Seanicks Unnecessary Life Complication
 

I never planned to actually buy one, only take a look! A rare free saturday in June saw myself and a friend driving his MX5 down to Poole to meet Chris at Tribute and see the red demo 250.
I instantly fell for its luscious italian curves, and driving the MX5 home clinched the plan together. A summer of rain had meant I had been either soaked or frustrated by my current topless roadster, although on a warm summers evening I new it would be hard to beat.

I ended up buying my mates MX, he had spent loads on suspension, cam advance, chipped edu and de-cat exhaust, so it went liked greased weasel sh**t!
About the end of August I picked up body number 15. It was the first 'de-vented rear plus jag nose that Chris had done, as was my preference.
Picked it up on a trailer, I think the two bits snugged together are about 6 1/2' long by 4' high.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155307_.jpg
The boy is happy, even though he is not sure what it is.
'Daddy, we have got too many cars'
Yes son, You may have a point!

I had spent a few evenings removing bits from the Mazda, and bit by bit they were selling on Ebay. By the time I collected the body on the saturday I only had the rear bumper and front wings to remove......so sunday saw 'driveway chaos's...http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155310_.jpg
Had some help 'Daddy I need a 11mm'
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155308_.jpg

AUGUST
It seemed the safest place to but the new body was on the car....http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155309_.jpg

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155311_.jpg[/IMG]

After trimming the wings back I pressure washed all over. No rust anywhere! Its like new. I shall spray it all with waxyoil whilst its easy to get to.
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155312_.jpg[/IMG]

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155314_.jpg
A good distant shot showing the front end.

Great series of photos!!!

Well done Nick! I have been looking forward to your slant on the MX250, and so far I'm impressed! Anyone would think you have written books and appeared on television! I'm staying tuned for the next episode.......

Well I was on episode 7 of wartime farm, on me boat....

At this point, about mid August, I decided I wanted to source and fit the wheels before bonding on the body.
And so began the hunt for the perfect wheels.......

Some were too wide.....at 11"
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155315_.jpg
some too big....
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_155316_.jpg[/IMG]
Some too small...

After spending a month of evenings searching fleabay, piston heads and Gumtree I gave up. By now I had sold the BBS Alloys and the car was on bricks. A mate leant me some 13" corsa wheels for the rear which look cool fitted inside out, even if very silly!! A spacesaver on the front and an Astra sport steel wheel completed The Look!

I then decided to go for steel wheels, but banded to get the size I wanted. I contacted a set up up north with a nice website and they agreed to source vauxhall wheels, band them, shotblast and spray them. However after four weeks nothing had happened, due to the owner having an accident on his bike. Eventually I received a refund, then began to search for someone else to do the job. Found the wonderful James on some forum, who offered to do the job.
I found a perfect set if Mk1 MR2 Wheels which I sent him.the rears to have a 2" band fitted. Picked them up last weekend.....a perfect job. This is what your mit welding should look like folks.....
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-36-56_381.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-37-06_971.jpg[/IMG]

I LIKE THEM!
They will have three eared spinners and nice tall tyres!
These are one fwd and one banded rear.

I get them back from the powder coaters tomorrow

Very nice wheels. How much did he charge to band the pair?

£50 each. Rims parted on a lathe, band added, all tacked up and checked for run out before welding fully. The welds are what I call gas bottle quality.

Where did you find your' Dunlop rims'?

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...9-46-31_62.jpg[/IMG]The rims are back from powder coatin
And a nice stack of rubber to stick on them.

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_156916_.jpg[/IMG]

Such a familiar story. :icon_wink:

Great work so far and it is great when your children can help. :cool:

Good luck, Paul. :)

Finally got the new wheels on, and drove it (dont read this Towed) to the workshop. Front body held on with ratchet straps, and rear suspension held up on wooden blocks so the tyres clear.
Got one wheel arch cut out and welded back together. Hope to do the other one tomorrow.

Got down to the workshop for a couple of hrs today and tweaked the rear arch. Because my mc is lowered by 40mm and I like large tyres I am having to tweak the arches.

You dont normally have to do this on Tributes kit, its just me!

