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Author: Subject: Dans MK Seven
DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:38 PM Reply With Quote
Dans MK Seven

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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:39 PM Reply With Quote
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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:40 PM Reply With Quote
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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:40 PM Reply With Quote
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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:41 PM Reply With Quote
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.

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:42 PM Reply With Quote
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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:43 PM Reply With Quote
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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:43 PM Reply With Quote
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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:44 PM Reply With Quote
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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:45 PM Reply With Quote
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]

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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 05:46 PM Reply With Quote
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

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chris mason

posted on 26/1/14 at 06:21 PM Reply With Quote
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!

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daveb666

posted on 26/1/14 at 07:15 PM Reply With Quote
Good progress! Im glad to see the long harnesses are no longer wrapped around and around the rear bar.





2007bc Photography - Commercial and Wedding Photographer based in West Yorkshire

http://www.2007bc.co.uk / http://www.huddersfieldcommercialphotographer.co.uk

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yellowcab

posted on 26/1/14 at 07:23 PM Reply With Quote
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!

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maccmike

posted on 26/1/14 at 08:03 PM Reply With Quote
Looks the business
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PAUL FISHER

posted on 26/1/14 at 09:18 PM Reply With Quote
MK sell extra wide rear race arches now
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DannyScarbro

posted on 26/1/14 at 10:03 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by PAUL FISHER
MK sell extra wide rear race arches now


Thanks for all the kind words. Looking forward to getting it on track and exploiting it properly!

They sound ideal, any ideas on pricing?

Dan

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austin man

posted on 26/1/14 at 10:17 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
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!



Thought exactly the same Chris mine bent, one of the problems is they were designed to take and engine and box that were significantly lighter than the pinto's , zetect , duratecs etc





Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone

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matt_gsxr

posted on 26/1/14 at 10:25 PM Reply With Quote
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

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CosKev3

posted on 28/1/14 at 04:50 PM Reply With Quote
Great pics and thread
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jamesd

posted on 29/1/14 at 11:36 AM Reply With Quote
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.

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DannyScarbro

posted on 29/1/14 at 10:07 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
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.


Thanks for the kind words chaps.


The tyres on the team dynamics wheels are;

205/60/13 rear
185/60/13 front

And on the compomotives

215/60/13 rear
185/60/13 front


In regards to measurements, Have you also got an old english live axle? As I do not want to give you measurements that are not applicable on your vehicle.

Which measurements do you need chap?

Many thanks

Dan

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greed1

posted on 30/1/14 at 07:21 AM Reply With Quote
Excellent thread dan.

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





Drive it stright sideways

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DannyScarbro

posted on 31/1/14 at 10:19 PM Reply With Quote
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

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DannyScarbro

posted on 2/2/14 at 03:24 PM Reply With Quote
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

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