Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Here you can post stuff that is not related to Christopher Ward
User avatar
Paul Drawmer
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 2347
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2013 9:42 am
CW-watches: 7
Location: Deddington, Oxfordshire

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by Paul Drawmer »

PaulJS wrote: Sat Oct 05, 2019 10:15 am
Paul, your build diary made for an interesting read and it looks like you ended up with a great car - did you SVA it for the road or was it track only?

I presume that it was an 1800cc VVC K series powered?

Yours was a far more involved build than the one I am undertaking - how long did the build take you?

Cheers,

Paul
Hi Paul, the build was about 2 years from collection to registration. Yes, I put it through SVA (pre IVA) and it passed 2nd time. Driving to and from the tests is legal, must have insurance (on chassis number) but no number plates as pre registration!

I was able to declare it as new at first registration, with New tub, engine, gearbox, suspension and steering. I've always played with cars, but something this big was quite a learning curve!

It had a K series VVC with a couple of light mods - about 150BHP, and the weighed wet at 800Kgs. Pretty nippy, but not Caterham quick at that weight.
It had proper doors with wind up windows.

I made several long weekend trips to Zolder and did plenty of laps there, and several UK tracks as well. I used to get up at 4:00am in the summer, drive to wales, EVO triangle and be back in Oxfordshire for a late lunch. A great way to spend a Sunday morning!
There's always time for one more.
User avatar
Thegreyman
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 12066
Joined: Sat May 21, 2016 3:45 pm
CW-watches: 6
Location: Edinburgh

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by Thegreyman »

PaulJS wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:46 am Donor car successfully collected yesterday and the first dilemma has presented itself!

I gave the car a quick wash to see what I have got as it was very dusty having sat in a barn for the last 3 months and I could not tell the state of the paintwork, degree of rust etc. Bear in mind that the bodywork is irrelevant as it will all be coming off.

This is what appeared from under the grime :

DSC_0690.JPG

It is in ridiculously good condition for a near on 20 year old car.

Cheers,

Paul
Takes me back, I've had two MX-5's, a 1999 mk2 essentially identical to your car except it was silver, and a 2006 mk3. Is your car the S model, I had the 1.8S which came with a Torsen LSD although you way not want that if you are looking for some tail happy track fun.

Great cars that didn't cost a lot of money, and were very very reliable. As you've said, the mechanicals on the mk2 were so solid, it was rust that was the main culprit and mine needed some welding to the floor to get it through it's MOT before I sold it. The mk3 I owned for over 3 years and depreciation was probably less than £1k per year and it never failed me once, what a car.

Despite my love for this car, it is a dilemma you face. I'd probably drive it a bit and then use it for your donor car, at least you will know you have great running gear to build the Exocet on. I always found the MX-5 to be no problem as a winter car, stick some winter tyres on it and you probably have better traction than most FWD cars on normal tyres.
Patrick

C60 Pro 300, C60 Sunrise, C63 Sealander Lucerne blue LE, C65 Dartmouth, W11 Amelia (wife), C63 Sealander (son)

Some others + a few on the way
User avatar
PaulJS
Forumgod
Forumgod
Posts: 803
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:31 am
CW-watches: 6
Location: North Devon

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by PaulJS »

Just a quick progress report - all of the known MOT issues have now been sorted (replacement of leaking power steering return pipe, refitting of rear silencer with new gasket and a generous application of copper silicone gasket seal, clean up of all brake discs and adjustment of the handbrake).

I have to say that I am impressed with how cheap the parts are and how easy a car it is to work on. This, particularly compared to the 4 x 4s we have where parts cost a fortune and you need the strength of a gorilla to get anything apart!

MOT outcome will be interesting, to quote Donald Rumsfeld:

"..there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns..."

It's the unknown unknowns that may be the undoing!

To be honest I would like it to either sail through or fail monumentally so that my decision as to what to do next is clear cut.

