Jason Exocet type G build thread

[jason82]

I have been out to the skate this afternoon with my wire brush attachment getting all of the rust and bits off. That car body sealer is evil stuff ! It was all over the rear cage and it does not appear to set, when you start attacking it with the wire brush it kind of turns to a thick putty type substance. I picked up a tub of hammerite gloss black this morning, I know initially I did not want to use it, but I am trying to cut back so that I can buy the kit. It's gone on really well & is drying really quickly at the moment. Anyone got any ideas on removing the rear lower hub bolt ? I don't want to cut it, but I have given it another go with a lump hammer today (nut only just wound onto the bolt to protect it), but it will not shift. I have also pulled the engine so that I can refurb the front beam & make removing the wishbones a little easier tomorrow.
My engine mounts are absolutely spent, so I will be calling Duraflex in the morning for a pair of fast road engine mounts. The more i take apart, the more i wonder how on earth this car ever made it through its last mot. Scary stuff !

[hammy3601]

You may end up regretting poly engine mounts, they’re harsh and transfer a lot of vibration to the chassis. Normally reserved for race only cars mate

[jason82]

Thanks for that, I will go for standard ones. You are a star !

[p2tav]

hi Jason,


check your messages next to profile on top line 

[jayz101]

May 7, 2018 15:56:21 GMT jason82 said:

I was referring to the buy it now icon mate on the head title. Maybe there was more than just myself thinking the same thing ? Anyway, I have been out to the skate this afternoon with my wire brush attachment getting all of the rust and bits off. That car body sealer is evil stuff ! It was all over the rear cage and it does not appear to set, when you start attacking it with the wire brush it kind of turns to a thick putty type substance. I picked up a tub of hammerite gloss black this morning, I know initially I did not want to use it, but I am trying to cut back so that I can buy the kit. It's gone on really well & is drying really quickly at the moment. Anyone got any ideas on removing the rear lower hub bolt ? I don't want to cut it, but I have given it another go with a lump hammer today (nut only just wound onto the bolt to protect it), but it will not shift. I have also pulled the engine so that I can refurb the front beam & make removing the wishbones a little easier tomorrow.
My engine mounts are absolutely spent, so I will be calling Duraflex in the morning for a pair of fast road engine mounts. The more i take apart, the more i wonder how on earth this car ever made it through its last mot. Scary stuff !

I had the same issue as you when I looked at it on ebay and also at the show a few years ago. I think its the Kid in me and all that excitement stops me thinking straight :-)

Its a bit of a kicker when you get the bill that's for sure. That said, from what I can tell the kit is still great value and just not a `cheap' as we first had in our minds. 

I have been building mine in the sun for the past three days and it has been great fun. If I have half as much fun driving it as I am building it then its worth every penny. It seems you are going full on with your build, have you thought about putting the car together and upgrading it over a few years as a running project? Maybe this will offset the cost a little? This is what I am doing anyway as I have very shallow pockets and my patience has ran out with saving me pennies 

I hope you stick with it, I am not that far from you and would be good to have someone local building :-)

[jayz101]

Lower hub bolt was the only thing I had a major issue with. It seems the designers might of had the day off on that one. I just cut them off and bought new. They weren't that expensive. No doubt there's a trick to it but that's my two pennies on it.

[jason82]

May 7, 2018 19:02:28 GMT jayz101 said:

May 7, 2018 15:56:21 GMT jason82 said:

[Stiggy]

Unfortunately we must charge VAT on everything we sell. We are unpaid government tax collectors, I just wish they paid us say 1% for collecting and admin on VAT!

I have now edited the Ebay listing, the item is reduced to £1.49.

Exocet remains by far the lowest cost, easiest kit car to build in the world, not only is the kit price only 3k plus VAT but instead of buying pedal assemblies, master cylinders, brake calipers, radiator, wiring harness, exhaust, shock absorbers, steering rack, tank, filler, throttle cable, uprights, bushes, bearing, ball joints, wishbones, seats, ect. ect. etc. etc. You just lean over and take them off your donor, then sell the rest of the MX5 bits you don't need..

