I thought I would share some information about my build thread on here, it is copied from another forum so it may not read entirely correct.

Good afternoon, I'm sure some of you will remember me. Ive not owned a crx for a few years but have and always be fond of them!

Both me and my brother (toudou juku) went away from the crx schene in search of something rwd and ended up with mx5's. His as some of you will know is becoming a great little track car and is a credit to him.

Mine took a slightly less fortunate route and once it was nearly finished decided it was a good idea to start burning through some oil at a rate of knots!

Needless to say unfortunately financially the only way to go was to break it. The car was a stripped 1.6 mx5 with uprated suspesnion, brakes, a supercharger and a really short gearbox...recipe for great fun!

One of my friends had recently purchased a Westfield which after chasing (and staying with) in my mx5 i decided it was maybe a good route for me to go. Ive always fancied some sort of kit car and thought with my current position with a company car and garage its the perfect time.

I soon got the majority of my bits sold and was on the look out for a nice starting point. The idea was to get something with a good well sorted engine, which I could work on the chassis, gearbox and aesthetics.

I soon found a quite nice MK Seven (locost chassis) with a 2.0l duratec engine with subtle modifications. After a bit of research it seems its the same engine that powers the top 3 Caterham's on the market today. (Not a bad base then!)

I went to have a look and soon agreed a deal on the car.

Here's some pictures from when I picked it up & the specs;













2007 MK Seven (locost chassis)
2.0l Duratec engine, Cylinder head skim & light porting. ARP bolts, lightened flywheel.
Suzuki GSXR 1000 Throttle bodies
Omex 600 ECU
Mapped by Northampton motorpsort @ 189bhp 154lb ft.
Type9 Siera Gearbox
Capri live axel and differential
AVO coilovers
Wilwood 4 pots front
Capri rear drums
15" compomotives & 888's.

Dan

Unfortunatly the first update is not the best one!

On my 5th day of ownership I had one of the front wishbones snap, resulting in the wheel folding under, and bending the coilover.

Luckily it collapsed when I was taking the car at the garage or it could have been alot worse.

As you can imagine this was a big shock and scared the life out of me, its amazing how your trust in a car and seller can change so suddenly.

The damage;







After doing abit of research and speaking to a few people I decided to take no chances and replace the whole set of front wishbones. So I ordered a full set of brand new arms from MK direct.

Unfortunatly the arms were going to take a few weeks to arrive, so to make use of the time it was going to be off the road i decided to start the transformation of the aesthetics.

Que the spray gun!

Ive not really done any spraying before but am lucky enough to have access to a garage and gun, so I thought i would give it ago.

So I removed all the panels and stating sanding them down.



After cleaning the panels I primer-ed all the panels, leaving them a few days before the gloss.

I actually found the spraying not too difficult but was not chasing a perfect finish!











I was really pleased with how they came out and could not wait to get them back on the car. The front arms then arrived and I managed to get a full set of similar Avo coilovers to replace the whole lot as apose to just the broken one.

Dan

I wanted to get the car running on 13" wheels as soon possible, knowing how much difference it made on the classic Mini's (running 10's not 12/13' and how good matts mx5 feels on the 13" wheels I searched for some cheap mini lights.

Didn't take to long before I got a set, a quick lick of black paint and a new set of 888's for them. I opted to go for 205 rear 185 front.

All the panels had now dried so it was time for reassembly.

Pictures with new wheels, panels sprayed and new wishbones/shocks.









Really please with the outcome, I will be spraying the ally bit, but over winter.

Dan

As you can see the offset on the new wheels is not perfect!

So until I can afford a set of 13" team dynamics I have opted for a quick fix;

Classic Mini arches cut to size.









I have also changed the silly small steering wheel for a more sensibly sized 300mm and changed the gearknob/harness for ones I had kept from the mx5.



On the agenda next is learning how to drive it properly, a full cage over the winter with the ally sprayed white to match.

Then want to build a short speed 6 speed box from an mx5 to fit with a LSD ready for track next year.

