Gary's Tampa Build Exocet #304

[garman]

Feb 5, 2019 20:29:41 GMT hammy3601 said:

WOW just WOW! This looks absolutely AMAZING mate!

Thanks!! I appreciate the love.

Even though I didn't get the engine running I did get the drivers seat mounted. Three bolts go directly into the frame and I used a bar of A2 tool steel for the cross member for the fourth bolt. It keeps the seat nice and low with the side mount so I can pass the broom stick test for racing. I'm using sliders because my wife really wants to attempt to drive the thing when it's done. We'll see. 

[garman]

It finally happened....

[garman]

Took my son as my copilot to record my first drive. A screaming 10 mph around my cul-de-sac.

[kevinm]

Wow! The color of the frame looks great. What did you get?

[garman]

Mar 7, 2019 17:01:55 GMT kevinm said:

Wow! The color of the frame looks great. What did you get?

Thanks! We chose Chameleon Sapphire Teal. 

Here's a video that Exomotive made when it came out of powdercoating:

[blacksweeper]

Congrats Gary, the car looks and sounds great. I started mine but the donor motor is making a load screeching sound. Thring to isolate the cause now. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see the car. Thanks Jerry

[garman]

Taillights are in!

[garman]

Since my taillights are LED I had to fix the hyperflash issue. I purchased this little kit from Amazon:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075F8H6J7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Only $11.99 and it works perfect.

[garman]

[garman]

My wiring tray is a disaster but when it's covered up no one is the wiser. I still need to mount the two outside panels but you get the idea. Eventually, I'll tackle the harness but right now I just want to drive it!

[garman]

I am now street legal in Florida. It was a very strange journey but it ended successfully.
I spent two weeks trying to get someone at the DMV in Tampa to call me back to set up an appointment to turn in my paperwork. I finally got in on Tuesday and they tried to register the car using the Exomotive VIN. That number was already used on a motorhome so they gave me a new FLA VIN and a temp tag to come back in today for the inspection. I pulled up for the inspection and they took my paperwork and disappeared. They then showed back up with about six guys from upstairs to show them the car and talk about the build. Never checked a thing. No turn signal checks, no parking brake check, no headlight check, absolutely nothing. They slapped a VIN sticker on the frame and sent me on my way. I have been stressing about the inspection for weeks and they didn't check a damn thing. I'm almost pissed that I didn't get to show them everything I did to be street legal. Oh well. Time to enjoy the ride now.

[garman]

Here's a quick overview of how I got my short hub adapter for my NRG quick release to work with keeping the clock spring.

I ordered this: www.ebay.com/itm/Steering-Wh...item284a33ca56

Instead of this:
www.amazon.com/NRG-SRK-160H-Steering-Adapater-Prot%C3%A9g%C3%A9/dp/B00HKM5X8A/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=NRG+SRK-160H+Steering+Wheel+Short+Hub+Adapater+For+Mazda+RX-7%2C+RX-8%2C+626%2C+Miata%2C&qid=1554384723&s=automotive&sr=1-1-fkmrnull www.amazon.com/NRG-SRK-160H-Steering-Adapater-Prot%C3%A9g%C3%A9/dp/B00HKM5X8A/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=NRG+SRK-160H+Steering+Wheel+Short+Hub+Adapater+For+Mazda+RX-7%2C+RX-8%2C+626%2C+Miata%2C&qid=1554384723&s=automotive&sr=1-1-fkmrnull

Because I'm cheap.

The outside ring will need to be milled/cut down about 3/8" so that it doesn't rub on the clock spring. That's the issue that most of the guys that have tried to install these run into. If that outer ring isn't cut down it will never work and you will have to remove the clock spring. This is after milling down the outer ring:



You will also need to destroy the clock spring connector on the front of the clock spring so that it fits inside the hub. Once you cut everything off you are left with just the leads. The copper connectors on the left are for the airbag. The four steel prongs are for the horn. Only the very left prong is going to the horn. The other three are dead and go nowhere. I used a connector that slid right over the first two prongs and it fit perfectly.



Then snake the connector through the hub and connect to the NRG quick release hub and connect the ground



The real trick to make this work with the clock spring is shaving off the outer ring so it's not dead headed on the clock spring when you tighten down the wheel. Everything else is pretty straightforward. This is for a 1999 so other models might be different.

[garman]

And an engine shot just for fun.

[garman]

And another for good measure:

[garman]

It's been a while but I upgraded my headlights this last weekend. Changed out my big DOT dominators with something more stylish. Fab’d up some mounts on the CNC at work. 10 degrees of angle works perfect for my mount location. One of the LED’s inside the lights took a shit so I’m running without the inside blue light for now. The projectors are a huge upgrade compared to the Dominators. No high beam cut off but I rarely drive at night so they are aimed so that I'm not blinding people. Pretty happy for now. I’ll be replacing the blue lights inside the halo soon to make it complete.