Post by jmills on Feb 6, 2015 16:02:21 GMT
I'm overdue in starting this log so we'll have to do some catch up.
..
Welcome to the Team Pipe-Car build log!
Team Pipe-Car is my girlfriend, a friend from racing & work, and myself. We have some basic wrenching experience, lots of mechanical aptitude, and a huge amount of excitement to turn a pile of parts into a crazy-fast car.
I've been following kit cars and the Exocet for about 5 years. Factory Fives piqued my interest, I checked some out, attended the build school and then realized I lack a garage to do a build in and put the project off until "Someday". In the following years I got into time trials and more interested in something purpose built, enter my deep interest in the Spec-A Exocet.
Last year I started pushing my current track race toy, a C6 Vette to the point of heat issues on long sessions and started getting dangerously close to pulling the trigger on increasingly expensive upgrades to turn it into the car I wanted for the track. To be honest, it's too nice of a car for me to feel comfortable tearing it apart to turn it into a track rat. This winter I decided to do a build, so I called Exomotive, heard about the 6 month waiting list and despaired. I wanted to spend summer racing, not building, so I decided to put the project off for another year. Then, just before the holidays someone posted an Exocet Race frame for sale on the miata.net forums, I shot out an an Email, and a few weeks later had the frame delivered to Chicago by the seller who is now the proud owner of a 600+hp supercharged Corvette - insanity with leather seats.
It was an unpainted Race chassis with aluminum floors for weight reduction. It had been coated with oil to prevent rust, and arrived with some minimal surface rust that came off with some very light sanding.
Next step; secure donor.
The guy who sold me the frame pointed me to a 1.8 built engine turbo car for sale in Indianapolis that I checked out and bought, driving it back to Chicago in the middle of January without a top.
My girlfriend deserves an award for joining for the 3+ hours drive across the Midwest in an open convertible in January. We did get lucky in that the first two hours were around 50 out, the last dropped into the 40s as we approached Chicago.
The car has a great drive train, nice wheels, and little else worth mentioning. The brakes may have been well equipped for a NA 1.8 in 1995, but struggle to slow the ~240hp setup currently in the car. This will be addressed as part of the build.
With car and frame back in Chicago it was on to prepping, priming and painting the frame. Tractor paint was used for durability and ease of touch up as a hitch and rear wing are in the future plans for this car.
After two days of sanding, scrubbing and cleaning we had a grey frame.
Primed:
And then...
Painted:
The color is Ford Blue. Nice and bright with a decent shine to it without any color sanding. I may color sand some of the more prominent tubes, but am very happy with the surface finish.
After painting the frame it was time to move the Miata out of a rented storage unit and into a friend's garage where we will be doing the build. Unfortunately the move date corresponded with the Chicago / Midwest blizzard, so I can now report that;
A. Miatas are terrible snow cars
B. They weigh nothing and can be pushed sideways effortlessly when stuck
C. You get lots of looks, waves and honks when driving a roofless Miata through a storm
This is the current state after a few afternoons of work with 3 of us attacking the car;
The next goal is to separate the body on the 15th and drop the frame on that afternoon. Lots of wrenching and labeling to do before then. I'll continue to post as things progress with this build and Team Pipe-Car!
-J
..
Welcome to the Team Pipe-Car build log!
Team Pipe-Car is my girlfriend, a friend from racing & work, and myself. We have some basic wrenching experience, lots of mechanical aptitude, and a huge amount of excitement to turn a pile of parts into a crazy-fast car.
I've been following kit cars and the Exocet for about 5 years. Factory Fives piqued my interest, I checked some out, attended the build school and then realized I lack a garage to do a build in and put the project off until "Someday". In the following years I got into time trials and more interested in something purpose built, enter my deep interest in the Spec-A Exocet.
Last year I started pushing my current track race toy, a C6 Vette to the point of heat issues on long sessions and started getting dangerously close to pulling the trigger on increasingly expensive upgrades to turn it into the car I wanted for the track. To be honest, it's too nice of a car for me to feel comfortable tearing it apart to turn it into a track rat. This winter I decided to do a build, so I called Exomotive, heard about the 6 month waiting list and despaired. I wanted to spend summer racing, not building, so I decided to put the project off for another year. Then, just before the holidays someone posted an Exocet Race frame for sale on the miata.net forums, I shot out an an Email, and a few weeks later had the frame delivered to Chicago by the seller who is now the proud owner of a 600+hp supercharged Corvette - insanity with leather seats.
It was an unpainted Race chassis with aluminum floors for weight reduction. It had been coated with oil to prevent rust, and arrived with some minimal surface rust that came off with some very light sanding.
Next step; secure donor.
The guy who sold me the frame pointed me to a 1.8 built engine turbo car for sale in Indianapolis that I checked out and bought, driving it back to Chicago in the middle of January without a top.
My girlfriend deserves an award for joining for the 3+ hours drive across the Midwest in an open convertible in January. We did get lucky in that the first two hours were around 50 out, the last dropped into the 40s as we approached Chicago.
The car has a great drive train, nice wheels, and little else worth mentioning. The brakes may have been well equipped for a NA 1.8 in 1995, but struggle to slow the ~240hp setup currently in the car. This will be addressed as part of the build.
With car and frame back in Chicago it was on to prepping, priming and painting the frame. Tractor paint was used for durability and ease of touch up as a hitch and rear wing are in the future plans for this car.
After two days of sanding, scrubbing and cleaning we had a grey frame.
Primed:
And then...
Painted:
The color is Ford Blue. Nice and bright with a decent shine to it without any color sanding. I may color sand some of the more prominent tubes, but am very happy with the surface finish.
After painting the frame it was time to move the Miata out of a rented storage unit and into a friend's garage where we will be doing the build. Unfortunately the move date corresponded with the Chicago / Midwest blizzard, so I can now report that;
A. Miatas are terrible snow cars
B. They weigh nothing and can be pushed sideways effortlessly when stuck
C. You get lots of looks, waves and honks when driving a roofless Miata through a storm
This is the current state after a few afternoons of work with 3 of us attacking the car;
The next goal is to separate the body on the 15th and drop the frame on that afternoon. Lots of wrenching and labeling to do before then. I'll continue to post as things progress with this build and Team Pipe-Car!
-J
