Trident's Exocet Build

[trident]

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[trident]

And finally after what must be the longest strip down and rebuild of the subframes etc I was back to the same point as if I had just removed the body.. I must say I'm very pleased I took the long route, cleaning and renewed much of the old parts.

As my first and probably only build this was a great sense of achievement and I hadn't even got the kit yet!!!

 


Now it was time to phone MEV and order my kit..  

[trident]

6th March 2013 was a big day in the build... Well not so much in the build but it was the day we collected the kits... I say kits as we picked two up in one van.. That the great thing about this site, helping each other out.. My friend and I picked up the hire van on the South coast and then en route to MEV HQ I picked up another member who is building an excellent example of an Exocet and we both picked our kits up together.

2 kits in one van.


It was also the same day that Complete Kit Car magazine where doing a photo shoot for the magazine.. As such we were able to see every model of the MEV range under one roof. We both even ended up with our photo in the magazine as well as we unexpectedly had our picture taken as we chatted to Stuart whilst looking at the orange Exocet. Not sure who's car it is but I loved to orange pool ball as the gear lever cover. It was a bit of a shock to see myself in the magazine when it dropped through the door. I'm the ugly one on the far right which is probably why I look blurred.


So having collected the two kits and dropped one kit off with it's builder and we head back ourselves. Long day
However the next day and it was time to get the kit on.



I've got loads of plans for this build. My plan is to build it in it's bare metal form so I can weld various brackets and adapt the chassis etc prior to powder coating.  I'll be fitting a fully welded harness bar, a custom built dash and center console, a new tank cover and a few other bits and pieces...

More soon  

 



   

[trident]

Pedals fitted.. I didn't cut anything off the rear of the pedals, just fitted them in their standard form. The steering wheel was also fitted into position but as I'm not using the standard Mazda seats and as I didn't have any seats I didn't want to finalise it's position until the seats where fitted. I was looking at getting some of the fibreglass seats from Kits Parts Direct but really wanted to try the seats out for size first so decided to wait until Stoneleigh so I could try out different seats.
  
In the photo below I have been trying to work out how to fit a dash into the car which is as in keeping with the original look of the car.
I had tried to fit a dash from a Mk3 VW golf. ( The dash was 99p from ebay) It didn't work, and after cutting the golf dash down, and down and down, it didn't look very good. So it was time for a re-think. I had initially wanted to fit a digital dash into the golf dash and as I had budgeted for the digital dash in my build.... Well that was before the budget was blown on other items.... but as the golf dash was a non starter I decided to look at the original Dash cowling and use the MX5 clocks and design the dash around these.. They actually look very nice + it would also mean that it would be easier to wire up at a later date and having seen some of you struggle with the wiring it's not something I'm looking forward to. Much help will be needed!!!

        


So Stoneliegh came and I attended on the Sunday .. It was also great to see a few Exocets in the flesh and having a chat to a few other builders.

I'm glad I tried a few seats out as some where smaller than others particularly in the back seat height.  The best seat I found for the money where the ones made by RTR. They were a nice size and I can cut out the holes for the harness any size or location (with in reason) I want for myself. They also have the benifit of being able to fit a padded section which can be fitted with velcro so they are easy to remove.

Managed to get a set that they had sitting loose in the rocket kit that they were dispaying on the stand. Fitting was farly easy using the standard MX5 runners. I used a coupole of dome head M8 bolts to bolt the rear of the seat to the runner and then some more dome head bolt to bolt into a but of tube that was threaded both ends. This allowed me to just keep cutting and grinding down the tube until I was happy with the position of the seat. 


Only once I was happy with the position did I drill through  the seat and fix the front and rear to the rails making sure that the rails were running in line with each other. The seats are made of nice thick fibreglass. I'll spray the rear of the seats and the tube in a gloss black to make them look neater once I strip the car back down.



With the seats fitted I could now fit the steering wheel at the best height so that my idea with the dash would work.

