MX5 Fisher Fury build diary

I got back to Neville's today to find the boot floor fitted, clutch pipe done, back axle filled and longer wheel studs etc fitted. We decided to trial fit the body. The first obstacle was the extra crash protection triangles welded to the chassis sides. The insides of the tub lie on them but the angles push the body up at the back of the passenger compartment so we had to trim part of it. Air hacksaw rules!

Once the body appeared to sit properly we then trial fitted the side pods. The first fun bit is that one pod is 20mm wider than the other so you have wonder why. Thankfully Nev has done one before so rumbled the offset fit but otherwise I could see myself trimming the whole pod then having to buy another. Then the side pods, like the body, needed trimming to go round the crash protection like this.

You can see the diagonal cuts clearly if you click on the photo to enlarge it. They are at the back end of the pod. However the pods also have a badly moulded leading edge panel which is a problem I've not seen on the build site, with a faulty recessed panel. Mine have been moulded with a panel that is about 25mm too small meaning that the pod was not "tall" enough at the front to go onto the chassis so again we had to cut to get them in order to go over the top and bottom aluminium support panels. This cut is in the photo below

The shiny part is the gap where the cut allows the fibreglass to open out. This will need to be redone later and the air inlets and exhaust pipe outlet hole will need cutting too, as well as a heat reflective lining.






Once both sides were done John, Nev's No 2, cut two strips of ally to go down the side of the chassis and act as a support for the top of the side pods. Nev has an electric nibbler that is incredibly quick and cut out the recesses we need for the chassis rails in a flash. I riveted them in place with a trace of sealant. The pods were then positioned using a couple of self tappers on each side.


Then it was back to the tub. The points on the furthest back top edge of the boot floor side walls (top photo) needed taking off then the tub slid forward neatly. Unlike some bodies I've read about, mine seems to have an excellent extended leading edge in the engine compartment to attach to the chassis. We got it sitting neatly with the rear arches lined up with the side pods and used a self tapper in the driver and passenger inner sides and two others on the leading edge in the engine bay to loosely hold it.






















Then on to the bonnet. As I had sometimes thought looking at other Fury's on the build site, the engine is just too high, even with the throttle cable support, the engine lifting loops and the coil pack removed (we had had to compromise on the sump clearance due to the profusion of evil speed bumps in London.) So we cut the bulge out! Just like that. It needs lifting about 35mm at the front and 25mm at the back to clear things. I'm afraid I've delegated that to Nev. You can see the cut in the photo below with it loosely positioned. And I had set the radiator too high so needed to take it off, redo the mounting holes and put it back. But so easy with the right tools! Anyway, I think the car looks great!






It's possible that the tub is still a little too far back, even though the rear arches look OK, because the clearance in the front arch seems wrong - too little between the back of the wheel and the front of the pod - but we'll see better when the bonnet is fixed.