North Wales Exocet build.

[Robin Wiggs]

Thanks. Very exciting moment yesterday when I separated the body, cut it in two and dumped it in the trailer. Took the tank off from underneath as per most people.

Still can't work out how to get photos to show... tried linking to a number of different hosts. Grr. Will have another go tomorrow.

Not sure whether to start stripping down and cleaning components tomorrow, or a quick blast to Stoneleigh and dodge the rain.

[gwnwar]

Go to Stoneleigh or wait another year. The car will still be waiting for you.

[mawdo81]

Stoneleigh will get the motivation sky high!

[Robin Wiggs]

So, now I've finally worked out how to post pictures, it's time to update progress on the build.



Like everyone, I started with a space:




and one of these to fill it:



Armed with a ratchet and a 10 and 12mm socket, we set about dismantling the donor. Quite quickly we reached this point:



And so ended the first day.

[Robin Wiggs]

Like many of you, I'm hoping to recoup some of the cost of the donor and kit by selling parts. It seems to be a good time of year for this, and I've already sold the soft top, wind deflector and multiple items of trim/badges. I've almost made the donor price back already, and I've got many larger items still to list.

My sales strategy is simple... I search completed listings on eBay and set a BuyItNow price equal to the highest sale in the past couple of months (assuming similar quality in my part). It is surprising how often people by the higher priced part... sometimes I feel guilty, but then I look at the low level of my kit fund and it soon passes.

The strip is lots of fun and it is tempting to rush on with removing parts, but I've been careful to remove absolutely everything and photograph it. Good photos are key, as well as including all the fasteners if possible.







Sometimes though, you have to stop and just admire the North Wales view!

[Robin Wiggs]

I've done nothing like this before - changing an alternator or starter motor, or replacing a wishbone is the limit of my previous experience.

The strip is pretty easy, with the build guide from this forum and the Haynes manual. Just follow it step by step.

By the third day I had got to this stage.





The dash was straightforward. Just remember the centre nut under the plastic cover. It is too close to the screen for a socket, so an offset spanner is needed.



I was getting close to removing the carpets. I hope MX5 owners never need to do this on their car, as it needs almost totally dismantling to remove/replace the main carpet!





I was labelling the loom connectors as I disassembled them, but I didn't think to label unused connectors. I'm not looking forward to refitting/stripping the loom when the time comes. Electrickery is not my forte...

So by the end of day three, or thereabouts I had got to this point:

[Robin Wiggs]

Work continued to remove the loom. It's time consuming, but straightforward.




In fact the hardest parts are pulling the loom through the bulkhead or door grommets. I just sacrificed them.

I'm photographing everything as I go, to hopefully aid the build later.



Starting to look clearer:





Once the loom was out, I turned attention to the engine bay. Once again, the build guide and the Haynes manual mean this is straightforward. I sacrificed all of the clips except those for the brake/fuel lines and I'm not sure even those will be reusable. As the car is only 15 years old, I've not really has much problem with corroded or seized nuts/bolts.

[Robin Wiggs]

By the end of the fifth day or thereabouts, the car was pretty much stripped above and below. I had stopped the car with about a quarter tank of fuel and this had worried me. In the end I just disconnected the fuel filter and drained the petrol into a bucket - it went into a few jerry cans for the lawnmower.

I sprayed the subframe bolts with WD40 a couple of times over a week, and prepared for what turned out to be the hardest part. The bolts are easy to locate. The axle stands had gone through the sills a couple of times, so I preferred to put them under the suspension parts whilst I was anywhere near to being under the car. I used 6 sided deep sockets (another purchase!) and 13 of the 14 came off with nothing more than elbow grease and a metre-long length of steel tube as a breaker bar.

One of the rear left bolts was a right PITA though. After ten minutes of pulling on the ratchet, I finally began to suspect the nut wasn't coming off... and sure enough the nut and the thread were turning together. It was a bit tight to get the angle grinder in underneath, especially as the disc was worn quite low. So I decided to go in from above and access the top of the bolt through the boot floor.



