MadaboutKitcars

This is what they look like on (if it uploads)

i must remember to keep my feet on the floor when taking photos sorry

Ned - you should start your own thread and retrospectively add some photos and descriptions as you have done a great job and there aren't enough pics of your car on this forum!

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Cheers Ned. Top hint, really appreciate it. As I said, ordered some and on their way. Good pics too!!!!

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And wouldn't mind a look at your build thread either................... Link?

Tonights update:

I have finished welding!!!!!!!!!! Praise be! I have come to the conclusion I hate Arc welding. I was using the old 'stick, stick, spit, spit, hole' method. If I am going to be doing any more of this sort of thing I am going to invest in a Mig!

Anyway, both sills repaired, arches rolled and rear spacers fitted.

Tonights annoying question - I don't think I flared the rear arches enough, I have 30mm to bond the back end to. Is that enough or would I be better cutting some steel and riveting / bonding that to the arches to give me a bigger surface to bond the back end to?

Congratulations 306craig on the welding! It's a massive pain but at least you caught it early and better than the day you go to bond the rear on your car, although you are moving much quicker than I am.

With regards to the rear wheel arches I took out 70mm from memory and only had a lip of 15mm left once both skins were spot welded together. The rear does not bond on there (quick disclaimer, this a) does not mean I did mine right b)mine is on a mk1 Eunos c) tribute I guess probably have evolved the design since I took delivery 18+ months ago)

Great progress and keen to see your future.

Good luck

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Thanks mate. Lucky to have no kids to have to 'entertain' and a Mrs who is very understanding! Sure you will get there with yours.

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Had a really good night tonight and took maximum advantage of the good weather. Rear wheels on, off the axle stands, roof off, roll cage in and bolted (see pic 25), rear end on for a trial fit (see pic 26), could have gone for wider spacers on the rear, but think it looks good. Somehow I have managed to get it wedged and now cant move it (so back on axle stands, hence the large wheel clearance), so need to give Chris a call tomorrow and get some advice.

Nice to have my garage back, well most of it anyway. As soon as I finish work on Friday I need to do a tip run and get rid of random bits of front wing, suspension struts and springs, roof etc (pic 28).

On the down side, the mx5 cover doesn't fit any more (pic 29) so need to invest in some heavy duty sheeting methinks!

All in all fairly happy with a few hours work tonight.eace:

5 minutes on the phone with Chris and we are sorted:

I need to do a bit of trimming on the wheel arch of the kit. The old Mk1 / Mk2 modification.

No worries with only 30mm of rolled arch, as i suspected a bit of steel (or Ally as Chris suggested) and then shape / rivet / screw to my hearts content.

Brill!

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Well I think I have had quite a good weekend!!! Following my chat with Chris on Friday morning I came home and trimmed out the offending Mk1 wheel arch bits (see pic 27). No wonder I had got the entire back end wedged solid!!! Then re-aligned the back end, marked up, back off, fitted the rear 'parcel shelf', roughed up the top of the windscreen, loads of glue, back end back on (see pic 30). Result!!!!!!

Saturday saw me doing some gardening and generally pottering about the house, but got an hour or 2 to get the exhaust mid section changed (old one was rotten) and the new (fleabay new) twin exit back box fitted (see pic 31). Currently held up with zip ties, and will need a little bit of cutting / shaping of the rear skirt for it to fit properly, but a good idea of how it will look. Sounds reeeeeeally good too.

Weather wasn't brilliant today, but dry long enough for me to measure up and get the rear lights fitted, think they are looking good. Now off to fleabay to look for rear number plates and vintage rear reflectors a la original GTO.

Not bad for 3 weeks in I think?

When you factor in the bad weather and the rust repair you have done, you are doing really well for 3 weeks of spare time.

Never sure about the S111 landy rear lights, but I do know the tyres are in the wrong place!

Good progress, keep it up...

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Cheers Chris. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Will keep plugging away whenever the weather permits.

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I know what you mean about the rear lights, but I am on a budget for this build. Plus when I throw on a pair of reflectors, which I found on the bay tonight, hopefully I can maintain the inspiration of the original.

Thanks for the tip on the wheels, I thought they looked quite good up there!!!!!!

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Hi folks,

Not been on for a while, the weather turned cold and wet again in Belfast. Then i had to have a weekend off for some drinking commitments in Twickenham. Anyway back on the job and got some good work done at the weekend.

Got both sides of the rear end bonded, riveted and first skim of filler on. And then got the boot lid lined up and fitted. Need to get the remote lock sorted but that can wait for now.

Forecast is good for the latter half of the week and the weekend so hopefully get plenty done.

Coming on. BTW I am told that filler absorbs water, so if it is out in the rain you will need to make sure it has had a chance to dry off before painting.

Not completely convinced filler does actually absorb water though.

It most assuredly does absorb moisture if it is polyester based. Even polyester
gel coats are semi-permeable. to some extent.

Thanks for the encouragement and the tip. I had heard somewhere it absorbed moisture so will make sure it is good and dry and then get some primer on.

Polyester!!!!!! I thought cheap 70''s suits were made of polyester. Just nipping to the garage to check my tin of filler............... Yup, sure as eggs is eggs, UPOL easy sanding POLYESTER filler. Damn!! That could cause problems or at least slow me down. We will have to choose extremely carefully when I do filling.

Cheers for the tips boys.

Today's daft question - when you are fitting the fuel hose flange and then the external vintage style fuel cap, do you need longer filler neck and overflow hoses, or can you get away with adjusting what is already there? Cheers.

Take a look at my the ad there is a picture of how I did it, not necessarily saying the way I did it was the right way but it works for me.

To clarify, I used an old original enots fuel cap that screwed onto an alloy flange from car builder solutions. So maybe different if you are reusing the mazda neck.

Good luck

You should be okay if it is dried out, low setting heat gun assist or a hair dryer.
Just don't get it too hot! It may crack.

There is a reason not to use copious thickness of poly based filler. Very light skim coats only.

Agreed. The wise advice is to limit the thickness of polyester filler to a few mm. If you need to build up more use chopped strand filler with a polyester skim.

Exactly, thanks for clarifying..