[theancientone]

"....instead of buying pedal assemblies, master cylinders, brake calipers, radiator, wiring harness, exhaust, shock absorbers, steering rack, tank, filler, throttle cable, uprights, bushes, bearing, ball joints, wishbones, seats, ect. ect. etc. etc....you just lean over and take them off your donor"

This is surely the main point. An order of magnitude easier than building a 'seven'?

[jason82]

I have finally stripped the front & rear subframe now for a refurb, I was going to hammerite the lot, then I just couldn't get a good enough finish for my liking. I don't want a nice car on the outside, then a crappy finish when you get up close it looks like shite, so I have taken the plunge ! Front & rear subframes & all of the wishbones are going off for blasting & powder coating in gloss black, wishbones are going to be done in POR15 by the same company & they give a couple of years guarantee all for £150. After having a good chat with Paul from Huddersfield, I don't want a 100 yard car. I want something which will stand up to scrutiny & look the part, I hate half assing jobs.
Casualties so far ? 1 camber adjusting bolt, 2 x rear outer lower hub bolts & 2 front upper inner bolts. Oh, the diff bushes fell apart on tear down, so it was off to Duraflex for a nice set of yellow ones for the sum of £27.80. The bolts can wait for a bit, I want to get stuck into the engine tear down & paint, replacing cam belt, tentioners , water pump, plugs, leads, clutch, etc etc. I have some silver engine paint from a previous Haynes Roadster build (never finished). I don't want to paint the engine black as I won't see the oil leaks lol.
I have only dropped the diff out of the cage & dropped the gearbox from the engine & I am leaving the diff,ppf & gearbox connected to keep the ppf in line, I just don't have enough confidence to line the thing back up, & the ppf is galvanised in my car, & it will never be seen unless you are under the car, so I am playing this one safe.
 

[jason82]

Catch up time, I have had my brake callipers back from Bigg red ltd www.biggred.co.uk  & they look absolutely stunning !

Before.........

After........

I am extremely happy with their work, and they came extremely well wrapped.

  Next up I was working on the diff. I used a 24mm socket to undo the bolts on the diff, firstly I un done the filler bolt (the top one) just to make sure that if I managed to drain the oil (bottom bolt), I could actually refill the diff again. Both bolts came out really easily, a word of warning, the oil in the diff smells horrible & if it gets on your skin, it takes forever to get rid of the smell.

The bottom bolt is magnetic, so check for any alarming bits of metal as it can be a really good insight into the condition of your diff internals. My bottom bolt was clear. I have just put the bolts back in for now as I am refurbing the diff housing at some point this week. Its going heat proof silver paint, the same colour as the engine. I have ordered 2 new copper washers from Mazda, so as soon as they arrive, I will use a 4.5 inch wire wheel brush in my angle grinder to clean all of the crud off the diff housing, fit a new copper washer on the lower magnetic bolt, torque it up, refill the diff oil, then fit the top bolt with the fresh copper washer before painting.

 Next up I had to replace the diff mount bushes because the rubber was very badly perished (ex drift car). This job was a pain in the butt, but after a lot of cussing, this was the easiest way for me......

To remove the diff bushes, you need to access the bottom of the diff bush, the main nut in the centre of the bush is 17mm (use a long extension bar) & the two smaller nuts on the side of the bush plate is 12mm socket. None of the bolts are particularly tight, but just make sure that the diff is adequately jacked up & supported as the diff will drop out of the cage otherwise.

Ok, so you will need to keep these little rubber mounts, I am just going to refurb the metal as the rubber is in really good condition,  just giving them a quick going over with a wire brush in a cordless drill, then a bit of Hammerite to finish.

Then I made a 58mm diameter circle cardboard template, then traced it over onto a piece of scrap 6mm steel that I had lying around. I cut it out roughly with an angle grinder (using the wafer thin cutting discs), then used a grinding disc to get the circle as perfect as possible.

 

Then using a 3 leg bearing puller, push on the steel sleeve in the middle of the bush, driving it up until it wrips out. (don't use the steel plate yet).

 

Then you are left with this....

 

Then I got an old flat screwdriver & started to peel back the flat edges on the top of the bush. If you look at the diff mounts side on, you will see that you have the diff arm, then a thin plate on top. Its this thin plate that you want to hit /peel upwards as it gets stuck down. You need to do this because the bearing puller will need to pull on the diff arm only to push the bush out. NOTE : Make sure that your diff arms are well supported during this, as you don't want to break a diff arm, especially with the driver side diff arm as it has the fail cut out in it.

