Meierznutz

I would love to post pics, but since I don't have the chassis here yet its kind of useless. I expect it to be on the garage floor between the first week of April and the first week of May....if everything goes right at Exomotive that is.
So far I have a couple pictures of the gauges, the painted lower control arms and the 69 Trans Am tail lights...

Meierznutz

LCA's here

Meierznutz

I nailed down a BF front subframe from a member here so it should be inbound soon. I save a few bucks from BF's price (Thanks again Brandon!) but the real savings is the fact that I don't need a specialty oil pan. The BF kit allows use of the stock F-body oil pan and pick up. The subframe is actually about 1/4 inch below the bottom of the pan and since the center of the pan is between the wheels it stays protected when going over speed bumps ect.
My Wilwoods arrived today (4 piston kit, again a good deal and fast action when the add got posted, saved big bucks). Unfortunately my son didn't answer the door when the mail man tried to drop off so I have to chase the package now....uuugh!
Next item on the hit parade is the MSD Atomic Ignition.... have a friend that is a distributer so I am seeing if he can save me a few bucks on that.
After this I need to deliver Nadine to her new owner, pay off the chassis and then use the leftovers for the FM exhaust and the rest of the driveline (driveshaft/half shafts/mount/trans cross member). Oh yeah....that's the other thing I learned this week! V8R has a new trans cross member for the v8 Exo.... theyare only selling through FM and Exomotive so if you are doing one of these, add that to your source list ;-)

.boB

I plan to use the BF subframe, for exactly the same reason. I can add baffles to the F body oil pan and save about $600. When you get the sub frame, I sure would like to see some mock up photos.

Which Wilwood kit did you get? Again, I also plan to use Wilwoods; I vacillate between 4 and 6 pistons. I expect it's a pretty straight forward install. But if there's anything unusual, I'd appreciate a heads up.

Nice to hear about the new cross member. I had planned to fab my own. Depending on the cost and complexity, I may still fab my own.

What do you plan on doing for the exhaust? I have a lot of thoughts on that, but without the chassis sitting in front of me, it's impossible to truly decide on anything. I would like to use side pipes, like a '65 Cobra. But I'm not sure there's enough room behind the front tire for a 2.5" pipe. I'll be using a 275/35-15 Hoosier tire - pretty wide.

Long tube headers will make a little more power than short tubes. But the difference is small, maybe not enough to make the hassle and cost of long tubes worth it. At the moment, my favorite choice is the BBK shorties, because they exit high up on the block.

I don't like the FM long tubes because of the huge cut out in one primary for the steering shaft. I'd like to move the steering shaft outboard a couple of inches to make more room for the header pipes. But, again, without the chassis in front of me it's hard to plan that. And, the FM headers are pretty expensive.

If I can't fit side pipes, then the exhaust has to go down the center of the car, next to the transmission. Looking at the pictures, there's plenty of room for that on the left side, but it doesn't appear to be much room on the right side. What do you plan to do about that?

Meierznutz

I did not use side pipes on Nadine due to the drone factor... I can't hear out of the right ear as it is and didn't want to be deaf from my own exhaust. Think about it, the exits will be right in front of the rear tire and that is directly below your head.
I am using the FM exhaust complete from headers to tails as well as their rear diff mount and driveshaft kit. It will clear the exhaust better than the BF mount did, the smaller rear diff is an added bonus.
The Wilwood kit I picked up was from a guy who was building a car but life got in the way. These are the 4 piston units and I have to say that with them on Nadine, I never had an issue slowing the car smoothly and predictably. No reason it should be any different on a lighter car. Sure, 6 pistons are sexy...but these work.
Heard back from FM today on the trans cross member... I wont dish on the price quoted as they say it is still in development and very close to production.... but the price is very reasonable indeed!
Pics when I have hard parts on hand

.boB

I hear ya, even though you didn't shout. My current race car is a Cobra replica, with side pipes. I wanted to carry over some of the flavor of the Cobra to the Exocet. Side pipes would really make the car, I think.

I looked at the FM exhaust system. I'm sure they could make me a set without cats. But do I really need to spend that much money on a stainless exhaust with a 50K mile warrenty for a track car? Probably not. I could probably get better bang for the buck somewhere else.

The practical (and cheap) part of my brain tells me to use the 4 piston calipers and save some dough. But the racer in my heart keeps yelling, "Bigger!". For balance, I'll probably use the 4 pistons. I can upgrade later if I think I really need it.

FM used their Little Big brake kit on their car, and they say it's the bee's knees. That kit uses 4 piston calipers and stock rotors. But their car is a 4cyl.

