MX5 Berkeley to MEV Exocet projec

MX5 Berkeley to MEV Exocet projec

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browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
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Well - here goes with a new project, that I wasn't really planning on, especially since I ordered myself a new golf R estate a fortnight ago - so I really need to focus on getting my Vectra VXR advertised soon to make space for that!

Today though I have made a new addition to the fleet - a 1998 mk1 Berkeley edition no. 58/400. I have bought this from a colleague whose mum has owned and cherished it from new. Being a Berkeley, it is one of the final UK mk1's - this one being made around Ocober 97 in the final stages of mk1 production, with this being registered Feb 98, having been made into a Berkeley by addition of some bits on arrival in the UK (chrome cabin brace, wood trim on tombstone and a numbered plaque - mechanically it is a straightforward uk 1.8i).









Looks like a decent start point - but what to do? Well, I have bought the car as an MOT failure, which needs a brake pipe, and rust to the inner area of the rear sills and also one area to the front. So my first thought was that this would be a perfect basis to use to throw away the bodyshell to build either an Exocet or roadrunner sr2 as a bit of a project.

However... That was before I had seen the overall condition of the car, and driven it around (on trade plates to stay legal) I am wondering if it might be too good to suffer that fate! I think the key will be to get it in the air and see how bad it looks (and how taken I am with the kits when I go to the kit car show at Stoneleigh on Monday!).

Having had an initial feel around underneath there are holes on both sides below the lip on the bottom of each rear sill - I had my outer sills done on my old mk1 but am not sure how bad this is likely to be below the surface.

First job was to give it a quick wash with some help from no.2 son, the drive having a bit of a Mazda theme with my mk3 alongside...





Then I pulled it into the garage for a good nose underneath...



Drivers side sill



And passenger side



Passenger arch looking a little crusty



And both front wing bottoms are a bit thin



Oh, and a small hole spotted here too (front rail, by the testers chalk line)



But other than that little lot, it seems otherwise solid... So what's the verdict? possibly a saver? if it is, I think I need to get cracking and learn to weld - I think I would like to try and do it myself (or at least under the guidance of someone who knows what they are doing!) I am increasingly thinking that an Exocet will cost me around £5k to do well - would it perhaps be better to spend £1000-1500 on getting this one properly solid? (I am not considering this as an investment - this is all for the fun of the project, and he satisfaction of doing it)

Still planning on heading to Stoneleigh on Monday for a nose round, but feeling less inclined to strip this at the minute!

Oh, and the green is growing on me!

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
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browno said:
But other than that little lot, it seems otherwise solid... So what's the verdict? possibly a saver?
I can't imagine the (horrible) colour and a couple of bits of stick-on-tat would mean that a "special edition" is actually any more desirable or valuable than a cooking equivalent - were there many non-"special edition" MX5s around that time? So it's all down to the actual condition and what you want to do with it. It needs work, but there's a lot worse out there. Sounds like a good learn-to-weld project to me.

HorneyMX5

5,308 posts

149 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
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Seen worse that's been saved but as has been pointed out already the UK special editions are pretty poor. No LSD and not much in any actual extras.

Tough choice. An Exocet apeals to me also.

miniman

24,827 posts

261 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
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Oddly I quite like the colour. I had two. But it's true, the specialness of the the special edition is questionable.

Fat driver by James Skinner, on Flickr

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
quotequote all
I agree that the special edition part is not so special - I am thinking that I still kind of miss my old '91 1.6 (which I had sills and arches done on), and with this being generally solid that it is worth saving, and might have some interest as earlier cars get rarer as one of the last of the mk1's - or is that a bit naive?

Exocet does look like a fun project though!

F1GTRUeno

6,335 posts

217 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
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Regardless of whether the special edition is really special or not I think it should be saved and restored to it's former glory.

If it's in standard condition then it'll always be interesting, special editions always are and there were many MX-5/Eunos Roadster special editions as you know.

abarber

1,686 posts

240 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
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If that's a genuine 75k on the clock and you like it, why not get the sills done by the MX5 restorer?

It'll never be worth anything, but they are fantastic cars all the same. It'll feel just about the opposite to the Golf R smile

If the car is not roadworthy, it's not legal on trade plates.

RSD 25

560 posts

202 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
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Simple answer. Restore it! If you don't, i'll take it off your hands & have it done by MX-5 experts.

