTW.

[gwnwar]

nitram.. Like the black grill. car looks bad a$$ now.. Yellow black good choice for colors.. not many on road the color..

[scooby1929]

I read somewhere that the fly screen is one of the best cheap performance mods as it makes the car more aerodynamic

[nitram]

Steady, Scoobs. The Exocet is a drag monster and always will be with an open thinggypit and bits sticking into the airstream all over the place. Drag will never be improved by sticking another structure (the fly screen) on the exo at an angle of 45 degrees because, overall, the cross-section area presented to the airstream has increased. Just be grateful that the fly screen allows the driver a more benign environment in which to show his /her outstanding boy/girl racer skills.

[nitram]

A cautionary tale...

The summer has been sunny and warm. Perfect weather for little exo. 2000 miles covered without, so far, fingers crossed, a hitch.

And then the rains came, torrential and never ending - biblical proportions. Time to experience driving in the wet with no roof, doors or sides. Not too bad with a full wet kit and large brimmed hat, tied on. But definitely akin to Shackleton's epic voyage from Elephant island to South Georgia in an open boat. (For our American cousins, that was Antarctica, not the bit above Florida).

No problem with electrics. Fly screen pretty useless in the waterfall. ABS a real star - able to carry out heavy braking without a twitch. If your donor comes with ABS, I would definitely recommend its retention.

But traction: Scary. In the dry, a bit of wheel spin is not uncommon, even in second. But in the wet, very wet, I was getting wheel spin in every gear, without using much throttle. Back to the garage, for a bit of deliberation. Half an hour's worth of deliberation later and I realized that the tread pattern was different on the front tyres (tires to the cousins) to those on the back. I had the rear tyres on back to front and presumably the clever rain dispersing pattern was trying to work backwards.

Before:



and after swapping left to right etc:



In my defence (defense for the ...), I have to say that I've never had a car before where more than one of the wheels has been off at any one time. However, if you are a rank amateur, like me, have a look at the little arrows on the tyres - they are there for a purpose.

[nitram]

I've just realized the head-on photo, a little bit up this page, shows the problem quite clearly - from at least July!!!

[mawdo81]

Lol, learnt that on mountain bikes aged 15, still no harm done luckily.

[noos]

Great build ! lots of good ideas.

[makoto]

Apr 15, 2014 11:29:10 GMT nitram said:

My last post was in January - a cruel month. At that time I had a leak from the ABS hydraulic unit/pump; the clutch was refusing to bleed and; and the battery had just exploded. Not a happy bunny, I took a couple of months off to feel sorry for myself but I'm now back with renewed vigour (can you smell the b**ls**t?). Thanks to the moggers who have kept my thread warm in my absence.

First the battery:



Bosch asked for photographs, confirmed it was an internal explosion caused by an internal fault and confirmed that it should not have happened. They invited me to claim on the warranty from the retailer knowing that the warranty had just expired. Oh well, the replacement was not that expensive. I obviously checked all fuses and any other potential problem areas before connecting the new battery - everything seems OK and exo fired up first time. Phew.

Next the leaking ABS lump; this thing:



Impossible to tell where the leak was coming from. Removed the item, stripped it down as far as I could and reassembled with a smear of gasket paste on all the joints. Seems to have fixed the leak. Bled the brakes and all seem to be working OK. Phew.

I've been trying to bleed the clutch since September, on and off. I've seen the reports in other threads that it is a pig of a job with a lot of perseverence required. Using the "conventional" bleeding method: a few slow pumps; hold down; release nipple; watch for clear fluid in plastic pipe; tighten nipple; repeat 500 times, I thought I had cracked it last week. But then I noticed bubbles coming along the tube even when the nipple was tight. I had a leak. Taking off the slave cylinder:



it turned out to be reasonably easy to strip. Apart from a bit of black gunge, the piston and seal appeared to be in good nick. However looking at the nipple, showed a lot of scoring and pitting on the end that forms the seal:



And presumably the seat in the casting is similarly scored. The MX5OC forum is full of stories about the slave cylinder failing and that it should be the first thing to consider when experiencing clutch problems. You can get a brand new slave cylinder delivered to you door for about £16. With a new cylinder fitted within 24 hours, the cluth bleeds much better - probably only about 50 repeats required! Phew.

The gloom of January is transformed into the sunshine of April and its time to introduce baby to the world. It emerged, after a 30 month gestation period, from the garage, breach delivery, weighing about 700Kg at 1023 this morning. Mother and father are very happy. Since then, it has been tearing up and down the 30 yards of my driveway with gay abandon.







So far so good. Next stage is to de-snag the handful of things that need sorting followed by a line-by-line look at the IVA manual, again.

Hi Nitram, I noted your headlights are the same as the ones I had to get to which will hopefully get me through IVA. The problem is that I didn't get a wiring diagram with it. Can you help me at all with the wiring of it please?