Darren's MX250
 

Hi,

I picked my MX250 Kit up from Chris yesterday so am looking forward to getting started - although I have already stripped all the non-needed parts off the car and have changed my brake calipers, discs and pads whilst waiting for the kit.

I'm building a coupe kit and basing it on a 2001 mk2.5. Luckily the chassis rails are pretty good but I've rubbed down some minor rust patches and have taken the crash cans off, waxoyled inside and am in the process of undersealing the outside.

I've not done anything like this before and I spent some great time walking through the build with Chris and getting my questions answered, I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

That said, I'm definitely going to need ongoing support, so am starting my own thread hoping you'll all be gentle with me. I'm a bit of a plodder, so I do not expect to make quick progress, but I'll get there eventually!

So hi to all, I'm looking forward to getting more involved and I'll try to update regularly - or at least when I make any significant progress.

Darren (Based near Basildon, Essex)

If you need a hand im just around the corner

Good luck Darren. We needed a new build thread for us all to watch (while saving up our own pennies).
Never done a build myself either - but will offer words of encouragement :)

Dave

Welcome to the Tribute Owners Club

Welcome, and have fun building

Good luck with the build , I'm in Brentwood if you need a hand

Good luck hopefully will get round to ordering my kit early next year.

So will be following this thread for tips.

Well my build is progressing slower than hoped, but I now finally have it off road and in the garage so should get a move on now! I'm based in South Woodham near Chelmsford so it seems lots of us are right near you! Maybe we should have an Essex Tribvute meet!

I'd be up for that, not far to Essex from where I am in Cambridgeshire.

Thanks Roadster and Ned for your offers of help, I very well may take you up on them. Ned, I think I met you at the kit car show last May, and asked you lots of questions then - but I didn't realise you were so close.

So I realise that I still have quite a bit of faffing to do before starting the kit in earnest. Today I finished spraying my crash cans and tow hooks, as they were pretty rusty, and I filled where I had ground out the surface rust on the chassis rails, ready for undersealing tomorrow. I also want to bleed the brakes tomorrow and I want to get underneath and change the gearbox oil and transmission oil.

I've also just ordered a set of coilovers to put on, primarily because I want to lower the height a little.

So I've been thinking about preparing the roll-cage. I will probably just spray satin black, but what have people used to rub it down, and what primer should I use?

By the way, as a complete novice, everything has been a learning experience even in the dismantling process, so if anyone needs any help in describing things in detail, then I can probably help with that.

Taz, im in Stanford le Hope - just next door :)

Painting the roll cage ive used single part epoxy - comes in satin or gloss
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VHT-ROLL-C...QAAOSwd4tUEvw3

Excellent - Thank-you

Maybe we should have an Essex Tribvute meet![/QUOTE]


Would be up for that,don't make it too soon though,i need to clear the 3000 roof tiles , 1500 bricks , blocks , cement mixer , lintels, wood and various other bits that are in front of the garage so i can get the GTO out :frusty:

Hi, a Couple more questions

- I need to remove the seal at the upper edge of the windscreen where the soft top front edge normally rests. It looks like it is one piece all the way round and down the A pillars. If so, presumably I need to cut it, but does anyone have a picture of where the cut needs to go exactly?

- What have people primed and sprayed the front wheel arch extenders with?

Thanks!

Hi,

Mk2 builders. How have you relocated your fuse box out of the way? My Fuse box is in 2 parts the main fuse box and then a smaller secondary fusebox on a bracket (see photos). But the area is so cluttered between the brake fluid reservoir and the fuel can thingy, and the wire does not have enough overlength that I can't seem to move it far enough to clear the wing extension. any ideas?

This doesn't show my solution very well but it's on bracket mounted to the wing extenders. I'll try and get some better pictures at the weekend when there is some sunshine.

http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/...psc4c5688b.jpg

Thank-you, that will help a lot. Have you separated the large fuse box from the smaller one behind, or are they still together on the same bracket? Did you have to do anything with the wire, as I have very little movement at present?

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

Did not realise there were so many kit car builders in the area. From Basildon myself.

Though not a tribute builder, happy to lend a hand, friendly chat over a cuppa etc if you want.

When you say the small fuse box do you mean the relays on the gold coloured mount? I left these where they were. It's a PitA to get to them if they fail but as I had to replace all three during my build I would hope they will last a while.

