MX5 250GTO body conversion kit
Discussion
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tribute-Automotive-MX250...
Interesting development - as the Whitney song goes "It's not right, but it's OK" be very interesting to see how this fairs. No IVA and £1700 all in.
Could maybe have done with a bit more overhang at the front to try and disguise short wheelbase but whatever you think it's still considerably better proportioned than the 944 conversion kit IMHO and considerably cheaper as well...
Interesting development - as the Whitney song goes "It's not right, but it's OK" be very interesting to see how this fairs. No IVA and £1700 all in.
Could maybe have done with a bit more overhang at the front to try and disguise short wheelbase but whatever you think it's still considerably better proportioned than the 944 conversion kit IMHO and considerably cheaper as well...
Edited by smash on Monday 14th May 10:06
Tidy looking thing, not a bad “budget-buster” and if your folding roof on your MX-5 is shot, it would solve that issue.
Here’s the website if you’re interested.
http://tributeautomotive.com/index.html
I chatted to the chap selling this at the Stoneleigh show, he seemed very helpful and enthusiastic, I think it’s a new project and his website isn’t quite finished yet. (I’ll forgive the period knock on wire wheels; a bit of Photoshop I think?)
The predicted build price is just over £4,000 but I think if you have to buy new wheels/tyres plus a better paint job, you’ll be looking at closer to £6,000.
The only information I can’t find is how do you trim the inside of the car? I’m sure you’ll need some sort of vinyl covered fibre-glass to hide the original soft-top opening and cover the headlining which I’m assuming is the set of support/fitting panels. It would be interesting to see pictures of the inside.
Here’s the website if you’re interested.
http://tributeautomotive.com/index.html
I chatted to the chap selling this at the Stoneleigh show, he seemed very helpful and enthusiastic, I think it’s a new project and his website isn’t quite finished yet. (I’ll forgive the period knock on wire wheels; a bit of Photoshop I think?)
The predicted build price is just over £4,000 but I think if you have to buy new wheels/tyres plus a better paint job, you’ll be looking at closer to £6,000.
The only information I can’t find is how do you trim the inside of the car? I’m sure you’ll need some sort of vinyl covered fibre-glass to hide the original soft-top opening and cover the headlining which I’m assuming is the set of support/fitting panels. It would be interesting to see pictures of the inside.
£6000 - really? Tell me who your suppliers/painters are so I can avoid them!
Set of 17" alloys and tyres is less than £500 new (try Rochford Tyres). Paint under £1k - I could get that painted locally for about £750 (the cobra in my profile was resprayed for the grand total of £650!)
£4k seems pretty sensible if you're careful
Set of 17" alloys and tyres is less than £500 new (try Rochford Tyres). Paint under £1k - I could get that painted locally for about £750 (the cobra in my profile was resprayed for the grand total of £650!)
£4k seems pretty sensible if you're careful
sort of still on topic ... but has anyone in UK converted a mazda Mx5 to a LS engine... ? just my nextdoor neighbour has a fooked engine one for sale at £200 and i am led to believe and older gen LS engine and gearbox can be bought for less than £2k.... just thinking as im bored...hehe
smash said:
- I could get that painted locally for about £750 (the cobra in my profile was resprayed for the grand total of £650!)
Well I have been hawking my Ult around for a respray and I'm getting estimates between 3 & 4K. I can only think you must do a lot of the prep work and get mates rates, or am I just going to the wrong places?Graham
smash said:
£6000 - really? Tell me who your suppliers/painters are so I can avoid them!
Set of 17" alloys and tyres is less than £500 new (try Rochford Tyres). Paint under £1k - I could get that painted locally for about £750 (the cobra in my profile was resprayed for the grand total of £650!)
£4k seems pretty sensible if you're careful
I quite agree, you can get a set of 17’s with budget tyres for £500, but I was thinking more like the set of Period chrome spoke wheels as pictured on his website.Set of 17" alloys and tyres is less than £500 new (try Rochford Tyres). Paint under £1k - I could get that painted locally for about £750 (the cobra in my profile was resprayed for the grand total of £650!)
£4k seems pretty sensible if you're careful
It depends on the quality and level of the paint job in question; If you’re doing the all the prep work yourself, are only doing the outer bodywork to match the original donor car colour (door jams/engine bay left as original) and you only want a “blow” over with no colour sanding, then yes a grand should cover it. But if your donor isn’t the colour of the final car you want, and you need the engine bay, door jams etc. painting as well, trim/locks removing, your prep work isn’t up to standard and you need professional help, you want a deep lustful colour with a lot of colour sanding, then you’re talking a lot more money.
