Cyberpunk Mx5 Build Recap #1 (Patreon)

So I mentioned in the first two posts that I like to make build threads. This is basically a way for me to give a little more detail on what I'm doing than I can go over in the videos. I used to post these build threads pretty regularly over on Driftworks but unfortunately forums and messaging boards have all died out and so from now on I'll be posting here.But before I can just jump back in and start posting these build thread style updates here, I need to get everyone up to speed on where we are so I'll start off with a few super condensed posts that cover what I've done to my builds up till now. So let's get started on that then.

I picked up the Mx5 back in March 2019. I got it for around $3,500 NZD and it came with a fresh wrap, fake wheels, knockoff seats, questionable steering wheel, and some adjusties. This would be an absolute steal these days.

I grew up watching Ghost in the Shell as well as later watching movies like Blade Runner and Akira, so I think Cyberpunk is pretty sick, and it seems like over the past few years there has been growing interest in the genre so I thought I might as well get started on this sooner rather than later.

My initial sketches of where I wanted to take it.

The first step was the wheels. I knew that I wanted to do a futuristic looking turbofan styled wheel inspired by oldschool Porsches.

So I got to work on the rear fenders, stripping all the wrap off and repair the dents to get them ready for cutting and welding to make space for the new wheels.

After that I did quite a bit of research into my tyre options, trying to find the widest tyre available in the country and landed on a set of Toyo Proxes R888Rs in 225/45R15. 

By my calculations, this lead to the widest wheel I could get being a 15x10 with a -50 offset to give me plenty of width for the widebody and ultra aggressive stance.So I ordered a set of steelies of a Suzuki Swift because they shared the same stud pattern, and then found a website that sold wheel barrels. At the time I still wasn't sure if they would fit but:

Happy knowing that the wheels would fit, I ordered the barrels and picked up a 2 tonne press to assemble the wheels.

After cutting the Suzuki wheels to get the centers, I began pressing them into the new barrels, measuring them for runout, and once I was happy with alignment and offset I welded them all together.

Fitted them to the car and they looked absolutely mental. That was when I knew that this build was going to be a bit of fun.

Shortly after that I ordered the tyres and got those fitted, and I also began mocking up my design for the aero covers. To make the aerocovers I bought a lampshade and a chicken feed bowl and just hot glued them together. That's the joy of composites, the material of your mould doesn't matter at all as long as the final part is made of fiberglass.

I gave them a test fit but there was no way they were fitting under the stock arches so I began cutting and welding to make room.

Around this same time I also picked up a replica fiberglass hard top. It was completely fiberglass and had no rear window, it also had a few problems with the design but it worked well for what I was after.

Another thing I did at this stage was strip out the interior and give it a quick respray.I grew up watching Pimp My Ride and so I've always wanted to just completely tear out a car interior so this was actually a lot of fun.

While I was painting that up, the expanding foam for the widebody arrived and so then I had everything I needed to get started on that.-continued in next post...