Cheers,

Paul
The older I get the better I used to be

Trident Pro White / Blue
C4
Omega Speedmaster II LE
Omega Speedmaster II original-ish
Trident Pro Black/Blue
C70 VW4
C65 LE
C7 MK 1
Scurfa Diver One

Steinhart Ocean One 39
User avatar
Amor Vincit Omnia
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 33793
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 7:34 pm
CW-watches: 4
Location: Norfolk, UK

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

PaulJS wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:10 am "..there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns..."
Magnificent! :clap:

Almost as good as Cervantes, “The Reason of Unreason...” :D
Steve
Linguist; retired teacher; pilgrim; apprentice travel writer

Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time


Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. (Max Ehrmann)
User avatar
josbrownlie
Senior Guru
Senior Guru
Posts: 716
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2017 2:19 pm
CW-watches: 9
Location: Shropshire

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by josbrownlie »

Great to see something being ticked off the bucket list. I had great fun building my MAC#1 Motorsports Type ZR (locost 7) and even more fun driving. Looking forward to seeing/hearing how the build progresses
C9 x5, C60 x3, C65 x1, Steinhart x2, CIGA Design, Jean Marcel, WT Author, Breitling & MSTR
User avatar
PaulJS
Forumgod
Forumgod
Posts: 803
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:31 am
CW-watches: 6
Location: North Devon

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by PaulJS »

Just a quick update.......

The £300 MX5 sailed through its MOT last Friday with just a couple pf advisories relating to some surface corrosion in non critical areas. Not too bad for a completely unknown ( to me ) twenty year old car.

As it turns out, unbeknown to me the owner of my local garage that I use for MOTs is a bit of an MX5 fan and, for his own interest, gave the car a more than standard inspection. In his words, its a really straight car with no hidden nasties.

In truth it is now a £515 MX5 since I spent £50 on the MOT and £165 on parts : power steering pipe & fluid plus new discs and pads all round and an oil / filter change. The power steering had to be fixed as it was leaking terminally, the brakes would have carried over to the new build and its never a bad idea to change the oil, so it seemed sensible just to do them.

What continues to astound me is how cheap everything relating to this thing is: I sourced 4 x discs, pads and fitting kits from Germany for £108 including delivery and the quality is fantastic; the oil filter was £2.50 from a specialist ( oil was 'free' as its the same as one of my other cars and I had it left over - it only takes an egg cup full compared to the 4 x 4s ) and the best bit.....

Insurance is £110 p.a. fully comp on a classic policy.

Therefore, in theory, I could buy it, MOT it, tax and insure it for a year for less than £900!

As of now it is back in the garage while I decide whether to keep it for the Summer or move it on in Spring....decisions, decisions.

In the meantime I am back monitoring the classifieds for the next potential donor vehicle and this time I need to find one that, ironically, is not quite as good!

Cheers,

Paul
The older I get the better I used to be

Trident Pro White / Blue
C4
Omega Speedmaster II LE
Omega Speedmaster II original-ish
Trident Pro Black/Blue
C70 VW4
C65 LE
C7 MK 1
Scurfa Diver One

Steinhart Ocean One 39
User avatar
monkeymax
Senior Guru
Senior Guru
Posts: 584
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 10:30 pm
CW-watches: 3
Location: South England

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by monkeymax »

Great news on the MOT pass! And the extra inspection sounds very promising...
Let us know if you decide to move it on! I keep toying with one of these as a next car. ;)
That aside though, I still feel that you should use this one as a donor; it'll make your life easier!
User avatar
PaulJS
Forumgod
Forumgod
Posts: 803
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:31 am
CW-watches: 6
Location: North Devon

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by PaulJS »

monkeymax wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 1:37 pm Great news on the MOT pass! And the extra inspection sounds very promising...
Let us know if you decide to move it on! I keep toying with one of these as a next car. ;)
That aside though, I still feel that you should use this one as a donor; it'll make your life easier!
Cheers, I can definitely recommend an MX5 as an additional fun car - especially as there are so many to choose from and they are not expensive to either buy or maintain. Something I have also learned is that the engines are a 'non-contact' design which means that, should the dreaded cam belt failure occur, the pistons don't touch the valves when the timing disappears and so no damage is done. To me this a major plus point on an older car where the history is a bit unknown. The main reason that I got rid of my two MGs is because they had quad cam engines with three cam belts that required changing every 6 years at a cost of well over £500 - even the ex MG mechanic that I bought my last one from said it was a bar steward of a job to do.

