Bought a Miata Because Exocar

[Monochrome]

[quote=""Jeff V.""]This changes nothing,

It should have been you. I'm not dogging his car, but your attention to detail is far better than his.[/quote]

Really appreciate the compliments Jeff, but there's someone who trumps my build. The owners name is Richard Tomlin. The bought an uncoated race chassis then added his own mods to the frame to accept an LS3. The car was built for an endurance race last weekend in Mexico. Unfortunately, the motor put a rod thru the block but the lengths they went to for this build are phenomenal. Dual radiator setup, side exhaust, floor mounted pedals... I wish he did a build thread but unfortunately all I know about the car are from speaking to the owner personally on facebook.

[DCIV]

that hideous thing does not trump your build. Put it up to a vote, yours vs his and I bet you yours will win.


Coop

[mjannusch]

Yours is a much better build than either of those...

[tabasco122]

I can see where greg is coming from. There seems to be a ton more custom stuff on that build. Gregs attention to detail is better than either of those, but his is really just a very clean freshened up stock engine with an off the shelf turbo kit. Not that im knocking gregs build, but it looks like theres a lot more custom fabricated stuff on that other one. I would still rather gregs over it, but i can see why greg feels that the other one is a better build.

[stealthee]

That and Greg is like any other car enthusiast. He knows the flaws of his own car and will dog it and put others ahead of it in his own mind.

When I was still DDing the Stealth and it looked like complete shit I would still get compliments and I was like, don't you see what I see? LOL

[tabasco122]

[Monochrome]

So funny story... I ordered 15x8s rims. Never bothered to check this. Took it for granted they sent me the correct part.

Fast forward a year and a half, I'm over here trying to get measurements for my fenders and oddly can't seem to understand why the tire is bulging out 1' wider than the contact path of the tire. It also always seemed odd how close my fender mounts come to the rear tires... Figured it was some manufacturing defect from Exomotive.

Now for the punch line... Turns out, I actually had 15x9s this whole time and never noticed. My 205 wide tires are stretched to a 9" wide rim.... No wonder the handling is $hit in this thing.

Dug thru my payment history to find I did in fact order and pay for 15x8s. Looks like I got a deal!

So, 245 tires are on order...

[Jeff V.]

MOAR RUBBER

eelout:

[ChargerX3]

I love when mistakes work in your favor.

[Monochrome]

So this came in the mail today. Nothing important really.



With that trivial piece of metal also came this. It needs to get mounted on the firewall on the passenger side of the car.



So what's the most logical thing to do now that it's street legal?

You guessed it!!!!

Rip it back apart!




Why?

Well a few reasons. First off I sold my satin black parts to help recoup the costs I acquired over the last month.

This also gave me the opportunity to take care of some things that have been bothering me. Like the rusty stock bolts....





This color is Kingsport grey. Same color as the interior in my Exocet.

The other reason for tearing the car apart is this:




ARP extended wheel studs. 3/4" longer than stock and much stronger. I'm spacing the wheels out 20mm on each side for a wider wheel base. Installing these was quite an adventure. A costly one at that.

In 94, Mazda upgraded the rear hubs in the Miata. These take the same thread pitch/length studs but have a thicker base. So when you order ARPs you have to buy different ones than the front. (Will post the part numbers later)

Now this gets complicated when you replace the rear hubs... They're still 4x100 with a 54.1mm inner bore BUT they used smaller base studs. Meaning if you bought the proper rear studs, they won't press in and you have to drill out the holes to be slightly larger.

Had to buy a 14.5mm drill bit to get the hole to be the correct size.



Took an hour to drill one hole... Then the stud STILL wouldn't fit in. The problem was the hub being too close to the knuckle. When I tried to push it out, I destroyed the new bearing.... $90 out the window for that.

At least it gave me the opportunity to press in the studs the proper way, drill out the holes in a drill press and re-powder coat the knuckles to match the arms.

This is where I'm at.

[J-Groove]

OoOooOo, pretty pretty parts!

Looking great Greg!

[quote=""mjannusch""]Yours is a much better build than either of those...[/quote]

And this, this all day long.

-John

[Monochrome]

Came to work feeling tired this morning.

[ChargerX3]

[Monochrome]

Redoing the front arms now. Also the rear hubs.



This color is a huge mistake. My wrinkle black powder was in an unlabeled bag and I mixed it in with the Kingsport grey without realizing it till after the part was done curing in the oven.

What a surprise!!! Absolutely love it!




The front and rear hubs had a textured look to them anyway so now the arms match. Love winning with my mistakes!




With the APR studs and 20mm spacer I have 1" of stud left which coincidentally is exactly what I had on the stock setup. Meaning I'm better off with this than I was running the 5mm spacer on the stock studs.



Just waiting on the tires to be mounted and the fenders now. Unfortunately I found out the fenders won't be ready in time for Carlisle next weekend. So debating going fender less or rigging up the fiberglass ones to work.

[J-Groove]

It is all just so clean!

-John

[DCIV]

Can't wait to get my oven in my house that isn't built.


Coop

[Monochrome]

What a day! Tires were finally mounted yesterday and I gave the car a make shift alignment.





Turns out JNC 15x9s are not quite the same as the Holeshot 15x8s. Even with a 20mm spacer the rears touched the parking brake mechanism. Lucky I still had my 5mm spacers to push them out far enough.



This was yesterday. Today was my first legal street drive. Where did I go?

To work of course....



Then back to the inspection station to get my stickers. Turned into a 45 min drive because I stopped to fix a loose hood pin. Had all kinds of people come up and talk. Turns out there was a car show in Nottingham at the Hers Chip factory so I went there.

What a surprise! Hundreds of cars here! Mostly classics. I fit right in... No one noticed me...



Just kidding! Got a whole stack of invites to other shows and charity events!



Also finally got to meet the man who engineered, built and drives the Giant Super Chopper Cart!! Quite a machine! Great guy too. Found out he had been following my build and was excited to see the Exocet. Great guy, hope to see him at more events.



What a day! So... How is the car?

The FM coil overs are perfectly streetable. Handle bumps and pot holes with a lot more comfort than I was expecting. I may buy another set for the DD Miata because they are that good.

The 245mm Maxxis tires hold the power a LOT better than the 205mm NT01s and I think this just has to do with a street tire vs a true race tire. Race tires need heat to work... The rear still kicks sideways but it's a lot more controllable than before. I am also currently running around without a rear sway bar. Will put it back for the cars first Auto X event and see if I like it.

No PS on the tires is no more or less challenging than before. Car is still very streetable and easy to park.

Drove by 3 cops and none of them bothered me... I also wasn't giving them a reason to...

Also.... Wear a helmet if driving over 40mph.

Tomorrow I am meeting up with Kevin from Exomotive in Carlisle.

[Monochrome]

Been working so much that I haven't even driven the car since the last post. Weather was finally nice, no rain in sight. Went out for a random night cruise. Didn't even bring the helmet. Bugs and rocks in the face... No care. All smiles anyway.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGVcNQ0QodO/




In the video you can see the headlight projection but it doesn't do a very good job of showing you how well they actually work. They're better than the stock Miata headlights.

[J-Groove]

Looks like a beautiful drive.

-John

[ChargerX3]

Windscreen brah.