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Sunday 1st May 2016
quotequote all
Thank all for your comments - it seems that everyone I have asked is going for a restore option - and I think I am beginning to agree. While I think an Exocet or Seven-alike would be awesome fun, I have my mk3 Mazda for the track (with Meisters suspension, sticky tyres etc), and that is plenty for my amateurish driving abilities, but still retains the ability to take the kids to school.
With all that in mind, I am coming around to the idea of turning this into a very tidy and pampered car to go out for a nice drive on a sunny day or head to a show in... Given that the basis looks good, I think that this is where I will head, assuming I don't discover anything catastrophic in the process!

To the question on mileage - yes, this is a genuine car with 74k on, my colleague's mum owned it from new - so it is all original, even down to the load limit sticker on the boot rack!

I have been cracking on with delving a bit deeper tonight, and thought I would start with the front wings (as they are nice and easy to whip off!

First of all was to get the mudflaps off - which I think might have been a contributor to the problem, giving all the crud a nice place to hide behind...




Then out with the arch liner to reveal lots of crud lying in the convenient trap at the bottom of the wing



And off with the wing - can you tell where the rubbish has been sitting?



But thankfully everything appears pretty solid underneath - which is a relief!



And with a repeat on the other side, I have a car looking like this...



Looking at it, I think the wings could be saveable with a bit of TLC along the bottoms - although if the sills at the back end will need paint, I wonder if it would be best to do it properly and stick a pair of new ones on... A decision that can wait until I have opened up the rear end and seen how much work is needed there!

So, assuming I don't have a change of plan after a day of looking at kit cars tomorrow, then the restoration starts here...



Edited by browno on Sunday 1st May 23:35

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Tuesday 3rd May 2016
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So, I had a day out at the kit car show on a slightly grey and wet bank holiday which has made me realise how much compromise there is with a more extreme car with no weather gear to speak of - whereas I would not think twice about putting the roof of my Mazda up and leaving it in the rain, there were a lot of tarpaulins and improvised covers in action when the rain came! There were lots of lovely machines there (and some good bits and pieces on the trade stalls!) but it did reinforce how much I take for granted the everyday useability of the Mazda.

So, back in the garage for a little while tonight to have a quick look at what lies beneath with the aid of the flap wheel.



So, on the offside front sill, all looks good and we have clean, shiny, solid metal which is good - so this can all be cleaned back, re-protected and then given a good coat of dinitrol.



The rear has had a patch put on, so I will chop this out to get back into the inside, as there are holes on the inner edge, so I assume the inner panel will need some work.





So this all looks like it will be as expected, so onto the other side, where things look a bit different!

At the front, we didn't have as much of a solid feel to the metal, and sure enough we have a hole when trying to clean back the surface. Thankfully, the metal around looks ok, so hopefully this can be cut cleanly and a patch welded in.



Then to the back, (which has rust starting to appear around the wheelarch) where we also have a patch - and a covering of filler - which I think will take some more investigation, and chopping back!



So, nothing that is too surprising so far (I was aware that the sills had been patched - my colleague, who is a picky engineer, had put some patches on, but I didn't know quite how much had been done.

I think the plan of action from here is to have a good think about what to do next - I am torn between buying a welder and trying to learn to sort it, or saving that cost (I figure with a reasonable MIG, gas bottle and extras that I will be in the £3-500 range (but will have gained a skill), but that would go a long way to getting a pro to sort out welding it up - which will undoubtedly be a much better finish than I would achieve as a first-timer.

Any thoughts or guidance from folks that have had a go at similar repairs or learning to weld would be very much appreciated! I'll keep the updates flowing as a continue to dig a bit deeper!

abirch100

1 posts

168 months

Wednesday 11th May 2016
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Give it to a man that knows a man that can... Will surely be a 'proper job' with the welding and then you will have one very clean, very good looking MX5 Berkley.

Im looking for a Berkley, my parents had one from new the reg was R870 BBP sold it after 3 years the fools, and now Im desperately trying to find my retired father a Berkley project such as yours.

Good luck, I look forward to following your thread...!

LunarOne

5,095 posts

136 months

Thursday 12th May 2016
quotequote all
abirch100 said:
Give it to a man that knows a man that can... Will surely be a 'proper job' with the welding and then you will have one very clean, very good looking MX5 Berkley.

Im looking for a Berkley, my parents had one from new the reg was R870 BBP sold it after 3 years the fools, and now Im desperately trying to find my retired father a Berkley project such as yours.

Good luck, I look forward to following your thread...!
I saw your hunt for R870 BBP posted on Facebook by a friend and thought I'd be clever and search here. I see you've beaten me to it! smile

coopedup

3,741 posts

138 months

Thursday 12th May 2016
quotequote all
abirch100 said:
Give it to a man that knows a man that can... Will surely be a 'proper job' with the welding and then you will have one very clean, very good looking MX5 Berkley.

