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Post by SeanW on Aug 1, 2016 21:10:09 GMT
I'm a little late to starting this thread, I've had my Exocet since January and have been very slowly working it since. Unfortunately a burst pipe flooded part of my home so I've spent a couple of months more focused on getting all of that repaired and squared away than on putting my Exocet together. This thread will probably be a little out of ord  er as I back fill things that I've done to date with current build situation and issues. I decided to pull the trigger to build an Exocet after meeting Steadfast by chance on Saratoga Road in Los Gatos one afternoon. I'd been looking at, seriously thinking about, Exocets that morning so getting a chance to chat with him and look his car over for a few minutes was all that it took to push me over the top. So the base vitals Exocet race chassis (Kiwi green, #155), 1997 Miata donor.   www.dropbox.com/s/so0qe26ijh1d19w/2016-01-30%2014.42.34.jpg?dl=0www.dropbox.com/s/5ay24tyytjj4nr8/2016-01-30%2014.48.26%20HDR.jpg?dl=0 |
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Post by steadfast on Aug 1, 2016 22:34:15 GMT
Good to see you pulled the trigger. I've almost convinced myself I need to convert my sport frame to a race frame! I need to join the club. By my counts there are about 15'ish of us now.
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Post by SeanW on Aug 1, 2016 22:36:10 GMT
Good to see you pulled the trigger. I've almost convinced myself I need to convert my sport frame to a race frame! I need to join the club. By my counts there are about 15'ish of us now. That's a pretty good number! I'm actually getting fairly close on mine. I'm running the wiring harness in mine this week, hopefully I'll be able to turn the motor over this weekend! Here's a photo of the car from mid July. I've been working on the best fitment for my seats, currently Corbeau FX1 Pros but in the race chassis it's a super tight fit and headroom is a major issue. I really wish that Exomotive had placed that cross bar in a different location/orientation. I've spent a fair chunk of time fiddling with seat and trying it out with a helmet on, I've come to the conclusion that the Corbeau FX1 Pros, as nice as they are, just aren't a good choice for the race chassis. Just today I ordered a Kirkey Intermediate from Summit, should be here tomorrow. It's a little narrower and should mount a little lower than the Corbeau.  |
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Post by phocup on Aug 1, 2016 22:59:46 GMT
Wow, another SJ build ! and you already got your frame powdered. Did you do the powder local or did you get it like that from Exomotive ?
I'm likely going to order a sport chassis and am short so I can push the chair further forward as well. LMK if you want to get rid of the FX1.
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Post by SeanW on Aug 1, 2016 23:55:14 GMT
Wow, another SJ build ! and you already got your frame powdered. Did you do the powder local or did you get it like that from Exomotive ? I'm likely going to order a sport chassis and am short so I can push the chair further forward as well. LMK if you want to get rid of the FX1. I had Exomotive do the powder coating, in retrospect I think I should have had it done locally. The shipping on the powder coated frame was a little pricey. On the other hand, I didn't have to worry about moving the frame around to get it done locally. I have two FX1s, if I find the Kirkey seats work better I'll have two FX1s for sale! |
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Post by SeanW on Aug 2, 2016 3:53:35 GMT
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Post by steadfast on Aug 2, 2016 3:57:49 GMT
What contraption is pumping oil into your tranny?
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Post by tonyb on Aug 2, 2016 4:03:47 GMT
Looks like something I have, somewhere... a hand pump that screws onto a typical tranny fluid bottle.
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Post by SeanW on Aug 2, 2016 4:10:55 GMT
What contraption is pumping oil into your tranny? Just a hand pump designed for quart bottles. Made changing the transmission fluid super easy! Got it at Amazon. Hand pump. |
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Post by phocup on Aug 2, 2016 5:11:20 GMT
Nice, what fluid did you use ? Redline ?
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Post by SeanW on Aug 2, 2016 5:54:50 GMT
Nice, what fluid did you use ? Redline ? Redline is what I tend to use the most and what I used here for both the transmission and differential. After I get it up and on the road again I'll probably flush the transmission again after a couple of hundred miles. |
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Post by steadfast on Aug 2, 2016 16:20:11 GMT
Thanks, I just ordered one. I am doing the tranny fluid this weekend. Will come in handy!
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Post by SeanW on Aug 4, 2016 18:52:48 GMT
In an effort to fast-foward my build thread to where I'm currently at (seats and wiringing) Installing the aluminum bulkheads in the car was a pretty simple, painless process though it was somewhat annying getting my hand riveter into some place. Also, I found that some of the panels needed to be trimmed ever so slightly to fit. The lesson that I learned here was that while test fitting panels, cover your nicely powder coated/painted frame in blue painter's tape to avoid gouging the shit out of it as you work.    I also took a little but of time before actually riveting the panels in to scuff them up and spray them with some black paint. No photos of that just yet. Since the exhaust in my donor was leaing from somewhere, I pitched it from the header back, replacing it with (for now) an inexpensive 2.5" Yonaka. Downside is that it's a little but on the "universal" side so I needed to have an O2 sensor bung welded onto the mid-pipe in the correct place. That was like $50 at a local muffler shop. I also took the opportunity to replace both front and rear O2 sensors as well as the manifold to head gasket on the car. I'm not going to bother replacing the cat or header until after I get through with registration/BAR because I'm probably going to go turbo.    I was having a pain in the ass of a time trying to figure out routing for the fuel lines that I was happy with until I bumped into Steadfast at Treasure Island Cars & Coffee a couple of months ago. Running the lines on the inside of the tunnel was leaving me feeling a little unhappy for a number of reason. After chatting with Steadfast a bit more, I found that I really liked his solution of running the fuel and brakelines along the PPF, which is exactly what I did. Drilled and tapped for M5 cap screws and P-clamps, the PPF makes for a pretty brilliant place to route fuel, brakes, and electrical that's nicely out of the way.     |
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Post by SeanW on Aug 4, 2016 20:27:35 GMT
The only issues that I ran into while replacing the gaskets in my donor's manifold and its exhaust was that two of the three studs on the manifold-to-exhaust flange came out and the third one, though it didn't come out of the flange, had some pretty well screwed up threads. I went through all kinds of head banging figuring out how to get that stud out, failing several times to actually extract that beast from the manifold. Then I found an impact-rated bolt/stud extractor on Amazon that reviewed well enough and was cheap enough to give a try. So glad that I did. Hooked up to my super cheap but super useful Harbor Freight electric impact gun it spun the stud out in less than five seconds of actual work. (Not all operations were necessarily performed in that order but you get the idea.) If you think you need a stud/bolt extractor, I highly recommend. Also, I was super suprised to find that Orchard Supply Hardware actually carries class 10.9 metric studs in exactly the size and pitch needed for the exhaust flange. For the sale of completelness I ran a tap through the holes in the flange to clean up the threads, squeezed a drop of red locktite on each of the studs and screwed them into place on the manifold, then put the whole thing back together on the car.     |
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Post by steadfast on Aug 5, 2016 2:17:20 GMT
You're giving that tap a good workout!
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