Once you have done this, get your 58mm steel disc (I used a 6mm bit of scrap steel for this), and place it in the bottom of the diff bush (if you look closely, just inside the red ring on my picture, you will see the flat edge of the diff mount bush), place the disc on the circled bush, put the centre of the 3 arm puller on the centre of your disc, wrap the arms around the top of the diff arm .......

 

& start to tighten the bearing puller, making sure that it drives straight up & not on an angle. Slowly, but surely the diff bush starts to come out.....

 

I then used a bit of wet & dry to smooth out the inside of the diff mount housing to help refitting.   

    I purchased my new diff bushes from Duraflex www.duraflexpubushes.com, they cost a cheap £28 including delivery. After speaking with them, the larger half of the bush goes on the bottom, with the smaller one going on the top, Mark Lord the company owner suggested using a thick grease like copper slip to lubricate the bushes upon fitting them. I am not fitting them just yet until I finish refurbing the diff housing, but fitting is pretty easy, I will use my steel disc, and tap them in gently & squarely with a rubber mallet, then I will put the steel disc on the opposite side that I am trying to push the steel bush tube into, then put the centre of the three leg bearing puller on the insert, with the claws wrapping around the opposite side onto my steel disc, then just tighten the bearing puller to force the insert tube home.

  

  One thing that I had forgotten to mention in a previous post, was a modification that I made to the rear diff cradle before it went off for powder coating. After reading loads of build threads, I came across a few people having trouble with the rear brake T when plumbing the pipe into the port facing forwards. Basically there does not appear to be enough room for you to bend the brake pipe & fit the union without it hitting the rear panel of the Exocet frame. Then I finally came across the build thread of Calibuild. He made up a bracket that allowed you to keep the t join in the correct orientation, but only moving it rear wards by an inch or so, the plate measured 2.5" in total. there is no mention of it causing an issue during testing etc, yes it is closer to the upper wishbone, but it clears !

Before :

After :

I used a piece of 3mm steel plate, initially I drilled 4 x 6mm holes, 2 for the 2 x 6mm studs on the diff cage (original t joint fixing studs) & 2 for the new t joint block fixing location. However, when I temporarily bolted it all up before I took it to powder coat, it was evident that the 2 original chassis fixings stood too proud to allow the brake pipe to get plumbed in, so I welded the plate to the studs & ground it all nice & flat ready for shot blasting & powder coat. I know that another option is to invert the t block connector, but this keeps it on its correct orientation.

I hope this may be of use to someone !

[jason82]

Today the wallet took a hammering ! I have finally ordered my Exocet & could not be happier ! The real shock to the system was finally collecting my rear, lower, wishbone to hub bolts & nuts, along with a castor adjustment bolt. I know that they were going to be expensive but £57.08 inc vat for 3 bolts ?? Oh well, I needed them, they were not really all that much more than second hand ones & they are genuine Mazda.

One thing that I would like to point out, the Mazda dealership stated that these parts have changed part numbers 3 times in their existence. The new part numbers are included below.........

If  you want one complete castor adjustment bolt, complete with washer & nut & 2 complete rear lower hub to wishbone bolts complete with nuts, order all of the above. The part numbers are for a mk1 1.8 uk MX5. I managed to get a 15% discount, just by being cheeky & asking. Given the condition of my donor suspension, I think that I got away lightly, as the bill could have been so much higher. There really is a thin supply of second hand ones available, so try everything to remove them first. I had to cut them out with a wafer thin angle grinder cutting disc. I wonder if they refuse to come out because they get bent slightly by curbing etc ? I know that there was a bit of rust on bit of bolt that you can see that goes through the hub, but I don't think it was enough to stop them from being driven out ?

  I had to cut the bolts to release the rear hubs, luckily for me, my brand new 12 ton hydraulic press will push the unwanted bits out with ease. I hope !

[jason82]

I have had a few ideas on saving money when buying these bolts or the front upper inner long bolts. Please check out the new thread in chassis/suspension & steering, under the heading 'Hopefully this will help someone'.

I really hope that this helps save people some money !

