That looks like a high quality part!
That looks like a high quality part!
Warren v wrote:
Is that a photo of your new windshield solution? Nice!
Question for you miata gurus.. I found a cheap donor in mint condition. 2001 auto with 75,000 miles for cheap cheap. It has a little body damage from a wreck but that's it. Is it possible to swap out the tranny? I understand it would require a new manual tranny, clutch,flywheel,pedal assembly, clutch lines and master cylinder.. However I would be swapping most of these items ( clutch, flywheel, ecu) when I turbo my car anyways.. I did a little research and people were saying it is doable but a lot of work. I think in the case of the exocet it may make sense as I am going to tear the donor down anyways. What do you think?
It'll have an open diff. You can do it, I'm not sure you'd end up saving that much money by the time you buy all the other parts.
Car is 1500? Worth it or not?
Depends what else is available. How much will the new trans cost you? Do you want a Torsen to go with your turbo?
thestig wrote: Car is 1500? Worth it or not?
I would say no, since I paid $1K more for a 1999 with 143K mi, the right diff and the right trans. It had minor cosmetic damage (not the the frame) and a bent front subframe, which is a $200 part. But depending on where you live, cars like that may be hard or easy to find. Maybe your deal is the only such deal available to you and everything else around you is $5K+ too-nice-to-donor cars.
Anyone on here sellin there car on the Lubbock Craigslist ?
Did an exocet kit really just go up for sale and I missed it? I look every day.
What a great project this has been! I'm way in over 50 hours on my build, but im not your normal builder. Moved drivers seat 2.5" pass 1.5" completely rebuilt entire tunnel, all new brake lines every inch now an3 at all connectors. I havent read anyone elses builds so it will be interesting to see how different i solved issues. Should just about get it fired up today if i can reloom the harness (yes i separated every single wire).
mrvwcastner wrote: What a great project this has been! I'm way in over 50 hours on my build, but im not your normal builder. Moved drivers seat 2.5" pass 1.5" completely rebuilt entire tunnel, all new brake lines every inch now an3 at all connectors. I havent read anyone elses builds so it will be interesting to see how different i solved issues. Should just about get it fired up today if i can reloom the harness (yes i separated every single wire).
is there a build thread?
No. I might do a post build summary. Built my exhaust yesterday out of 2" stainless from a cleanroom dismantle & a landrover muffler. That was tricky with the narrowed tunnel. Was hoping to fire it up yesterday but that wiring project took forever. I de-loomed the harness & pushed everything in the bay back thru the one big grey gromet to enter one hole i drilled just right of pedal box very clean. Learned a cool trick with the filler neck by using a mig on stainless capped elbow nice thick weld then taking tig back over weld without any rod. Basically re-melted & smoothed the mig material for beautiful smooth finish guaranteed not to leak gas. This was on a square 90 angle with a 45 degree angle cut on chop saw & plazma cut an oval cap. Came out really clean turned the entire piece red hot. Sorry didnt take photos my buddy helping did the fab wasnt as excited about this as i was.
I also had the tranny tunnel notched in order to move the seat more inbound in the car. A stock Miata does not fit race seats well as the tranny tunnel is very wide making the seating area narrow and it kinks left away from the wheel / pedals making the driver often have to be kinked to the right in order to have in line access to wheel / pedals. It is further exacerbated with taller the drivers (those over 5'8") as the farther the seat has to go back the narrower the seating area becomes the harsher the angle. This creates limited choices for seat and size and placement (often the biggest is an 15" Ultra Shield style seat without built in Halo - fine for HPDE / TT but IMHO not suited for racing).
In order to put in a proper halo racing seat that was 16" width (accommodates wider drivers as this car will be doing enduro racing as well) I had to do what a lot of Miata racers do is notch out the tranny tunnel to give another 1-2" width room for seat placement. This gives the driver a straight line for wheel / pedal access (no more kink) and it is much safer as it moves the driver away from the outer roll bar area. I've got some pics of the before setup and the tunnel notch. The seat is now installed but I've no access to the car to take photos of it until August timeframe (family move cross country).
http://conflictedracer.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/exocet-part-14-tunnel-mod-for-tall-big-guys-radiator-install/
Let's see some pictures of that new body! 
So, yesterday I ordered a Sport chassis with steel floors. Let the waiting begin!
thestig wrote: Let's see some pictures of that new body!
