gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - squeezing in a few last drives before Exo goes into hibernation

[gm]

way back in 2004, I proudly brought home my first, a 1997 1.8 mazda mx5 

which gave me my first taste of track day driving - I was well and truly bitten by the bug

for some crazy reason, I sold the silver one and bought a Porsche 944  I missed it so much after a couple of months, I picked up this to use as a daily driver

1994 1.6 eunos roadster v-spec

we went on the track

in typical knockhill weather

did some diy

and generally had a lot of fun - the Porsche was fast but ultimately I didn't love it as much so it had to go. sadly, so did the v-spec as the sills were crumbling. 

it was replaced, on a dark and rainy night, by this 1995 1.8 eunos roadster G-limited

which only lasted six months as the sills were worse than its predecessor  

time to buy a good one one then ? I spend proper money on this 1989 1.6 eunos roadster - what a beauty 

we hooned round Knockhill

we hooned round Croft

then I broke it  the early "short nose crank" engine has a weak spot on the crank pulley and this one succumbed - sold on as spears / reapers

good news was that an emigrating friend had this one up for sale

1990 1.6 eunos roadster AVO 

so much fun was had with this car, definitely my favourite - as I now had a sensible daily driver, this one got quite a bit of work done : roll bar, bucket seats, harnesses, suspension, brakes, exhaust etc. and plenty of laps of knockhill. sometimes getting a little carried away

this was a great day - loads of fun on the track and some hilarious* top gear style formation driving on the way home annoying commuters on the forth bridge 

sadly, AVO was starting to need attention to the sills so @Tickman took her on  and I brought home this 1993 1.8 eunos roadster v-spec type II

all of the good bits were nicked off AVO and swapped into the new car which did itself proud on trackdays, sprints and hillclimbs.  

so it's fair to say, I like these little cars. a lot. 

 

 

[gm]

the silver one reappeared via the owners club forum a few years after I sold it - not the complete car but some recognisable parts that were for sale (the red leather seats were unique as I'd modified them myself to fit speakers in the headrests) . messages were exchanged and I found myself having a wee drive up to Perth to visit a chap who was in the process of putting together an Exocet kit car and using my old motor as the donor. 

the seed was sown, as they say.

fast forward ten years and I find myself once again contemplating the idea of an mx5 based kit car.

there are two obvious contenders :

the MEV Exocet 

and the GBS Zero

 

both based on mx5 running gear, not a massive difference in cost or complexity, so which one should I go for ?

 

 

[gm]

"so which one. should I go for ?" remained a hypothetical question for quite some time. but then last week, I spotted this on the facebook marketplace

now cheap mk1s are becoming thin on the ground, even scruffy examples are into four figures so I had to go take a look.

quite presentable up top but needing a whack of welding underneath. it had a fancy set of alloys on that the seller wanted to keep, we hummed and harred and came to a deal. he asked what we should do about the wheels, how fortunate that I had a spare set of steelies with me in the boot    

 

[gm]

the very next day, this happened

hi-vis neighbour wasn't as pleased as I was  

[gm]

I flung a bucket of water over it and thought about what I'd done  

not so bad, really

[gm]

hang on, let's not get carried away here 

[gm]

mechanically it appears to be fine - I drove it up and down the street a couple of times and stuffed it away out of sight 

I think we can refer to this as day zero

[gm]

so, what happened on day one ? 

well, I had a wee poke about the car and made a mental list of what could be stripped and sold on - it's worth more in parts than I paid for it so other than time, I've got nothing to lose. and I'm not short of time right now.

let's get the tools out and see what's what :

most of the interior removed but still running and almost still drivable at this point.

by the end of day two, my spare room (that I was supposed to be decorating this week) looked like 

  

 

 

[gm]

and the poor little mazda was looking quite distressed

my back was in bits after that but I was pleased with progress so far.

the wiring loom is fairly monstrous for such a smoll car, every plug I pulled needed to be labelled, the original mazda stuff was straightforward but one or more of the previous nine owners had been busy under the dash with their own special brand of bodgery. random unlabelled wires and switches everywhere, an old alarm and separate immobiliser, I gently picked away at it until I reached the point of no return.

 

[gm]

day three in garage gm

lots more stuff to disconnect, unbolt, cut, bend, hit, kick and swear at but at the end of a hard days toil we had two distinct parts of a car

the running gear is on the floor and the shell up high on axle stands, but not quite high enough to roll the chassis (not a chassis) out from underneath

we need another plan......

[gm]

so a mayday call was put out to the AutoShite massive and knight in shining armour good sir @garbaldy came to the rescue

I ventured north to his castle in the borders to find he had some sort of metal gallows

 

we hoiked it into the boot of the civic, I thanked him profusely and bid him farewell to enjoy his daughters birthday party that I had unwittingly interrupted 

 

[gm]

there are many write-ups on the Exocet forum that all say the same thing - removing the body from your donor car IS NOT A ONE MAN JOB !

but we're in the middle of lockdown and I am but one man. 

so what to do ?

get your finger out of your arse and get this job jobbed !