[jason82]

Ok, so this will probably be my last update for a while due to my sons 2nd heart operation at Bristol childrens hospital & unforeseen spending now required. It started off pretty positive with my son Barnaby helping me to prepare the diff and ppf for paint. We basically used a standard 4.5 inch angle grinder with one of the wire wheel bits fitted. It made real short work of the crusty diff and surroundings getting the rust eliminated ready for a few coats of black hammerite. I then used a bit of wet and dry to polish the inside of the diff bush housing, ready to fit them.

So after 2 coats of gloss black, I am happy. Next up, I had to go to collect my powder coated items from the vendor. I was really excited until I got there, then the problems started. Some of the suspension bushes were left in as I could not get them out with my 12 ton press, because the wishbones were mainly too awkward to fit into my narrow press. So a quick call to my powder coat chap & he says 'don't worry, ideally they need removing to get a show quality job, but the bushes will come out in the oven'. I was really pleased as I was getting really annoyed fighting the bushes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First impressions, mainly it looked really good, especially the front sub frame and diff cage. The wishbones looked a little bobbly, but hey, these bits are old, maybe I was expecting the powder coat to be a little thicker to give it a nice flat glass finish. Then on loading the car I noticed the darn bushes still fitted to the wishbones, I could have exploded. So I got them back home, dropped the upper front wishbone under the press & what do you know ? the powder coat comes off !, loads of swearing later I had another go & bent the suspension arm. That's one for the bin then ! I tried getting a little drill to drill the rubber from around the bush tube to pop it out, but this did not work & I kept braking drill bits. So with the 12 ton press & the drill methods struck off, it was down to the last resort ............

This broke my heart, but I was out of choices. Just for the record, the powder coating remained fairly intact, & I would have just gave them a lick of Hammerite had I not found this........

I did not see this one coming at all ! when the bits went in for powder coating, they looked pretty sound. Obviously shot blasting is aggressive and things can happen, but what really pissed me off is that instead of them contacting me to tell me that these highly stressed parts now require welding to make safe, they simply applied the powder coating and covered this serious, possibly deadly problem up. I would of happily collected them, done the work, & paid the chaps a bit more money for a second shot blast. Had the bushes come out in the oven, I would never have known. I have sent them an email with photos and am currently awaiting their response.

   This is a huge setback for my aim to get the car complete & doing track days to raise money for the Bristol childrens hospital charity. I had to re adjust my budget after I screwed up mis understanding the pricing point of the Exocet, so instead of doing the iva this year & doing sponsored drives in fancy dress, I was planning on putting the car into my local race track, Castle coombe, & charge people for a few laps around the track with proceeds going to the charity. But this will also go on the back burner now, as the new wishbones & repaint are not achievable this year, due to financial restrictions.

  Further battles this week have been down to me not un doing the hub nuts on the car while the handbrake was still connected. This nut is seriously tight & has broken a few of my 1/2 inch ratchets already. The ideal solution would be to buy one of the electric impact guns, but the money is not there. The second battle was down to the rear lower hub bolt being seized in. I have put the hub in the 12 ton press, but I keep getting attacked by my press tools flying at me at a few 100mph ! scary stuff !  this will have to wait now as my temper and wallet are at breaking point.

PLEASE LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES !!!!

Undo the four 29mm hub nuts while the car has its handbrake on ! try and use an electric air gun with a 29mm deep impact socket to remove the nuts.

The best & in my opinion, the only way to remove the suspension bushes is to burn them out. I used a small camping stove, and just sat each bush on the hob at a time (if you are really savvy, you can do a few wishbones at a time). This process is incredibly messy, smells fairly bad & if you get smouldering rubber on you, you will use bad language . wear old clothes, because it gets everywhere ! After a fair few minutes, hit the bushes with a hammer and chisel, and they will come out fairly easy if they are at the right temperature.

If you choose to have powder coating done, insist on seeing the parts before they get powder coated. This way you will be able to see if any fabrication work needs doing. It may be in convenient, but it could save your life !

I collect my Exocet at the end of this month/ first week in july (depending on how well my son recovers), so I think that unless things improve, it will be checked to make sure I have all of the bits, then put it in the outlaws garage until next spring.

Happy building !

[aterro]

Jason, I have spare wishbones that you can have for free if you collect. I am in Leicester.

They are the lower rear ones.