MX5 Fisher Fury build diary

One of those lovely English spring days. Just right for car building plus I'm not away on business nor committed elsewhere. May even get down after church tomorrow morning! Nev was in and so we looked at fitting the roll bar. Like many parts that bridge Kit Car Workshop and Cranbrook it did not fit. Nev had to cut off the bracing bars then I fitted and drilled the main plates. A real faff as the body as moulded is not square, as many other builders have pointed out, and I'm no engineer. Getting the thing relatively central and with enough space for the washers and nuts to miss the frame was a nightmare but after several hours it was done. I then started fitting the seats after Mark Fishers' guidance and seeing his own car at Detling. The front of the fibreglass moulding sits in front of the chassis cross rail and is drilled through in a couple of places to hold it. You then climb into the tub and sit down to make sure that the height of your eyes misses the windscreen frame and then pack up the seat base - in my case a piece of wood about 1" thick to get the height right for your eye line and to spread the load (you). I drilled through the seat base and wood spreader at the seat angle and screwed it down. Result - a very nice driving position for my 5ft 10 inch height! Then I ground off the sides of the passenger seat until that slotted into the tub and fitted that too. Finally today I refixed the bonnet so that it does not leave such a gap at the scuttle and sits flat on the side pods. One side pod is a little out fore and aft but this is a Fury, and the chassis body combination a KCW / Mark Fisher / Cranbrook hybrid at that, so it will do. Now the bonnet butts onto the fan housing when lifted but I'll fix that tomorrow.