Pedal alterations

Time for surgery on the clutch and brake pedals. The originals are designed to fit around a brake servo, hydraulic clutch and a small footwell. There are various angles on the metal that just aren't needed. They're also a fair bit too long.

First thing, chop everything up. Here's the pedals in bits;

The gas pedal will stay as it is, so that is put aside for now. I'm working off the same measurement as for the Sierra brake pedal. The Sierra clutch pedal is cable operated so is lifted off the floor, but with both clutch and brake being hydraulic here it means the hinge is at the base (hence both being the same length as the Sierra brake pedal). So both pedals will be 191 mm from the edge of the outer bush to the centre of the pedal plate. A decent cut on both to keep the profile tidy, nice and simple. I also screwed both the plates on to a piece of wood, to keep the angle correct and have them at the same length. It made it easy to measure from the bush to the wood, and to keep everything at right angles.

A bit of welding leaves me with this;

The metal used for the pedals is quite beefy, but with the welder turned up high I'm happy I got penetration. It certainly took long enough to cool down (as evidenced by a very sore thumb).

Once things were cool enough to take apart, I was left with this;

A quick boot measurement had the pedals at just right place, which is fantastic. One last trial was to replace the aluminium faces;

Unfortunately they can't stay as they are because the IVA requires a permanent non-slip surface, either rubber or skateboard tape. Tape will be cheaper.

The holes for the pushrods are in the same place as before so hopefully things should still work well. 

Tomorrow will be the brackets and holes for the master cylinders. 

Pedal design

I've said from day one that I want to use as much of the donor as possible. The pedals were one place I wanted to keep the MX5 ones. Partly because it makes all the linkages easy to put together, but partly because I've seen multiple posts where the Haynes pedal box design has failed (or has been seriously compromised). That seems to be a bad thing in my book, considering the middle pedal is the one I rely on to avoid possible bumps.

So, I've done a quick drawing, and I can see that the pedals are too long. No matter, I already knew that. A bit of trimming, that's all. But then I realised a small design flaw. I've done my absolute utmost to have the steering wheel dead centre and absolutely square on (memories of my old Nova with wonky steering has made me completely over the top with it!). But it means I can't have both the steering wheel and the brake pedal in the middle, and measurements show that if the brake pedal isn't in the middle, I can't actually get my feet on the pedals!

This is based on the pedal hanging from above, which is the original MX5 layout. It occurred to me that the pedals themselves don't care which way is up, so I turned them round. If I do that though, I've got to shorten the gas pedal, which means I couldn't actually open the throttle fully.

Then I found a few drawings where the clutch and brake pedal are floor mounted, and the gas pedal is top mounted. And that looks like the solution. The brake and clutch do need to be cut down, but I can do that.

This drawing shows the original pedals (being too long), and the pedal layout once they've been cut down;

Note the gas pedal isn't being altered. I like the angle of the pedal, and the pivot point works well with the steering column (blue). Cutting down the brake pedal is straightforward, its slightly less leverage for my foot but the pushrod is the same distance from the pivot point which should maintain the MX5 brake 'feel'. However I might drill a second hole a bit further up to give an element of adjustment.

The clutch pedal changes shape as it's cut down, instead of the angled piece (designed to avoid the MX5 transmission tunnel) it's just straight down to the pivot point. As with the brake pedal, I'm not changing the pushrod point, but hopefully the hydraulic clutch doesn't need as much pressure.

All this means that;

1. I retain all the pivot points (bushes, return springs, etc).
2. The pivot point for the brake pedal can be easily reinforced (as can the associated master cylinder).
3. I maintain a top mounted gas pedal (my personal preference).

By the way, the drawing on the left is my shoe (just for height and width, rather than actual representative shape!) The pedals will end up on the ball of my foot (which is the inner rectangle of my 'shoe')

I did also consider the cut down. I had thought about just cutting the bar at the best position and then welding the two halves together. To me that seems to be just asking for trouble. So I'm going to cut the pedal faces off, shorten the bars by an appropriate amount, then weld the faces back on. That keeps joints under compressive forces rather than bending forces. I'll take some photos of that process, mainly to keep Mr IVA happy.

