GRM Exclusive Reveal: Exocet Spec-A

ImprobableConstruct, I blame Kevin and his Apple fetish. I'll let him use my big-boy OS to debug any problems tomorrow.

Hey, congrats linuxd00d. Two normal guys of reasonable strength can lift up a Race chassis, but it will require a bit of gumption as it is about 250 lbs. I recommend laying a piece of wood on the tailgate, lifting the nose on the wood, hopping into the bed, and then walking it back in. The frame is held in with webbing; stout scissors will break it free. Here's a picture of a packaged frame before it gets its candy shell coating:

Derpy Tyler is a bonus.

Exomotive is growin' the fam! Three new positions, Admin/Sales Assistant, Production MIG Welder, and Fiberglass Laminator.

Location is Atlanta ITP, just south of downtown.

Please go through the Craigslist links. Welders, please use the Fiberglass Laminator link.

In reply to Warren v:

Have you considered building a powder coating oven and bringing in a guy on site? That might be a service I could offer you. :)

If you're willing to fund it and do it in a shipping container on our site, we'll give you 100% of our business.

It doesn't really make sense to do the blasting and powdercoating on site unless we started a side business to powdercoat other things, too.

In reply to Warren v:

That's kinda what I was getting at. Maybe we should talk more about it privately.

So, I spent some of today driving our Exocet. It's built on a stock 1999 power train (with a Hydra), FM Little Big Brake Kit and a V-Maxx suspension. We've never really had it out before other than a brief donut session, as it's been sidelined waiting for bodywork and high profile customer jobs.

SO much fun. It brought back all the fun of driving my Seven, but without the handling idiosyncracies. It just flat out scoots. Like a Miata, it will do anything. Oversteer, understeer, neutral drift - and it brakes like nothing else. It's a seriously quick little car even without power. We didn't time it directly, but based on how it was pacing the Targa Miata I'd put it at about 1:02.5 on our local track. There are only about a half dozen cars that have been quicker. On a faster track the ultimate lack of power would be an issue, but not on this kart track.

I spent far too much time going sideways just because I could. And I actually laughed out loud on the first lap. Well done Exomotive.

Comparison between my Miata and the Exocet: the Exocet is a scalpel, the V8 Miata is the hammer of Thor.

Oh, and I believe our bodywork was delivered today. I'll have pictures of it on the car this weekend.

Awesome update -- can't wait for more!

Keith Tanner wrote: Comparison between my Miata and the Exocet: the Exocet is a scalpel, the V8 Miata is the hammer of Thor.

So the V8 Exocet is Lizzie Borden's axe?

peter wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: Comparison between my Miata and the Exocet: the Exocet is a scalpel, the V8 Miata is the hammer of Thor.

So the V8 Exocet is Lizzie Borden's axe?

Tactical nuke. Precision delivery, world-ending power.

I toyed with the idea of coming to summer camp, but my exocet still not getting fuel. I got 130 miles away from GJ Co. On wednesday too. Sending my injectors out for rebuild & hoping thats my only barrier. Thanx tor all the phone support FlyinMiata.

Sean Castner

Caffeine and Octane was packed today!

The highlight of the show was an XJ220:

Photo credit to David New: http://davidnew.net/site/

linuxd00d wrote: Can 2 normal guys (I'm no superman) lift that chassis into the bed of a truck?

The answer is Yes. That is if you have some muscles to work with. Myself and a friend carried it over to the Miataskate by ourselves and had a couple other people help hold the sides (my 5 1/2" wife and a neighbor holding his newborn at the same time).

Congrats on getting yours. I'm sorry that you maybe up and running before me :( At least now I'm moved over 1,300 miles away and settling into the new house (still no time to tinker with the car - but I've removed items from the trailer it's stored in such as some yard tools, an engine hoist, an ice cream maker and an xmas tree. It was buried in my trailer but it can kinda see the light of day now.

Warren v wrote: APR wing mounts are being manufactured. Keith is indeed correct. That's just a simple 2D wing we found used that had a 38.5" mount width. Anything between 39" and 37" should be able to work. As far as the bolt pattern, I just built a couple turnbuckles from $30 worth of McMaster-Carr parts. D-U-N, done. Sourcing left-hand thread rod ends and dual-thread rods would have been nice, but it was much easier just to use the CoT style hole adjusters for angle of attack.

Warren,

I have been looking at the APR wings and couldn't see anything in the 37 to 39 pedestal width. Do you have a specific model number? If I look at APR page @ http://aprperformance.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=44, they have 19, 29.5 and 40. I want to make sure if I order one, I get the right one.

I'll bug Kevin about getting the listing on our webstore. It's a custom wing (GTC-200 variant) for the Exocet.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#turnbuckles/=t523zl Here are some righthand/lefthand threaded parts which could work on the wing adjustment mechanism.Frankly, I did this on my own one-off wing and it seems to me that it is worth the effort for a serious production wing design.