I'd been out to toolstation and bought a pack of ratchet straps which I thought might come in handy, how pleased I was to notice later on in the day that they are NOT SUITABLE FOR LIFTING. well, I guess I proved them wrong there then !

the hardest part of splitting the halves is trying to keep the shell level as it swings ever upwards. I think it was on my fourth time re-roping that I had sufficient confidence to pull that lever more than a few times. an extra strap fixed to the ceiling was ideal to keep the wayward carcass from banging me in the nuts/face/shins etc and we gained some clearance

note the front wheels are now space savers as the full size ones were on standby incase I needed to drop the shell in a hurry, the chances of it landing back on the axle stands were laughably low ( when I was collecting the gallows, I'd brought back a set of peugeot steelies for @loserone, they may* have also been on emergency standby duty)  

that sweet chariot was not swinging low enough for my liking, that's a quarter of a ton hanging a metre above the ground and my arse was making buttons. 

but obviously I still had time to take photos

 

[gm]

so to recap, we have a shell swinging around in the garage and a chassis not chassis out in the street, obviously delighting the neighbours who had ALL chosen that moment to take their daily exercise 

the phrase "you haven't really thought this through" sprang to mind - that garage, although a generous size, does not have Tardis like qualities and I really don't want to have to break the chassis not chassis today

right, time for some 'lateral' thinking

wheels were stacked up to form makeshift axle stands while I whipped the fuel tank out then the ropes were refitted at a different angle.

more arse clenching manoeuvres with the crane and we can call that game of garage Tetris done !

  

 

[gm]

which brings us pretty much up to date - loserone came round to pick up his wheels and generally chuckle at my mazda based chaos - fuck knows what I'm doing in this pic he took, miming the struggle to keep the swinging shell from knocking the garage walls down ? miming my arse making buttons as I winched it ever upwards ? thanking my lucky starts that I'm not back in a&e like last week when I chopped the end of my thumb off with a circular saw ? that has slowed the spannering a tad  

now I get to have a good look at what I've got to work with

subframes will need a session or two with the wire wheel and a lick of paint

the engine is manky, lots of seals to replace and a serious amount of degreaser needed

but plenty to get on with.

most of the body panels are already sold on to other mx5 nutters, once the roof and seats go, I'll have covered most of the purchase price and I've got myself a summer project to get stuck into.

the build tutorial on the Exocet website claims that the shell can be removed in four hours ! I'm pretty bloody impressed that i managed it in four days   

 

[gm]

there's a feature on the Exocet site where you can choose what colour scheme you want (they build these to order, it seems)

so, bearing in mind that you can see what your car will look like before you build it, can anyone explain the existence of these particular combinations ?

ooo, that's bad. 

but not as bad as....

getting better...

I like this one

 

but as I haven't even ordered the kit yet, I've got plenty of time to choose  

oh, and save up to pay for it 

[New POD]

Let's hope they don't go out of business before your order is ready. 

I love the mk1 shape. And have a set of wings and 4 daisies off a bloke who was doing his second exocet.   Lived on the Nottingham side of the M1. 

 

[Six-cylinder]

Me, I like this one.

[Six-cylinder]

2 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Me, I like this one.

But not enough to change the one I have.

[loserone]

3 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Me, I like this one.

Would.  

[Tenmil Socket]

This one for me.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Ooooh great! I lovingly eyed up these options when I had a rusty Mk1 but didn’t have the £££ or space obvs. 
 

I like the 60’s recreations but the interiors inevitably look shit, so I’m gonna vote for the Caterham style one. If you do go Exocet, i think it should be matte black all the way 

[Jim Bell]

Class. Bookmarked for updates. My glootes still ache from the time I tried and failed to get into GMs main MX5. Maybe with no roof I will somehow be less fat, and be able to fit in the new MISSLE. 

[loserone]

The GBS zero does look like a really cheap way to get in a caterham style car

[motorpunk]

8 hours ago, gm said:

there's a feature on the Exocet site where you can choose what colour scheme you want (they build these to order, it seems)

so, bearing in mind that you can see what your car will look like before you build it, can anyone explain the existence of these particular combinations ?

ooo, that's bad. 

but not as bad as....

getting better...

I like this one

 

but as I haven't even ordered the kit yet, I've got plenty of time to choose  

oh, and save up to pay for it 

Jesus, those are ugly. That purple thing! 

I don't know if you've had a close-up look at one of those but I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole, and I've owned some deathtraps.  Just my 2p. Have fun and good luck!

[gm]

18 minutes ago, loserone said:

The GBS zero does look like a really cheap way to get in a caterham style car

that sort of counts against it in a way, they are a fairly common sight, I’ve never seen an Exocet at the track 

[gm]

19 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

Jesus, those are ugly. That purple thing! 

I don't know if you've had a close-up look at one of those but I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole, and I've owned some deathtraps.  Just my 2p. Have fun and good luck!

That’s the next step before I commit, to try and get a good look at one in the flesh. There are a few in the local area, once lockdown eases I’ll try to arrange a visit 

[Broadsword]

Great thread, much MX-5 loveliness. Will continue to follow with interest!

[Flat4]

My word this is epic!

[bunglebus]

As much as they're common, I like the Lotus 7 type kit. Are you going to put the old shell in the garden as a planter to impress the neighbours?

[tooSavvy]

He seems to have done a decent job here....

 

If you are really into this kind of stuff, natch.....