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Post by beav on Sept 3, 2014 16:49:56 GMT
Are the american body panels available over here?
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Post by greg on Sept 3, 2014 23:14:36 GMT
From what I read, they contracted a body shop to start manufacturing the new panels. Supposedly they are fulfilling orders now.
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Post by beav on Sept 4, 2014 22:00:08 GMT
in the USA or over here?
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Post by steadfast on Sept 4, 2014 22:04:20 GMT
I think what beav is trying to find out is will new the Exomotive Exocet bodywork:
1)Fit the MEV Exocet frame 2)Is Exomotive willing to ship to EU
Neither of which I know the answer to. I bet Kevin will come on here in a few to answer.
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Post by xzone on Sept 5, 2014 20:48:44 GMT
All I can say is good luck. Not trying to be harsh or anything but I have been waiting over a year now for my US bodywork in the US. As of right now, only a few shops have early "prototype" sets but I don't think any real customers have received anything so it may be a long time before anything is even ironed out over here.
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Post by JIDiesel on Oct 24, 2014 23:51:49 GMT
All I can say is good luck. Not trying to be harsh or anything but I have been waiting over a year now for my US bodywork in the US. As of right now, only a few shops have early "prototype" sets but I don't think any real customers have received anything so it may be a long time before anything is even ironed out over here. You and I are in the same boat, I am still waiting for my panels too.
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Post by Kevin Patrick on Oct 25, 2014 15:50:53 GMT
Finally - some good news on bodywork!
I met with Jim and 'Rabbit' who runs the composite shop at Downing this week to finalize the production schedule and sign off on the molds. We're finally about to start moving into the full productions schedule this week and they have told me to expect the first part pickup towards the end of the week. This was supposed to begin weeks ago, but their commitment to finishing their Panoz production commitments and issues with our fender buck took longer than expected. Rabbit and his 3-man team have worked the last 19 days straight to finish and are finally taking this weekend off for some much needed rest.
To say the new bodywork delays have been very aggravating to all involved is a drastic understatement. I take full responsibility for the overall situation we have put our builders in. As many of you have followed along with Warren's posts on the GRM board, we took a new approach to building our initial bucks with a hybrid laser cut light ply surface bonded to a laser cut metal exoskeleton that supports it. In theory, this was a fantastic way to save significant machining costs on the master bucks and save time compared to other buck production methods in our price range target. In practice, it was far from it. Weeks turned into months as we fought a number of issues ranging from facility issues, temperature sensitivity of the materials, bonding agent issues, and final surface quality. Compounding those issues were the increasing order numbers that put us further in the hole - one we realized we would not be able to dig ourselves out of quickly without another significant facility/personnel expansion or outsourcing production.
The move to Downing has a number of benefits that we will all be able to take advantage of. In our initial redesign, we chose to have the nose and hood as separate pieces to eliminate having to use a second laminator during the layup process. After creating the first sets of prototype panels and installing them on the prototype cars, it became clear that the extra time required for builders to fit the nose and hood correctly took much more time than we wanted. Downing was able to marry the hood and nose into a single piece unit which simplifies mounting and provides a seamless appearance. As our sales volume has increased over initial projections, we also wanted to be sure scalability was taken into account for the future. With our new setup, we can currently produce approximately 250 sets per year. With additional master mold sets produced and limited personnel increases, we can bump this up by another 300% if needed with relatively minimal investment. Downing's facilities also allow us to move directly into carbon part options, and expand our capabilities for offering future upgrades on the Exocet product development roadmap like undertrays, a DTM-style nose option, and further aero-related part offerings.
We're at the shop today building the new hood/nose clamshell holders for our box truck to allow us to safely ferry over multiple sets of finished parts from Downing for packaging/shipping out of our facility. Warren has designed a new bodywork shipping pallet and packaging solution that will allow us to safely send out the builder's bodywork via traditional LTL freight methods. I can't express how excited I am to be able to begin sending out everyone's bodywork. We are very much looking forward to getting caught up and put the bodywork woes behind us. We have so many new exciting options coming down the pipeline in the coming months and we are very ready to concentrate our efforts.
xzone and steadfast's sets are in the first two weeks of production and JIDiesel's is not too far behind that. Once we are caught back up to current production orders, we will explore the potential for UK shipments in conjunction with MEV. To answer beav's question - the new bodywork will fit on the MEV chassis but will likely require a couple of tweaks to the laser cut/cnc-bent mounts that we include with the kit as there are a few chassis differences. If you've already made your own brackets/mounts for the MEV bodywork, it should not been too much trouble to make a few brackets for our version.
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Post by thestig on Oct 25, 2014 16:15:39 GMT
Thank you for the update Kevin. Any idea on prices for carbon fiber?
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Post by steadfast on Oct 25, 2014 17:25:52 GMT
I can't begin to tell everyone how excited I am to finish this car up. Thanks Kevin for the great update. I may go do donuts in my Exo in celebration.
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Post by jgilbert on Oct 25, 2014 20:58:35 GMT
I'm sure I've seen the one piece bonnet (hood) and nose cose somewhere else? Good idea in my opinion!
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Post by linuxd00d on Oct 26, 2014 7:19:20 GMT
Kevin, what is a DTM-style nose? Does it have 3 canards on each side?
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Post by Kevin Patrick on Oct 27, 2014 13:04:42 GMT
thestig - Carbon pricing should be available within a few weeks. We want to verify the amounts of materials and extra time needed due to vacuum bagging/cure times. linuxd00d - The concept of the potential future nose option would cover the entire front end including the tires for improved aero performance. Think BAC Mono or similar designs. Note - this is still in the early concept stage and is likely a long way off. Universal canards could likely be added to the current nose if you wanted to install them. Just looking over eBay, carbon-look options are available from "Sickspeed" for ~$20, NRG offers carbon versions for ~$50, and APR offers some nice ones for ~$170.
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Post by rauf on Dec 16, 2014 18:00:24 GMT
Hello, any update?
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Post by rauf on Jan 28, 2015 4:29:33 GMT
I failed the CHP inspection as, according to the officer, it is required to have "a bumper" (bodywork, as I understand it) and a windshield installed before he can sign off.
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Post by JIDiesel on Jan 28, 2015 17:48:10 GMT
I failed the CHP inspection as, according to the officer, it is required to have "a bumper" (bodywork, as I understand it) and a windshield installed before he can sign off. Don't know about bodywork but you might want to check out Steadfast windshield he was able to pass in California with it.
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