Any thoughts, advice, comments welcome.

Dan

Bit of a small update for the Seven.

Unfortunately the low offset wheels caused it to be a bit of a handful and it enjoyed wandering a bit too much for my local roads. So I bit the bullet and ordered a set of new wheels with a suitable offset.

A quick snap of the wheels;



Will get better photos when its nice enough to get it out the garage again!

I had a new favorite moment in the car....

I used to work at a pub that's situated on quite a nice 3rd gear sweeping bend, I was on a bit of a drive and approaching the said corner when I saw my old boss (landlord) having a drink outside. So just after i'd slipped it back into 3rd I acknowledged him with a quick wave.....to my fear it was also just as the back end decided to step out. I quickly jumped back onto the wheel and shim-meed up the road. Within a few minutes I got two texts, one complimenting the sound of the car and the other laughing at the worlds shortest wave!!!!

Lesson learnt, a nod is suffice next time.

I have also taken a few pictures of the rolling road mapping that was done on the car;









The car is booked in for its yearly MOT next Wednesday and optimistically have took a day off on the Thursday to respray the remaining bare metal sides of the car.

So fingers crossed the next update will be one with a fresh ticket and lick of paint.

Dan.

Bit later than planned but pictures of the last part of the re-spray/new wheels.



And back together;





And on the road




Really Happy with the finished article.

Am going to re-modify some Mini rear arches for the rear.

Achieved my Quarterly bonus at work too, which means its getting treated to the full cage and rear disk conversion in the next month.

And on the look out for a cheap mk3 mx5 6 speed box to get bolted on before the start of next year.

Dan

Finally got round to a trip up to MK sports cars in Sheffield.

Went for a full race cage with door bars for extra protection, did a really nice Job, and great to watch them cut bend and weld the full cage out of a few bis of tubes.

Went for just gloss black, which looks good all be it a bit plain.

The drive home was not the best, breaking down with a fueling issue in between Sheffield & Gainsborough...

A kit car and 3 degrees is not a nice place to spend 3 hours in pitch black waiting for a lift in November!!!

Finally got it home and gave it a quick wash the next day for a few pictures;







I have also ordered a carbon fibre dash panel and larger aero screen, which should both fit in well.

Just need to make a new rear panel to allow for the cage.

Many thanks, Dan

Few latest pics with the carbon seat, and interior half stripped.

Will be tidying the interior up to make it lighter but still smart and fitting the other carbon seat.





Dan

Few latest pics with the carbon seat, and interior half stripped.

Will be tidying the interior up to make it lighter but still smart and fitting the other carbon seat.





Dan

Managed to have abit more time on the Seven;

Got the interior fully stripped of carpets now;





Coat of primer;



And gloss hamerite;





I then removed the tunnel cover and embarasingly got some 'fake' carbon wrap from ebay as a temporary fix. Will replace with carbon sheet when funds allow.





Next was to make a 'rear parcel shelf', Aaran had kindly given me some sheet metal(thanks mate). So I made a template and used the sheet metal;







Will probably give it a coat of black hamerite too.

I decided that the carbon seats I had got were not quite the finished article I wanted so picked up a set of brand new ones with seals around the edges.

Look far better and are a better diving position.

Drivers is on a caterham slider and passenger fixed so both me and Matt can get comfortable!

Old;



New;








Also picked up a set of compomotive wheels at a good price, which are going to be the track wheels;





First trackday will be March and the quaife box will be in by then..

Next on the list... Cams :twisted:

And a random shot.



Dan

[Edited on 26/1/14 by DannyScarbro]

Few more bits came this week;



And fitted on the car;





Got a smaller/neater reverse light...which stupidly came with no brackets or way of fixing it to the car!!

So I made my own;









Also got the track wheels wrapped in their coats;



Bit overkill on the back but hey, they were at the right price.

I am un-decided on whether to change the current gauges for one electronic 'bike like' contraption?

Would do we think? It would be neater and probably work better but I do quite like the classic style of the smiths gauges and think its suits the car engine side of it?