However, there is something seriously amiss with Mazda's rustproofing as even the MK3s ( 2006 -> ) are turning brown and crumbly which is something I don't really understand since many other makes seem to be almost immune to the tin worm: I have a 2006 Shogun showing no signs of corrosion despite spending half its life caked in mud and there are lots of 15 - 20 year old cars about that look solid.

I do need to think carefully about where to go with this project as I am a bit of an accumulator of things - the MX5 brings us back up to 3 vehicles having culled them down from a peak of 6 in readiness to relocate to Devon. I could see myself keeping this one indefinitely, and then building the Exocet and ending up with 4 - its a slippery slope....a bit like how I ended up with a watch collection in double figures!

Cheers,

Paul
The older I get the better I used to be

Trident Pro White / Blue
C4
Omega Speedmaster II LE
Omega Speedmaster II original-ish
Trident Pro Black/Blue
C70 VW4
C65 LE
C7 MK 1
Scurfa Diver One

Steinhart Ocean One 39
User avatar
monkeymax
Senior Guru
Senior Guru
Posts: 584
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 10:30 pm
CW-watches: 3
Location: South England

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by monkeymax »

LOL! If it helps (probably not) I have had 6 cars myself at one point - though they were very exceptional circumstances and only for a very short period (and one of them was a parts car for another). I know your feeling though. :) Having 1 car again is nice in some ways.
And yes, their tendency to rust is what keeps putting me off. Mk2s are tempting but the front chassis arms rusting from the inside out isn't great. I went to go view a 2008 MX-5 last year and that had corrosion starting on the aluminium boot lid - made me worry what it looked like underneath! I often feel like I'm done with rusty cars! :D
User avatar
PaulJS
Forumgod
Forumgod
Posts: 803
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:31 am
CW-watches: 6
Location: North Devon

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by PaulJS »

I know what you mean about being done with rusty cars - I am of the generation whose first cars, although maybe less than 10 years old, were already full of newspaper and body filler having been designed with built in rust traps in the wings, wheel arches, sills etc.

I briefly went the fibreglass route around the turn of the century with a 1979 Scimitar GTE that I had for a few years. No body rust and a chassis made out of girders meant that, as long as the outriggers were sound, corrosion was a non issue. However, the driving dynamics were 'interesting' - great straight line speed from the 3 litre V6 but braking that required psychic powers and cornering that necessitated you carry a spare pair of underpants with you! I guess the issue was that, compared to my everyday 3 Series BMW it all seemed a bit quaint with its massive live rear axle and TR trunions up front. The novelty soon wore off.

Aside from the Exocet, my other target vehicle is a TVR Chimaera, but that is for when all the work is done on the house, i.e. never!

I do think the MX5 idea is worth persevering with - at their price point a pretty good one can be had for about 18 months worth of depreciation on a new car and, when the bodywork evaporates there is a growing kit car industry creating a market for the mechanicals, and this includes the NC model. It seems that you just have to look at a lot of cr@p to find one unless you strike lucky as I seem to have.

Cheers,

Paul
The older I get the better I used to be

Trident Pro White / Blue
C4
Omega Speedmaster II LE
Omega Speedmaster II original-ish
Trident Pro Black/Blue
C70 VW4
C65 LE
C7 MK 1
Scurfa Diver One

Steinhart Ocean One 39
User avatar
PaulJS
Forumgod
Forumgod
Posts: 803
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 11:31 am
CW-watches: 6
Location: North Devon

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by PaulJS »

432e8092dcbf1e908d952083f26ad44e.jpg
A further complication has now arisen with regard to my Exocet build - it's shown above.

I am certain that some on here will know what car this is a homage to (I deliberately avoid the term replica as, side by side with the original, it clearly isn't) and is built in exactly the same manner as the Exocet using MX5 underpinnings. It was originally developed and sold by the same company that now do the Exocet but is now produced relatively near me here in Devon.

I now need to have a serious think about which way I go with this project - for what it's worth SWMBO prefers the DBR1 homage which, if nothing else, means more garage time without grumblings!

