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Post by Stewart on Jan 26, 2016 12:10:52 GMT
So, as every man and his dog on here posts up their build threads, I thought I'd post up my rebuild thread.
My original build took place early 2012, and was the first car I'd ever built. It took around 3 months from collecting the kit from MEV to being out on the grid at Snetterton.
Since then it's had numerous new nose cones and wheel arches, a couple of new engines, a couple of gearboxes, a different diff and more recently a supercharger fitted. Calling it Trigger's Broom would be pretty accurate!
Over the 4 years I've been racing it, it's had more than it's fair share of bumps and bruises as well as more excursions across the kerbs and gravel as I care to remember! - the below being probably the biggest shunt (skip to 2 minutes if you don't want to see the build up):
So, I decided over Christmas it was time for a refresh.
The plan is to strip the car and have the chassis and roll cage re-powder coated, and clean up the wiring (which was just dumped in from the donor without stripping back), get rid of as much extra weight as possible and generally make it look like new again.
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Post by Stewart on Jan 26, 2016 12:25:46 GMT
So the first job was make room in the garage and get the car in out of the truck! Once that was done, I pulled all the panels off to expose the nakedness of the car  Then set about removing the full cage, seat and harness.  I forgot how heavy that cage was, but with careful positioning of boards and wedges, it was off!  Next was removing the standard fuel tank. 4 bolts and 2 pipes and that was off. I also took the battery out (behind where passenger seat should be), extinguisher, all the interior clips and wiring from front to rear. Last night I tackled the brake hoses. When I originally built the car, I chose to run braided hoses all through and roughly spec'd them. It meant my measurements weren't quite right so after removing them last night, I've marked up the amount which needs removing, and a couple of changes to the ends and I'll post them back to the suppliers for modification tomorrow. All the pull chords for kill switch and extinguisher have also been removed as well. Next job is the wiring. The plan is to strip it all out, gut everything with only the parts I really need and refit more cleanly. I have a Megasquirt piggy back currently doing the fueling and air, but this will be replaced with an ME221 unit once the car is back together. As it uses the standard loom, I'll keep some bits. The deadline to have the car finished is the 2nd April as this is the first race at Oulton. I would like it done before so I can go for a shakedown somewhere! I'll also be ordering some new panels in a new colour to mix things up a bit this season, and currently deciding on the colour I'm getting the chassis and cage coated in... Stu, I need to order some bits!! |
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Post by Stewart on Jan 26, 2016 12:27:00 GMT
Forgot to say, I've also installed a camera in the garage. Once the car is finished I'll pull all the footage together and make a timelapse video of the job  |
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Post by bigpaul on Jan 26, 2016 12:40:58 GMT
Great video mate, any more on you tube? you looked completely cheesed off and I can understand why!
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Post by Stewart on Jan 26, 2016 12:44:01 GMT
I wasn't the one driving... I was in the white MX150R who got hit... twice! First was from the start where the Caterfield clipped my front offside wheel and disappeared off into the pit wall. The second was the first bloke's brother! It was like they were out to get me! As for more videos, search MX150R on Youtube. I know there's a few channels out there |
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Post by Stewart on Jan 26, 2016 12:50:38 GMT
Here's a fun one from my onboard at Silverstone if you've got 15 minutes to burn over lunch.
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Post by bigpaul on Jan 26, 2016 13:09:16 GMT
sorry should have put two and two together with the frame colour!
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Post by bigpaul on Jan 26, 2016 13:30:12 GMT
Great video, definitely happier in that one!
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Post by Stewart on Feb 12, 2016 10:57:01 GMT
Ok, so my plans for regular updates didn't go to plan  Been ill with a chest infection for the past couple of weeks meaning not a lot was happening in the garage... but with only 6 weeks before the first race, I thought I'd better pull my finger out! So got all the interior out. All the panels and trim, seats, extinguisher, wiring loom and fuel tank:  And a pile of stuff removed:  Empty car!  Now it's all stripped the plan is to get the chassis and cage re-powder coated as it's looking a bit tired now, but before I can take that over to the coating place, I need to get the new supercharger mounting brackets made. The original hardware was made from aluminium and while it looked pretty it kept breaking. It also sat too high to clear the bonnet and resulted in me having to hack the bonnet to pieces to clear the charger (as you can see from the earlier pic). So, after a few (read several hundred) messages between Micky and myself, I dug out a couple of 8mm mild steel plates and the angle grinder and got to work!!    And after many, many hours (8mm steel is pretty hard going!) the almost finished front mounting plate.  So, I've measured it all up and drawn it in CAD to fire off to my engineer to look at. If you're wondering, the big hole on the left is for an auto-tensioner The original kit cleverly used an auto-tensioner so thought I may as well make use of it! Next job... Intercooler mounting! Before the chassis goes off for it's new coat, I thought I'd take the opportunity to fit a front mount intercooler. As I'll need to make up some mounting hardware it makes sense to butcher the front end before it's back to being pristine. The cooler should be with me today to get mounted tomorrow. Then chassis off and get it painted! |
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Post by Stewart on Feb 12, 2016 11:01:13 GMT
Oh, one other thing I missed off was the brake hoses.
