Zeitgeist's Mid-west OH race chassis #170 build

[einy]

So .... you running your Miata plate (temporarily) on the Exocet?!? Not that I'd EVER (wink, wink) do that while I still wade my way through the OSP inspection morass .... but had to ask !

[zeitgeist]

What plate? I don't do much street driving except to and from cars and coffee or a local show. If anything else it is very rural roads where I have yet to see hardly another person let alone any LEO.

[zeitgeist]

I was checking out the Exocet today to get ready for the second trackday weekend and discovered my engine was sitting higher on the passenger side than the drivers side> I never notice before and there are no signs on the paint markings or new paint that anything moved and all fasteners were tight. I pulled off the pass motor mount and all looked in order with no wear,bends or incorrect putting together of parts. I removed the square motor mount cup that fits against the subframe and reinstalled everything. The motor is now level or as close as I can measure and is approx 1" lower. The hood still barely touches the idle screw housing on the TB but much less than before.

I also lowered the car all around to 5.5" rear and 5" front measured at the jack points in the middle of each with my weight in the car. Now I will need an alignment adjustment but plan to wait until I have the fenders and passenger seat/harness in so I can get it corner weighted,ride height and alignment all finalized. I will go with less rear neg camber as the insides are hotter than the outsides on the rear tires but I will double check during this coming trackday weekend at Grattan.

[zeitgeist]

Update. I was at Grattan today for a 2 day trackday weekend. No issues with my revised cutdown stock fuel filler. This also fills as normal with no slowed flow at the nozzle and no stopping until it is full. I am very pleased with that. Also no leaks like with the marine set up I used before. The fuel pick up also seems pretty good as I get well below 1/4 and even below 1/8 today and at Mid Ohio with no fuel starvation issue.

More good news. After lowering the ride height to 5.5" rear and 5" front at the lift points I found quite a bit more threads showing below the collar on the passenger side than the driver side in the rear. Today I put it on scales at the track. It was a little off from the preferred 50/50% crosssweights but with just minor adjustments it was 50.8/49.2. Total weight w/o driver and half a tank of fuel was 1574 lbs. Nice that it is under 1600 with all emission controls,larger muffler,cat and minimal weight reduction attempted.

I let a friend take the car out for a session as he is looking to build one and he was more excited than me at the first start when he came in. He raved how good it was and he drives a Panoz, SC Miata and supercharged LS1 Trans Am in One Lap. Good to hear. Lastly because he ran just before me the car ran back to back sessions so almost an hour of track time with no break and no issues to report. I'm very happy heading into day 2.

[zeitgeist]

Day 2 went well. Great weather and smooth running. I finally got an on track picture and more are to be posted by the weekend.

This is right after the jump so it looks like I installed the off-road kit with the elevated ride height before it compresses.



After the fenders I will work on a front air dam, upper side panels and reducing aero drag and lift. Any amateur or professional aerodynamicists in the house?

[zeitgeist]

I haven't updated this thread in awhile and haven't done much on the car either but recently got a few things done.

I put on an air dam on the nose cone.







I also changed the UTV side mirrors for bike mirrors that are smaller by approx 1" each way and have a much smaller mounting shaft diameter as well as mount to the Exomotive mounts on the chassis. This gives it a cleaner more aerodynamic look while actually being more aerodynamic. They are also wedge shaped instead of flat housings so a little better.






I installed some rollbar padding on the halo and upper side bar.



I added a box and spare tire to my trailer and got a new (used) tow rig.








We finally have had some decent weather around here when I wasn't tied to yard work or other duties. I got the upper side panels cut and once I get the 1" P clamps I will install them. I'm trying to clean up the aero on the car some.

[einy]

Any thoughts / plans on getting yours street legal? I'm scheduled for inspection #2 - this time in Columbus - on 9/19. Got the windshield / wiper done, and am hoping for a better outcome this time!!

[zeitgeist]

I am still working on rear fender mounts and haven't got the headlights and front turn signals mounted yet. After that i have to do a windshield and wiper. I'm working slowly on it now that I am driving it some and tracking it. I doubt it will happen this year but my goal is to get to it early next spring at the latest. Getting fenders and a passenger seat with harness are the biggest priorities as that will allow me to run with more groups/tracks.

[lukeg]

Any chance you could post more details about your fuel filler setup? I saw the short info on the prior page but was curious how you get the rear cover off without getting fuel everywhere the way you have it setup.

More pics would be awesome if you have them. I'm currently dealing with a slow filler issue (filler is on opposite side) and it is driving me crazy.

Thanks!

- Lukas

[zeitgeist]

Luke I will try and get some better pics soon as the car is up for the winter and the cover is coming off for work on the wiring harness reduction,lights etc.. However the fuel filler stays in place with the cover going on and off over it with a large enough hole that the neck sticks through the cover. I used a tapering rubber flange to seal the cover to neck.

[einy]

Are you planning on pursuing street legality ?

[lukeg]

Dec 4, 2016 17:42:19 GMT zeitgeist said:

Luke I will try and get some better pics soon as the car is up for the winter and the cover is coming off for work on the wiring harness reduction,lights etc.. However the fuel filler stays in place with the cover going on and off over it with a large enough hole that the neck sticks through the cover. I used a tapering rubber flange to seal the cover to neck.

You rock, thanks! that was exactly what I was looking for. Just ordered a 99 miata fuel filler to copy your setup. the flexible hose from the opposing side sucks huge balls and doesn't fill for shit.

Just to confirm, with the cut down stock fuel filler, you can fill at full pump speed at the gas station?

thanks again!!!!

[zeitgeist]

Dec 4, 2016 20:05:18 GMT einy said:

Are you planning on pursuing street legality ?

Yes for sure when I stop being lazy and get the things done I need for legality inspection purposes. Once I got it done and reliable for the track I lost some momentum and since I have driven it on the street to close local events without issue the motivation has been limited to do what I should to be 100% properly legal.

[zeitgeist]

Luke I have filled up a few different times from gas stations and have not had any issues with fill speed or shut off. It fills like a normal Miata. The same goes for filling with fuel cans except the nozzle gets stuck in the filler neck on the flap since the gas can nozzle has to be pushed in to flow. A normal old gas can that doesn't have the nozzle that requires pressure to flow works fine at any fill speed. I am in the garage today so I should get some pics soon.

[zeitgeist]

Here are the pictures of the fuel filler set up. I hope that helps.

















I tried to get every angle. The hoses are fuel rated and standard pieces just cut to length so no special bends or anything. It can be cut down further to fit even closer to the tank but it easily fits with clearance all around now. I was going to try and mount the flange to the tank cover but believe I will eventually go with a fuel cell. You also can remove the flange and cut a lot smaller hole in the tank cover if you want and just have the filler cap diameter to cut for a cleaner look.