Cheers,

Paul
The older I get the better I used to be

Trident Pro White / Blue
C4
Omega Speedmaster II LE
Omega Speedmaster II original-ish
Trident Pro Black/Blue
C70 VW4
C65 LE
C7 MK 1
Scurfa Diver One

Steinhart Ocean One 39
Soporsche
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 1921
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 10:22 am
CW-watches: 9
Location: London

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by Soporsche »

Hi Paul, really great to see you fulfilling the ambition. whichever direction you go will be great fun.
Ive owned various kit cars; bit of fun tootle around re-bodies like the DBR: mx250/Sammio Spider/wildcat E type and also driver focused models like Silva phoenix and Westfield.
You are at a difficult (but fun) point in deciding direction. :D
Im not familiar with the build and panels for the very beautiful DBR but it sounds like its a component/modular build like the Exocet and hopefully things have come on a fair way re kit/re body builds in the past few years.

The biggest issue for me with the re-bodies was that without exception they did nothing to improve the driving dynamics of the base car i.e. the base car was better to drive and more enjoyable than the kit albeit didnt look as interesting or characterful. Also they looked amazing when complete but took lots and I mean lots, of filler (I hate filler)/prep/sanding and repeat to make them look as perfect as you would want them to. Then deteriorated reasonably quickly with fiberglass crazing/flex etc. so bodywork maintenance can (not always) be onerous to keep them tip top.
All of mine were substantially 'professional' builds as I didnt have the time myself and then I did the bits and mods that time allowed.
Now all that seems negative, but... maybe if building myself from scratch, to my standards, with panels that did not require copious filler and body smoothing to achieve consistent smooth lines etc then it may have been different. I have friends that have owned/driven Wildcat/Challenger e-types and Hawk Stratos for years and (particularly the Stratos) still drive and look amazing.
The Exocet and similar 'driver' focussed kit cars are a different proposition as normally you are adding rigity/structure, minimal bodywork and panels designed for the new structure (less horrible filler) and these generally improve the driving dynamics. Upside great to drive, downside often not as comfortable, weather protection, possible lairy handling depending on how they are set up etc.

Having just re-read my post I dont think Ive added much value to your dilemma :oops: I would say and Im amazed how many kit builders/prospective owners dont do this (me included in the past), get a decent drive in completed versions of whatever you are considering and not just the makers show car. You are probably a step ahead of me on this one but, a little like CW watches, there are usually super enthusiastic owners groups and forums that someone will be willing to take you for a spin in their pride and joy as well as giving you the warts and all version of the build process.

Whatever you decide to do please keep us informed as it will be really interesting and fun.
Stephen

A few CWs and other brands
User avatar
monkeymax
Senior Guru
Senior Guru
Posts: 584
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 10:30 pm
CW-watches: 3
Location: South England

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by monkeymax »

My thoughts in my head on reading your post Paul have ended up being exactly the same as Soporsche's - without the experience of building and driving my own kit car... :lol: I was thinking, get yourself a drive (or passenger seat) in a built up owners car and see which you prefer from inside as well as outside. The Exocet is quite a different proposition as a drivers car, though the homage DBR1 would definitely look nicer in the garage!
User avatar
Bahnstormer_vRS
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 35161
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:06 pm
CW-watches: 34
LE-three: 1
LE-foura: 1
LE-fourb: 1
LE-six: 1
Location: Hertfordshire, UK

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

It goes without saying that if you go the DBR1 route, you will have to acquire the appropriate watch to match.

Guy

Sent from my Xperia XZ Premium using Tapatalk

In small proportions, we just beautie see:
And in short measures, life may perfect bee. - Ben Jonson (1572 – 1637)

Inscription on the Longitude Dial
Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 5NB, England
User avatar
Thermexman
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 6225
Joined: Thu Oct 27, 2016 6:40 am
CW-watches: 4
Location: South West UK

Re: Fulfilling a Lifelong Ambition.......

Post by Thermexman »

Saw this parked up near me a while back. Looked tasty!
6972DB2D-5367-4D41-A043-5507A7B48F77.jpeg
21E99569-2E17-4E7B-BDBB-EAAC303A04F3.jpeg
Steve.