Post by spudman on Feb 24, 2014 0:53:24 GMT
This is a Replicar build underway in Northern Ireland. I would like this to be my commuting vehicle, and am congratulating myself on choosing a vehicle so well suited to the local climate. Some sort of hat may be in order.
I have very little of use to add to the outstanding blogs already posted. Thanks of course to Stuart, and also gwnwar, red5, James, snowbird1, R2S, np4wicked for all the advice already posted, I am shamelessly copying your clever ideas.
Got my donor in Feb 2013, a 1997 (mk1) 1.8L with about 90000 miles, £700. Prices seem to be generally higher this side, but it still worked out cheaper and less hassle than bringing one over from the mainland. I put down my kit deposit at about the same time, and spent some time getting the MX5 on the road for last summer, partly for the fun of it, but also to see if any problems came to light that I could sort out during the build. Nothing much turned up, handbrake and alternator need attention, but it was trouble-free motoring otherwise. Consistently 33.5 mpg in case anyone is interested, that's a rural/town mix, no motorway, mostly sensible driving, but you can't always be sensible. I'll be interested to see how that changes once it has its party frock on.
I collected my kit at the beginning of December (the day of the bad storms, I counted 7 lorries blown over on the drive down from Cairnryan), and was pleased with most of my planning: ropes, several heavy duty ratchet tie downs, a big roll of old carpet underlay for padding, but I didn't think of the most useful thing of all - an extra pair of hands. Thanks to Stuart and Julie for all the help loading up. I opted for a car transporter, and I just got it back in time for 1 day's hire fee. The replicar shell was an instant head turner, got stopped and asked about it twice while boarding the ferry, and nearly caused a case of whiplash while unloading it at home. It is tremendously satisfying that for every photo of a supercar I've seen since the replicar popped up on the MEV site in 2012, I've never seen anything I wanted more.
Stripping down the MX5 was great fun, surprisingly little rust given the state of a couple of wishbones I had to replace to get it on the road. The body was a little stubborn to remove from the subframes, having removed the bolts indicated in the exocet build guide, I then found a few more by the simple process of lifting the body until there was a crunch (that was the under engine cover, which is bolted to the body as well as the subframe - apparently) and a twang.
That long thin individual is an exhaust mount in a state of embarrassment. Having been released it returned to a surprisingly normal condition, and after that it was plain sailing.
With the car broken down I replaced the timing belt and a few shot seals (CAS o-ring and lower gear lever boot, which are both common problems I believe, also rear gear box seal), and cleaned up and painted (black hammerite) the subframes, suspension, etc. Following in the steps of others I ground the raised lettering off the cam cover, also removed the heat shield and mounting points from the exhaust manifold, and cleaned everything up. Sand blasting is fantastic for the tricky corners. I am using a very cheap ebay sand blast gun, about £12, which has been a great investment. A big wooden box helps keep things contained, and a good dust mask is vital. I'm just using builder's sand, dried and sieved, silica dust is a killer though, so think twice if you don't have a proper mask, or if there are neighbours nearby. Also on tools, in the picture above is a blue case of 6-point impact sockets, since owning these I haven't rounded off a single nut or bolt, and if they're round to begin with you just hammer the socket on. Another £30 or so well spent.
The sandblaster also came into play on some fairly tatty BBS wheels (ebay again, £165 the set with good tyres, came from an MX5 so they fit well), which came up very nicely after the kerbing was filled in and they were resprayed/lacquered.
Air power is relatively new to me, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't discovered it yet. Most of my air tools (in fact, most of my tools in general) are the parkside brand sold in Lidl (at least, they do over here), which have stood up well to ethusiastic amateur abuse, with no quibbles replacing them when motors burn out (only happened once, and the appliance wasn't strictly the weak link in that situation). The BBS wheels look nice against the shell, and will be even nicer when the centre caps have been rebranded with some silver decals. Wire wheels may follow at some point, but no rush on that.
That was complete a few weeks ago and the actual build got under way. Floors and most of the cabin panels were fitted to the chassis (all sealed with PU) before dropping it onto the subframes. Fettling was a pleasure with the aid of another ebay special, an air nibbler, which makes a tidy job on the aluminium panels, and will be handy later on when I get into wheel arches and the like.
As has already been observed, the alignment between chassis and subframes is perfect, but it would have been a little easier if I'd drilled out the holes in the chassis first: the powder coating is so thick that the bolts won't fit in some places.
I have transmission tunnnel, hand brake, pedals and steering fitted now, fuel lines mostly sorted (I've gone for 8 mm copper, which I needed some of for another job), and nearly ready to bolt down the fuel tank. Having brought you up to date with all that, I have some questions to finish with:
The clutch and brake pedals both bottom out against the panel in the driver's foot well. Possibly this is just because they're not connected to anything yet, does this situation sound familiar to anyone else, or have I got something wrong?
The brace under the rear subframe (picture) originally bolted to the MX5 chassis at a couple of points, but there's nowhere obvious for this on the new chassis, plus the chassis wouldn't sit right with this on anyway. Is an abrasive disc at 5000 rpm the correct solution to this problem? (ie chop off the extraneous bits.)
I've also had to add an extra bracket to locate the final bolt in the fuel tank, and I find that with the fuel tank sitting where it wants to, it is resting on the diff mounts, and sitting one or two cm high as a result. Current thinking is to put some sturdy rubber spacers between the chassis and the tank to raise it a little - or am I missing something?
Enjoying hearing about everyone else's progress, anyone approaching IVA yet? Summer's not far off...
