The mx5 Rv8,.. thing!

[topcatcustom]

I got given a huge tub of brasso (liquid) and it is amazing on aluminium! I got some wet n dry and going to go over the 2 tanks I made and polish them up- I recon its actually easier than a buffing wheel as I already tried ours at work!

Well got some more bits bolted on over the weekend- and the hole in the bonnet cut- its bloody huge!!!

Heres "cutting the bonnet" in 3 easy steps







It fits really well- about a 20mm gap all the way round so kept it pretty snug and chamfered the stiffeners underneath back so you dont see them from the top, got to find some flexible rubber trim to push on that will bend round 20mm radiuses though to finish it off once painted. The whole bonnet is ally which suprised me- even before I cut half of it out I could pick it up with 1 finger! -Oh- and it just clears the blower using the original hinges- which is handy!
Now's to paint it and the bumper black, bolt the wings on, put the exhausts back on and do the wiring!!!

[mgbv8]

That looks brilliant Tom

[bones]

o yes, looking real good TC, rich

[gelmonkey]

Hey Tom
That looks just fantastic.
The whole thing is just going to be so much fun once on the road.
Re the rubber trim try Woolies on Tinternet.
I got some kit from them a while back and had really good service.
Cheers
P

[mgbv8]

Ahh!!
You are talking about grommet strip

Dont forget you can get plastichrome grommet strip as well...I had chrome around the hole for my 14" filter. Halfords or ebay. Cant remember now. But it looked good.

[topcatcustom]

Cheers Paul- have sent them an email. Perry that is the sort of stuff- the problem is that I have some pretty tight radiuses both internal and external around the hole I cut for the blower- instead of chopping a big square hole I followed the shape +20mm, looks much nicer!

[Ian Anderson]

Extrusions direct from manufacturer
COH Baines

http://www.coh-baines.co.uk/

IAn

[topcatcustom]

Woolies were very helpful and sent me samples through straight away. Here's a pic of the little hole I had to cut



And the engine bay is nearly complete now! (minus the blower of course)

[bones]

only a small hole in the bonnet then . im looking forward to seeing the mx5 at nth weald. I would think a few peeps will suffer dropped jaw syndrome when they see it, its one mean mother rich

[JJMclure]

looking good, nice and neat engine bay, bonnet should be a bit lighter too!

[gelmonkey]

Tom
Is it true that you have offered the bonnet to that shite TV program on Saturday evenings where the stars? have to make the shape of the hole
It's a big enough hole to fit most things through.
P

[topcatcustom]

The bonnet was probably the one part of the car that didn't need any lightening- it's got up to 3 layers and I could still pick up the whole thing with my little finger!!!

[mgbv8]

I cant wait to just hear it idling in the pits

[topcatcustom]

Look what turned up yesterday Thankyou Bailey Morris

[russell_ram]

TC,

Have I spotted an issue with your cooling system? You have a bleed from the high point on the top hose, this is fair enough - but it feeds into the header tank at a lower point than the bleed take off and the level of water in the tasnk will be lower than that. Surely the air in the tank will bleed INTO the top hose, when the engine is turned off, untill the level in the tank and engine are the same?

Nice work by the way - want to finish mine when you're done?

Russ