Mikes Exocet build - Sheffield

[mikeeyboy]

I was a little concerned about the condition of my brake calipers and had looked at having them refurbed professionally. I decided to strip them completely myself and purchased all new seals and pistons for them.

I originally planned on getting them powdercoated but was worried my coaters would get powder everywhere so decided on the hand paint route- I went with the Foliatec caliper kit. I must say, I am really pleased with the result, the paint dries like rock, really tough finish and easy to apply - highly recommended.

Before - Lots of rust and partially locked piston:



Lucky enough to have access to a good sand blasting machine, Took about 3 hours to strip all calipers and brackets- came up like new



All hung out to dry after a second coat of paint. Will replace the piston and seals now:



Kit is scheduled for delivery at the start of April, so need to pick some speed up. Have had all the rear wishbones and subframes powder coated, just need to get the fronts done and then fit the new bushes. Should be done by the end of the month.

best picture hosting

[Toed64]

Mar 1, 2016 18:13:09 GMT mikeeyboy said:

Thanks for that those photos are a massive help. I was thinking of using exactly that same type of silencer and fitting it in a similar place next to the PPF.

My idea was to run a single pipe out of where you have the long silencer and then TIG weld it into a "U" bent pipe to make twin tail pipes. The problem when you start looking at those generic silencer tubes is, the DB levels seem to be nigh on impossible to predict without building it first.

I need to replace the CAT also and had not thought about the space constraints. Back to the drawing board I reckon!

The cheap stainless manifolds on eBay are not very high quality and do not fit very well. The one I bought was also lower than the standard manifold/downpipe combination.

I used the big bore stainless manifold and built a big bore system from the manifold back. The tunnel is quite tight and ground clearance limited, so if you are building a custom system, I would advise that you keep the pipes, CAT and silencers above the floor line - I was pleased with my first attempt until I dropped it back onto its wheels! I would not attempt exhaust building until your frame is bolted down - clearance seems to vary from car to car.

Big bore/high flow CATs can release a few bhp - well worth choosing carefully. I ended up using a big flat(ish) Vauxhall unit that didn't scrape quite as often. The inlet and outlet were quite a bit larger than the OE.

[mikeeyboy]

Thanks for all the advice. I've decided to leave the exhaust till after its a full roller!

Anyone know where these side pods are from?


thumbsnap.com/s/nISJsMBe.jpg

[mikeeyboy]

Question for anyone using their own harness bar!

I ordered my kit without the seat belt mount plate on the roll bar, my plan was just to straight weld the harness bar in and have done with it.

Now I have realised the fibre glass boot will be in the way if I try to do this.

Has anyone found a way round this? Could I move the boot back slightly?

I wondered whether using a 44mm tube and off setting the mitre slightly would make it clear?

Thanks

[trident]

Mine is welded in.... but my tank cover is a one off. Can't see a problem though as you could weld it in and then add another bar at the back to compensate for the rear movement of the tank cover... otherwise the rear of the tank cover will be overhanging the rear of the car. You could also use the extra rear bar as a mounting point for the rear lights as well.

[mikeeyboy]

Thanks trident. I'm going to go for it and just weld it in. As you said I can always add a bar to rear as part of some other modifications I am planning to do

[mikeeyboy]

Quick progress update, I have all my parts from the skate ready to re-assemble, pretty pleased with how it all came out! Collected my kit from MEV and have started making some modifications that I wanted to do.

Added harness bar:




Also started mitering some additional roll bar supports. The main reason for this being I will be welding on a rear wing that I have modified, I much prefer the look with the additional support, I saw this on the USA exocets:

[mikeeyboy]

So after getting all my mx5 bits back from powder coat I decided to re-assemble the skate and have had a pretty crap evening.

The issue I have is with the lower diff rubber mount/spacer - it is about 1/4 to 1/2f an inch off tightening to the rear diff. The image below shows a space above rubber mount and I have not fastened it to torque, but I cannot see me torqing it moving the spacer that far up:



If I don't line the rubber spacer up with the two bolts on the subframe and put it flat side up I could tighten down on it, but looking at diagrams online they clearly show it as above. 

Anyone have any ideas on this?

[gwnwar]

There should be a gap about 5mm.. The center sleeve in mount butt flush with the sleeve in the spacer.. Center bolt goes though both of them.
As the mount flexes it hits the bumps on the spacer to stop travel. Like the bump stops on the shocks..

[mikeeyboy]

Thanks for that gwnwar, I was hoping someone would say this! I will just bolt it back together and fingers crossed when the weight of build is on the wheels it should close the gap up

[mikeeyboy]

I haven't posted a progress update for a bit, still plugging away at it though.

De-powered and TIG welded the steering rack to remove any play:





The amount of play in this part of the rack is surprising when you clamp it in a vice and twist. I am not sure how this would translate into the real world play but it definitely made me think I had to weld it up.

[mikeeyboy]

The skate is pretty much back together, nothing is torqued up but not much work to do. Pleased with how new it all looks.





I also got the harness bar and the first of the additional tubing I am adding tacked into the chassis.





html picture upload

[mikeeyboy]

I finally got round to fitting the drivers seat today. This job was more tedious than I had hoped, probably mainly down to me not using the original or MEV seats. I had to modify the MX5 runners to fit the seats from Kit spares.

I don't know if this is down to my poor search skills on here or lack of information but I had not seen a huge amount on how and where to drill the seats to the chassis.

I used the MX5 runners but bent them slightly so they were more straight, on the side that has the original seat belt buckle, I cut this off and had to cut a small channel into the back to allow me to bend it straight as this was more reinforced than the other side. I then welded backup the channel to make it one piece, you would never know.

I didn't like the idea of just drilling the square bar and running a bolt through it, so I used some 16mm round steel bar and ran a 12mm drill bit through the centres on a lathe to create a crush tube. I have also cut out some 40mm x 40mm steel plate washers to put either side of the bolt to ensure it cannot pull back through. This may be overkill but it made me feel like it was more substantial than it would be otherwise.

Here is a photo for anyone interested:

[mikeeyboy]

I will be running a 3 point harness on the car so also added some small loops to act as a runner for the strap that will wrap around the harness bar:

[mikeeyboy]

So progress has unfortunately slowed down due to to me changing jobs but I'm looking to start up again.

Question for people using mk2 mx5s, does the 2015/2016 MeV chassis still not line up with the mx5 without modifying it?

I have seen tridents thread where he made L brackets but obviously want to avoid extra work if possible. I currently have the mx5 skate up on roller stands so it is all out of line anyway. It's easier to know whether it should fit than have to suss it out!

Thanks