Im looking for a Berkley, my parents had one from new the reg was R870 BBP sold it after 3 years the fools, and now Im desperately trying to find my retired father a Berkley project such as yours.

Good luck, I look forward to following your thread...!
Sorry and all that, but top lurking, 1 post in 74 months! claphehe

J4CKO

41,287 posts

199 months

Thursday 12th May 2016
quotequote all
abirch100 said:
Give it to a man that knows a man that can... Will surely be a 'proper job' with the welding and then you will have one very clean, very good looking MX5 Berkley.

Im looking for a Berkley, my parents had one from new the reg was R870 BBP sold it after 3 years the fools, and now Im desperately trying to find my retired father a Berkley project such as yours.

Good luck, I look forward to following your thread...!
I would say the OP looks like a hands on guy and with a bit of practice with a MIG could do a creditable job, doesnt seem averse to getting stuck in, halfway there.

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Monday 16th May 2016
quotequote all
Thanks for the thoughts, and I hope you find your dad's Berkeley! I am still pondering what to do, and have been on business in the USA for the past week, so haven't made much progress apart from trading a few emails with the guy I bought it from, who emigrated to Oz last week.

He has kindly provided me with some more pictures and comments on what he has already done and what he discovered below the surface. He apparently also still has a rear wing panel and tonneau for the car that I can have, which is a bonus!

So when it was repaired 3 years ago, this is what it looked like, and what was done. First the nearside - which looked like the below when the sill was opened up.


And was repaired and coated like this before having the outer welded up (this is the side on which the arch is now going - so will need chopping open again.



On the offside, the inner sill was like so:



And the arch was also chopped out leaving it like this:



Leaving the inner arch to be re-formed and everything coated with an epoxy paint





Before the wing was then fitted



Having seen these I am confident that it has been well- done underneath. So now that I have taken stock of what it now looks like, I think that the offside just needs the inner section underneath repairing, while the nearside will need the wing fitting to sort the arch rust, and also the underside inner sorting - then finally it will need a small patch on the front inner and the offside chassis rail. With all that done and a leaking brake pipe replaced it will be good to go!

I have been busy all day cleaning my Vectra VXR ready for sale - but hopefully I will get some more time to play during the evenings this week...

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Wednesday 1st June 2016
quotequote all
So a mini-update for today as I haven't achieved much progress as I have been busy travelling with work, doing jobs around the house and also selling my vectra which have all taken time away from the Berkeley. I have made a small step forwards though, so here goes:

Started to try and get at least the o/s front inner wing all sorted and protected, as this is in good condition, and so can be sorted.

First off, after removing the wheel, here's something that the MOT didn't spot... New front springs needed - so will sort that later (as well as new discs and pads all round).



First job then was to attack the whole area with the cup-brush on the drill to clean back the dirt and grime and any loose paint:



Notice here the top edge of the brake backing plate crumbled when I hit it with the wire brush - I guess this will either need replacing, or at least tidying up too!





You will notice that I haven't touched the wishbones or any suspension - I will sort these when I take the strut out to sort the springs.
Next I treated any areas that had gone back to metal or showed signs of surface rust with Dinitrol rust converter, and then masked and painted liberally with Dinitrol underbody wax:





This has left a good finish and should protect well, so that's a good start. I have also been looking at a plan for the repair work, and am going to borrow my mate's big MIG from his garage - I think I might try and get going on that at some point soon - at least get the patch on the n/s front sill sorted so that I can protect the inner and get a pair of wings sorted.

I have been wondering what to do for the front wings - both originals are crusty at the bottom edges, so I think it will be best to replace. Do I go with a pair of steel ones, or a pair of fibreglass ones instead? Has anyone done the same and what would you go with - I guess that all new wings now are pattern, and will likely take some work to fit perfectly, so would the carbon miata ones perhaps be a better starting point (and mean no future issues with rot)?

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Tuesday 7th June 2016
quotequote all
I have started the next stage of work by taking some time drilling out the sheared lower mounting bolts and retapping the threads, which is all sorted and ready.

I have been continuing with stripping and sorting - firstly getting out the front strut to replace the broken spring - which was made somewhat challenging by the fact that most of the bolts look like they have spent a year at the bottom of the sea...



A combination of patience, persistance, penetrating fluid and a lot of wire brushing say things being removed gently without anything getting rounded or sheared - which is a first for me!