Heres the issue.......
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_158071_.jpg[/IMG]
only 10mm of travel.
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_158073_.jpg[/IMG]
Chopped out with a grindette
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_158074_.jpg[/IMG]
working a new flange out the other way[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-41-22_540.jpg[/IMG]

Both inner wing and outer now flanged together and drilled for plug welding



Finally welded back together
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-04-53_109.jpg[/IMG]

Thats better.[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...1-31-22_90.jpg[/IMG]


I have added the roll cage braces to the screen. Again this is a deviation from Tributes design, but I wanted to maximise headroom, so came up with this:

the front is bolted with 5xm5 s/s bolts. [IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...2-56-21_39.jpg[/IMG]s/s hex heads, so no welding near the screen

Nice work, glad to see you are making good progress.

Hmm, that should assist my road policing colleagues with their enquiries...

Sorry, I missed out the phrase drove it 'onto a mates trailer' before driving it to the workshop.:icon_smile:

Nice start
 

Hey Nick
Like the wheels, I am doing a little custom job with my wheels , have the 3 eared spinners already . Will you need to adjust the GRP arch at the rear for those fat rubbers ? :thumb:

You are a lucky man with the condition of you base car :icon_smile: How much was the powder coating?

PEEPS- yes I will have to tweak the arch. Was going to be this eve, but then there was the programme on the Bond cars....so nothing has happened.....
I also have the spinners, plan to mount them on a ss disc that will cover the nuts.

Chris, wheels powdercoated, shotblasted first @ £25/ wheel. Half the price of ali wheels cos they dont need to be baked first, only afterwards.

Arch adjustment
 

I have to cut my rear arches back about 25 mm. I think I will let u go first so I can get an idea how to go about it. Will put the cheque in the post.:flypig:

Just putting the kids to bed then I am off down the workshop.....

:eusa_clap: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap:

Done it.
Wheel arches tweaked and reglassed. More details on request!
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...0-51-02_56.jpg[/IMG]

Right now I off to bed! Zzzz

Hi Nick great to see your progress so far, I am building the body before yours I think # 16. I am keen to know how to contact James the wheelman I am thinking of having a set of 15 inch steels banded cheers .

I have pm'ed you.

Heres how I marked out the new arch shape, using a square set to match the inner wing/ max suspension travel, up against the rim.
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-23-56_452.jpg[/IMG]
then a fairing batten to check the shape.....
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_159181_.jpg[/IMG]
Blocked up some flexi plastic stuff to form a mould and marked of the outer gtp wing.
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-49-19_153.jpg[/IMG]
marked the distance in to the inner steel arch and cut out..
taped in position, batten to make it run square across, the a layer of gell coat the t[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...obucket_5_.jpg[/IMG]hree layers of 2oz csm.
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_159185_.jpg[/IMG]/Seanick_bucket/104034610_photobucket_159182_.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]


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[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_159185_.jpg[/IMG]

Put the body back on this eve. It was a right pain as of course Chris beautifuly fitting kit now took loads of trimming and tweaking to get it to sit right again.
Not sure its worth the hassle of changing the rear arches from the original kit as supplued

Welcome to the world of kit (re)designing!:biggrin:

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-01-52_445.jpg[/IMG]

I also laminated what I hope will become the headllining. Waxed up the roof. And laminated two 2oz layers of csm.

I HOPE IT COMES OFF TOMORROW! !!!

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-00-16_351.jpg[/IMG]

Free fibreglass dispenser!
 

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...-00-28_795.jpg[/IMG]Is this the only body that comes with a fibreglass roll holder, with raised lip for when you need a torn edge??
HANDY!!

Why have we never used it for that?

I have sourced a fuel filler, so scoured the kitchen and workshop for something to use as a mould to make a recess for the filler. Found an old paint lid, screwed it to a bit of plastic on the bench. Covered it in release wax then gave it a thick coat of gell coat.[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...0-38-04_46.jpg[/IMG]

When that was dry, added a drain tube and built up some layers of grp.
[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...6-17-59_40.jpg[/IMG]

Just back from a rather nippy workshop, brrrrrr
Anyway, popped the filler recess off the mould, trimmed it, cut a hole in the body, fitted it and glassed it in lightly from underneath. I do a bit more glassing when I take the body off again.[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/g...et_161028_.jpg[/IMG]



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