I’m only talking from experience, but “budget” paint jobs usually means poor paint jobs. I have had several cars painted in my time, usually ending in a court case due to poor quality spraying. (I could start a thread on it!)
But you’re right, in the spirit of the “budget-build” you could do a budget paint job and wheels, but if you’re looking for a quality, then you need to factor in at least a couple more grand. (You should do that anyway, because who knows what you’ll find once you start this build)
And as Graham-p suggests; Mates Rates?
I think to get a passable finished car you're probably looking at £6k+. You could build something really nice for less than £10k though, with all new suspension and a proper interior. You'd want to choose the wheels carefully though, the Borbets on that car don't suit it at all.
THIS is also worth a look.
craig7l said:
sort of still on topic ... but has anyone in UK converted a mazda Mx5 to a LS engine... ? just my nextdoor neighbour has a fooked engine one for sale at £200 and i am led to believe and older gen LS engine and gearbox can be bought for less than £2k.... just thinking as im bored...hehe
I believe there are a few about although i've not seen one myself, flyinmiata.com do a conversion kit but it's not cheap.THIS is also worth a look.
Graham-P said:
smash said:
- I could get that painted locally for about £750 (the cobra in my profile was resprayed for the grand total of £650!)
Well I have been hawking my Ult around for a respray and I'm getting estimates between 3 & 4K. I can only think you must do a lot of the prep work and get mates rates, or am I just going to the wrong places?Graham
After a very disappointing £1500 paint job on my Minari, I have been told that a similar car had cost its owner £3500 to paint AND that the paint shop wouldn't do another for that price as they didn't make any money on it!!!
And no, the other Minari's paint job isn't anything fancy, it's just a really nice BRG and a bloody good finish!
I'd love to be able to get a fix-up paint job for £750 to £1000!
Graham-P said:
smash said:
- I could get that painted locally for about £750 (the cobra in my profile was resprayed for the grand total of £650!)
Well I have been hawking my Ult around for a respray and I'm getting estimates between 3 & 4K. I can only think you must do a lot of the prep work and get mates rates, or am I just going to the wrong places?Graham
4K seems abit extreme to me but seems I got a better deal than I thought
Maybe it depends on where in the country and there work load....
Edited by migwell2 on Monday 14th May 20:58
Fix up?!! None taken! Jeez you lot have got more money than sense!!
Yeah, it was just a really, really rough respray - so rough in fact the cobra has just gone through THT for £25k!
My cob repaint included front repair to grp (tear through careless tow rope after I managed to shear the output shaft of the toploader) and filling external hinge holes following conversion to internal hinges.
http://www.totalheadturners.com/carforsale/419-Old... - the stripes are vinyl by the way, not painted.
Same painter did colour change on friends TVR Chim for £850 including custom candy paint. painter was recommended to me and only used him once - no mates rates.
Mega money does not necessarily mean mega paint.
I saw a £2.5K paint job (saw the bill) on a Dino replica that was nowhere near as good.
Dreamspeed - your imaginery budget for build of your own design kitcar of £20k - does that include £3/4k of paint then?
Jeez you lot have got more money than sense!!Yeah, it was just a really, really rough respray - so rough in fact the cobra has just gone through THT for £25k!
My cob repaint included front repair to grp (tear through careless tow rope after I managed to shear the output shaft of the toploader) and filling external hinge holes following conversion to internal hinges.
http://www.totalheadturners.com/carforsale/419-Old... - the stripes are vinyl by the way, not painted.
Same painter did colour change on friends TVR Chim for £850 including custom candy paint. painter was recommended to me and only used him once - no mates rates.
Mega money does not necessarily mean mega paint.
I saw a £2.5K paint job (saw the bill) on a Dino replica that was nowhere near as good.
Dreamspeed - your imaginery budget for build of your own design kitcar of £20k - does that include £3/4k of paint then?
Edited by smash on Monday 14th May 20:58
smash said:
Dreamspeed - your imaginery budget for build of your own design kitcar of £20k - does that include £3/4k of paint then?
Not at all smash; my 20K budget is based on colour coded GRP only (Just like the Ultimas). My budget doesn’t include paint or brand new alloys.I didn’t mean any disrespect from your earlier comments, it’s just for the rest of us, £2,000 to £3,000 is the norm for a quality full body re-sprays. If you can get high end quality work done for £850, sign me up! And I think you’ll have very large que after me.
patmahe said:
Is it just me that thinks that could look really good if done right? The red one on the website looks really well.
