Jason Exocet type G build thread

[jason82]

It has been a busy few days, with parts going out for refurb & new bits coming in. First thing first, I have sent all four brake callipers off to Bigg Red in Worcester for a full refurb and a nice yellow paint job. The old callipers were in a real sorry state, with one of the rear callipers actually having the piston seal melted to it. They sell calliper rebuild kits, pistons etc on their website, but I am really unsure on this type of work, so as previously stated, safety comes first !!!!!!!

Once all four callipers were bubble wraped & boxed, they came in at 13kg in total, so with £200 insurance and 48 hour delivery with parcelforce it cost me £20. If you want individual calliper rebuild kits or get Bigg red to rebuild them, their website is www.biggred.co.uk

Next on the list was the suspension bushes. As the Batmobile is going to be black & yellow, only yellow would do ! So after a bit of looking around, I came across Duraflex performance bushes (www.duraflexpubushes.com). My suspension bushes came through really quickly, delivered by DPD. They came with the aluminium inserts & a real easy installation guide. This was key, as I am not a mechanic, I needed  bullet proof instructions as I know that other people have had trouble with potentially fitting the wrong bushes in the wrong place. This is the instructions that I received......

This is probably as easy as it gets ! the bushes have rings on them either 1,2 or 3 rings. They relate to where they are to be fitted on the suspension. With the obvious exception of the roll bar bushes  and come in 3 bags. As I am on a budget, they are probably the cheapest on the market and the quality was spot on !

Next up on the list was a timing belt tool. I have looked at loads of different ones, but the Flyin Miata timing tool/bottle opener was the most highly regarded. They are really good & simply slide between the cam gears & use cable ties to secure them. I have not had it through yet, so here is a pic off their website www.flyinmiata.com

They are $15.99, the only trouble is the shipping to the uk is an extra $67.46 ! So I sent a Lady called Leanne an email, and she sent me a paypal invoice for $28.99 for the tool & shipping to the uk, which came to just under £21, and everything was dealt with through paypal, so no problems. This tool is a must for me, as I am dreading doing the timing belt kit incase the timing jumps.

I am sorry for stating the obvious by giving websites etc, but I had no idea where to go & spent ages googling companies & phoning around etc, so I am just trying to help anyone out that is a bit like me.

[jason82]

My new yellow flexible brake hoses turned up from www.hosetechnik.com yesterday. They were £70 including delivery, are stainless steel & come with the rear t junction, new banjo bolts & copper washers. They were only slightly more than the standard replacement hoses, but I think that these were better value as they include the t & other fixings.

I am really impressed with them !

Ok, please can someone give me some advice ? I cant afford the powder coating of the wishbones & chassis etc, so I was thinking of using a product called Rustoleum 15oz high performance gloss, in black. I found it on a previous thread & is relatively cheap at £7.99 including delivery on ebay. I have always used Hammerite, but I have had trouble with my other projects where rust starts coming through after a few months (I used it on my drive gates). It says direct to rust, so I gave the surface a good clean & key with an 80grit angle grinder pad, then applied it thickly. Maybe I had a bad batch, but due to tight financial constraints, I need this car to be bullet proof for as long as possible. My other idea was to use truck bed liner, it goes on and sets like a rubber type finish. The por range is also good by rustbuster, but gets a little expensive. So if anyone can help advise me, I would be extremely appreciative.

Finally, I have been looking at my Avo coilovers that come with the car. I have one damper seal leaking, & I wanted to know if you can buy service kits for them at all ? I have been having a look around on the net, but I am pretty useless on a laptop. The coilovers also have rubber bushes which are badly perished. I would love to replace them completely, but my budget is a huge stumbling block. I do not want to buy second hand as I don't know how long that they will last, & I am worried that the really cheap ones on ebay (around £200 for 4 coilovers & springs) may be a false economy. Once again, your help will be greatly appreciated !

[jason82]

I had my Flyin' Miata timing tool come through the post this morning. Not bad less than a week from America hey ? The instruction are really good, but the tool itself looks a little cheap, similar to the Wallet ninja stocking filler that you get from Amazon for £1. Its a bare metal finish, and I am sure if its not copyrighted it can be produced over here for a lot less. Is it worth just over £20 ? no chance. But if it stops me getting the timing screwed up on my car I will be happy !

[kiwicanfly]

Apr 28, 2018 11:00:19 GMT jason82 said:

Is it worth just over £20 ? no chance. But if it stops me getting the timing screwed up on my car I will be happy !

I think statement two shows the answer to the question is a definate yes   

Plus you can open beer bottles with it 

[jason82]

I started to remove the wishbones off the car today for painting & fitting new bushes. I started with the rears & straight away I realised that I had dropped a huge nut ! For some reason I had not released the bloody hub nuts, so as the brakes have already been removed I will need to make up a tool out of a bit of 6mm plate, with the correct size diameter for the wheel bolts to go through to lock it to the hub, then weld on a long bit of 25mm box section for leverage. The thinking is that I can get someone to push on the threaded bar while I use a deep 29mm impact socket on the hub nut to release it, Silly boy .