Dan

Nice progress, i looked at the 1st picture and thought, hmmmm he's going to need to change them lower wishbones soon, right enough a few pictures later that was the case

Surprised to see those wishbones still on cars these days, i would've thought most would've bent by now!

Good progress! Im glad to see the long harnesses are no longer wrapped around and around the rear bar.

Great thread, and such good progress - it's amazing (imo) what a coat of paint does to a car, as it looks like a proper weapon now with a change of seats, adding carbon & black wheels!

Good work!

Looks the business

MK sell extra wide rear race arches now

quote:

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Originally posted by PAUL FISHER
MK sell extra wide rear race arches now

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quote:

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Originally posted by chris mason
Nice progress, i looked at the 1st picture and thought, hmmmm he's going to need to change them lower wishbones soon, right enough a few pictures later that was the case

Surprised to see those wishbones still on cars these days, i would've thought most would've bent by now!

---

Nice set of photos.

One thing. In UK you should fail MOT if the fog light is not in the centre or to the right of the centre. It looks like you have put your reversing light on that side.

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_130.htm

Matt

Great pics and thread

Great thread. Car looks awesome.

I have just purchased the same wheels for my Indy. What size 888 tyre have you fitted to the rears?

Don't suppose you could measure the wheel fitted, so I can work out what size fender I'm going to need?

Still in the middle of my build.

quote:

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Originally posted by jamesd
Great thread. Car looks awesome.

I have just purchased the same wheels for my Indy. What size 888 tyre have you fitted to the rears?

Don't suppose you could measure the wheel fitted, so I can work out what size fender I'm going to need?

Still in the middle of my build.

---

Excellent thread dan.

Given me plenty of new ideas for mine Thanks
Although a lot longer time frame ;-)

Thanks...Its been done in the space of about 6 months, just haven't done a thread till now!

Next brief update;

Took the plunge and mounted the NACA air scoop;

Measured up;



Test fit;



Whole cut;



Fitted off car;



Fitted on car;




And a picture of the daily driver;



Dan

Had a chance to get her out on the road so took some snaps too;












*I have got a harness bar been fitted this week to mount them properly!

Dan

Regarding gauges: regular gauges like you have are easier to see, but harder to wire up, than the digital/bike gauges. If you hadn't started with them, I would leave as is. Nice looking work you have done on the car though!

They're nice wheels in the first pics.....

Here they are now


Your mk is looking smart too!

Looking very good

Nice job on the wheels! If I didn't want to go down to 13" it was the plan to spray them black.

Dan

Have you found out what lead to the front wishbone failure ? Were they aftermarket ones or were they made by MK's own fair hands ?

Thats an awesome transformation youve done there. Gone from a drab, average looking car to a real head turner

In reference to the broken arms, I spoke with MK and they claimed never to have made them like this.

I assume they are either some ebay jobbies or some that someone has made in there back garden. Either way dangerously flimsy and thought out.

I would recommend everyone go and just check the quality of there arms too.


Thanks for the kind words Dave, I see your fairly local. Blyton park on March 15th?

Dan

Yeah I'm quite interested in 15th march. Need to get back on the track as soon as the weather brightens up a bit as my last outing was October last year at Blyton. I've had a look on javelins site, and there aren't many signed up for that day yet. Have you signed up for it yet? Where abouts in Lincolnshire are you?

Have not signed up yet but will be booking in next few weeks.

We're booked in on the. 23rd of feb but that's in the mx5.

Then will be trying to hit cadwell once a month from April through to October.

I've put a thread up for blyton mate.

Dan

Nice build thread, i will try and get some vids of my 106 up some how!

It's been a while since I'd updated this thread but don't think the work has stopped;

Next on the agenda was to sort out some chassis modifications...

So what to do, Matts had so much success with having the mx5 professionally set up and it really does make that car a joy to drive..

With this in mind I had a word with a few guys on the 'locost' forum and concluded 'procomp' in Birmingham were the guys to go and see.