Steering

Now the seats are in, I can put the steering wheel where I want. The MX5 design is very similar to the Sierra one, but the MX5 column isn't adjustable. So it has to be put in the right place.

A few sitting sessions got me a good position, then excessive use of metal and clamps got it locked in place. Then it was a case of cutting up and welding the three bars that make the front mount, a couple of flat plates for bolts, and lots more welding. Which got me this;

It's a steering wheel in the right place!! However, I had to consider IVA at this point. The brackets are designed to fail in an accident. The upper bolt fixings use the MX5 column slots, so the column can deform with enough force. The lower fixing is a u clamp, again it should allow things to collapse.

The top RHS piece is the same size as the Sierra one, but the left and right pieces are very different (a couple of inches longer on both sides). It did get me a bit worried, but the set up looks like other MX5 columns so I'm happy with the outcome. And I can get my legs underneath.

Next job will be the pedal box. Since I'm going way off the beaten track and using the standard pedals, I'm expecting a lot of design issues. First issue, which box of donor parts contains the pedals?!!!

Seats

Time for a big update I think. It's been some time since I last updated this blog, and rather unsurprisingly I've not actually done that much. A big push in the last couple of weeks have got me two big chunks though.

First off, the seats. Fairly easy one this, first a couple of cross bars;

The holes have got welded in crush tubes, and they're actually quite large. It was to match the holes in the seat runners, but I think the standard bolts have a shoulder on a smaller diameter bolt. Ah well, no danger of it failing IVA due to the size of the fixing!

Seat rails are bolted in;

The ends of the rails are actually bent to fit the MX5, they do straighten out to suit a flat mounting but I had to shave a few edges off for the sliders to work.

Passenger seat base in first;

Then the drivers seat, and job done;

The seat bases are compressed on the side, but not excessively. I could leave them, or I could take the leather off, 'rearrange' the base and re-cover them. I might do that anyway as I'd not realised how tall these seats are! I think it's called a 'foamectomy'...

So now the seats are in, I can fit the steering wheel. Next post.

More metal

Well, I came to do the seat mounts, turned out it's going to use a fair bit more metal than I thought. It's amazing how such short lengths become big lengths when there's quite a few of them. So I had to get some more, but getting back to Camp Steel is challenging, especially with work and Birmingham traffic.

So I found Steel Express in Wolverhampton, round the back of where Strykers used to be on the Stafford Road. A length of 1 inch and one length of 3/4 inch cost just over £40 for the pair. They're actually longer than the Camp Steel ones, 7.5 metres, so the price is a bit more expensive than Camp steel but less fuel (and time!) to pick up.

I just needed to take my hacksaw and chop it up into 2.5m sections. Interestingly, my SEAT saloon was able to take 3 metre sections, whereas the Mercedes estate can only take 2.5m max!!

So now I have sufficient metal to continue, but as ever the time available is limited. Once the seat bars are fitted and I can put the seat in, I'll be able to gauge the position of the steering wheel and pedals.

Then again... am I going about this the wrong way? The seat is adjustable, but the relationship between pedals and steering wheel isn't. Perhaps that is the 'magic number' I ought to be considering.

I'll have a think about that...

(Later that day)

OK, I've thought about it. If I sit on the floor with my feet and hands in roughly the right place, I think there will be 70 centimetres from the pedal box rear panel to the steering wheel. The same 70 centimetres works for the Merc so it seems like a good number. Therefore it doesn't really matter where the seat will be, as long as the distance between feet and hands is maintained.

Let the cutting begin!

part 1... complete?

Time to take stock of where I am and plan the next stage.

So far, I have;

• A basic chassis from square section
• Front suspension mounts
• Full front wishbones (painted)
• Transmission tunnel
• Diff mounting
• Rear suspension mounts
• Full rear wishbones
• Seat belt anchors

In theory this gives me a rolling chassis, albeit with no floor! Well, it work for Mr Flintstone I guess...

