Rich's Exocet Build

[hutchey]

Bit more progress today even with the hand still not tended to.

Brackets made and welded on for the power steering bottle, coolant bottle, main fuse box, relays, bonnet catches, exhaust manifold.
Bracket made for the fuel filter at the rear and a fuel tank specific Earth wire has been prepped.

Rear large wiring block removed and the relevant wires soldered together and covered in heat shrink.

Went to try to fit the MEV radiator brackets and looks like I'm doing something wrong as even with my new MK1 rad, they don't seem to want to fit properly!

Loads still to do though but getting there bit by bit.

[hutchey]

Stupidly realised that I was trying to fit the MEV bonnet brackets on top of the metal ones that are on the side on the new radiator

Removed them and surprise, they fitted first time! Such a wally.

Will trial fit the assembly to the car tomorrow and mark it up for drilling the holes.

[hutchey]

Just wanted to check what to do with the pipes on the charcoal canister?
There are 3 that come out of the engine at different points and join the wiring at blocks.
Do we leave these all open or link them to each other or something different?

[buildercg]

If you're not going to install the canister then block off the engine ports with rubber caps to ensure a good seal. My engine is a '91 and there's only one hose that runs from the canister to the engine. The other two provide air/vacuum and run to the gas tank.

[hutchey]

Aug 28, 2017 20:07:36 GMT buildercg said:

If you're not going to install the canister then block off the engine ports with rubber caps to ensure a good seal. My engine is a '91 and there's only one hose that runs from the canister to the engine. The other two provide air/vacuum and run to the gas tank.

Cheers, mine has only one that goes to the tank.
Others to engine via these connectors.

[hutchey]

Earth points!

I've looked at the MEV manual for the earth points but the description on some is vague, can anyone be a little more precise please?
Ta

[mikeeyboy]

The earth connectors on the loom should be pretty obvious when you have them out. With mine I could not fit them in the original car locations due to how the loom sat.

Just make sure you have a good contact from the exocet chassis to the MX5 PPF at the rear (where the battery earth runs).

I bought a new earth strap to connect the engine to the chassis as well.

With the wiring harness earth's I have just run them to the nearest preexisting bolt hole on the exocet and utilised that with some earthing washers. This meant not having to drill additional holes everywhere.

[hutchey]

Mine aren't obvious.
Got one from gearbox to frame
Battery to frame
The ones for front lights
2 small ones by the dash area
One by the rear lights

[miket]

Build guide refers to:-
1. One from Battery to chassis.
2. One to alloy beam near diff.
3. One to alloy beam near front.
4. One strap from engine to chassis above exhaust manifold.
5. One multiple earth at pedals.
6. One above the exhaust on front bulkhead (near engine earth strap).
7. One at the petrol tank for rear lights/pump.

So of the ones referred to above it sounds like you’ve already found: 3, 1, 6, 5 &7?

So 4 ‘engine strap’ (on my NA at least) is a short braided ribbon wire in a loose insulating black sleeve above the exhaust manifold on the engine and routed to nearby bit of chassis.

And for 2 I think I took my negative battery cable to the chassis and then on to the alloy beam.

Hope this helps.

[hutchey]

Yeah, it's been a really long time but after going to the Stoneleigh Kit Car Show this month and meeting up with the folks again, we've had a spurt on the car since then.
Being up there with them really was a great couple of days, we were made to feel very welcome again and the advice was brilliant.

Really trying to push on and get it "dry built" now and start it to see if it will fire up.

Think I'm still missing the earth at either 4 or 6 as I have a strap coming from part of a plate where the bell housing meets the gearbox.

Other than that, got the fuel lines just draped in place and connected today, made some plates for where the rear subframe should meet the chassis underneath, the rear anti roll bar ball joints on and the rear GRP section in place and holes drilled with rivnuts in place to hold the rear section down.

About to start to try and fit the bonnet and see where it needs trimmed, drilled and how it will fit (with trim on it).

I've welded on brackets for the power steering bottle, coolant bottle and fuse box and some tabs to fill in the top front side panels.

IVA form is ready, except for a query on the date that goes into 4b - should this match the Invoice sale date from the chassis or be the date about now?

I know I've asked before but double checking on the pipes from the charcoal cannister - do you blank each off or loop them together using a 3 way connector so that the air can flow between each area in the engine?

Cheers,
Rich and Cam

[miket]

As I recall on my Mk1 there was only 1 charcoal can pipe to the engine - the others were one back to the tank and one drain down thru the subframe to the road. I've never seen anyone do anything but retain or blank.

I can recommend a long Permagrit sanding blocks for trimming the grp and foam-panel parts - great for maintaining straight lines and not introducing unintentional wavy bits! In places I ended up with the edging trim not fully pushed on so as to help bridge any minor gaps - I put the trim on and then pressed the boonet down on to the frame so that the trim followed the contours of the frame. Than marked where it ended up using masking tape and glued it in that place.

[hutchey]

Double nose cone fitment a real nightmare!
I have the MEV radiator brackets, MK1 radiator and it's snugly fitting so the rad cap is almost touching the front chassis top bar.
Can just about get the top rad hose on too so its all snug.

Trouble is the nose cone sits too far forward and won't reach back to the dash area cross bar. It's about 2-3 inches short.

Can't stretch the nose cone wider due to the fibred in supports.

How did anyone get around this problem?

Ta

[hutchey]

MEV replied so I've got a change of plan and will hinge from the dash end.

Now on to work out the cycle wing mounts, might copy the metal welded onto the wing stays and use threaded tube welded to plates under the wings to keep them all nice and clean - now to work out the height needed.


Q) for these to be level, did everyone get their camber and castor sorted so the car sits flat or does it make no difference?
Cheers

[hutchey]

Hi all,

Can anyone help with some answers to a few questions please? (Some are for IVA in the UK)

1) Wheel arches - for these to be level before fitting the arches to the stays, did everyone get their camber and castor sorted so the car sits flat or does it make no difference?
b) Some have made brackets with threaded tube etc to "lift" the wings up a bit higher and have cleaner fitment but by how much so as to still get a standard circumference tyre off?

2) Daytime running lights - are these needed for IVA? Not seen any completed cars with them yet.

3) IVA says that dipped lights cannot now be flat patterned but MOT says this id ok - I can't see many options that comply with IVA?

4) Rear fog (mine is a UK spec car) do I need to add some new electric box to control the fog not coming on or being left on?

5) Hazard switch - mine has a load of wires and I think I read that only 2 or 3 are now required on a single pole switch? Anyone able to confirm?

6) Lighting - can I use LED units at the back and LED mini side indicators and still use Halogen front units without having to add in LED control boxes or whatever?

7) I've got 25mm wheel spacers on at the moment so should i be looking to get some wheels that take the ET from whatever the Mazda runs - 25 down to zero? Ensuring the spigots are correct too?

Think that's enough to keep me going. We've got 3 more brackets to weld on and then we are looking to see if the car will start before sending the frame off to powder coat.

Exciting times - Cameron is really looking forward to seeing it back all coloured.

[hutchey]

And the frame has finally gone off to be powder coated........................

Can't wait to get it back and on the PPF and get it back to what it was like