Building a supercharged Exocet

wesimmo · 10 Apr 2018 at 13:36

I thought some people might be interested in my midlife crisis project....

I had an NB MX5 Sport which was the ideal basis for a quicker MX5 for a bit of B-Road and track fun, it has an LSD and bigger brakes as standard so seemed ideal for enhancing the power a little bit.

The "quicker" came about via this..

"

Which resulted in this...

However the rust apparent under the bonnet wasn't just surface rust and I got an advisory on the last MOT, the chassis rails are scrap. At this point i started looking at restoration costs but then stumbled across the Exocet and a silly plan was hatched with the aim of 400bhp per ton in a great handling package.

I'm hoping to pick my chassis and parts up soon though there's some work to be done before I'm really ready for it.

After a day or so on my own, having done next to no car maintenance before, I'd got this far...

I then got a mate round on Saturday for a few hours and we had a good go at the engine bay, most of the ancillaries are largely disconnected or removed and we've got the loom pulled through into the cabin.

Amazing learning curve so far, but starting to feel more confident that I/we can pull this off!

I then managed another hour after work last night.

Dr Who · 10 Apr 2018 at 13:57

Subscribed

GLWTB

ci_newman · 10 Apr 2018 at 13:59

I've been looking at these myself recently. Personally i prefer the style of the Rocket, but this should be a great big bundle of fun!

Scottland · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:09

Keeping an eye on this

What charger is that?

Dan103 · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:11

nice watching with interest

Daaaavvveee · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:12

Looks ace! Subscribed

wesimmo · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:21

Scottland said:
Keeping an eye on this

What charger is that?

Rotrex, nice little unit, runs cooler than a normal supercharger, comes with an independent cooling and filtration system.

I think i can drop a pulley size for a bit more oomph, if the car comes in at 650kg, I'll need about 260bhp for the 400bhp per ton, might be doable.

Or go big on an engine build and see if i can run a turbo back there too for dual charged stupidity.

Dis86 · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:22

Dis gon be gud

Vince · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:24

Subbed. MX5, funny looking thing and FI.... yea I'm in.

wesimmo · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:25

Dis86 said:
Dis gon be gud

We'll see, I've never even changed brake pads before....

I'm treating it like my first PC build, take one apart to understand it and then rebuild, it's just a little more involved.

I'm drawing diagrams of how the charger and custom ECU were built into the OEM bits and labelling up the loom as i go.

Bunka · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:42

paradigm · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:43

So the MX5 is the donor for the exocet? I'm interested as I've got an MX5 that's starting to become more rust than car.

wesimmo · 10 Apr 2018 at 14:49

paradigm said:
So the MX5 is the donor for the exocet? I'm interested as I've got an MX5 that's starting to become more rust than car.

Less than that really.

You basically strip and disconnect the body from the suspension and submount and then lift it off with an engine hoist.

Most people then strip the suspension etc down, rebush and powder coat, but you dont have to.

Then you bolt a pre-assembled tubular chassis to the MX5 "skate", add the body work with supplied rivets etc, run your brake / fuel lines and electrics down the tunnel, which comes as a sheet of metal to be cut to shape.

The loom you just coil up the bits you don't need and put in a tray on the bulkhead.

I'm having to remove AC, PAS and probably I'll take the ABS out too.

Hopefully having already got a Megasquirt 3 ECU i shouldn't have too many issues with doing so.

Iron-man · 10 Apr 2018 at 15:06

Subscribed, currently thinking of embarking on a similar journey myself. already looking for next update haha

Armageus · 10 Apr 2018 at 15:41

Not a fan of the looks (I'm more of a fan of the caterham look e.g. something like: http://www.greatbritishsportscars.co.uk/cars/zero-mazda/)

However, subbed anyway, as it's difficult not to be interested in a supercharged self-build car project

SupraWez · 10 Apr 2018 at 16:11

Looks like a fun project

DereksDontRun · 10 Apr 2018 at 17:51

fun project and good luck with it. Was looking at doing one of these myself too so am interested to see how it turns out

DereksDontRun · 10 Apr 2018 at 17:56

paradigm said:
So the MX5 is the donor for the exocet? I'm interested as I've got an MX5 that's starting to become more rust than car.

mk1 and 2 mx5, so i think you're golden, according to your signature pic...

used to have a mk3.5 and I've been itching at getting another for a weekend car, but getting a 3.5 would stop me for being able to exocet it... guess I'll watch this...

paradigm · 10 Apr 2018 at 18:17

DereksDontRun said:
mk1 and 2 mx5, so i think you're golden, according to your signature pic...

used to have a mk3.5 and I've been itching at getting another for a weekend car, but getting a 3.5 would stop me for being able to exocet it... guess I'll watch this...

Yep mines a late NB (mk2.5).

sovietspybob · 10 Apr 2018 at 19:12

Very interesting i'd quite like to do something like this. Looks like this retains the OEM suspension though, won't that be all wrong for a car of half the weight afterwards?