So following the manual, the next things are;

• Steering wheel mount. This will be a variation of the Haynes one, to take into account the MX5 column.
• Handbrake mounting. I'm planning on mounting my handbrake under the steering column, similar to the white example. It seems quite tidy and keeps the transmission tunnel clean. This does mean I can't do much until things are built as I don't quite understand how it fixes in place.
• Steering rack mount. I think I have precut metal to just bend and mount.
• Radiator mount. Um, might leave this one until I actually have a radiator to mount!

Ooh, then the next thing in the manual is the engine mounts and the floor!!

Long time, no update!

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated this blog! Ah well, probably ties in well with the amount of work I've done on the car. Several months have gone past with virtually no progress, and I have nothing but my job to blame for it!

Anyway, a quick update mainly for my own benefit. It's relating to the bodywork. An LCB member posted a link to an Ebay ad where the bodywork was on offer. I won't post a link here as it's very unlikely the link will work for more than 30 days. However, hopefully kitbitsdirect won't mind me posting one of the pictures;

This was the shell I saw at Stoneleight 2015, and was only the second shell I'd seen of this particular Healey rep (the other being the completed white car). What I didn't notice initially is that this car has no wide arches, and comparing it to the white one;

Makes it look like a very different car. I can't say better or worse at the moment, just 'different'.

The point of this is that the standard kit was on offer for £449 (the narrow car), with an extra £200 for the wide arched version. Those are mega cheap prices, about half what I'd actually budgeted for. Even the wide arched version is still cheaper than expected, or even what it was advertised for as an 'offer' at Stoneleigh. The only thing will be pick up from Derby, but I'm sure a couple of hours with a borrowed transit will resolve that issue.

Now some techie details (for my own benefit). The wheelbase for the car is adjustable (as I remember from before). Standard is 92.5 inches, with an option to shorten it to 87.5 inches if necessary (so 5 inches of adjustment). And of course it can be extended if it's too short.

The width of the car is different for the two bodies (as expected). For the standard body, it's 54.5 at the front and 58.5 at the back. The wide arched body is 62 at the front and 67 at the back.

I am leaning towards the narrow body, just because it's closer to the original in terms of looks. Even the rally cars shied away from wide arches. So now I just need to measure my chassis and see what I can get away with!!

Upper rear wishbones

I've been scratching my head with this one for a while now, and have come up with three designs, based on the following diagram;

The top blue box is the coilover bush and crush tubes, the lower one is the top mount for the MX5 upright, and the green is 5mm plate steel.

Design 1 (left) is the smallest design, but it leaves the coilover acting on the M10 bolt running through it, with potentially bending forces rather than sheer forces. However, this is how the Westfield mounting is done, albeit potentially with more than just an M10 bolt.

Design 2 (middle) gives more support through both, but again I wonder whether the combination of the upper mount and the coilover put the bolt in a bending position.

Design 3(right) is the belt and braces, this was my original design. No bending forces, all sheer forces. But is it too much.

Turns out that Westfield actually use two designs, one that is close to the first one;

And another that looks the same as number three;

To be honest, I think I'm leaning towards number three...

Measuring up the lower wishbones

First step, measuring the length of the rear lower wishbones. A fairly simple process, let the uprights stand vertical, the CV joints sit comfortable (not under tension or compression), then measure from the centre of the bottom fixing to the centre of the wishbone bracket;

And the magic number is 375. So I can compare that to an existing Saturn design;

That shows 395.8 from edge to edge. With a wishbone tube being 33.7mm wide, that means mine are longer at 408.7 from edge to edge. Unfortunately trying to get it down to 395.8 seems to compress the cv joint a bit more than I'd like (and as the suspension moves it will compress even more). I repeated the process on the other side, it actually sits 5mm shorter, but any reasonable amount of camber and the driveshaft binds on the diff.