Meierznutz

Tracking number received from Brandon today. My BF subframe is inbound! Brandon was nice enough to call me rather than just text or email. I wish I had a few more minutes to chat with him but I was late to pick my son up from choir practice.
No real news to report on the car as I am still in hurry-up-and-wait mode for the new chassis. No hard feelings with Exomotive, its just hard to watch the clock for an hour never mind 16 weeks!

tbone heller

I am not too far from them if you would like for me to go by there & slap them around a little.

tbone heller

Meierznutz

Thank you for the offer but I am trying to be patient.... Besides you could get me the NASCAR penalty.... End of the longest line!

.boB

You realize, of course, that if there are no pictures, it didn't happen.

Meierznutz

Do you want a screen shot of the FedEx tracking or the trucks they use? LOL!

charchri4

I've been holding off mentioning it but it’s true. It’s really hard to live vicariously through you with the painful lack of photos in this thread! And you to Bob! Although the Cobra video makes up for a lot...

PS I've also been meaning to tell you your comments in post #5 of this thread are framed in my garage... Dare to be different and well said!

Meierznutz

WOW! Tough crowd.... what can I do without the chassis?
I will post some pics of the painted rear diff if it makes you happy????

At least I know you folks still read this little blog. Thank you for that. It have a hard time keeping motivated right now as I am so limited to what I can do. The chassis is kind of a really important part to have to build the car. Once that arrives I will be begging the MODS for band width to host all the pictures!

charchri4

LOL OK you make a great point!

Just so you know there is a better way to post up photos though than using this site. Check out this post:
https://www.v8miata.net/build-thread...age3/#post8223

Meierznutz

Received the BF front subframe today. Brandon went all out packaging it for me creating a crate that would hold off damage from a Bomb Blast! Yes... "It's a Major Award!"

Meierznutz

When its 3 am and I cant sleep, what do I do? Assemble shocks and finish painting the diff.....

charchri4

LOL I've done that! Acutally in the dead of winter it's usually racing sims but I've done my share of shop work at that time of night as well. I know you are in for a loooong day at work today...

Meierznutz

I think my calendar is broken....days aren't passing quick enough! I heard from another Exocet builder that his frame took 17 weeks to ship. I am sure it was a week to arrive. Time will be getting short in a hurry then.
In the mean time, I worked out how to mount my gauges in the stock cluster. I am not using the original dash printed circuit but will clip out what I need from the wiring harness to run the Speedhut Gauges. They shipped yesterday and should be here early next week.
To mount them I am having 2 sheets of stainless cut to the size of the face of the stock gauge pod. I am having a piece of perforated metal cut the same, and a 1/4" thick piece of aluminum cut to the outside dimension but with reliefs in it to add depth to the mount. The perforated metal will be powder coated black and the aluminum polished, the stainless will be brushed so looking at the pod you will have different textures surrounding the gauges themselves. Cheap, easy, and it should look great when done.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...pictures will be posted ;-(

.boB

I got a note from FM last week. Exocet's running about 4-5 weeks behind. I won't get mine until mid-end of May.

chpmnsws6

When did you order? I don't like bugging them. I ordered mine on New Years

Meierznutz

I don't want to bug them either but I sent them a payment 12/26 and the order was placed electronically. I have yet to receive a reply to an email since they confirmed receiving the deposit.
I am very understanding of production delays and know that weather down south played a factor here but SOME type of response is needed.

Meierznutz

Just heard back from Kevin at Exomotive.... good news is they are busy fabricating chassis at a rate of 2.5+/- per week. I have been assigned chassis number 70 and they are on #53 right now.....looks like another 8+ week wait. Kevin says that they are hiring fabricators to relieve the back log so it could be shorter. I am really hoping they can get it to me sooner but it is what it is. Glad to have communication at this point.

.boB

I ordered mine on 12/10/13, through Keith at FM. I don't know what my chassis number is.

Yikes, 8 more weeks? I think you ordered yours a couple of weeks before I did. So I probably have another 9-10 weeks. Oh, well. It gets here when it gets here. I have a lot of other stuff to do right now anyway.

Meierznutz

For those craving pictures.... I can't show you a frame I don't have but I can show you the gauges that arrived today.
The Left side will be the 4 gauge pod with water temp, oil psi, volts, and fuel level. Each has a warning light that can be preset to your liking.
The right side is the 0-160 speedo with a tach set to the side. It also has an LED for shift point and another for High Beam. The re are two others for turn signals. The screen at the bottom is for over all odo, trip odo, digital speed, top speed attained, 0-60 read out, 1/4 Mile elapsed time, altitude, compass, clock, and highest RPM. It runs off a GPS signal and is very accurate. The 4" size can be modded to fit a stock Miata cluster as I did on Nadine. These will be mounted in a stock cluster mount but closer together and without the other warning lights ect.
I also got the rear view mirrors with LED turn signals this week. I can't wait to start getting it all together!