I run compete braided throughout the car with no hard pipes. V1 of the kit needed some minor tweaks - hoses too long, different connectors and stuff so they've all been removed and sent to the hose manufacturer to modify. Once they're back I'll measure up and we'll have all the specs for a new complete braided hose kit for the Exocet
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Post by jgilbert on Feb 14, 2016 23:30:04 GMT
Oh, one other thing I missed off was the brake hoses. I run compete braided throughout the car with no hard pipes. V1 of the kit needed some minor tweaks - hoses too long, different connectors and stuff so they've all been removed and sent to the hose manufacturer to modify. Once they're back I'll measure up and we'll have all the specs for a new complete braided hose kit for the Exocet Stewart, very good. You should have asked for measurements. About a year to late for my build.  |
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Post by Stewart on Feb 14, 2016 23:51:14 GMT
These were fitted when I built the car first time (2012?) But was a little cautious with the lengths. I thought while it's all apart I may as well sort them.
Also we do a kit already so this will be a revised, better kit with a few tweaks.
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Post by Stewart on Feb 17, 2016 16:32:07 GMT
So the weekend's job was to get the intercooler mounting brackets made and attached. Annoyingly I'd run out of 40x20 box so had to take a trip to B&Q <spit!> to buy some more. £20 for 2m!!!! I normally pay £15 for 7.5m and chopped up to whatever length I want! Anyway, set about with the front mounting and put a bit of bracing around it to hopefully protect it in the event of a front ender.  The missus wasn't happy it dragged onto Sunday but needed doing as the body was going off to have it's new coat on Monday. I completely forgot what an arse taking the body off was! It tucks under the 2 rear subframe tabs meaning you have to get it at some funky angle to get it out. I'm thinking of splitting the front and rear subframes for re-assembly. Should make it easier. So this is how it stands... look familiar?  The newly coated body and rollcage should be ready for collection on Monday, gone for a slightly different colour combo for 2016, lets hope it works! |
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Post by Stewart on Feb 24, 2016 13:04:24 GMT
Picked up the newly coated chassis, left the rollcage at the Powdercoaters to give me a bit of working space and to save scratching it. Before I crack on with bolting the body to the chassis to the running gear, thought I'd better replace the rear top wishbone. Spotted this when I removed the frame:  Oops! Thankfully I've got a full set of running gear in the loft as spares all powdercoated and ready to go. Looks like it's time to restock! So this evening I'll be starting to bolt things together in readiness for the weekend. Got the guys coming over to help build new pipework for both supercharger and exhaust. If anyones after an exhaust, the one above will be available come Monday |
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Post by Stewart on Feb 25, 2016 15:16:38 GMT
Ok, so that went reasonably well. I think I did it back to front though. I bolted the body down - I didn't remember how much of a pain that was getting it lined up! Having those tabs under the rear didn't help. Then decided to change the wishbone. No problem there, all came out easily. Then onto the front end. I'm getting a new exhaust fitted this weekend, so while rooting around the garage I realised I had a Mk2 4-2-1 manifold. Still trying to decide whether to keep the 4-1 or fit the 4-2-1 so whipped the current manifold, downpipe and exhaust off and found this:  Just here:  Impressed I managed to get a stone up in there!! Anyway all off and ready for the install on Saturday.  Found I have a leak from the bottom of the dipstick so new O ring ordered to fit this weekend. Tonight's job, clean up steering wheel column and pedal box, lick of paint then get them fitted |
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Been ill with a chest infection for the past couple of weeks meaning not a lot was happening in the garage... but with only 6 weeks before the first race, I thought I'd better pull my finger out!
