I never planned to actually buy one, only take a look! A rare free saturday in June saw myself and a friend driving his MX5 down to Poole to meet Chris at Tribute and see the red demo 250.
I instantly fell for its luscious italian curves, and driving the MX5 home clinched the plan together. A summer of rain had meant I had been either soaked or frustrated by my current topless roadster, although on a warm summers evening I new it would be hard to beat.
I ended up buying my mates MX, he had spent loads on suspension, cam advance, chipped edu and de-cat exhaust, so it went liked greased weasel sh**t!
About the end of August I picked up body number 15. It was the first 'de-vented rear plus jag nose that Chris had done, as was my preference.
Picked it up on a trailer, I think the two bits snugged together are about 6 1/2' long by 4' high.
The boy is happy, even though he is not sure what it is.
'Daddy, we have got too many cars'
Yes son, You may have a point!
I had spent a few evenings removing bits from the Mazda, and bit by bit they were selling on Ebay. By the time I collected the body on the saturday I only had the rear bumper and front wings to remove......so sunday saw 'driveway chaos's...
Had some help 'Daddy I need a 11mm'
AUGUST
It seemed the safest place to but the new body was on the car....
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After trimming the wings back I pressure washed all over. No rust anywhere! Its like new. I shall spray it all with waxyoil whilst its easy to get to.
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A good distant shot showing the front end.
Well I was on episode 7 of wartime farm, on me boat....
At this point, about mid August, I decided I wanted to source and fit the wheels before bonding on the body.
And so began the hunt for the perfect wheels.......
Some were too wide.....at 11"
some too big....
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Some too small...
After spending a month of evenings searching fleabay, piston heads and Gumtree I gave up. By now I had sold the BBS Alloys and the car was on bricks. A mate leant me some 13" corsa wheels for the rear which look cool fitted inside out, even if very silly!! A spacesaver on the front and an Astra sport steel wheel completed The Look!
I then decided to go for steel wheels, but banded to get the size I wanted. I contacted a set up up north with a nice website and they agreed to source vauxhall wheels, band them, shotblast and spray them. However after four weeks nothing had happened, due to the owner having an accident on his bike. Eventually I received a refund, then began to search for someone else to do the job. Found the wonderful James on some forum, who offered to do the job.
I found a perfect set if Mk1 MR2 Wheels which I sent him.the rears to have a 2" band fitted. Picked them up last weekend.....a perfect job. This is what your mit welding should look like folks.....
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I LIKE THEM!
They will have three eared spinners and nice tall tyres!
These are one fwd and one banded rear.
I get them back from the powder coaters tomorrow
£50 each. Rims parted on a lathe, band added, all tacked up and checked for run out before welding fully. The welds are what I call gas bottle quality.
Where did you find your' Dunlop rims'?
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[/IMG]The rims are back from powder coatin
And a nice stack of rubber to stick on them.
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Finally got the new wheels on, and drove it (dont read this Towed) to the workshop. Front body held on with ratchet straps, and rear suspension held up on wooden blocks so the tyres clear.
Got one wheel arch cut out and welded back together. Hope to do the other one tomorrow.
Got down to the workshop for a couple of hrs today and tweaked the rear arch. Because my mc is lowered by 40mm and I like large tyres I am having to tweak the arches.
You dont normally have to do this on Tributes kit, its just me!
Heres the issue.......
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only 10mm of travel.
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Chopped out with a grindette
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working a new flange out the other way[IMG]
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Both inner wing and outer now flanged together and drilled for plug welding
Finally welded back together
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I have added the roll cage braces to the screen. Again this is a deviation from Tributes design, but I wanted to maximise headroom, so came up with this:
the front is bolted with 5xm5 s/s bolts. [IMG]
[/IMG]s/s hex heads, so no welding near the screen
Sorry, I missed out the phrase drove it 'onto a mates trailer' before driving it to the workshop.
PEEPS- yes I will have to tweak the arch. Was going to be this eve, but then there was the programme on the Bond cars....so nothing has happened.....
I also have the spinners, plan to mount them on a ss disc that will cover the nuts.
Chris, wheels powdercoated, shotblasted first @ £25/ wheel. Half the price of ali wheels cos they dont need to be baked first, only afterwards.
Just putting the kids to bed then I am off down the workshop.....
Done it.
Wheel arches tweaked and reglassed. More details on request!
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Right now I off to bed! Zzzz
Heres how I marked out the new arch shape, using a square set to match the inner wing/ max suspension travel, up against the rim.
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then a fairing batten to check the shape.....
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Blocked up some flexi plastic stuff to form a mould and marked of the outer gtp wing.
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marked the distance in to the inner steel arch and cut out..
taped in position, batten to make it run square across, the a layer of gell coat the t[IMG]
[/IMG]hree layers of 2oz csm.
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