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Andy's Exocet Build, Rochester (2026)

18/03/2026

Previously I reported problems getting fuel in to the tank. It wouldn't go in with the car on the ground but would when I jacked the rear up by 6 inches. I figured that I had insufficient drops on my filler pipe arrangement. I pulled the tank cover off - easier said than done, and cut around 40mm off the very top of the fuel pipe connecting to the underside of the cap. I also discovered a slight kink in the lower flexi hose that connects to the tank itself. I guess I didn't quite have the geometry correct. After fitting the cover back, I have managed to fill the tank without issues. Below is the before and after of the filler arrangement. It doesn't have that slope on the rear hose in situ, that's just in the relaxed state, once it's on the underside of the cap the top of the pipe is horizontal.

10/03/2026

A couple of problems to resolve: Under testing a week or so ago I got an ABS system fault. I had some time this week so I plugged an OBD2 reader into the car and was presented with a number of errors. Such things as no "no communication with ABS module", "no communication with dashboard" and several others, including both right wheel sensor errors. But after sleeping on the problem I realised that many of these could be legacy errors that originated from when I was working on the electrics, as there were a number of times that I started the car with various bits not fully connected.

I cleared all the errors and tested again. I ended up with only one error on the ABS, which was a somewhat catchy C1234 error code. Digging a bit deeper I established that this normally relates to the front right speed sensor. So I took a look at that and it seems that I hadn't tightened it up properly. I removed both front sensors and gave the inner magnetic ring a careful clean, and plugged them both back in and tightened them up properly.
Another test and the error messages are now identified as historic, and the ABS warning light has gone out. 🙂

A while back I purchased one of these Bluetooth OBD2 readers from Ali express. As a small experiment as it was ludicrously cheap. It came with no instructions or detail of what software to use other than a link to download stuff from a website that doesn't appear to exist. So I have downloaded an Android app called 'Car Scanner' (who'da thought eh?). Which seems to work and is pretty easy to use. (The realtime data is nice.)

My next challenge is to modify my fuel filler arrangement as I can't actually get fuel in, unless I jack the car up at the rear, I clearly have insufficient fall on the filler hoses.

12/02/2026

Fuel cap tether: Do I need one or not? The IVA inspection manual says the following:
"The fuel filler cap must either be, tethered to the vehicle, or be of a
lockable type where the key can only be removed when the cap is locked, or an automatically opening and closing fixed filler cap."
My fuel cap was sold as IVA compliant, as you cannot take the key out of the cap with the cap removed, unless you turn the key to lock the cap with it removed. So yes, the cap is compliant, or it may not be, depending on your interpretation of the rules. I have heard of some inspectors interpreting this as compliant, and some as non-compliant and needing a tether.
I had previously decided that I don't want to have to tether. It just adds unneccessary complexity IMHO. But I decided just to tether
So I found an old piece of bicycle brake cable, and purchased a pack of alloy crimps. Drilled the bottom of the fuel filler cap housing below where the clamp to the rubber filler hose will be , and fitted the tether. It works.

07/02/2026

Pedal box protection: IVA requires protection of the pedals. This effectively means you need to close the opening arrowed in the first picture below. A while back I got some plastic cut to shape from a web site that will supply pre cut materials that I have used before for other stuff, https://www.cutmy.co.uk/. (After creating a cardboard template.) I had two triangles cut so it is for both sides in a dark tint black although it's not actually that dark (I have not yet pulled all the protective film off so we are yet to see the final appearance).
These are held in place by 20mm p-clips and M5 bolts and nuts.

07/02/2026

Cycle Wings: There are various approaches used to fit these. I made small alloy angled standoffs for the interface between each bracket arm and the cycle wing itself. These are bolted to the bracket arm, which I have drilled and tapped for a M5 bolt. Initally I used a simple blade in order to get the heights correct, then I made angled stand-offs to bond to the cycle wings.

Some of the brackets were a bit inconsistent. My rear cycle wing brackets were OK, but the front brackets were inconsistent in the distance between tyre and arm. I could have tolerated this and managed with making different sized stand-offs to mount the wing but I decided to fix the brackets themselves. I cut the brackets and fixed them with screws to get the distances correct, and ultimately had them re-welded and powder coated by Scuffed Alloy Wheel Refurbishment who did a great job on these.

Once in place the stand-offs were bonded to the cycle wings themselves, in situ, using the Car Builder Polyeurethane bond stuff. A set of handy half full 5 litre containers ensured they didn't move.

Subsequently I have painted the underside of the cyclewings in a black satin as I didn't like the look with the red.

Lots of photos follow:

07/02/2026

Bonnet fitting. My thoughts have been through various travels on this one. I didn't originally like the idea of a hinged bonnet so was going to fit 4 Aero Catches and make the bonnet removable. However, now the intent is to fit hinges with a removable pins and 2 Aero Catches. Ths may or may not work. I have fabricated brackets to mount the hingest to. The hinges are packed out to raise the bonnet and with this current arrangement the bonnet sits too high so I need to reduce the height. That's to come...

So I reduced the height of the packing on the hinges and the bonnet sits nicely now. I'm pleased with the hinges and removable pins. That then allowed me to fit the two locking Aerocatches in the front of the bonnet. Measure several times and cut once. Two sizes of Holesaw and the Dremel made that happen. Then we adjusted the pins so that they engage well and hold the bonnet tight.

Job jobbed as they might say.

Another job might be to engineer a bonnet stay. I have an emerging design for that.

07/02/2026

We are getting close to the finish line now. I fitted grilles to the various openings on the bonnet. (The bonnet fitting is next.) Possibly overkill but we bonded little brackets to the fibreglass each with an M5 rivnut so that the grilles are all removable. Including grilles on the nostrils on the bonnet.

