MadaboutKitcars

ummmmm updates?

We're at the edge of our seats here any updates? :-) thanks

Oh, just saw your post Nick, glad you like it, but anyway i will be keeping the wide arches. Kind of like them so i fitted spacers instead. Later i will widen the rear wheels about 2,5-3 inches inwards. But i will have to rubb these tyres out first!

Ok Jones! Your absolutely right, i have to post some updates, been very busy with other stuff too, but "all" that stuff is sorted out now. So here they come!

Thanks and best regards from Andreas in Sweden!



Rear wheels fitted with 38mm hubcentric spacers!



Have had the body bonded on to the car permanently. Also cut away the tailpanel from the miata and deleted the hatchbox as i´ll be using DZUS fasteners



Lid is on



Extended the area against the screen as i got a bit wild with the anglegrinder earlier....



Raw finished



Some DZUS catches for the flip



Theese locates the flip lower rear parts so it always lines up when closed. Goes over pins



Also cut the wheel openings to get them symmetric, and molded new inward edges



As it will be seeing some trackdays i made a rollcage. Bolted to the chassie





Theese very nice racing seats Chris made for me, they are very light and solid, about 3,5 kilo each. Saves up a lot of weight compared to stock ones. Made some brackets to fit them to stock mounting points. Chris has the moulds to the seats

Got this with the kit. I bonded the body with it and left it for a couple of Days. But when i pulled the fender it came loose!

Well said and done, i could pull and bend the whole kit of from the miata! I had prepared the miata metal with the anglegrinder and a 40 grit disc. So it was bare and clean. The "glue" came loose only from the metal, on the fiberglass is was a pain in the a** to get rid of.

So i cleaned it all off and bought ALOT of 2hour epoxiglue. It is now bonded with that and it is impossible to get off. Epoxi is a lot better to bond things together with than a polyester is.

So talk to Chris about it, it would be a shame to do a nice (and maybe expensive) paintjob just to watch it crack!

Thanks for the update, looking really good its interesting to see everyones different approach on the how the body meets the windscreen.

I am have purchased the donor car and driving around in that for the summer and hoping to do mine over the cold winter months.

Does anyone know if there is an issue here in the UK in removing the rear panel to make one large boot Like Andreas has? it looks much better!

Technically you will be altering the monocoque so would be subject to an IVA test.
I would leave the section in place should you be asked to submit the car to inspection after submitting the V627.

Myself i visited the car inspection and talked to the guy thats actually going to inpect the car and explained that it was just a flimsy 0.7 or so panel. He also agreed that there was no way in hell it could affect the cars safety. It is a grey area here to, but he also has seen the Pictures of the front end and he thinks its okay also, when i have replaced it with equivalent poarts as the rear of the new body and the trunk extension, and also the tubes in the front end... So i couldnt be happier with that!

Yesterday i Went for a short drive just to feel the car a bit. The handling was just great, i bet these Little miatas can take a corner quite well! But all wasn´t just great, i had a bit of tyre rub in front. So i decided to widen the fenderlips on the upper part of the front wings, as they turn in a bit there. All to all this gave me a extra inch, plus i like the look of it now as it gives the car a bit more curves, to not say waist...


So i cut out a slice, but left just a tiny bit in each "corner" so i could bend them out




Bent out 1"...




Hot glued a plastic piece on the inside...




A couple of layers on to it...




Sanded it on the inside and a couple of more layers...




Some fibreglass filler on it to be sanded... But otherwise finished





Notice the 323 gtx turbo 4wd in the background! Theese Mazdas seems to breed! Found this one, totaly free from corosion, never repainted! My fiancee has it to work and back now...

I am to replace the stock door mirrors to more Classic lucas style mirrors, so i needed to seal the old holes. Just filler is a no-no for me, and i don´t want to weld as the metal is so thin, it just ends up warped and the thing i don´t need now is more warped stuff. So i gently hammered the holes in a bit and used tin to seal the holes.


A bit hammered and cleaned up, ready for the flux



Tin on



No holes!

Like the front wings, more curves the better. Just one thing you are missing ! where is all the dust and mess. !

Happy to hear you like it! Yes it really gets messy cutting and sanding this #%¤"&**! fibre glass! But i have done all sanding/cutting outside on the driveway just to get away from exessive cleaning of the garage! Plus i also get some sun too

Thanks for the answers, I remembered seeing it on grayone's build thread so I will PM him and see how he got round that.

The build is coming on well, really interested in seeing how the new front arches turn out as they look like a good addition to the help with the flow of the curves.

Looking at the rear of the car i figured it might be possible to slice of a piece to make it even flatter/fatter or "wider" to get that stance. Didn´t really like how the tail hanged like the belly on a cow. Well the angle grinder still works so...

Put some tape on it to figure out where to cut. Got some help from my fiancee, one to look one to tape



Cut and back on the ground. I Think the kit car look vanished a bit. I guess a nice arse really wins every time for me too!

Very subtle...changes the rear

I like that mod, it works well! Nice look!

Happy to hear you like it!

