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Post by buildercg on May 22, 2015 2:52:39 GMT
I finally ordered my Exocet today from Kieth at FM. I bought the Exocet Race and added a wire tray, fenders, APR wing mounts, and the welded windshield bezel. I'm hoping to learn my chassis number in the next few days and that delivery will be sometime in mid to late September but as I ordered late in the day from FM I don't have any confirmation from Exomotive yet.
I'm planning a red, white, and blue, USA themed paint scheme and asked for the panels to match the red in the US flag. I'm partially colorblind so I'm hoping that Exomotive has better eyesight than me! I will have the rest of the paint work done locally.
My donor needs some upgrades so I ordered new FM Classic coilovers, new rear wheel bearings and front hubs, and a complete set of new rubber bushings. I still have plenty of parts to acquire, including some new engine gaskets, wing, lights, seats, new gaskets for the dif, and probably a gazillion other things. There are other things I'd like to buy, like a big brake kit and a Voodoo II turbo, but I'll probably hold off as that just adds more complexity to the build.
I'm really looking forward to this project and hope I haven't taken on something too big for me. Thanks to all of you whom have already given me advise. I'll post pictures of the donor, which I plan to drive for the summer, tomorrow.
-Christian
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Post by einy on May 22, 2015 11:10:22 GMT
Welcome, Christian!
Curious where you source the rubber bushing set form, and what that ran you. I changed all mine out the Energy Suspension bushing, used liberal amounts of grease when assembling everything, yet still have squeaks a-plenty just moving mine around in the garage (not road ready yet). I'm hoping it'll quiet down a bit as I accumulate road miles later this summer, but I'm not confident that'll happen short of either taking the squeaky joints apart and adding lube, putting zerks in everywhere for ease of adding add'l lube as needed, and/or changing back to rubber bushings.
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Post by buildercg on May 22, 2015 13:07:38 GMT
Welcome, Christian! Curious where you source the rubber bushing set form, and what that ran you. I changed all mine out the Energy Suspension bushing, used liberal amounts of grease when assembling everything, yet still have squeaks a-plenty just moving mine around in the garage (not road ready yet). I'm hoping it'll quiet down a bit as I accumulate road miles later this summer, but I'm not confident that'll happen short of either taking the squeaky joints apart and adding lube, putting zerks in everywhere for ease of adding add'l lube as needed, and/or changing back to rubber bushings. Thanks for the warm welcome einy! I bought the rubber bushing set from Flyin Miata for $400 (I get a 5% discount since I bought the Exocet from them). www.flyinmiata.com/performance-rubber-bushing-kt.htmlI had heard that poly bushings need regular maintenance and Keith @ FM, who has wayyyy more experience working on Miata's then I will ever have, confirmed it. He also told me that poly transmits a lot of high frequency vibration, which I'd rather not feel up my spine so I ponied up the extra dough for the rubber set. Keith mentioned that these will require either a press, which I don't have, or other tool (he suggested a ball joint service tool) to install. |
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Post by buildercg on May 22, 2015 13:39:39 GMT
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Post by buildercg on May 22, 2015 13:45:14 GMT
And now I have my first technical question... My car came equipped with a Momo steering wheel. The horn is not working. I've taken the steering wheel off and this is the wiring that I've got. I touched the black lead wire to the steering wheel mount and it doesn't sound then so my guess is the problem is not the horn button.  There seems to be a lot of ways the horn can be wired. Can anyone confirm if the wiring is correct? I've traced the lead from the horn and without ripping apart the wiring harness it seems that all is in order. My next step is to remove the horn and test it. It is really safe/correct to place the horn on top of the negative terminal and run a lead to the positive terminal to test it? I like the feel of the wheel and I want to keep it for the Exocet so I hope I can get this figured out. |
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Post by ImprobableConstruct on May 22, 2015 13:52:26 GMT
The problem is probably behind the adapter plate. The clock spring has to be modified to work with aftermarket steering wheels. I removed the clock spring and ran a bent wire from the plug to the contact ring on the back of the adapter plate.