[trident]

The Dash
As I mentioned in an earlier update I wanted to make a dash that was in keeping with the original design of the Exocet. Using a dash from another vehicle could work but it would need lot's of work..... in fact any dash will need lots of work as I have found out.

As I need to weld new tubing to the Exocet chassis I first needed to buy a welder and learn a new skill. A bit of practice on some scrap metal was the order of the day. My mate made it look so easy when he did the wish bones... at least I've only got to tack weld. I'll deffinately get my mate to weld everything up properly later.

So with welder at hand I added a new 38mm tube across the car just in front of the steering and then added four 20mm box section to act as a brace. These were then tack welded in place.




With the new bar in place I could now cut out the section that was in the way of where the speedo etc needed to sit.  Doing it this way meant that everything was dead in line for when I built the dash.

 

And now with the clocks fitted.




With the metal work done and the clocks fitting in the hole I now needed to make the dash it's self. When I was younger I did some work experience with a pattern maker. The plan.... if the is one..... was to make a pattern out of various items so that a fibreglass dash can be produce later on.

It started off with some MDF, bits of timber and original MX5 cowling. Not very pretty at the moment but just wait. 

[red5]

I can see where your going and it looks very bonjour

if it isn't already on your radar - have you thought about the rear view mirror which sits centrally - you could incorporate into the moulding ??

[trident]

The dash will only be about 5" deep and will have a slope on it  .... I had thought about the mirror and have decided it will look best mounted on the bonnet panel where it is mounted on most car. This way the dash will have a much cleaner and sleek look to it.     

I'll put some more photos on soon.

[gwnwar]

Nice idea, will there be any storage in it. keep the outdates coming..

[trident]

Jun 4, 2013 23:37:38 GMT gwnwar said:

Nice idea, will there be any storage in it. keep the outdates coming..

No there won't be any storage.... There isn't enough space. It's only a couple of inches high at the centre and then the same height as the bonnet at the edges.

I'll post a few more photos soon.

[trident]

A few more photos. I'm sure there is a better way to put some fibre glass on but this worked and allowed me to put on the resin without the matting moving about.





Once the resin had gone off it was time to add some filler to get the final shape.





Lots of sanding and more filling followed by more sanding until I was happy with the final shape. A lot of work was involved and I'm looking at making a new tank cover as well.  I must be mad !! 

[gwnwar]

Is this going to be glassed to the frame or bolted.. will you be able to get the gage cluster out to work on..
Seal the bottom of the unit so it won't warped.. Nice work so far, like seeing new ideas

[trident]

This is just the pattern that I'm making at the moment.This will not be the dash that I will have on the car.  The idea is to make a female copy from this pattern and then make a final dash out of fibreglass which will be bolted to the chassis.  I have not altered the instrument cluster so it will just fix in place with 4 bolts using existing mounts on the instrument cluster. The bolts will be bonded into the dash.

Well that's the plan  ..

[trident]

Here are a few more photos of the dash until i have the finished product made. The first two were still a work in progress as the shape wasn't totally right around the dial cover.  The close up photo's should give you and idea of the lines etc. Obviously it needs to be painted with two pack paint, rubbed down and polished before the mould can be made.... but you get the idea.






So next I need to re do the rear tank cover. Some of you will say why? And to answer the question .... It's just personal taste... I never have been a lover of the Exocet rear end. I love the car, the front looks great and the idea behind it and the ease of build etc  are superb but for me the back end was just too narrow.

So when I ordered my kit and spoke to Stuart he mentioned that he had been playing around with the tank cover for the race car etc and added a fin behind the drivers seat. None of the race guys seemed to like it so it was shelved. When I collected my kit I took this cover instead of the standard cover.  It would need some work but I felt I could work with it and make it into something different. Time will tell. 

In fact you have already seen it before... Take a look back at the two kits in the van and you can see the cover in the van. Here it is out of the van. 



  



  

     

[driver]

I don't like the rear end either nice to see someone is going to do something different.

[red5]

lovely work mate , nice to see someone making radical changes ,shame you cant copyright the dash , I fear money to be made there