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gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - unlowering the green machine


gm

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What a cracking drive out yesterday, the weather was just right.

Wrap up warm, was my instructions. I look like the Michelin man.

I have said for along time we have some of the finest driving road around here, and boy were they driven yesterday.

The  2 old dears sitting on the next bench along were somewhat bemused by the going ons, the Dutch couple in their gold  opel kadett were quite excited when we overtook them.

Then to round off a cracking day, many beers were drank.

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during yesterday’s hooning, i managed to bottom out the Exo a couple of times - so i thought i’d better check underneath for any damage

hmm, bit of a scrape on the exhaust there 

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i have a decat that i’m planning to fit so might as well take it off the car for a better look

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hmm, that’s pretty bad

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almost looks like a hole - better give it a prod 

bugger

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fetch the mig 

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fetch the grinder

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add a sacrificial plate over the top

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and then notice the true extent of the damage

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yep, that’s fecked !

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i’ll see if there’s any kind of warranty as it’s only been in use for a few months, only snag being i bought it off another exo builder, not direct from mev. 

if not, i’ve got a lead on a local custom exhaust place that may be able to help.

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in the meantime, here’s some pretty pictures from this afternoon’s hoon

(the gates were open and no one was about, how could i resist ?)

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got to be a calendar shot there, surely ? 

 

seaton delaval hall

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/seaton-delaval-hall

 

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  • gm changed the title to gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - i’ve broken it :(
Just now, Mally said:

The Stainless box will weld up easy. Happens all the time with Stainless.

Just needs a couple of triangular plates for extra strength.

My Robin Hood did the same.

Plus one on that. Useless fragile awkward shite. On the plus side its reasonably rot proof (dependant on grade), but other than that little to say for it (I work with it a lot cos paper Mills and wet humid environment. Makes you look like a welding god though!

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i wanted to keep the exo mobile - desperate times call for desperate action ! this is the standard mx5 exhaust i kept just in case 

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might need that hanger ‘adjusting’

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sorted !

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ridiculous and probably not legal but will allow me to drive to the exhaust place without sounding like a bell end 

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but as it was pissing down, i chucked the broken bits in the boot of the mazda and headed for exhaust mania in bishop auckland 

looks like i’m in the right place 

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do you do repairs, mate ? 

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yes, very good ones, as it happens

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i’m taking it back next week for him to weld in a flexi joint - he wasn’t happy doing it off the car, wants to get it perfect. 

i nipped into lidls on the way home and picked up a can of high temp paint, might as well get the centre section looking right before it goes back on 

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https://m.facebook.com/100057579252971/about/

 

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11 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

tig welded??? looks great

certainly is, took him no time to do it, obviously a skilled chap.

when I went to the cash machine to sort out payment, I picked up a big box of donuts for him and the lads, seemed to be appreciated :) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

so with the back box repaired, time for some more hooning ! 

unfortunatley this involves being stuck behind a shit throwing farm tractor at one point :( 

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i think i got off lightly :) 

many back roads were hooned upon then i somehow found myself in newcastle city centre - the new buildings up at the university are pretty impressive, better stop for a couple of pics 

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i bet that looks even better at night, must go back with a decent camera

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  • gm changed the title to gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - hooning and shopping :)

when I first put the Exo together, I fitted a de-powered steering rack. this was fine but then I found a proper manual steering rack and fitted it instead. now I've done a decent amount of miles, curiosity got the better of me and I wondered which I would actually prefer (apparently the racing Exocets have a preference for depowered, slightly fewer turns lock to lock so a bit quicker)

so with some careful measuring 

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I centred the depowered rack

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centred the steering wheel

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and 'clamped' it in place (this worked much better than it had any right to)

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and whipped off the manual rack

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and with a not unreasonable amount of fannying about, got the new rack on and set up with millimetre precision

only one thing left to do...

head for the hills and commence hooning

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and the verdict is...

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yeah, they're probably right - it's a bit heavier at low speed but it definitely reacts just that little bit quicker when pressing on, especially when the back end goes light on cold track tyres :) 

great fun !

 

 

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I was out for a drive a few days ago and it got dark earlier than I expected - not a problem in the mx5 with its futuristic led headlights but not so good in the Exo with its piss poor candles in a jar

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even with night breaker bulbs, these just aren't much cop - time to find an alternative

look at these and try no to think of the Minions :)  a set of motorbike headlights might work, the bowl looks to be just about the same size as my current set up

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one week later

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should be a straight swap

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not quite a straight swap but with a little bit of fettling

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apply volts

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more volts

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they provide dip and high beam, not by clever optical manipulation or extra banks of leds but by simply driving the full array brighter

I'll knock the garage lights off and see how they look 

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pretty good but how about the all important beam pattern that caused so much trouble at the iva ?

hmm, not quite what I was hoping for 

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I guess I'd better keep hold of those 7" halogens, just in case !

bloody bright though :) 

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I just need a combination of dark / not at work / not pissing it down and I'll get out there and test them properly

 

 

 

 

 

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  • gm changed the title to gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - cheap ass ebay headlights ftw !

dark / not at work / not pissing down occurred tonight so a night time hoon was hooned :) 

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a dark section of empty road was obtained and i did my best to adjust the fancy new headlights 

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and the verdict is : total pish ! 

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they look to be pretty impressive in the pic but on an unlit section of dual carriage way doing 70* mph, they are woefully inadequate :( same story on the back roads, the beam is too narrow so corners are pretty much guesswork. 

not to worry, there is a plan C (or is it plan D? ) 

watch this space :) 

on the bright side, the roads were empty and some decent hooning was done, at least in the sections with streetlights ! 

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  • gm changed the title to gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - cheap ass ebay headlights not at all ftw ! in fact, they are total pish !
  • 2 weeks later...

a kit car group i am a member of decided they would gatecrash another groups meet on tuesday night

we met up at a shopping centre

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and, in possibly the noisiest convoy ever, headed to a local pub to find we outnumbered the other group by 10:1 

so the one person who had turned up is now a member of our group too :) 

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turned out to be an excellent evening, will certainly be back for more next year 

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  • gm changed the title to gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - kit kar klub

with a track day tomorrow, i bought myself a bucket seat for the mx5

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getting it home was fun :) 

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all i need to do is swap the runners

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which was a massive pain in the arse

after several failed attempts, i knocked up some adaptor rails

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job’s a good ‘un

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forecast is for rain tomorrow so i’ll be taking the mazda, the exo will have to wait until next year for its track debut 

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