FWIW I have the poly bushings and on my exocet and haven't heard the bushings squeaking ~500 miles. I do hear the intake and the exhaust and a rattle from the brake pads on the left front, but not the bushings. I will say that I am driving around with the VMaxx XXtreme coil overs set to full hard with 25 lbs in the tires. I tried softening the coil overs but I did not like the way it felt to drive. Go figure.
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Post by buildercg on May 22, 2015 14:05:17 GMT
The problem is probably behind the adapter plate. The clock spring has to be modified to work with aftermarket steering wheels. I removed the clock spring and ran a bent wire from the plug to the contact ring on the back of the adapter plate. FWIW I have the poly bushings and on my exocet and haven't heard the bushings squeaking ~500 miles. I do hear the intake ans the exhaust and a rattle from the brake pads on the left front, but not the bushings. I will say that I am driving around with the VMaxx XXtreme coil overs set to full hard with 25 lbs in the tires. I tried softening the coil overs but I did not like the way it felt to drive. Go figure. Thank you! I'll check it out and thanks for the info too regarding bushings and coil overs. |
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Post by buildercg on May 22, 2015 15:02:25 GMT
I fixed the horn.
The button was miswired and the horn itself was not properly grounded due to rust. Hit the nut and horn bracket with the wire brush and swapped the wiring and now it works.
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Post by einy on May 23, 2015 19:48:20 GMT
Sounds right. The horn button simply grounds that particular lead.
your donor looks very clean! Bet you can recover a fair amount of $ with unneeded parts sales.
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Post by buildercg on May 24, 2015 0:42:26 GMT
Sounds right. The horn button simply grounds that particular lead. your donor looks very clean! Bet you can recover a fair amount of $ with unneeded parts sales. That's what I'm hoping for einy. The donor was $3500 and came with a hard top, which is in good shape. The soft top is fairly new as well and I'm hoping I can get decent cash for them as well as the seats, which I plan to replace. |
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Post by buildercg on May 29, 2015 20:36:08 GMT
The problem is probably behind the adapter plate. The clock spring has to be modified to work with aftermarket steering wheels. I removed the clock spring and ran a bent wire from the plug to the contact ring on the back of the adapter plate. FWIW I have the poly bushings and on my exocet and haven't heard the bushings squeaking ~500 miles. I do hear the intake and the exhaust and a rattle from the brake pads on the left front, but not the bushings. I will say that I am driving around with the VMaxx XXtreme coil overs set to full hard with 25 lbs in the tires. I tried softening the coil overs but I did not like the way it felt to drive. Go figure. It turns out you were right. A few hours after I "fixed" the horn it stopped working again and it worked only once or twice in the last week - I need it to work to get the car inspected so I can drive it this summer. This time I took the steering wheel and covers off the steering column to gain access to the clock spring. Whoever replaced the steering wheel did a real hack job on the clock spring. The connector for the horn (on '92 Miata it's the middle wire) had been cut or broken and the wire was press fit and epoxied to the clock spring instead of soldered. No solder = no reliable connection! So, I dremeled off enough of the plastic to expose the wire (just a stub), soldered the wire on, and epoxied around it. Now the horn works reliably and my car passed inspection! In other news, I'm still waiting to find out my chassis number and I have parts coming next from FM - they should arrive on Thursday! New coiloversFront & rear wheel bearings New bushings
The suspension really needs replacing. The bearings and bushings won't be replaced until I tear the car down but I've been contemplating doing the coilovers now. Obviously, it will be easier to install the coilovers after the body is off but the car could use it now. What do you guys think I should do? |
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Post by buildercg on Jun 9, 2015 15:02:12 GMT
Kevin sent me my frame number today: #148. Projecting out 22 weeks from when I purchased it, it appears I should expect it approximately in late October.
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Post by buildercg on Sept 3, 2015 1:36:08 GMT
I've been quietly lurking over the summer watching all of you have your fun. My turn starts this weekend, as Labor Day (here in the US at least) is the weekend I start my teardown. I've been re-reading all the forum posts about what newbies like me should do be safe and "do it right". Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice. I'll post by Tuesday my progress.
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Post by buildercg on Sept 7, 2015 23:03:40 GMT
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Post by gwnwar on Sept 8, 2015 6:30:48 GMT
There is a drain for the fuel tank left front underside..
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