new tribute builder

grayone · #1 20th December 2012, 18:50

Hi guys my name is Grahame I live in Turkey, here in the UK untill Feb ,so about 6-7 weeks to build & sell my mx250,I was getting bored, ive just started stripping the mx5 bought wed 19th front& back off stuck on the soft top & boot hinges ,how do they come off ? Chris is delivering the body Sat,so I would like to have it stripped tommorow,any advise greatly appeciated

seanick · #2 20th December 2012, 21:16

Hi Grahame,

Nothing like deadline to hasten progress!!

I think the boot hinges are accessed from inside, where the hood stows.
For the soft top, just undo everthing in sight!

MXnutz is a good forum.do a search there. Loads of info.

Good luck with your super quick build.
Maybe drive it home?
N

grayone · #3 21st December 2012, 15:55

Thanks for the advice Seanick, had a couple of hours on the mx and a few cupas, car and now stripped , went out & bought chop strand, filler etc ,head linning ,got home & the leather replacement seat covers have arrived l think Im nearly ready to start the good bits

Tribute Automotive · #4 22nd December 2012, 19:46

Hi Grahame

We made it back through the floods!

Great to see so much progress on your car in such a short time.

If you need any help uploading pictures to the forum just shout.

grayone · #5 25th December 2012, 23:08

Hi all Merry Xmas .
Thanks to Chris & Dan for delivering my 250 Saturday braving the floods to bring me No17 hot from the moulds, Ive bolted the roll cage in dry fitted the front and started to cut away the top edge of the scuttle panel,I'm going to use the original wipers. Christmas came early for me yesterday with deliveries of head light indicators,(fog & reverse lights which arrived less the chrome rings not impressed) and the fuel cap so plenty to be getting on with. last night instead of going out to celebrate I reupholstered the passenger seat ,got to say Im quite impressed with the result if the rest of the car come's out as good ill be a happy guy.

seanick · #6 26th December 2012, 08:19

Re wipers, I had started before Christmas experimenting with unbolting the wipers from thier mounts and then mounting them on top on spacers. The linkages are fine, just have not had time to check the heights. If you do this no spacers required. :-)

grayone · #7 26th December 2012, 17:26

Hi Seanick had an hour today ,cut the scuttle on the same curve as the windscreen just behind the wiper post's plus a cutout for the travel and they work just as standard easy.I'll try to get a couple of pics tomorrow.

seanick · #8 26th December 2012, 18:55

I did think about cutting the bonnet back as you have done. I even painted it in matt black....if you look at some shed roof shots you may see it. who knows, i may change my mind!

Seasons Greetings! Keep going!

grayone · #9 27th December 2012, 13:57

Hi all has anybody got pictures of the bonnet hinge relocation points???

seanick · #10 27th December 2012, 14:03

Yes.[IMG]

[/IMG]

Tribute Automotive · #11 28th December 2012, 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by grayone

Hi all has anybody got pictures of the bonnet hinge relocation points???

Hi Grahame, I have emailed the hinge info to you. More Build Manual info going on in a mo.

grayone · #12 30th December 2012, 11:54

hi Ive got the bonnet hinged but not really happy with it doesn't work very well,is that the boot hinge in your pic ? does it work properly ?

seanick · #13 30th December 2012, 13:28

Just mocked it up. Not as succsesful as I had hoped. Need to get the hinge point higher, right up under the grp in front of the bonnet. I might try mounting these hinges on the rear bulkhead by the master cylinder and washer bottle next.
Here tis closed....[IMG]

[/IMG]

And here open...the front of the bonnet touches. Not enough rise in the front edge.
[IMG]

[/IMG]
A shortfall of about 30mm. You cant bring the pivot point 30 mm higher as that would bring the pivot point outside the body.[IMG]

[/IMG]

seanick · #14 30th December 2012, 16:36

And the answer is.....[SIZE="4"parraellogram hinges.][/SIZE]
(I think)
After a few Fab 69 lollies have mocked up this....[IMG]

[/IMG]

I need to pl ay around with lengths and ratios. If I can get it right it should lift the bonnet up and clear on the front edge. Might need thicke!r lolly sticks though

davecymru · #15 31st December 2012, 09:15

Those mock ups look scarily familiar to some hinges i've got in the garage that I'd bought to use on the engine cover of my failed Extreme Murci project a few years ago!

Let me have a look in the garage between showers later on to see how similar they are and I'll try and get some pics.

Tribute Automotive · #16 31st December 2012, 14:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by grayone

hi Ive got the bonnet hinged but not really happy with it doesn't work very well,is that the boot hinge in your pic ? does it work properly ?

Hi Grahame and Nick

My intention when designing the MX250 kit was to reuse as many parts from the base MX5 as possible to save the customer money, but the limitations of the repositioned hinges has become apparent. They will work, as seen on our demo cars, but I will freely admit that the bonnet hinges give only limited access (about 45 degrees of opening) to the engine bay. The revised option of using modified boot hinges on the bonnet has been written on our production board in the workshop for about 3 months now, you know how other things take over!!

This is the plan, or rather a section through the bonnet/slam panel:

They will require pockets to be cut out of the GRP return inside the engine bay.

They will bolt to the slam panel where it narrows, as shown here:

The hinges will require modifiying and I will be offering them on an exchange basis as part of the kit. I will post up some pictures after we are back in the workshop on 2nd January.

davecymru · #17 31st December 2012, 16:42

The hinges i have in the attic are Citroen Saxo bonnet hinges, which "may" be of use here as they are parallelogram hinges along the lines of Seanicks design that may allow the full bonnet opening and they are also _very_ cheap from e-bay!

If anyone is around this neck of the woods and wants my pair to have a tinker with on a car you're building then drop me a PM and you can have them for a fiver if you want to come and get them?

grayone · #18 31st December 2012, 18:47

Hi guys nice to see lots of chat about hinges,I might try Chris's new design ,been in the garage all day I couldn't get enough pressure from my small compressor to shultz the underside so started cutting the vents/lights etc . It looks a tight fit behind the head light will they fit or do I have to cut metal away? also has any body tired 8j 16s et20 with 205 or 215 60 16 on the front? I think it'll be heavy parking but will they fit? 9j 16 et20 225 or 235 60 s on the rear,what do you think? sorry for all the questions but Im on a time schedule

seanick · #19 1st January 2013, 00:34

I think the rears may be ok, but fronts may be a bit wide with the standard arch.
Whats the overall diameter? Std mazda 22 1/4". At 24" and lowered 40mm I had to trim my arches on the rear.

seanick · #20 1st January 2013, 00:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by davecymru

The hinges i have in the attic are Citroen Saxo bonnet hinges, which "may" be of use here as they are parallelogram hinges along the lines of Seanicks design that may allow the full bonnet opening and they are also _very_ cheap from e-bay!

If anyone is around this neck of the woods and wants my pair to have a tinker with on a car you're building then drop me a PM and you can have them for a fiver if you want to come and get them?

Thanks Dave, shame we did not have this conversation before Christmas as I was down yr way for a week! Thanks for looking them out though. The whole geometry issue is actually quite interesting!