I also measured up the metal. I have 2490 of tube, and based on the 375mm length, I need 2420 of metal! So no room for mistakes! I'll be using 19mm for the top wishbone, same as the Sierra design. This is because the suspension mount isn't on the wishbone. I'll still brace it a little bit, but at least I won't need the thicker tube.

Driveshafts and uprights

The diff is in place, and the driveshafts, and the uprights. And now I have a problem...

I had planned to fix the coilover alongside the upper fixing of the upright, like the Westfields do;

But with the coilovers at maximum extension (13 inches) the driveshafts are horizontal. Which means as the suspension compresses, the driveshafts will be angled upwards. I don't think this is a good thing. Even comparing to the picture above, I would more expect the driveshafts to be horizontal under full load.

So time for yet another rethink. I may try and mount the coilover top near to the edge, but that would need some reinforcement on the plate.

Mmm, I've just noticed, the uprights are backwards in the Westfield...that could be useful...

(Later that night...)

I've also just noticed that the upper mounts on the Westfield aren't mounted to the upper plates, they're mounted to the cross member. The hole for putting the bolt in is actually in the back seat panel. The plate is only used for the rollbar. So I'm thinking, if I reverse the uprights, mount the coilover as per Westfield, it would be mounted an inch or so down and out so the shorter shock wouldn't matter anymore. There's a little bit of bracing added, I can do the same.

Looks like I have a few things to try out tomorrow! :)

More diff...

I treated myself to some new welding gloves, mainly because the right index finger was so burnt it bent sideways instead of inline with the knuckle... anyway, long story short, turns out it's the way I hold the torch as I weld, because the new pair did exactly the same thing after welding the diff brackets!

Anyway, on to the diff.

Once the upper bar was fitted, I used offcuts of the old Sierra diff plates that I had from a guy on LCB. He was getting rid of a nearly complete set of plates, a few bob for postage and a bit extra and they were mine. Obviously the Sierra plates were never going to be used, but the holes were the right size and it's thick enough metal. A quick trim and the brackets were produced. Note the bottom left one in the picture, that's to avoid what was the PPF bracket on the diff.

The diff seems to fit quite well;

Obviously the diff is mounted centrally according to the driveshaft flanges rather than the propshaft. I was always going to have a 'wonky' propshaft as the diff isn't centred. This wasn't going to bother me, I just had to make sure that the prop had enough clearance;

Yep, looking good to me. The more observant of readers might notice this 'after' pic only shows the tack welds, rather than the full welds of the 'before' pic above. That's because this was me trialing the diff fit before fully welding.

So once the plates have cooled down, I can bolt the diff in place and then mount the driveshafts and uprights. Then I can figure out how things will fit together!

It's nice to make some progress though... although looking at the picture above that propshaft really needs cleaning. It's got to be cut to length anyway so I'll get them to check the bearings at the same time.

Rear suspension

I keep putting it off because I just know it's going to be a nightmare. The whole thing is going to be a mishmash of all books, and plenty of scope for mistakes. I'm even changing the upper wishbone completely, just to make it fit better and get the loads flowing in the right directions.

So, first thing, mount the diff. And it's not a light diff either;

At least I'm going back to the gym so getting in and out is getting easier!! By the way, it probably looks a bit different to a standard diff, it's got the Talon diff cover, then two coats of red oxide primer, then two coats of satin black top coat.

I should actually mention that nothing on my car will be powdercoated, I do like the look of it but I've come to the conclusion that whatever I do, it's going to need repairing, and powdercoat doesn't repair!

So, first step, lower and upper braces for the diff;

(upper to be added, erm, when I get round to fitting it!!)

How time flies!!

Well, I finally got the wishbones finished, I reckon at least 20 hours labour start to finish for all four front wishbones.

Same as before, start with a layout;

And end up with a wishbone!

OK, I skipped a fair bit of effort, and this is only at the tack stage, but to be honest the uppers did go together a lot quicker than the lowers. Again, there's a gnats hair difference between the two.