Supercharged car with what 220ish bhp/ton and those looks, not to mention MX-5 handling and running costs for the right side of 10k =
I think the car looks great; like I said a very tidy looking thing, with the wire wheels; the Borbets aren’t quite right.Supercharged car with what 220ish bhp/ton and those looks, not to mention MX-5 handling and running costs for the right side of 10k =
If you factor in say 4K for some mechanical upgrades. (I’d defiantly replace all the suspension, bushes, exhaust, brakes) and hopefully re-build the engine with some supercharger/turbo upgrades, then it could be quite nice.
If you didn’t do that, then you’d end up with a £6K looker, with £400 clapped out motor underneath.
The Retroforza has a coupe version they are/were developing 
I was 100% wanting to build one of these last year for my wife, I had negociated a superb MX% turbo for the donor car and spoke to the guy who makes them. But he was at the time unwilling to sell me one as he was finding stress cracks in his coupe roof due to chassis flex. I explained I was going to fit a full cage and underfloor X bracing as per the US Miatas but he said not yet. Not sure if he has sorted it yet and selling them. But I think his is nicer than the ebay one as I think it is not so obviously trying to be a Ferrari.
I was 100% wanting to build one of these last year for my wife, I had negociated a superb MX% turbo for the donor car and spoke to the guy who makes them. But he was at the time unwilling to sell me one as he was finding stress cracks in his coupe roof due to chassis flex. I explained I was going to fit a full cage and underfloor X bracing as per the US Miatas but he said not yet. Not sure if he has sorted it yet and selling them. But I think his is nicer than the ebay one as I think it is not so obviously trying to be a Ferrari.
Unfortunately that's not Retroforza at all, it's Simpson Design (http://www.simpsondesign.net) and this is a quote from their website:
http://www.simpsondesign.net/contact.html
"Notice of Unauthorized Seller.
Retroforza in the UK is NOT Licensed to sell Simpson Design products.
They are engaging in the theft of intellectual property of my designs.
Anyone purchasing through them is also engaging in theft of intellectual property."
You have been warned.
There was a thread about the Simpson Design Italia 2 GTB (my favourite) here on this very forum (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1063205), this is my favourite shot:
Unfortunately it's photochopped from the original from the website which I don't think looks as good:
It would look great with some chrom and wire wheels though:
Funnily enough I've just bought a Mk2 MX5....
http://www.simpsondesign.net/contact.html
"Notice of Unauthorized Seller.
Retroforza in the UK is NOT Licensed to sell Simpson Design products.
They are engaging in the theft of intellectual property of my designs.
Anyone purchasing through them is also engaging in theft of intellectual property."
You have been warned.
There was a thread about the Simpson Design Italia 2 GTB (my favourite) here on this very forum (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1063205), this is my favourite shot:
Unfortunately it's photochopped from the original from the website which I don't think looks as good:
It would look great with some chrom and wire wheels though:
Funnily enough I've just bought a Mk2 MX5....
Must admit I thought Retroforza were authorised at one point. Simpson should try to get a UK agent - actually they should try just answering questions from potential customers. I was completely ignored on the GTB hardtop following a thread i started on here about Simpson http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... and I think others on here didn't get answers either. Plus the fact his pricing is ludicrous - doesn't excuse the copying I know but it becomes more understandable and anyway, is he not borrowing heavily from the 275gtb?!! Bit of a cheek to start talking about intellectual property :P
Edited by smash on Wednesday 16th May 08:45
Just to put into context the claims for a £750 full respray.
In materials (paint and lacquer) alone, you're looking at £400.
So the sprayer is fully prepping the car, spraying it, using £100 of gas to fire the oven while it bakes, then polishing it and making it look great all for £350. Of that total £750, 20% (or 17.5%/15% if a while ago) was VAT.
So you have a very generous painter.
I'm not questioning that you didn't get the job done for £750 - merely that it is not the norm.
In materials (paint and lacquer) alone, you're looking at £400.
So the sprayer is fully prepping the car, spraying it, using £100 of gas to fire the oven while it bakes, then polishing it and making it look great all for £350. Of that total £750, 20% (or 17.5%/15% if a while ago) was VAT.
So you have a very generous painter.
I'm not questioning that you didn't get the job done for £750 - merely that it is not the norm.
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