So after a few calls to Matt I booked it in and went down to see them.

The current shocks are mismatched and adjusters don't work so they were the first port of call. They suggested a set of pro-tech adj coil overs and Faulkner springs, then having the shocks re-valved to the weight of the car.

I got them to fit these along with a full ego set up and corner weighting.


The transformation was superb! Makes so much difference and credit to Matt he knows so much about these cars and how they should work.

So after having some work on the chassis it was time to take it out properly;

Blyton was booked, the weather looked optimistic for March and we were off, I now know how Matt feels getting out into the mx5 with a poor heater and loud exhaust at 7 in the morning as I normally jump into the BMW luxury wagon with a smug look! I tried the 'did you want to drive the kitcar to familiarise yourself before getting there' but to no avail!

After a tiring cold journey we arrived and got all set up, we were joined next to us by a lovely old Porsche that was jugs beautifully and looked serious too.

Sighting laps done we strapped in and went for a blast, the car is quick, no doubt about that and has some great levels of grip available. At first the brakes felt a little weak until we realised that we were not driving a new car with a servo, que standing on the brakes!

First drive had some good action with a track oriented m3 until I jumped onto the accelerator instead of the brake going into the chicane! Needles to say swung round and left me with this new feeling of terror (it's the first time I've ever spun!)

Confidence knocked and it Matts turn, considering bar a 2mile jolt one afternoon this was the first time he'd been out in it he drove the pants of the thing....and continued too all afternoon.

We had a great day exploiting the car and finding little niggles that need addressing!

The day was a little bit disheartened by a miss judge turn in on the wiggle, clipping the apex cone with the front left and seeing it propel up at the rear arch smashing it to pieces! Nothing a few cable ties didn't sort for the afternoon mind :lol:

All in all a great day and nice to get some time in the seat.... Just plenty of learning to go!

Some pictures from the day and a quick clip;





Whoops...




http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I--FIGa6KBE

All tips and feedback greatly taken..

Dan

So after the minor misunderstanding with the cone at Blyton I needed some larger stronger rear arches, after abit if hunting around I found a nice set with heavy duty stone guards, ideal!

One of the old and one of the new;



And both fitted;





Really pleased with the looks of them giving a more purposeful look but more importantly allowing the wheels to tuck under for a better track ride height.


I then met a chap in a caterham r300 superlight and after abit of a spirited drive we pulled over and had a looks around the cars and a chat, both Him and I were really impressed with how quick mine was especially around the corners. However I couldn't help but think he had a few neater touches.

So cue the next few modifications;

One of the nicer bits was how clean and tidy the rear end was with the caterham rear lights, so I bit the bullet and ordered a set of genuine caterham rear lights.



The other main difference was he had some nice small black headlights, after abit of research I found that everyone recommended the dominator lights from svc. They are very nice quality I must say.

Before;


After;


Dan

Getting really pleased with the way the car looks now but can't help but think it's missing something;

A SR Motorsport fabricators rear diffuser,

My diagram;


The finished article;


And a demo run;



Win.

Since owning the vehicle the leather dashboard and white dials have never really been to my taste or the track oriented look of the car.

So I set about making my own dashboard with some more race car styled gauges. A £10 plank of mdf and £600's worth of dials later I started planning; ( I can't believe how expensive they are but wanted good quality gauges especially the fuel gauge!)

Before;


The plan...


The cutting;


Test fit;


And the finished article;


Fitted;


Am so pleased with how it's turned out. Love it.

Also had a chance to fit a new fuel pump and clean up the rear drums and re-hammer the rear arms.

Old and new;



And a nice picture I like;


Dan

What did you paint your dash with? I really like the look of it.

Looking great Dan!

In preparation for the sale I had some photos of the Seven taken by a friend who's abit special with a camera....

The results;































Hope you like,

Dan

Great photos Dan, car is looking real nice. Car has been transformed looks wise.

Had a chance to give under the bonnet a spruce up and clean, and some more snaps...















Many thanks

Dan