We're saving up something special for GRM's Ultimate Track Car Challenge.
See you all on the flipside.
BUT BUT BUT that's like 8 days away! 
Awwww man, what a tease.
Warren v wrote:thestig wrote: Let's see some pictures of that new body!We're saving up something special for GRM's Ultimate Track Car Challenge.
This post makes me even more frustrated with Exomotive. This is not directed directly at you Warren as I know you are not the owner/decision maker of the company and I am appreciative of the fact that you go out of your way to come here and keep us posted on the information you can. This post makes it seem as Exomotive has either more information and/or completed body work that they want to show the world in some special unveiling to mostly people who haven't given the company any money yet and keeping the paying customers who found this forum out of the loop. I am now sitting around month 11 of waiting for a finished product and being kept out of the loop intentionally so it's a big surprise to try to get more sales is beyond frustrating.
I know the company needs sales to survive but you need to keep your current customers happy if you want to keep them. I am to the point where if I hadn't already destroyed a Miata in the process, I would pack it up and ask for a refund. Not one single piece of information from the owner or any official press release, random junk posted on your facebook just to get likes, and now this makes me lose faith that anyone other than you are taking this seriously. Everyone I mentioned my current situation to can't believe I am waiting this long and not gone to the Better Business Bureau or taken some other form of action to resolve this after almost a year. I think I would have been better to contact MEV for a kit directly since this just doesn't seem to be working.
If you or if you can get someone else to give us anything official that's all it would take to settle most disputes. Again, being left in the dark is what I can't believe after all this time. You have everyone's Email who ordered and it would take no time to send out a mass email to let people know what's going on, or post on one of your official sites. I guess I just want to know how 14 weeks turned into 45+ and they didn't think I needed to be informed about it along the way.
Thank you for your extraordinary patience. I completely understand your perspective. The early adopters ended up with the short end of the stick here, and they've been overwhelmingly patient while we've been working our butts off to make this finally happen. We'll be producing bodywork in order of original order.
Once the molds are all brought up to their final surface finish and bodywork production can roll along relatively hands-free, the plan is to bring me into the customer support side of the business (along with continued engineering). As it sits now, the owner is a one-man-banding all of that along with running the business side of things.
I wondered why you weren't handling any of the customer service. You are very good at handling the intricacies of positive forum interaction. The company needs an active public voice and I think you would do it well.
Warren,
You mentioned that new bodywork can accommodate 225 tires. I'm thinking about getting 15x8 Konig Dial In wheels which are only 12 lbs each vs. 15x7. Will having wheels too wide for the light car make it handle worse? Are there any other factors I need to consider (spacers, offset, etc)?
And is 225 a hard limit, or can you squeeze 235's in there?
The fenders were specifically designed to allow for going wider, they just won't fully cover more than a 225.
The beauty of these cars is their modular nature. Tire choice is up to the builder. The only big requirement is keeping the tire away from the frame, which means 0 offset on 15x8s. 9s would require a -12mm offset, 10s a -25mm. That can be accomplished by spacers.
I can't tell you what the right choice is simply because there are so many. It's a matter of goals. My goal is to have a car that is rewarding, fast, and forgiving. That means less camber sensitivity and unsprung mass. There's also the aesthetic and availability factor. I would love to drive 185s, but I can't give up the meaty look of 205s.
Right now my personal favorite is a 205/50-15 on a zero offset 15x8 wheel, mainly because it's not as camber or slip sensitive, which means I have no fear of tossing the car around willy nilly. That's what we have on XP-4 and XP-3, and it looks nice and meaty. A local customer that frequents Atlanta Motorsports Park has 225s on a 9" wheel, and it looks good, too. More tire means slightly more steady-state grip (if you can maintain the heat), but I want something fun, even if it means 1.10 lateral g instead of 1.12.
If I wanted to set FToD, I'd shove some 245 Hoosier A6s on 10" wheels, but I need years of driver mods before that becomes necessary. Some of you are no doubt already there, but I feel like the average Joe would be better served with something more reasonable.
After you make the $2K deposit on a chassis, when does the balance come due? Just prior to it being shipped out or is it some other milestone altogether? I did try to search the thread for an answer but didn't find anything. TIA.
You'll need to log in to post.
