Cyberpunk Mx-5 Build

What about one long piece through all 3 braces in the middle of those green sections and an extra one down the bottom where your red line is? I might still need a bit of flex though to get it off the car. That first prototype mould was also surprisingly rigid due to the geometry of the part.

Maybe I'll make it bolt in place so I can fit it while on the car, but take the extra braces off to give it a tiny bit of flex to help demoulding.

But yeah looking at it logically, with only the current braces it would twist a bit and over time and heat from the resin curing that could be an issue.

 

Yeah I agree 100%, doesn't make any sense to pay all that money getting them scanned if they twist out of shape when they're off the car. And the reason I'm posting to this forum is so I can get feedback and tips, so It's all good. I'm not gonna pretend that I know what I'm doing when it comes to fiberglassing haha.

Keen as to see how you get on with that stagea conversion, I've fixed my dm settings and sent you one so hit me up on that

 

Finally! Both moulds are finished!

Thanks to your suggestions I did add in some additional braces on the rear to stop twisting in those areas, definitely a good call that I completely overlooked when setting it up. And of course the braces were added while it was still on the car.



Finishing up the front was the exact same process as the rear, started off by making some flanges and then primer, wax, releasing agent, gelcoat, tissue, 3 layers CSM, braces, more CSM and then finally done.







Then same as the rear I added in a few more braces. Having them removable turned out to be a really good idea as that little bit of twist helped when removing them. It also gives me the ability to very slightly adjust the shape in the future with shims if it ever warps out of shape.



So now that I have my final moulds, I just need to finish polishing up the front with some 600 and 800 grit paper to get it ready for scanning.

I'm guessing it will be away for scanning and then machining for a couple of weeks so in the meantime I'm going to shift my focus back over to the S13, getting ready for the engine to go back in.

I got some more stuff coming in for this but it will probably take a while to get here, so more updates when that happens.

 

Definitely a lot stronger than the first prototypes that's for sure!

Tiny bit of an update as I just got the moulds back from getting scanned. The place was super cool and they showed a lot of interest in what they did there. The guy I spoke actually used to track his mx5 back in the day and was pretty interested in this project. Real friendly bunch of dudes, I'll definitely be going back if I design another body kit.





The moulds when we got them back were covered in little tracking markers for the scanner, I think they look awesome.

But the best part was getting a fully accurate, super high detailed scan and now it's in 3D and I can work with it and pan around and it's just badass.





So now that I've got the models I've been in contact with a few CNC places about getting the other side moulds made and it's looking good so far.

I've also had a few parts arrive including my Yoshimura motorcycle exhaust which I will be fitting asap. Hopefully the passengers side should be finished really quick and then I can get started on wrapping the car.

 

Picking up work on this again carrying on from the scanned flares.

We got the final scans converted into usable computer models that could be machined and have now sent them off for machining. Not the place I had initially planned to use, but we are experimenting with machining direct from STL. If we can do it then it will probably be the first time in NZ that anybody has machined from this type of 3D data which would be pretty sick.



Since it's the first time anyone has tried using this software it's probably going to take a while before I get any machined parts, so in the mean time I've decided to continue work on the cosmetics.



I fitted the roof using a few quick release latches. Keeps the roof on and pretty solid too. Also fitted them to the boot so that I could remove the lock and latch mechanisms.



Then started work on the rear. So I've known since the very start that I was going to cut the rear bumper and mount an exhaust along the back. Went ahead and marked it all out and got ready to cut.



Started cutting and realised there is a hard plastic bumper support mounted behind it, so had to take off the bumper and cut through the support.



With the support trimmed I could refit the cut bumper.



I cant finish the passengers side because I need the flare to be fitted before I know where to end it, so it's just partially cut for now.

But once it was all cut I could finally test fit the Yoshimura muffler that will be going on it.





So pretty soon I'm going to be starting work on the exhaust, tack welding up a full straight pipe out to the can. Also going to take my wheels back in and get the tyres removed so I can cut the tabs off and etch prime the wheels. Then I'll start working on making a final mould for the aero covers and making a set out of either carbon or fiberglass.

Also going to be starting on that rear view camera too since the only way to see behind you is by taking the roof off.

 

Quick update on the progress over the past few days.

Got the tyres removed so that I could strip all the rust off the barrels and re-do them with etch primer and some epoxy enamel topcoat.



There was quite a lot of surface rust even on the tyre side of the barrel so that all had to come off with an aggressive wire wheel. After that they got a good clean, then scuffed for etch primer, then a final coat of silver over top to seal the primer.



I also drilled and tapped another 4 holes on the hubs for the aero covers to bolt to once they are done.



Speaking of aero covers. Since the first prototype was getting pretty dinged up I made another one using the straightest of the leftover pieces then gave it a thick coat of filler on the inside and filled the rest up with the leftover expanding foam. Waited for it to cure up then popped the metal form off to get this.



Even though it was the most circular out of all of them it still took a lot of sanding and measuring before it was good enough. Then I tested a few different designs on cad to figure out how deep I wanted the spacing and trimmed off the excess.



I used the same cad package to print off a drawing of the hub to get the layout of the holes on the mounting face perfectly spaced.



Then just spun up a little cap out of mdf to plug off the top, glued the whole thing down to a wooden base and primed it ready to be used for a mould to make all 4 aero-covers out of fiberglass.



I also got an early x-mas present in the form of my new Yoshimura badge. It's just personal preference but I much prefer the oldschool badge to the new one, so I swapped them over.



And the last thing. Finally time to start adding some more cyberpunk elements to the car. I took the spare oil cooler from my S13 and mocked up a fitment up front.



I planned to use the external cooler as part of the water cooling circuit for the electric motor swap. But now II will just fit a reservoir and pump in the engine bay, fill the clear hoses with coolant and then run electro luminescent wire inside the hoses. Hopefully it looks like the coolant is glowing. It will all tie in with the LED underglow that I will be adding at a later stage.

That will pretty much be all I get done before x-mas, so happy holidays everybody and I'll keep you up to date with any new progress.

 

Hahaha, you're right. I didn't notice but it looks like Lightning McMeth with a drinking straw in its eye



Guess I gotta go and make that housing for it and mount it further out like I had originally planned.

 

Finished the first aero-cover so thought I would just chuck it up here.



Layup went fine, no reaction with the gelcoat this time which was a relief. Unfortunately I didn't put enough relief angle in and the mould ended up getting destroyed so RIP. But the outcome was worth it.







They look so much cleaner than the prototypes, especially with the flat lip around the outside.

Now I just gotta add some flanges and get a layer of primer on it and make another mould off this one to get the other 3. The shape will show up much better once it's primed too so looking forward to that.