I had some old tube to hang them all from, so first was two coats of Screwfix red oxide primer;

Then two coats of hammerite copper;

And then fit the polybushes (I didn't need to do this stage, but it felt good to see them slot in perfectly!)

I also got all the front brackets fitted. To be honest, I expected this bit to be much harder than it was, but thanks to the advice of Phil from Talon my front frame had been welded up to host the brackets from the start. Everything just fell together, face against face and welded perfect.

Note the reinforcement behind the front upper wishbone bracket. It's just a triangular chunk of square section welded up, not overly pretty but it gives me confidence that it will stay put!

I do like some of my welding, although other parts are a bit messy. They've all got very good penetration, almost too much in some places.

The wishbones fit beautifully into the brackets, and the coilover bracket is perfectly in line. Very very happy with the front suspension. On to the rear.... again...

Front upper wishbones

The front upper wishbones should be a bit easier than the lower ones, smaller thinner tubes and no plates. However, there were two measurements I needed to sort out first.

Number one, the angle of the insert. I now have two inserts that have been welded inside a 25mm tube. The tube itself is 50mm long, so comparing that to the plans means I'm 5mm narrower and 10mm shorter. So all the measurements on the wishbones go out the window! To get the insert angle still at 8 degrees, I had to work out how many spacers I needed. A quick bit of trigonometry left me with 7mm of spacers required at the end, to give me an 8 degree angle.

Number two, caster angle. I'm not going rosejoints at the moment, mainly because I'm not building 'that' sort of car. I will keep an eye on rosejoints as an upgrade, but not for now. Which means I have to get the caster angle right first time, and the asymmetrical wishbones are the perfect opportunity. I am aware that 'the book' has messed up the calculations, and only gives 3.5 degrees rather than 7 (although I think this is the '£250' book rather than the 'on a budget' book). But I'm not going by 'the book', I'm mixing up various sources. So I had to work out what was ideal.

From various forums, I have 10 degrees as being a good start, so as close to that as possible. Given the measurements in the book and on my own wishbones, I worked out that with the upper wishbones as they are in the book, I would get 7 degrees camber. With the Saturn measurements, I would get 6. Yes I know it's not quite 10, but the higher the better so I'm going with the book measurements. This means an offset of 120mm for the centre of the insert.

And that's where I ended the day. The jig was sanded down ready for a new set of markings, the thin tube is ready to be cut, and my forearms are ready for a shedload of hacksawing.

Front lower wishbone build

Some photos!! First, the plates between the wishbone tubes. This was cut from 5mm plate with a standard jigsaw and some Bosch blades. Plenty of cutting fluid, and several hours later, I had this;

Next were the tubes themselves, just cut to length and then manually profiled to the bush tubes;

As the lower wishbones aren't handed, I did them all using this jig. That way I knew they would all be identically right (or identically wrong!). The plates I had cut for other parts of the suspension came in very useful as spacers, I kind of ignored the spacers suggested as it didn't leave all the seams in the centre. And when I was welding I wanted to make sure I was welding on welds.

Then came the bottom cut. First I tried marking it with a laser beam;

But I couldn't get it to line up perfectly, so I went for an old fashioned handsaw jig. Again, lots of hours and lots of cutting fluid later, I had all pipes cut, and a full set of parts;

A first fit showed a bit of trimming needed;

So ten minutes with a flap wheel on a grinder got them fitting perfectly. Straps and clamps aplenty ready for welding;

And a short time later I had two wishbones!

Putting them back to back showed that there was less than 1 millimetre difference between the bush tubes and the balljoint fixings, so I'm really happy. 

I just have a couple of holes in the end of the tube to finish off, but I might pour some waxoyl in there first. It'll probably all get burnt away as I finish the weld, but at least things will stay rust proof.

