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Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Tribute Automotive Builds

Tribute Automotive Builds Discuss your Tribute kit build

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  #1  
Old 16th April 2016, 23:07
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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Default Just another MX250 build! (Pic heavy!)

Hey guys,

So I've been lurking around the forum for almost two years now, with my eyes solely on one car - the mx250. I've read post by post through every build thread I could find on here, and got many ideas from each one in turn. I bought my donor (1995 eunos) around a year ago now, and have been using it as my daily driver since. As I need it for my daily, I will be "prepping" the kit for, I imagine, a month or two before taking a week off work to hit it in one big go.

So, the reason I haven't bought the kit itself yet, frustratingly, was for a few reasons. The main reason being lack of funds. We are just about to complete on our second house, and as I have been paying out for all the fees for everything thus far, my wife has "allowed" me the money back on completion, meaning I will finally have the money to get the damn thing!

My aim is not to make a ferrari, not by any means. I love the Tribute brand, I think Chris does fantastic work and to be quite frank I think he could be alot more greedy than he is. The kit is fantastically priced, I certainly wouldn't have even been able to THINK about a build if the kit wasn't so attainable-y(?) priced! And I also love Mazda. My RX8 was without doubt some of the most fun I have ever had driving. I love the new sports cars they continue to make, and I love the old ones that just keep giving. The miata being one of them. For that reason I still want it to remain a "Mazda".

So until the house goes through and I can buy the kit, I have started working on the interior! While I want a classic car look on the outside, I don't want to make it look like a "classic" inside exactly, I want a retro, luxury feel. Something with hints of the mazda origin, but still the feel of a car that could be worth £100k.

I welcome all advice, compliments, critiques, etc.

I'll try and document everything as well as possible, but for the most part I only have my iphone with me most of the time, and I'm pretty damn forgetful!

~Tyno
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  #2  
Old 16th April 2016, 23:37
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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So I've decided to wrap the majority of the interior in leather. I'll be buying the leather piece by piece, pre-stitched. I've done a few bits of wrapping before, however not with glue and leather.

So heres what the car looked like before any modifcations



I decided I'd start with the centre console, as I'm going a few modifications as I go.

Here's the leather I bought, checked against the centre console for fit.



Seemed a pretty decent fit, so I started working on the console. I have never really liked the rectangular gear lever cut out, so I bought a round polished aluminium trim ring from a Cobra that i wanted to make work with the console.




Sitting on a standard leather mx5 gear gaiter;



The ring sits just right to clear the gear stick, so it was time to make it fit! No material actually needed to be removed from the console, rather i needed to add material to support the ring the whole way round. I'm lucky enough to have a CNC at my disposal at work, so i machined two layers of DiBond to fill the void, with the correct diameter hole cut to perfectly accept the trim ring.

I countersunk some pop rivets, riveted it together, and filled over ready for leather.






And the underside:




The next step was to start wrapping the leather.
i placed the leather where i wanted it, then started from the middle.




I used a liquid contact adhesive for the best adhesion I could get, and worked progressively along in small sections.











Once the piece was finished I placed the cobra ring on to see what it looked like, and was very pleased with the results!




I left it to dry for a few hours, then trimmed the leather and fixed the trim ring and gaiter into position using some m4 machine screws.






That was me done for the day! Pretty happy with it so far!

Last edited by TynoPrime; 16th April 2016 at 23:42..
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  #3  
Old 17th April 2016, 00:00
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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The next step was the ash tray. Using the mx5 as my daily, there was something that really bugged me; the car has no bloody cup holders! So after lots of looking around, I found the perfect thing. The jass performance cup holder!



It's a beautiful piece of aluminium with toggle switches attached for the windows. Perfect! except.. I couldn't find anywhere to buy it in this country! On top of that it was looking to be around £80. For £5 worth of aluminium sheet and two toggle switches. So i decided to make my own.

I started by drawing up a template, ran it off on a spare piece of dibond i had lying around, and tested the fit. A few modifications to the drawing later and I had a working template. Great! Time to run it out of aluminium! I couldnt find anything polished when i i was buying the piece i needed (250mm x 500mm. about £3 on ebay!) so I bought what i could, an anodized piece.



Then came the regret at buying it anodized. this meant that I had to sand down the anodized coating until i got back to raw aluminium. Once there i buffed it with a metal polishing kit i bought from eBay, came with a few different cutting compounds, polishing paste etc and a few wheels to go in a drill!

Polished up pretty nicely, so once happy I bent it at the point needed by clamping it in a vice between two pieces of timber, then simply putting pressure on it. This was exactly why I chose ally not steel!

Fitting nicely I secured it in place using some dome head m6 machne screws.


Last edited by TynoPrime; 17th April 2016 at 00:02..
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  #4  
Old 17th April 2016, 00:06
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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Meanwhile I wired in the toggle switched into the existing switch plug (cut down male spade connectors worked a treat here)

Here they are working perfectly, ready to be fit to the centre console. These will stay attached to the car as much as possible, as there's lots of wires to put in the wrong place when reassembling!

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  #5  
Old 17th April 2016, 06:50
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Paul L Paul L is offline
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Tyno - What a great start to a build thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TynoPrime View Post
…I want a retro, luxury feel…
Well, your work on the centre console certainly achieves that.