Finally, had to share this:
My wife excelled herself for my 40th recently, thanks Ann, you're the best.
I have very little of use to add to the outstanding blogs already posted. Thanks of course to Stuart, and also gwnwar, red5, James, snowbird1, R2S, np4wicked for all the advice already posted, I am shamelessly copying your clever ideas.
Got my donor in Feb 2013, a 1997 (mk1) 1.8L with about 90000 miles, £700. Prices seem to be generally higher this side, but it still worked out cheaper and less hassle than bringing one over from the mainland. I put down my kit deposit at about the same time, and spent some time getting the MX5 on the road for last summer, partly for the fun of it, but also to see if any problems came to light that I could sort out during the build. Nothing much turned up, handbrake and alternator need attention, but it was trouble-free motoring otherwise. Consistently 33.5 mpg in case anyone is interested, that's a rural/town mix, no motorway, mostly sensible driving, but you can't always be sensible. I'll be interested to see how that changes once it has its party frock on.
I collected my kit at the beginning of December (the day of the bad storms, I counted 7 lorries blown over on the drive down from Cairnryan), and was pleased with most of my planning: ropes, several heavy duty ratchet tie downs, a big roll of old carpet underlay for padding, but I didn't think of the most useful thing of all - an extra pair of hands. Thanks to Stuart and Julie for all the help loading up. I opted for a car transporter, and I just got it back in time for 1 day's hire fee. The replicar shell was an instant head turner, got stopped and asked about it twice while boarding the ferry, and nearly caused a case of whiplash while unloading it at home. It is tremendously satisfying that for every photo of a supercar I've seen since the replicar popped up on the MEV site in 2012, I've never seen anything I wanted more.
Stripping down the MX5 was great fun, surprisingly little rust given the state of a couple of wishbones I had to replace to get it on the road. The body was a little stubborn to remove from the subframes, having removed the bolts indicated in the exocet build guide, I then found a few more by the simple process of lifting the body until there was a crunch (that was the under engine cover, which is bolted to the body as well as the subframe - apparently) and a twang.
That long thin individual is an exhaust mount in a state of embarrassment. Having been released it returned to a surprisingly normal condition, and after that it was plain sailing.
With the car broken down I replaced the timing belt and a few shot seals (CAS o-ring and lower gear lever boot, which are both common problems I believe, also rear gear box seal), and cleaned up and painted (black hammerite) the subframes, suspension, etc. Following in the steps of others I ground the raised lettering off the cam cover, also removed the heat shield and mounting points from the exhaust manifold, and cleaned everything up. Sand blasting is fantastic for the tricky corners. I am using a very cheap ebay sand blast gun, about £12, which has been a great investment. A big wooden box helps keep things contained, and a good dust mask is vital. I'm just using builder's sand, dried and sieved, silica dust is a killer though, so think twice if you don't have a proper mask, or if there are neighbours nearby. Also on tools, in the picture above is a blue case of 6-point impact sockets, since owning these I haven't rounded off a single nut or bolt, and if they're round to begin with you just hammer the socket on. Another £30 or so well spent.
The sandblaster also came into play on some fairly tatty BBS wheels (ebay again, £165 the set with good tyres, came from an MX5 so they fit well), which came up very nicely after the kerbing was filled in and they were resprayed/lacquered.
Air power is relatively new to me, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't discovered it yet. Most of my air tools (in fact, most of my tools in general) are the parkside brand sold in Lidl (at least, they do over here), which have stood up well to ethusiastic amateur abuse, with no quibbles replacing them when motors burn out (only happened once, and the appliance wasn't strictly the weak link in that situation). The BBS wheels look nice against the shell, and will be even nicer when the centre caps have been rebranded with some silver decals. Wire wheels may follow at some point, but no rush on that.
That was complete a few weeks ago and the actual build got under way. Floors and most of the cabin panels were fitted to the chassis (all sealed with PU) before dropping it onto the subframes. Fettling was a pleasure with the aid of another ebay special, an air nibbler, which makes a tidy job on the aluminium panels, and will be handy later on when I get into wheel arches and the like.
As has already been observed, the alignment between chassis and subframes is perfect, but it would have been a little easier if I'd drilled out the holes in the chassis first: the powder coating is so thick that the bolts won't fit in some places.
I have transmission tunnnel, hand brake, pedals and steering fitted now, fuel lines mostly sorted (I've gone for 8 mm copper, which I needed some of for another job), and nearly ready to bolt down the fuel tank. Having brought you up to date with all that, I have some questions to finish with:
The clutch and brake pedals both bottom out against the panel in the driver's foot well. Possibly this is just because they're not connected to anything yet, does this situation sound familiar to anyone else, or have I got something wrong?
The brace under the rear subframe (picture) originally bolted to the MX5 chassis at a couple of points, but there's nowhere obvious for this on the new chassis, plus the chassis wouldn't sit right with this on anyway. Is an abrasive disc at 5000 rpm the correct solution to this problem? (ie chop off the extraneous bits.)
I've also had to add an extra bracket to locate the final bolt in the fuel tank, and I find that with the fuel tank sitting where it wants to, it is resting on the diff mounts, and sitting one or two cm high as a result. Current thinking is to put some sturdy rubber spacers between the chassis and the tank to raise it a little - or am I missing something?
Enjoying hearing about everyone else's progress, anyone approaching IVA yet? Summer's not far off...
Finally, had to share this:
My wife excelled herself for my 40th recently, thanks Ann, you're the best.