16/01/2026

Trimming around the gearstick and handbrake: This isn't quite finished but this is the plan:
The plan is to use an MX-5 NC handbrake gaiter and a universal gear lever gaiter. We need a way to retain them so the plan was to create some surrounds that will clamp the gaiters in place. The surrounds are made from a sheet of HDPA plastic. I tried various ways to work the plastic, but eventually settled on use of a router to finish the shapes after cutting the basic shapes with a hand saw.

I may clamp the gaiters in place or staple them to the inside edges of the surround, we shall see.

16/01/2026

Side panels. I was warned that there's lots of cutting to make these for and it can take a while. It took ages, cutting a bit, offering them up, marking and cutting again, but we got there in the end.
I decided to paint the inside of the panels with a satin black finish and am pretty pleased with the results.

11/11/2025

Battery location.

Here are some photos of my solution to the battery location. Some time ago I decided to dispense with the standard battery and go with the oddysey AGM battery which has the benefit of being much smaller (and can be mounted in any attitude). There.are various solutions to battery location amongst builders, including fitting it behind the seat, under the rear cover, or in the wiring tray. I decided to try to fit it in the space to the front right hand side of the car, that being close to the original location in the MX-5, although doing that doesn't actually gain anything other than that it's not using space elsewhere.

I made a battery tray that sits on one of the front square sections across the frame and clamps to the frame close to the headlight mount. I wasn't happy with how close the positive terminal was to the frame so the final solution has the negative at the front.

The MX-5 runs two power cables, one direct to the starter and a smaller cable to the fusebox. As the fusebox is now almost immediately above the starter I have only a single cable to the starter and the fusebox is powered from a cable from there.

10/11/2025

Key Programming

My Donor MX-5 only came with a single key, so I somewhat obviously wanted to obtain a second key to use with the Exocet.
Although the alarm and locking elements of the original key is clearly redundant there’s a transponder in the key which the Exocet still uses to activate/deactivate the immobiliser which is still active.
I asked on the Exocet build group and it seems getting a new key cut and programmed could cost anything from about £40 to £130 ish. So I thought I would see whether it was possible to program keys myself.
After not too much searching I found the following posts, each provide various bits of detail. I am linking to each of the original posts below to provide credit to the original authors, although you could just and go straight to the PATS programming info on the FORScan forum.

Before you start you will need:
1. The original key(s)
2. New Transponder key(s) to program.
3. ODB2 Scanner capable of running FORScan
4. FORScan Software (With the extended license)

Your original key (It is possible to program keys from scratch using a more complex process if you have no keys for the donor car, but in most cases I expect we are pairing new keys to the car.) (If you wish to remove a key, it appears that you cannot remove single keys from the car, only all keys, which clearly would then require that you program all of your keys from scratch).

Transponder Key: I purchased a “ MAZ24R key fob blade with 4D63 Transponder for Mazda 2 3 5 6 MX5 RX8” from a seller called remotefobcentre on Ebay. Here’s the original listing: https://ebay.us/m/w3lDtC

ODB2 scanner capable of running FORScan: I already had the following scanner: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08G4MQCR9?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2 This was purchased following recommendations on an MX-5 or Exocet facebook group or forum if I do or don’t recall correctly. I don’t know if this is the best unit for the MX-5 - whenever I plug it into the car FORScan reports that it’s not compatible with the car. However, it appears to work, reads ODB codes, and clearly works for this purpose. ODB2 scanners are available that link to PCs via Bluetooth, and also that work with Android and other Fruit based products. I can’t comment on any of these as I have no experience of course. I personally prefer the simplicity of a serial wired connection, rather than adding another potential failure cause with Bluetooth. (Options for compatible ODB2 scanners is available from the FORScan forum linked further down).

FORScan software, with the extended license: The standard license is free, but you will need the extended license which is a chargeable product and available for $20. However you can request a time limited test license, which is useful as you can check it works for you before committing to the $20 fee. All available at the following link: https://forscan.org/download.html . Downloading and installing the extended license is a straightforward process that is detailed within FORScan:

Running the process:

To start the process, you need to plug the ODB2 scanner and start your FORScan software.
Turn on the ignition and connect to the car within FORScan.
Check the Service Procedures available under the Spanner Icon. You must have PATS programming listed to go any further.

Select PATS Programming and select Run. This is an extended license feature and you will be prompted to request an extended license. Then follow the process to download and load the license. (After requesting the license there is a

15/08/2025

It's been a long time without updates, and my excuse is that I like to complete a particular blog worthy feature before posting it as a single post. But I have been working on a number of items at the same time, few of which are actually finished. So I figured I would create a post of various bits of progress, and follow up with further details once I have time to go into detail. Of course the other excuse is that any time spent posting detail here is (normally) time I could be spending actually doing stuff, so that takes priority.

Something I have learned, is that to do a decent job many jobs need to be done twice.

Anyway, some things I have been working on

Instrument panel, - fittng clocks, fabricating brackets to fit to the cowling.
Seats & Seat Runners,
Harnesses,
Wiring tray - there was two versions of that as I didn't like the first attempt
Rear Lights,
Battery box,
Air filter,
Radiator,
Exhaust,
Petrol Drip protection.

There's still things to redo, and the wiring you see is temporary. Currently the wiring is mostly in place in a form that will allow the car to be started, but will require rework for the permanent solution.

Andy's Exocet Build

18/03/2026

10/03/2026

12/02/2026

07/02/2026

07/02/2026

07/02/2026

07/02/2026

16/01/2026

16/01/2026

11/11/2025

10/11/2025

15/08/2025

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