In terms of the wiring, I "gently" pulled the main fuse box until there was enough length to mount it where I wanted. There isn't a great deal of spare length on the wiring but with some gentle teasing it does come further out.

Hi Limpabit. That's very kind and I'm sure as I get further into it, I will be glad of some help and advice!

Hi Fatbloke. I had a go at the fusebox again tonight. I took the 3 connectors and gold bracket off and I was able to get to the wiring loom underneath. I separated the two main strands a little where they are taped and re-taped them. This gave me quite a bit more flex. I re-installed the 3 connectors. on your vehicle it looks like you've taken the other gold bracket out near the fuel can? For now, I've also twisted the front part that holds the fuel pipes through 45 degrees which brings the black connector away from the strut top to give more space. I also reversed the grey connector and the small black hitatchi box through 180 degrees which also brings that wiring out of the way. So at least the fuse box can be brought far enough out of the way for now, but may need to tweak later.

It's been a while since my last post, but I've been busy doing all the stuff underneath the car - sorting rust and undersealing, and have also fitted some adjustable coilovers (that wasn't easy as all the front roller links wouldn't budge and needed to be ground off.
Anyway, I'm nearly at the point of actually doing some work on the kit again.

This may be a bit of a naïive question, but do the front wing extenders, rear parcel shelf and boot extender need painting before fixing to the car?
If so, do you leave the surfaces which will be bonded unpainted?
Is there any particular type of primer / paint that works better with fibreglass?

Thanks for any pointers!

Wing extenders no, boot extender no. They won't be visable when the kit is fitted.

what i do is (2 pack ) acid etch primer on first off leave to dry dont flat off, then apply high build primer filler flatted off between coats, 2or3 should do it, to build up a good layer so you have a decent thickness then guide coat (matt black aerosol ) flat off again fill any pin holes that are visible with stopper,not filler, flat off then apply coulor basically treat it as you would steel. any flexible/bendy parts you can put a addative in that keeps the
paint flexible when dry ps use a good face mask its nasty stuff

Thanks for your help.

This weekend I've actually started to do some 'kit bits', but I have 3 questions already, so hoping some people can help.
Here goes with Q1:-

What do I need to remove in the top windscreen area. The seal looks to be one piece, so I need to cut it but where? The blue line on the attached image, shows a sort of natural point for cutting, but does it need to be further down the a-pillar?
Do I need to take the trim pieces off. I'm trying to avoid taking the A-pillar trims off, but it looks like the header trim can be removed separately (at the red line). DO I need to remove this?


http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...psaaszkyd6.jpg

Not sure that the picture worked in the last post, so attached here

Question 2:
The roll cage is not fitting quite right. I think it is the centre mounting points rear of the doors. The mounts need to go slightly more rearward but can't because there is a raised area of metal. Has anyone else had this issue? I thing the answer is to grind a few mm off the rear edge of the centre mounting feet, but wanted to check if others have had to do the same? (My MX5 is a Mk2.5).

Q3 - Front wing extenders:

I have trial fitted the front wing extender and it does not seem to be naturally fitting well, so I just wanted to clarify the following

(i) there is a lip on the inboard side of the top rail (see picture). Does the wing extender fit on this, or does it need to be bent over / flattened?
(ii) In the picture with the wing extender in place, it fouls on the metal on the top left hand corner. Do I need to cut round this part or is it okay?


http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5qfuj1pa.jpg

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...psv60jbahs.jpg

Photos:

I did have to fettle my roll cage slightly, no idea if it was the car out of true or the cage.
The wing extenders were just bolted on without modification or seam hammering.

Not sure about the rubbers, I did it on a Mk1 which looks different I think.

Thanks Landmannnn. What tool did you use to fettle the rollcage - did you just use an angle grinder an cutting disc?

Any mark 2 builders out there that can help with the roof rubber question?

Angle grinder. Do lots of measurement of the cage and the car first, now I remember that I had a broken front spring which put the car slightly out.

On the wing extenders, I fitted mine on to a Mk2. I didn't flatten the lip, just bolted through it. I also bolted through the bar at the top to give the extenders some extra support.

The kit I had was for the Mk1 so when trying to fit the front end I had to take out some quite large lumps of GRP to get it to sit where I wanted. I think the Mk2 kit has addressed these problems.