Don't worry, that turnbuckle combination I posted won't be part of any production part. The APR wing mount has a dedicated turnbuckle from APR. I just posted that parts list to give people ideas on how to mount any other similar wing.

In reply to Warren v:

Are these ARP wing mounts still on the drawing board or are they available now to purchase?

Hate to keep pestering you over and over about the windshield but would it be possible to have tabs welded on to the frame rail for the windshield on the sport chassy? It's looking like I may have a source for a place than can cut me one. Just need a way to mount it.

The windshield solution is the only thing holding me back from purchasing an Exocet right now. I don't wish to pursue the loop hole that the guy with orange turbo Exocet went thru to register his in PA. Would rather register it as a no BS Specialty Constructed Vehicle.

In reply to Greg_E: I'm working on building a windshield now. I should have it finalized over the weekend. It should be somewhat easy to build/make. I'm working with a glass company in the Pacific Northwest that can custom cut safety glass, and can do so with an effective cost structure. I will provide my write up this weekend.

I'm very interested to see the results

Hey guys. The ARP wing mounts are well past the drawing board and we anticipate delivery from the manufacturer early next week. The package will come with mounts, all hardware, turnbuckles, endplates, and the wing itself. The only requirement is that your frame has the rear wing hardpoints welded in (the CoT wing mounts use the same hardpoints). Currently I don't see a listing, but http://store.exomotive.com is where it should pop up once it's offered for sale.

The Race windshield pictured above is for the fully-caged version of the car. It would not work with a Sport, however, we are working on a fully-removable windshield for the Sport and Base. It will install on all American-built non-Race frames without any welded tabs required. There is a possibility we can make it work for Race frames as well. Timeline for availability is "late Fall".

My utmost priority right now is fulfilling our delivery promises to current customers, so you likely won't see much of this windshield or any other added scope for another month or so. Steadfast, I'm very interested to see what you come up with.

Warren,

I have sent an email about my order on 7/23 and 7/28 and haven't heard back yet. Is info@exomotive.com still the best way to get in touch?

ashneyder wrote: Warren, I have sent an email about my order on 7/23 and 7/28 and haven't heard back yet. Is info@exomotive.com still the best way to get in touch?

I can't believe this is still going on with all the complaints about lack of communication. I've been very tempted to pull the trigger on one of these, but lack of communication is a pet peeve of mine, so until that's sorted I'll continue to hang back and wait.

As someone who has lurked Locostusa for many years dreaming of the time I could set enough time aside to build my own frame the Exocet GREATLY excites me. I have a few questions though that I hope Warren can answer. As someone who has loved Miatas for autocross but never fit in one the Exocet seems like a great solution.

1.) I know the locost is small. Per Chetco's guide. I can fit in a Mccsorely 442E frame in a general sense but my feet would never fit. (6ft3in 300lbs, size 15 feet). I know I will need to come up to Atlanta to verify if I fit in the car but I can sit in a NB and drive it. Just have to use my big toe for the gas, middle toe for the brakes and my pinky toe for clutch. Ok maybe just my big toe gas, pinky toe brakes and other big toe clutch. Any chance you can get us a few interior pics with someone larger sitting in the car? Something on your website on this would greatly help potential buyers. (FM has a small blurb on it on their site.)

Review of your videos shows that there is a ton more leg room due to how the cluster is mounted. (in a NB my shins hit the dash.)

2.) Do you have a sample car in Atlanta that someone (a potential buyer perhaps) could sit in? (XP4?)

3.) I know you think I'm crazy but I really really like the idea of DDing this car (not in the rain of course). I have a motorcycle but I'm so sick of dodging cagers that this car seems like a great compromise between giant boring and death on 2 wheels.

end goal would be a fun DD to use for Hillclimb (Chasing the Dragon is coming up soon for some of you who are done already.) Autox. (Clemson Sports Car Club). with some track days when I can get away from family. The exocet appears to hit every nerve I have. Build it with just and NB, then add in FM parts, and if the power still bores me, 302. You lsx people are nuts.

Final note: reading your work has been very interesting Warren. I love your Youtube video's of the manufacturing process. As a former SAE Baja person/ Clemson ME grad your posts hit the core of my interest. Please keep them up.

ashneyder,

Sorry about that. Kevin triages everything to benefit our direct customers and dealers. I'll let him know you're waiting on a quick answer.

Mad_Ratel,

We just had someone about your size (a few inches taller, even) do a test fit yesterday, and he's going forward with it. Kevin is 6'3", and I'm 6'2". You can certainly make an appointment and sit in XP-3 and XP-4. XP-3 has 17" Kirkeys, XP-4 has the 16" versions. No judgement on the DD thing; I'm in the process of moving to a place with a garage so I can do just that.

We know of at least one customer that will be competing in Chasing the Dragon, as I had to tell the organizers how the Sport rollbar is built.

jjkarns wrote: Congrats on getting yours. I'm sorry that you maybe up and running before me

Maybe not... UPS has lost the exo and they're trying to locate it right now. That's after they sent me on a wild goose chase from depot to depot in a rented truck...