  Then the rear bottom hub bolts (1 each side) decided to undo, but not come out. I left the nut on it & gave it a few good hits with a lump hammer, but no joy. So I will need to buy a new pair of those, but I will wait until I remove the front wishbones before I place my order with Mazda, as I fear there is more fight left in the car yet ! I will cut them out when the weather dries up ( I am doing my build on an open gravel drive).

 So I started to look around for a cheap 10 ton hydraulic press to push the bushes out, thinking that they would be fairly cheap, but I cant find one for under £100 & my local garage wants a fortune to push them out. So I decided to try using a bit of threaded 8mm bar, 2 nuts, a wheel spacer, socket and a few washers to see if I could use a few bits lying around in the shed to get the job done (as previously stated, this is a budget build).

 

My wheel spacer is a proper mx5 machined unit made from 50mm deep billet, this sits on top of the wishbone (outside edge), a spare wheel cup and a nut, the 8mm threaded bar then goes through that little lot, through the wishbone bush, through a 1/2 inch small socket, then a washer, finally capped off with a nut. I was not sure if this would work, but hey presto, out they pop ! I used the little spare wheel cup thing to stop the front face of the wheel spacer deforming, making sure that pressure was equal on the spacer, and nothing was hitting the wheel threads preventing damage. I have checked the spacer after pushing out 4 really old, rusty bushes & both faces of the spacer remain true & completely un marked. I hope that this may help others to try & save money, obviously fitting the new bush will be a reverse of this, only making sure that the new bush is pulling in dead square avoiding it snagging.

[davef]

Jason I have a press, where do you live?

[jason82]

I live in Newnham, Gloucestershire.

[p2tav]

hi Jason,


There are mixed views when it comes down to powder coating wishbones, I did not want to powder coat mine as although it looks really nice when first done the stones will chip it when driving and can cause a large piece to chip of or moisture can get behind and lift it. I know some people will say different but this was my view also whilst building you might knock the powder coating and its hard to make it look right then with paint. I used 2 pack primer then 2 pack paint which dries really hard and is brushed on and when requires touching up you cant tell. The paint is for metal and comes in two colours silver and gloss black, the primer is grey/silver in colour and as it is mixed with a catalyst it touch dries in a few hrs and hardens over night.


I brushed the paint on but you can thin it down and spray it but the finish with a brush is really good. I needed to weld a bracket on the sub frame and it took some doing to sand it off to get down to the metal and when I touch it up you could not tell which told me I had done the right thing.
The paint is made by akzo nobel and it is called interthane part A and part B.

hope this helps.

regards paul




 

[jason82]

Thanks for that Paul, I will ring around for some prices today. Good shout on the powder coating chipping, it never crossed my mind. I had an idea about using truck bed liner on the complete ppf & wishbones, but I am not sure. It's going to be a really busy weekend now that we have some beautiful weather, I almost don't want to do the Stonleigh show tomorrow so that I can maximise time on the car while it's sunny & the kids are at their grandparents. It never works that way though, the Mrs has not thrown her hat into the mix yet !

[p2tav]

May 5, 2018 7:32:57 GMT jason82 said:

Thanks for that Paul, I will ring around for some prices today. Good shout on the powder coating chipping, it never crossed my mind. I had an idea about using truck bed liner on the complete ppf & wishbones, but I am not sure. It's going to be a really busy weekend now that we have some beautiful weather, I almost don't want to do the Stonleigh show tomorrow so that I can maximise time on the car while it's sunny & the kids are at their grandparents. It never works that way though, the Mrs has not thrown her hat into the mix yet !

hi Jason,

we are having the same conversation about Stoneleigh lol. i'm having a few days of at present as it starts to take over everything so will probably go so might see you at Stoneleigh.
have a good one 

[jason82]

[Deleted]

Be careful mate, I've built a zero and other kits. If you've not built a kit before the Zero is more complex/difficult. Also trust me that by the time you get a zero on the road you will be looking at 12-15k for a good build. ECU, looms, gauges etc are very expensive. You'll also need a custom exhaust, fuel tank and pumps, swirlpot etc etc etc.
Just passing on my experience with GBS


Oh and propshaft and narrow seats the list goes on and on the Exocet in my mind offers the best on the road price

[hammy3601]

May 7, 2018 10:56:09 GMT @hammy said:

Be careful mate, I've built a zero and other kits. If you've not built a kit before the Zero is more complex/difficult. Also trust me that by the time you get a zero on the road you will be looking at 12-15k for a good build. ECU, looms, gauges etc are very expensive. You'll also need a custom exhaust, fuel tank and pumps, swirlpot etc etc etc.
Just passing on my experience with GBS


Oh and propshaft and narrow seats the list goes on and on the Exocet in my mind offers the best on the road price

Seems I had an old account! This is my account name mate Hammy3601

[jason82]

.

[hammy3601]

May 7, 2018 11:48:17 GMT jason82 said:

Thanks Hammy, its just a little frustrating when you have exactly the right amount in your account after saving for ages to buy a kit & spent hours watching YouTube videos etc, then for the price to hike & catch me off guard. I want to continue with the build, but I have been trying to work out today if I can afford the extras to get the car to look like a car if you know what I mean. It's my fault, maybe I should have dug a little deeper, but I have been watching their G Type on eBay for so long & honestly thought that was what I was getting for my money. Maybe a few more Saturdays are on the cards ! Lol

To be honest the eBay ad does say +VAT and options in the description mate