The cut tubes left an interesting profile, which got me thinking about the next stage. I need to sleeve the threaded inserts for the top wishbones, and I was advised to cut the sleeve at an angle to maximise the weld length. As it so happens, the sleeve tube is the same tube I used here!! So;

The two on the left are bare offcuts, the two on the right are the inserts welded into place. With them fully welded as they are, the BMW balljoint still fits perfectly. Tomorrow I'll grind down those welds, and put the other two offcuts on top. Once they're welded on, I'll have a completely sleeved insert with good welds holding it tight. It's still only 50mm long (the original plans call for 60mm) but the threaded part of the balljoint is only 50mm long so I'm not worried.

Front suspension build

The front suspension is now coming together. I'm taking the MX5 measurements from the Saturn plans, but I don't want the lower adjustments. So I've kept the ball joint where it is, kept the bushes where they are, but brought the wishbone tubes out to between the two. So far so good, although cutting and shaping the fish mouths (is that the correct term?) has been an absolute ballache!!

But before I continued, I want to check what sort of suspension measurements I was going to get. So for camber, I have worked out the following (assuming horizontal suspension at rest);

Upper suspension distance from end of studs to the end of the wishbone (where the balljoint screws in) = 192mm.
Upper wishbone length from end to end = 242mm.
Total upper length (end of wishbone tube to end of studs) = 434mm.

Lower suspension distance from end of studs to balljoint bolt = 130mm.
Lower wishbone length from end to end = 410mm.
Total lower length (end of wishbone tube to end of studs) = 540mm.

On the chassis, the brackets are mounted as follows;

Upper brackets are 335mm from centre.
Lower brackets are 247mm from centre.

By my reckoning, that gives me distance from chassis centre to end of studs at 769mm upper and 787mm lower, a difference of 18mm. A rough calculation suggests this is a 5 degree camber, so I'm going to have to get it down to 4mm for a 1 degree camber (ideal start). I don't expect this to be an issue with plenty of space available in the adjustment.

I'll work out caster tomorrow, aiming for +6 to +10 so fingers crossed for 28mm difference top and bottom!

Post Christmas update

Yes I know it's February, and yes I know my last post was September, but that pretty much sums up the build to be honest. It's been dormant for about four months for various reasons.

Anyway, lots of updates;

Phil at Talon finally got me a new diff case, and it fits perfectly. He's also suggested a few things for fitting, mainly so I don't actually damage the casing while it's being fitted. I've also figured out that the two plates that I had for a Sierra diff can be chopped up and will become the fixings for this diff!

The casing arriving does mean I was able to crack on with the rear suspension frame, and that's all welded up. Well, on that subject the whole chassis has now been fully welded, and I'm really happy with the results (even if it took more than twelve months!). I am a bit short of metal now though, I don't have enough for the extra triangulation. At some point I'll pick up one more 1" section and a 3/4" section.

I also popped over to theflockkeeper (Ebay person) in Telford for some steel offcuts, and came away with a good selection of 1mm for panels, 3mm for brackets and 5mm for suspension parts, all for the princely sum of £60. I still haven't got a floor but I've got pretty much everything else. Now I have no excuse for putting together the wishbones!! I won't be panelling in the engine bay, I'm working on the assumption that it will have a full bodyshell over it so the panels are redundant. It might help with cooling as well.

I managed to run out of welding gas while doing the chassis, a quick journey to my nearest Hobbygas supplier got me a full tank for £30 + VAT. I'm really liking not having to pay rental on the cylinder! I've got through at least three rolls of welding wire as well, I would go bigger but I've heard problems with the bigger rolls and it's not a huge difference in price.

Another bargain found as well, a fellow LCB member sold me a full set of coilovers for £100. Platform and damping adjustable, they just need a bit of a clean up. They even had the spring rates written on the springs! They were off a locost chassis rather than a Haynes chassis, but I think the lengths are ok. The front look fine with good spring rates, the rears might need stronger springs and perhaps a modification to the mounts for the length.

So the next stage is wishbones and mounts... See you next year (probably!)...

