Trident's Exocet Build

[trident]

If a company is going to copy an idea there is little I can do about it but I and everyone on this forum will know where they got the idea from. If other builders want to use the idea then please do or I had thought that if anyone else wants the dash then I can get more made. If anyone is interested then let me know It would take a few months though.

Thanks for the positive comments.

[trident]

So the main plan with the rear cover is to make it wider so that the rear of the car looks wider even though it's not. Unlike the twin hump cover that is wider at the front this cover is straight which mean you end up with large gaps between the roll bar and the panel. By making the rear panel wider these gaps will go and the cover will also cover some of the suspension mount which will make the rear end look a little neater. The height is about 320mm across the whole cover. 

The rear cover before any work on it.  Out of interest what is the height of the twin hump cover at the rear (number plate end)? I'm hoping that this new cover will mean I can get a full tank of full as I suspect is a bit higher at the back than the standard one. 





I have also cut off the 3 point harness mount on the roll bar and will add a harness bar which will be welded in at the same height as the top of the new rear panel. It was a pain in the rear cutting off the mounts but once the new bar is added and everything is nice and smooth and powder coated it will look fine.

[driver]

Watching with interest keep it going

[gwnwar]

Doesn't the harness have to be horizontal with shoulder height not coming down on an angle?? which it would be if at top of the rear cover leading edge..

[trident]

The new bar which will be welded in will sit almost in the exact same position as where the old seatbelt mountings sat. There are a number of builds on here that have used a bar bolted to the existing seatbelt mounting so on that basis I should be ok.

I can't see it would be possible for me to get the seatbelt shoulder harnesses to be horizontal with shoulder height and not coming down or up on an angle for some people as we are all of different heights, shapes and sizes.

From talking to one of the guys from road track race at Stoneleigh when I got the seats there is a min height from the floor for the bar. ( Can remember what it is ...but 400 and something mm rings a bell ) and mine is well above that. Someone will tell us I'm sure.

I will check though.   

[trident]

So this is how wide it will be once finished. I will be adding some new tubing at the rear... I know it will add a little more weight but bearing in mind I'm using fibreglass seats and not the standard MX5 seats I still think it will be light. A bit more weight over the back wheels would also balance the car out a little more as I have heard a few people mention that it is light at the rear..

I suppose I'll only know once it's built.





I will be fitting two high level brake lights / refelctors in the circles. But thats a long way down the road. I have also cut out the centre circle that was at the bottom in the centre as I didn't like it. Much filling and sanding ahead. Can't wait.....  but the end result will be worth it...   I hope!!       

 

[stevieboy]

Looking good Trident,nice to see some new touches and ideas, just thought i'd wing an idea over to you... while at Stoneleigh i measured up the rear cover of a rocket, not sure which model it was but it appears to fit the exocet with very minor changes. The thought pattern i was looking for seemed to work with the rocket rear panel... it was the one that has a sort of rear opening boot or engine service panel. I'd hoped to fit this on my exocet and make a false floor in it above the petrol tank so as to give a lockable storage area. Not sure on how your final plans are on your rear panel rebuild, but the storage area would certainly work on that. Take a look at some of the rocket pics and you will see what i mean. Cheers Stevieboy.

[gwnwar]

Trident..Nice work up..looking like a 32 ford roadster..like the shocks covered..

[trident]

Jun 14, 2013 10:31:32 GMT stevieboy said:

Looking good Trident,nice to see some new touches and ideas, just thought i'd wing an idea over to you... while at Stoneleigh i measured up the rear cover of a rocket, not sure which model it was but it appears to fit the exocet with very minor changes. The thought pattern i was looking for seemed to work with the rocket rear panel... it was the one that has a sort of rear opening boot or engine service panel. I'd hoped to fit this on my exocet and make a false floor in it above the petrol tank so as to give a lockable storage area. Not sure on how your final plans are on your rear panel rebuild, but the storage area would certainly work on that. Take a look at some of the rocket pics and you will see what i mean. Cheers Stevieboy.