Good luck with the house move and the rest of the build, Paul.
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  #6  
Old 17th April 2016, 07:39
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Mister Towed Mister Towed is offline
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Great attention to detail Tyno, already looking forward to the next installment.
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  #7  
Old 17th April 2016, 08:48
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Looking good Tyno
Details like this make the car.
Im looking forward to watching this come together.

Whats the overall plan - coupe or convertible? Colour scheme wheels etc?
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  #8  
Old 17th April 2016, 09:06
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Jaguartvr Jaguartvr is offline
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How did you manage to cut the cup holder shape so neatly?
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  #9  
Old 17th April 2016, 10:08
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CNC machines make cutting shapes so much easier. Lucky bugger.

Keep up the photo thread for all to learn from
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  #10  
Old 17th April 2016, 10:11
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Missed that, he's going to realise it was a mistake telling us.
Now I just need a loooong bit of paper to start my list

There is someone on Ebay that sells satin alloy offcuts by the kilo, very useful and a cheap way of buying it. I bought a cheap 2nd hand bench shear for £25 and a small 4" metal folder that goes in a vice for less than £20. Very useful for small panels and brackets.

Last edited by Jaguartvr; 17th April 2016 at 10:14..
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  #11  
Old 17th April 2016, 14:00
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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Thanks for all the comments. Roadster, coupe for sure. I went to stoneleigh last year to see them in the flesh, howevere unfortunately on the monday there was only Andysharrocks one on show, and it was hard to get a really good look in the packed hall. I'm going again this year, was hoping to see more examples, but it doesn't seem many (except ned?) are going!

Colour, light and wheel choice are almost settled. I'm thinking rear lights from a Opel GT. Something like this with trim rings;




In regards to wheels, I absolutely love the bbs rs reps on this car, such as what Dave Lowes put on his. I actually need to ask him what sizes he bought!


And colour... I'll have to leave that one a surprise until nearer the time

Last edited by TynoPrime; 17th April 2016 at 14:20..
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  #12  
Old 17th April 2016, 14:23
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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Jaguartvr, exactly as wca said. A Biesse Skill 300 is luckily at my disposal at work.

I keep all my dxf's and bpp files so if anyone wants them just message me.
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  #13  
Old 17th April 2016, 14:39
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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So, finishing up on the centre console, I bought two "toggle switch guards" from america (eBay... i swear I need to buy shares!), and test fit the whole assembly.



MEANWHILE I had actually pre-made a diamond stitched leather transmission tunnel cover. Unfortunately I hadn't taken any pictures of the process, but essentially I made a template from brown paper, transferred it to the faux leather, cut oversized and my wife stitched all the edges for a nice look. Here it is on the floor with the centre console positioned on top!

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  #14  
Old 17th April 2016, 15:30
Scottie22 Scottie22 is offline
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Nice attention to detail TP, that does it every time!!
Well worth it in the end.
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  #15  
Old 17th April 2016, 17:27
Triumph Special Triumph Special is offline
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Thank goodness you line all your screws up properly! Bugs the hell out of me when I see wonky fitment on finished cars!
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  #16  
Old 17th April 2016, 20:24
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Triumph Special View Post
Thank goodness you line all your screws up properly! Bugs the hell out of me when I see wonky fitment on finished cars!
Haha, I know exactly what you mean. For such a medial thing it makes a difference

Thanks Scottie22. Most of my ideas are just pinched from other people!

Managed to take a couple of pictures on the dslr before the sun went down. It's in need of a clean but you get the idea!







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  #17  
Old 18th April 2016, 13:59
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Tyno - A great start! You have stolen a march on mine already, we have a very similar concept for the interior - toggle switches and guards a great way to retro up the interior quickly.

I am probably not going to make Stoneleigh in the car, although hopefully MOT'd etc it won't be ready for public viewing. However if you wish to see it you are more than welcome to drop in, I am based in Northamptonshire. Ned's car is a great example so even if you only get to see his it will be worth it - took a bit inspiration from his myself.
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  #18  
Old 23rd April 2016, 21:40
TynoPrime TynoPrime is offline
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Well, my phone died today while I was working, so unfortunately i only have "finished" pictures. Today's job was wrapping the upper half of the centre console in leather. I'm mounting a Nexus 7 in the dash, so leaving the entire opening "open". I've also fitting toggle switches to the top section to replace the switches that were there. These are simple on\off toggle switches, and I simply painted the nut red on the switch that controls hazards!



Also added chrome vent trim rings bought off ebay for about £15.




The hardest part is finishing around the internal corners. People say to cut and stitch, glue, etc. But I didnt want to "break" the seamless leather. I made a solution ising baby oil and white spirit, which helped really stretch the leather, and got it to stretch pretty well into the corners! Very happy with it.



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Old 23rd April 2016, 22:44
zagmad zagmad is offline
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Just looking at the pics makes me miss driving my mx5. Hope my gut decision works out and the shell turns out alright. 3 years in the waiting. :-) I'm going for black, chrome and stainless steel possibly touches of gloss black down the sides of the console with stainless middle. Chrome and leather handbrake.
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  #20  
Old 23rd April 2016, 22:54
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MX5 s are great cars to drive ....
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