Oh, and one last thing. I'm using a 1.6 MX5 as a donor, and as any MX5 owner knows, there was a design flaw with the crankshaft (google short nose crank for more details). So I decided to check before I got too much further with the build. Turns out I have the updated crank with the better fixing, so no self-detonating engine for me!! Yay!

Disappointed/frustrated

Well, I expected at least one downer on this project, although I did expect it to be DVLA induced. After removing the diff, and cracking it open, I've found it doesn't fit on the Talon diff cover. The mounting holes are on a circle that's approximately one inch wider than the diff. They're in the right place in terms of angles around the centre point, the screw threads are correct and the two stub axles fit nicely, but there's no way the diff is going in. I do wonder whether it's a difference between a 1.6 and a 1.8 diff, as the one in the picture is a 1.8 but mine is a 1.6.

I've emailed Phil to see what happens, I'm not sure what he can do though. At best a refund would leave me just out of pocket for the postage and packaging, but then unless he can make a new one to fit I'm going to have to go back to the original plans for the rear suspension. Which was what I was trying to avoid!

There might be a possibility that I can use a 1.8 diff, but keep everything else. That's if they bolt together...

Well, there is an update, rather quickly actually. Phil is putting together some CNC created covers, so hopefully I can arrange with him to swap my prototype one for a 'real' one. It should also fit the 1.6 diff, so win win really.

Oh yeah, and I've figure out my diff is a viscous LSD. Not as good as a Torsen diff, but better than a completely open one.

We have lift off!!

Everything stripped off the car, all bolts undone, and engine stand in position;

Take the strain...

And lift...

Rear wheels moved to where the front wheels used to be;

And done!

There was a slight miscalculation with the length, the exhaust hung outside the garage. So a bit more spanner action and the exhaust was off!! It was way too big to reuse, so the scrap man got that one.

So the garage is now full of wanted kit...

As well as unwanted kit...

So it's time to start getting rid of the unwanted bits. Everything went on MX5nutz first, a few nibbles but nobody local who could collect. And none of it can realistically be delivered. Over to Gumtree, and the wing mirrors and soft top have already gone, so that's £100. The panels are still to be sold, so fingers crossed. If not it'll go to Ebay, but I suspect that will be hard work.

Nothing else will happen with the build for now, with all that stuff in the garage I can't move. But I'm off to Ireland for a couple of weeks, so it will just stay there. I hope the empty shell can be removed before I go, I did have one place that wanted scrap metal but when I phoned them I found he'd moved to North Wales. Fingers crossed I find someone to take it.

Chassis build

I've just noticed, I got so distracted by my donor strip that I hadn't logged my progress with the chassis. So the tunnel is done;

I did have a bit of trouble with the diagonals on the seat back. For some reason I'd cut them identically, but where they met the suspension top mount on one side, it was a good inch or so off on the other side. I actually left this one for a couple of days, so frustrated with myself that the chassis was that twisted. I'd measured everything as close as possible with my eye, each of the horizontal bars on the rear were identical and the verticals were a perfect match as well. But of course, same length on parallel sides either makes a rectangle or rhombus; the former being good and the latter being bad.

I finally came back to it and had a good look at what I was doing. Then I found the problem. The horizontal bars are at different angles, the middle one being 'flat' to the seat back and the top one being horizontal. This means that the diagonals are cut at quite a sharp angle on either end, with a 'diamond' profile being presented to the top bar. I'd basically been measuring the wrong part, the wrong end of the diamond. Once I started comparing the centre of the diagonals rather than the corners, it all lined up. I now have a matching set of welded in diagonals, and there is roughly 1mm difference between the two. That does suggest there is still an element of error, but 1mm is a huge improvement over 1 inch!!

I'm quite happy with how the diagonals have gone in all over the chassis to be honest, I cut them all as matching pairs and they all fitted correctly with no trimming. That means that with the laser alignment checking the horizontals, the verticals are similarly accurate.

Anyway, enough chassis waffle, the MX5 is nearly stripped and might be losing it's bodyshell this weekend, so it's all steam ahead for getting the last few donor bits off the car!