Since last time i have been busy filling out and sanding the car to the right shape. This is very time consuming, there is a lot of hours put in this one, i dont want to brag or something, but i have done a lot of cars paintprepped, so i do it with speed, still this one was very time consuming. And all the modifications i have done didnt help either! This i is the biggest job i have done except the gt40 car. This one is not perfect now, but it will do. Next up is to tear it apart and there will be a lot of spray filler (2K polyester type) that builds up a lot, and that one will be sanded, folowed by a black sanding primer (2K acryl type) to also be sanded Before paint.

Best regards from Andreas in Little Sweden!










This is what i used. 16.5kg filler.... I hope the most ended up on the ground

Very quick work Andreas, it took me about 3 months to do what you did in a week.

Yes, but think what it would cost you at the paintshop! After all the tribute kit is pretty ok! I have seen worse (the gt40, it was a disaster). Diy is the way if you wont pay.... But it is in the satisfaction to do it yourself the real reward is!

The car is looking great Andreas!

With me, I make all the things myself, because I cannot afford the stupid huge prices companies want for the bits I need.

They seem to think if you are building a Jaguar, you must be stupid and super rich!

I'm not even ordinary rich, but perhaps a bit stupid for taking on what I' m making.

But as you say, the reward comes in the form of satisfaction at the end!

What is the next task for you on your car?

Well, i am a bit weather depending, as i cannot sand and cut inside, that would totaly contaminate my other project car and all the other stuff in the garage. If it will be nice outside (i hope), there will be some spray filler on the car. I also have to take up all the holes for lights etc. Bad weather, and i´ll be pulling the Cage out of it to be finishing all the welds. For brakes i have to fabricate the bracket for big brakes in the rear. I also have to make some new brackets for the radiator as i have to lowered it a bit. A new exhaust is also planned. A new tubular exhaust manifold i have calculated on, also to be fabricated.


Best regards Andreas!

Oh Scottie!

Dont tell em youre building a Jag, tell em its a Skoda or maybe a Lada!

I saw there was some questions how to solve the door window seal. I thought i post how i did it. It might not be the best way but this is how i did it.

The idea was to use a universal seal, camper type seal. To use one like that the attachment edge were way to far in, so the gap was to large by approximatly 15mm. So i marked out where to cut, cut it of and sanded the gelcoat of, sanded the inside edge on the roof, glued it back with epoxi.

Unfortunatly i didnt take a Picture of the cut piece, but the profile of it looked like an L.

So here it is glued back over the inner edge from the inside. 2K epoxi...



This is the outside. The corner is filled with common filler



This is the profile of the seal. Just goes over the edge with molded in clamps

Bought on ebay UK http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-VAN-CARAVAN-RUBBER-DOOR-SEAL-TRIM-/170868404116?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27c88cef94



The front part where the roof meets screen frame.



I am using the oem seal, that has been cut to fit under the grp roof. The universal seal meets it, and will be glued with o-ring glue later and trimmed to fit nice and proper.


So this is how it looks with door closed. Looks really sealed up.




Best regards from Andreas

This evening, i put all the misc. parts on the car, drilled all the holes etc.


Lucas chinese copy mirrors, and som side markers. These are for inspection only, got very nice chrome drop like ones (has no E-marking), that i will use later on



Tail ligts are Lancia Stratos or gt40, some ferraris. But its also Fiat 500, four fast cars
Kill switch for battery.
Tail reg.plate. Notice it says TUT. That means toot (honk) in Swedish. I gues i´ll be hearing that a lot
Also made a cutout for exhaust
Missing the reg. plate lights. Will get tomorrow





All the lights in, also the perspex covers







Happy greetings //Andreas

Its when you put theses bits on the car starts to "come alive" right?

Your car has a nice low aggressive stance, as Mr Towed once said:
" Praise be to the Lowered!

Yes, thats right! Found myself looking to the car imagining how it will look painted. Yes, i really like the low and wide stance of a car. Nothing makes such a big difference on a car like Wheels and rideheight!


I have been searching on Ebay for a while now after vintage Mazda (m) emblems. Have found one second hand but i wanted two equal and i didnt like the look of it. So what to do? The answer is always DIY!

So first i cut out a hole in a pice of wood, just to control the saw without the guide drill. Removed the guide and sawed out the perspex with the woodpiece as guide



Used the cut out woodpiece, took a tappet pulled it into the piece and voila! I have a turning machine! So with the perspex piece attached with dual addhesive tape i could sand it with the Little angle grinder. Made a rounded emblem like shape of it.



The piece have now been wet-sanded in steps of 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1200 grit paper, and polished with Autosol. Then i printed out some logo on internet that i glued on to the protective side of a addhesive vinyl film. Cut it out with a razor knife, and used a small scissor for the round edges of the logo.

Then sprayed it black the first round, took of the masking and sprayed with gold paint.



Finished pieces, to be attached with dual addhesive tape to the car. I will make a little sink in the cars body for the emblems



This is a left over raw pice just after "turn sanding" it




Best regards Andreas!

Your 250's coming on nicely. Good job!
Is that a Camaro hiding in the garage?

Steve