I had at this stage thought about stripping out the wishbones and everything to put them in an electrolysis bath and really get them cleaned up - but have held off for now, as I have decided that it is really beyond the scope of what I am doing for now - although if I decide to keep the car long-term, I may go back and re-do this. For now, I have attached everything with the cup-brush on the drill and a flap wheel on the grinder to clean up the surface, and have begun with a coating of dinitrol rust convertor, which has got things looking better already...



So tonight I will add some primer and a coat of paint and that should leave it looking rather more presentable - and the bolts and threads all cleaned up in a rather better state than they started!

I have also put in my first autolink order - front springs, discs and pads all round and service bits (for this and the mk 3) - so I expect a nice big parcel arriving soon, so that I can get this corner reassembled!

Progress is steady, but at least going forwards! I figure that if I get this corner sorted, then it is all done - the other 3 all need welding, so I will then start to tackle them one at a time too!

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Wednesday 15th June 2016
quotequote all
Thanks again for the comments guys - I think that this is one of those that isn't an economic decision whichever way I went with it, but with the work done so far, it hasn't cost me loads so far (I'm about £200 in on parts - all of which I would have needed whichever way I had build the car) - and my time is free - I'd certainly rather be tinkering on this in the garage in an evening rather than sitting festering in front of the telly!

So - where are we up to today? First of all, I got a large box of goodies from Autolink (very quick turnaround, and a bit of savings with the OC member's discount):



Next, I got the paint on the offside - which has tidied things up nicely:



Then got the spring compressors out and swapped the broken spring:



and started stripping the nearside (and am still pleased that despite the rusted fixings, I have managed to be patient and clean up the threads, use lots of penetrating oil and have managed to remove everything cleanly without rounding fasteners or snapping anything!):



which was followed by a good clean up with the wire-brush and a coat of rust converter:



which made a bit more mess!



so I ignored that and went to build up the driver's side - which is looking much improved over where I started:



So now I need to get some more bits done - I need to clean and paint the caliper carriers both sides, the wishbones etc on the n/s and also the calipers. Before I paint the calipers though, I want to give them a good going over to make sure that they are free and not going to end up sticking - if so, I will look to put on replacements as needed.

I am hoping that I can get it back on its wheels this week, as I have more business travel coming up - then when I return I am going to get started at trying to address the rust...

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Wednesday 13th July 2016
quotequote all
Time for another update, as I have been making more progress since I got back from Asia!

The first job was to unpack another parcel which contained a pair of front calipers and a rear offside flexible brake hose from brakeparts.co.uk (very reasonable for new calipers and no exchange surcharges), So first to finish the front end by fitting the new calipers:





Then I moved to the back as there was a significant fluid leak from the brake pipes around the 3-way connector on the o/s flexi-hose, so I ripped out the old hard line linking the two sides and replaced it, and also fitted a new hose - which looked better:



Next I had to swiftly bleed the system through, so that I could move the green car off the ramp - as my mk 3 brakes had started grumbling... I knew i needed new pads, and to ensure that I could use if for work on Monday, I threw in a set of road pads that I had in the garage... it's fair to say that I got value for money from the pads!



Then yesterday I got an added distraction, as my new daily turned up, so I went to collect it...





This is very different to drive to either mazda (and also compared to my old Vectra VXR) - but is very nice, and the dsg box is very impressive. It isn't quite the involving driving experience of the MX5, but is much more lively than the vectra, and really can move pretty well - I think that it will make a great family bus for the next 2 years!

Back to the Berkeley, I am getting to the stage now where I need to start chopping out the rot, and then get hold of the welder to begin stitching it back together!

browno

Original Poster:

508 posts

233 months

Thursday 28th July 2016
quotequote all
browno, on 28 Jul 2016 - 1:52 PM, said:
Unfortunately no more progress on the green car over the last couple of weeks due to other things going on, but I have made a couple of additions having been over to visit the previous owner last night (a former colleague's mum, who had owned the car from new and was very attached to it - now driving a mk3).

As seen in some of the pictures when it was having previous work done, the car was originally supplied with a matching sparkle green hardtop, which I have now bought to keep it with the car - and I was also given the mazda wall hanging brackets too for storage, which should be useful.



but the hardtop wasn't the only goody that they had left over - they also had the original (and unused) tonneau cover:



and finally (and of more immediate use!) they had also bought a rear quarter, which hadn't been fitted when it was repaired 3 years ago - but needs fitting now as the n/s arch is starting to go, and also a copy of Rod's manual - which is always a useful thing to have handy.



Hopefully will be starting to get sorted and progress with this shortly - assuming that the mk3 passes its MOT next week! Almost time to fire up the welder at last!