On the roof, can't help as I made the convertible although when I fitted the hardtop I just cut the rubbers and tucked them back in then stuck the bit I had cut out across the middle to make it look finished.

On the 2 I have put together , I flattened those areas before bolting the wing extenders on ...

I am not surprised that the rollcage doesn't fit every car every time without a bit of fettling ...a fully welded rollbar , no matter how its welded will want to move whilst its bolted to its jig , if you weld a bit of tube , as you roll around it , you can see it move due to heat ...when you release them from the jig , sometimes they will 'spring' a little ..add into the equation repaired cars , pattern panels , slightly twisted cars etc etc ....and things will often be slightly misaligned .. opening up some holes a little or forcing or relieving it with a grinder will compensate for the slight irregularities

Thanks for all of the comments. Appreciate the help.

Got the rollbar on at the weekend. Cut a few mm out of the rear of the B Pillar Feet, which allowed it to move slightly more rearwards.
Still had a lot of trouble to get the front windshield bolts in as the feet were slightly too close together. Had my son pulling and pushing, but we couldn't get it to flex enough. In the end, I put a bolt in the left side, put some tape around a screwdriver head and levered the foot on the right side using the hole for the bolt. Whilst I did that, my son put a bolt in the other right hand hole. Then it was easy to get the other two bolts in.

I also did flatten the lip for the front wing extenders. It was actually pretty easy using some pliers using them at 45 degrees so that I could get as wide a lateral area as possible with each turn.

I've been looking at the rear boot extender. A few questions here
- On the mk2, I have a wooden baton under the boot extender that should sit on the rear crash can, but doesn't because it is prevented from doing so by the support flanges. I assume that I need to cut slots to allow the boot extender to move forward more?
- what are the points where I should fix and glue? should I glue the baton to the crash can or is there a way to mechanically fix it?
- there will still be gaps between the extender and the rear boot, should I use fibreglass matting to bridge these gaps?

On the MK1 I glassed the gaps.

I have PMd you Darren.

Hi all,

been making steady progress over the last month or two. Have been trial fitting the rear clamshell and have nearly got it how I want it to sit.

One issue that I still have is that the pods behind the rear wheels are fouling on the rear wing lip. Again, did any Mk2 builders have the same issue? If so how did you get round it?

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...psul796m2g.jpg

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...psa2jsy6pm.jpg

It's been a pivotal moment in the build this weekend. In theory, before now, I could have reversed everything I've done and put the car back to its original MX5 specification.

BUT, this weekend, my friend Brian and I had a go at the rear wheel arches. I had tried (briefly) to turn them up, but it wasn't pretty and was hard work even to turn the lip up. So instead, we
- drilled the exixting spot welds
- cut out approx. 4cm from the outer wheelarch
- separated the cut outer panel piece
- cut 1-2 cm from the inner wheelarch
- rolled the inner wheelarch over the outer
- spot welded the two back together

This took the wheelarch up to be pretty much flush with the maximum height.

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...psyyggioy0.jpg

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...pshldzlfg7.jpg


Previous test fits of the rear clamshell had shown that the ducts behind the rear wheel arch were fouling on the Mk2 bodywork and not allowing the kit to sit inboard enough.

To fix this we
- made a cut at the forward edge of the bodywork where the duct touched
- then knocked the panel inwards (because of the lip, this would not have been easy without the cut and we think it would have distorted quite a lot of the panel)
- then made a template and fabricated a small filler panel and welded in place.

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...psguggfrcv.jpg


So to date - work completed:-
- all mx5 parts not needed removed
- front and rear calipers and discs changed
- front chassis rails repaired and undersealed
- other areas of rust treated
- adjustable shocks and lowered springs fitted all round (ARB links were a nightmare and had to cut all four off and fit new ones)
- inner wing extenders cut, painted and trial fitted
- front wings cut and re-fitted
- roll bar painted and fitted
- clamshell de-waxed, seam lines sanded, also initial general sanding
- rear boot extender, parcel shelf and clamshell dry fitted. Much fettling to get to sit correctly / find issues
- rear wheel arches cut and r-welded
- indents for rear ducts cut and re-welded

Attention over the coming weeks will be on the mx5 boot, boot extender and rear parcel shelf. Generally need to sand, make tidy, route wires, fill gaps, paint etc.