Great minds think a like.. I too measured the rear end of a rocket when I was at Stoneleigh as I was planning to buy a rocket cover from RTR and fit that to my Exocet.  I have also contacted RTR and got the sizes of the Rocket cover. I was told the cost of the cover is £300. not sure if that's incl Vat or +vat.  

The dimensions for the engine cover which were supplied by RTR are listed below.
Length - 665mm
Depth - 320mm
Width - 945mm
These are measured at the bottom of the engine cover.
The measurements at the top of the cover are 845mm across and 540mm back

My cover is
Length  - 690mm
Height  - 330mm
Width   - 980mm
Width across the top is 870mm and the slope begin to start at about 520mm from the harness bar.

As you can see mine is slightly larger that the rocket cover so the rocket cover would work. With both covers extra steel work is a must ( in my opinion ) to retain the look of the original design and to keep it in keeping with the rest of the car.

My back up plan was to use a rocket cover and still is.. if I can't get my own cover done. I like the air intake scoop but having thought about it now I don't personally think its the right way to go as it would serve no purpose other than styling + it would make the centre rear view mirror useless.   

I had thought about making my cover into a boot lid for storage but I have other plans with the rear cover that would not make this practical. I feel there is ample storage space behind the drivers and passengers seats. Plus it would be a hell of a lot more work time and money. 

Glad you like it

Cheers Chris  
  

[trident]

Jun 14, 2013 19:04:34 GMT gwnwar said:

Trident..Nice work up..looking like a 32 ford roadster..like the shocks covered..

 Cheers... for the positive comments .... I will admit that I wasn't 100% sure what a 32 ford roadster looked like so had to google it. I see what mean now.

  

[trident]

A few more photo's... I really have had enough of filler and sanding.
  




And the side profile

[trident]

[jgilbert]

Great progress ! Looking nice.

[trident]

Not a huge amount of progress on the car over the past couple of weeks.. I really have had enough of sanding and shaping filler.. the car is covered I dust as is everything else in the garage. I took the dash to the fibreglass manufacture and he was impressed with the finished pattern..  I just needed to add a couple of sections so he could take a female copy from it.

This is now done and this week I will be taking the dash to him and that will be the last I see of it... for a couple of weeks until I have the final article make out of fibreglass.





The rear cover is now almost nearly finished to go to the same guy.  I just need to add a return flange to the bottom so they can make the female mould.



Also fitted the aero catches to the bonnet. Some have said they couldn't fit them to the existing tab's as they are very close to the bonnet edge.  True, they are very close but if you bend the tabs down a fraction the aero catches will fit.  I needed to bend one tab as the other one was ok. It only needed a little tap with a hammer.








 
This is starting to come together now... although I have a long long way to go.  



  

[trident]

Sorry there hasn't been much of an update recently but I've been very busy.. Unfortunately not with the car so there isn't that much that has changed...

The dash is now finished in Fibreglass and even if I do say so myself it looks fantastic... just need to give it a rub down to get rid of a joint line and the a good polish once the car is finished to get it nice and shinny. not a cheap option but worth it in my opinion as it really finishes of the car and is very in keeping with the original concept.

Below is the new dash which has extra matting to the underside to ensure it is very stiff.. 



The female mould 


The pattern and the finished dash


The joint line from the mould that needs rubbing down and polishing


And a couple of it fitted to the car



What else have I been doing? New brakes ... well recon brakes... well worth the money in my eyes.. £140 for all 4 once I had sent my old units back for a refund. The photos speak for themselves



And if your going to have new calipers then you must have new discs as well


I'm now working on the rear end of the car adding extra tubing etc to make it look wider so I've also had to buy the rear lights ( All in one LED units ) and as I was getting the rear lights I thought i just as well get the front headlights ( Photon unit from RTR )

I'll try get the rear end done in the next couple of months and post some photos..