The weld that connects the bolt to the tub had broken, and although I tried to reweld it, my welding skills are rudimentary to say the least and it didn't hold. So a trip to buy new discs and removing the spark guard on the grinder meant I could split the nut from below. I also ordered a set of nut splitters from eBay. Of course, I haven't needed them since!



With all the subframe and shocks top nuts removed, I was able to lift each corner and make sure it was all free and ready foe the BIG LIFT!

[Robin Wiggs]

The plan for the big lift was to use a neighbour's tractor with front loader arms, along with a chain hoist to do the actual lifting. I could then drop the tub straight in the back of the trailer ready to take for scrap.

And that is pretty much what happened. I had nothing left attached that I'd forgotten. The only snag was that the strap that I'd attached to what I thought were the seatbelt anchors were not as balanced as I thought I'd read somewhere. We needed a bit of muscle on the front end to level the body as it was lifted.













At last we get the first proper view of the skate. Exciting!



And here it is safely off. Feels like a really important stage. But in reality, it's a very early part of the process... We tipped her on to her side so I could strip the handbrake cables, remove the tank, and any remaining brake/fuel lines.



She wouldn't fit neatly and safely in the trailer, so we sent for the Stihl saw and chopped her up.



Now she fits!

[Robin Wiggs]

At last, a chance to properly assess the state of the subframe and PPF. Looks pretty good, with the worst of the surface rust on the lower wishbones. I will try and clean them up, as I would rather keep the costs down.

I haven't decided yet how to clean them up and how to paint (or whether to coat them). I have a small compressor and I bought a sandblasting canister for it that I haven't used yet - so I may go down that route and spray paint it all.


Anyway here's the back end:





From here on I seem to be on my own... the build guide doesn't cover component strip down...and the technical section on here is password protected. Presumably the password is something you get when you buy your kit?

Using the Haynes manual and common sense, it is pretty easy to remove the suspension parts and exhaust and very soon you get to this point:




As I removed the hub carriers I suddenly remember I forgot to crack the hub nuts right at the beginning of the build. B()gger!


I've made sure to cable-tie plastic bags around the end of the drive shafts/universal joints - as well as any engine aperture. I haven't learned what each part of the engine is yet - so basically I've taped everything up for now!




So, here is the current state. I'm stripping the engine attachments, whilst working out how I will separate the transmission and engine, ready to put the engine on the stand. I don't have an engine hoist, so I'm thinking I may do something a bit Heath-Robinson with a scaffold tower and chain hoist...






I removed the PPF nuts and bolts, wiggled a little and it all came apart nicely. The top hats on the rear bolts came off but look undamaged. As they are threaded, I can't see a problem with reuse?

[Robin Wiggs]

So today was the start of something I'd been looking forward to and dreading in equal measure... cleaning up the suspension and subframe components.



A box of ten wire brush wheels for the angle grinder arrived yesterday courtesy of eBay (£18 for 10)...so this was my first approach.



Before:



During:



And after... it took about 30 mins to get to this state:



I'm not 100% happy with it though. It's hard work and there are plenty of places it is difficult to get to with the wire wheel:



I think I'll sandblast one for comparison. But that means I need to build a blasting cabinet...

[gwnwar]

With the top nuts on rear of PPF tap them back in and use a center punch to stake them in 4 or 5 spots around them..
Nice work so far good write up and pics..

[mikeeyboy]

Good progress so far. With regards to cleaning components I would get a quote for sandblasting them, you might be surprised how cheap you can get it done!

I've sandblasted all my brake bits as I have a small cabinet, it took ages and I kind of wish I just paid someone the 20 quid to do it!

[sparkyman403]

I'm with mikeeboy on this one , I bought a blasting unit and it needed a lot of air and the blast media was £20/£30 per bag . So by the time you buy your blaster , blast media , build a cabinet , large compresser it's Cheeper to get it done proper blaster to do it while you get on with the rest of things . I would not blast my parts if I did another one. Plus a blaster will powder coat as well or can get it done for you

[Robin Wiggs]

Ah...I've started to build the cabinet! Since we live on a smallholding and have lots of rusty equipment around, I'm sure it will come in handy. Will post pics of the cabinet as it progresses.