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Thing is once the shell is finished im going to be driving it as a daily driver so if it turns out a minger ill be selling it the next day. I've gone over the lines of the car again and again and i think its got to a point where it cant get any better. But I'm basing this on photos i took last visit,so fingers crossed the panels are smoothed out and possibly both sides look the same. Once the shells done its finding glass and rubbers for the rear side window. So it looks more period car and less mx5.
Chris has has done an awesome job working with the donor car and flowing the lines in with the mx5 and out at the back into the boot lines. The balance of 1vev and 2vev suit the mx5 really well. Don't worry Chris i wont be selling it its the only car that I've been able to have input on the final product. Not many people can say that by the time they get to 33.
Thing is i can only take so many photos and its usually towards the end of the visit and i have to rush home so i don't get caught in the traffic. Usual front back and sides. Lots of pics have bin traced ,adapted,sketched over, sent back to Chris to see what is and isn't possible with the donor . I think it was at a stage where the proportion and length were right.
The shape has changed here and their but only to help strengthen the character of the car so theirs more definition of the period its depicting. It has been a long process but 1 tweak usually affects other lines so it has evolved as its gone but i think for the better. Depending how you look at it really as people have different tastes. Say if you look at some Ferrari concepts some looked quite basic and others looked more what the 599 looks like now. Some like say for example the ford mustang others like their cars like the Maserati grantourismo. Long and sleek less muscle car but still have a nice burble from the exhaust as a gt car on the back roads. Taking in the surroundings listening to some tunes. Enjoying the whole driving experience.
Had visit today at the workshop. Back end looks spot on. I don't have any pics but Chris said he would take some when theirs more room on the forecourt to get a good angle.
Lots of changes. Most of the body replaced or altered. The MX5 front panel (slam panel) has been a very limiting feature, but I am happy with the way the shape is growing:
Looks a lot lot better... roofline great, back end excellent, front a lot lower looking, and Chris has already mentioned the slam panel limiting things...but..any chance of shortening the nose...?
From the side, for me at least, I think the bonnet overhangs the air intake mouth just a wee bit too much, giving it a droop-snoot look, which does not look as good as the rest of it, which is very nice.
If it was mine, I would want the air intake a little more vertical,
with less bonnet overhang.
1. Taller ratio tyres, rim size unimportant.
2. Increased front wheel arch radius to give same clearance as rear arch
3. Open up rear edge of headlight recess opening and hence increase size of headlight cover, will reveal more of the side of the headlight and chrome ring if fitted.
4. Add protruding wheel arch lip, as before.
5. Add side marker light between headlight and arch.
Hi Chris, a thought from the nutty one that keeps coming up with different ideas. What would the Alfa headlight covers look like just plonked over the panel as it is at the moment without it being cut up. Then a bm mini bezel to give it a nice frame from the front. That way it has the 3d look from the side from the Alfa cover and from the front has the space round the 7inch mini headlight.
Bought some springs to bring it down a bit. Still got to sort out tyre and wheel combo but think it will help with proportions. Not sure what's going to happen with the front end . I took the kit the wrong direction with the overhang. Looked a stronger shape on page 5-7 of the thread gonna try and work back towards that . The wing may have to be level or slightly raised at the windscreen.
After last weeks visit where Chris looked at me as if i had pulled a kittens head off (hadn't really) i had to make the difficult decision of asking if he could Change the front end to a shorter more perter shape. I've also bought some lowering springs to try and help the wheels sit further in the arches. I don't think he was very impressed. Really am sorry. I've sacrificed my wheels and lights for the build to be changed back to the near the pics on pages 5-7. Really,really sorry Chris.
Bit confused. Could anyone explain what et10 means and if it means i need the arch/wing made wider. To compensate or do i need spacers to push the wheel away from the breaks and suspension.
Bit confused. Could anyone explain what et10 means and if it means i need the arch/wing made wider. To compensate or do i need spacers to push the wheel away from the breaks and suspension.
The smaller the number the further the wheel is pushed away from the car.
So, brain just waking up. Does that mean the dish is deeper so where the wheel connects at the hub theirs less hanging over the breaks. I've got et37 for the front with rota rb's And looking at rota rbr's at the back et10. Are these measurements based on mm's or percentage of width. Each are 8inch in width.
Eg 37mm dish in front of hub or 37% hanging past hub or possibly the reverse of that for clearance of breaks. Thing is would like some overhang over the wheels at the back allowing some width but not so much it looks like a bubble shape arch.
Offset is the distance from the hub face to the centre line of the wheel. The smaller the number, the more the wheel will poke out of the arch.
Assuming the wheel width is the same, a wheel with ET10 will poke out 27mm more than one with ET37 (37-10). You can have '-' ET figures and these will poke out even more.
Sounds good to me the arch needs a little over hang to give a nice profile looking down the side the hips have gone recently. Just waiting from Chris to see if this is possible
I think when i last saw the build the bonnet and wings were being filled and sanded its bin a while but perfection takes while:-). I'm thinking now that maybe a rod style paint finish will work with the wheels. Grey bodywork. Bonnet ,roof area black with red pin stripes. Black spot with thin red line round the outside on the door. Dish on the wheel sprayed black the lip on the outside red matching the mirrors and bonnet pinstripe.
