Exocet V8 Extreme.

That's fair Keith. Flex lines definitely have larger radiuses, and calculating the length of the lines does take a bit of math / guess work. I suppose if you're competent enough to do hard lines, that would be ideal. I'm not above saying my skills lie in other areas, so I went with full length flex lines.

Can confirm that threshold braking can be a bit tricky in this car, but I would almost attribute that more to the parking lot surfaces we play on, around -3.5° camber in front, and a lack of a proportioning valve on my car, than I would to the lines themselves. That and I tend to come in as hot as possible, I don't lift until my nose hits that finish gate. There have been a couple pucker moments, for sure. =P

Not too much done this week.  But here are some teasers.

Clearanced the transmission to clear starter.

Finished wiring steering wheel controls.  Have an extra circuit, maybe high beam flash or horn..

Brakes about 90% sorted.  Trying to find a dual or quad sensor setup for feedback and tuning of non-power ABS.

Next... sort out locations for things like turbo, electric pumps, coolers etc..  

Turbo: Rear mount or Above Passenger's feet?  With my big rear end, ground clearance for two 2.25", or one 3" tricky..  

I need to get a heat gun.  All my shrink fits look like my old crack pipe.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Have you tried the "Steel It" products?   I am still one the fence, 2 part paint, powder, or rattle can..

In reply to te72 :

Yeah the seats are a pain.  My seats have plenty of room if I need to widen 1-2", but am hoping the slimfast kicks in.   Right now I can see the issue with height, as I may need to raise up a bit for elbow and visibility.

My seat mounts are about 5" back from norm which puts the sub harness just in front of the rear seat bar on frame.  The standard belts will be moved back 6-7".  The shoulders will probably need tabs welded to bolt on, to allow height adjustment if I ever decide to "Hans." 

bonjo2 said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Have you tried the "Steel It" products?   I am still one the fence, 2 part paint, powder, or rattle can..

I have not. I've used POR-15 on a frame, that worked pretty well. The nice thing about something like paint is that you can touch it up - especially important for a car that's liable to be a bit of a rolling science experiment. Powder is the show car solution, paint is the working car solution.

bonjo2 said:

In reply to te72 :

Yeah the seats are a pain.  My seats have plenty of room if I need to widen 1-2", but am hoping the slimfast kicks in.   Right now I can see the issue with height, as I may need to raise up a bit for elbow and visibility.

My seat mounts are about 5" back from norm which puts the sub harness just in front of the rear seat bar on frame.  The standard belts will be moved back 6-7".  The shoulders will probably need tabs welded to bolt on, to allow height adjustment if I ever decide to "Hans." 

 

 

 

Fortunately I'm only maybe 5'10" with helmet on, so I still have plenty of room to the top of the cage bars. I did set the passenger seat as low and far back as possible for the sake of my taller friends, who, I'm pleased to say, fit reasonably well, considering.

If I were to have an unpainted chassis in front of me to do it again, the sub belt tab would be welded on the next bar back, to get the buckle out of my inner thighs.

On the exhaust front, have you considered a transition to oval piping, off of the down pipe from the turbo? I was going to do that for my Supra when I planned on creating a flat floor.

te72 said:

 

Seat fitment... ugh. How Exomotive got this so wrong is beyond me. Two issues come immediately to mind. One, the cross rails are spaced for stock Miata seat rails. Have you ever seen one of these with stock seats? Likely not, because stock Miata seats are less than ideal for a Miata. You NEED a proper seat of some sort for an Exocet, full stop. Problem here is that the sliders they sell, as well as seemingly most seat brackets, won't cover the distance between those rails. So you have to make adapters. Just one more step that really should be done during production. Better yet, add a third cross rail so your seat can bolt up properly.

 

Seat mounting issue number two is a bit more bizarre. If you are able to get your seat to mount to the included tubes, your ribs are basically right on the outer "door" bar. Perhaps not a huge issue on an autocross car, but where there's traffic, I want a bit of space between the squishy bits and the bars... so my seats are mounted up and as close to the transmission tunnel as possible. This has the unfortunate side effect of making it difficult to adjust harnesses.

 

Speaking of harnesses, would be better if the sub belt mounting point was on the rear bar as opposed to the front. Being so close to where it mounts to has the side effect of leaving the sub belt's buckle sit between your thighs, not particularly comfortable.

 

Allllll that said? Once you get the thing sorted out in the slightest, you'll be having too much fun to really care about the hurdles you overcame to get there. On that note, to the OP, I suggest wearing brown pants. Even in BP form, at least in autocross situations, these things are a riot. You're crossing a full threshold of silliness here, and I fully support you in that pursuit. =)

Mount the seat to bars connected to the outside bars.

That way in a impact the seat will move with the side bars, rather than the side bars pinching into the seat.

In reply to te72 :

I'm still trying to sort out the location of the turbo.  I was hoping rear center like an f1 car, but may have to do it behind right front tire, like the Dusold Camaro (Pikes Peak).    I now regret not spending another $300 for smaller twins, as they are much easier to fit.

In reply to bentwrench :

Yeah.  It looks much safer than my previous sevens, esp with a carbon/kevlar seat, and huge gap of a trans tunnel.  I will more than likely add a bit more to side impact safety or raise seat to get my hips protected.  I do not want to shatter the old Elvis Pelvis and break any more ribs and human internals... Again.  6 months in wheelchair sucked!

finally buttoned up the transmission...  I had dropped and cracked the HIS accumulator (start stop thingy), so instead tapped the hole and plugged it.  Ran one more Valve body function test, and everything checks out OK.  Now to find the 10mm bolts to mount trans to motor

Not much happening.  Managed to sort out brakes using mostly off the shelf stuff, with a minor mod to rear brackets and small spacer/washer for fronts.  Took forever due to brake pad shortage, since Nov 22.

Motor placement pretty much set.  Planning to do the turbo like this on passenger side. 

Slow going since eye surgery and now having to do more physical therapy--from Nov 2021 accident in the seven.

At least the lawn Ferrari running.  

It's been some time due to health (2 minor surgeries) and work.  But am hopefully back in action.   I have everything needed to start assembly other than brake lines and aero/body (oh and a working left arm since shoulder surgery).

Updates.

- Dash, wiring and steering complete.  All buttons on column or center console box.  All wiring sorted out in living room with trolling motor battery.

-  Clutch by wire made and will be on brake handle, using gm tps.  Launch is programed as brake and both shifters.  Button for line lock or clutch not yet figured out.  Worried--HTG tuning went tits up and no longer supporting their gearbox controller.  So, I need to be careful not to mess with closed loop unless i am sure I will revert back to open loop when feels driveable and not "perfect."   I cannot afford another controller, so if this fails, a TKX would be cheaper, and allow for my initial vision of a rear mount turbo, given room for a 3" exhaust.  No room with 8hp70.

- Everything steel has been thoroughly oshpo'd and washed.  Now to final sand by section, apply epoxy primer and get on with messing with alu sheet and fiberglass/carbon stuff.   I think I can trim off about 3lbs after everything sorted out.  Extended frame is 18lbs heavier, front subframe is 9lbs heavier, and rear is 8lbs heavier.  Add turbo, huge ass transmission, intercoolers, pumps etc.. and we're looking at a 2000-2200lb exocet..  Goal is 2000 with 400lbs downforce at 72 mph.  72 is just what some online calculator said when I was in phys/rehad after accident when I thought this whole thing up.

- Sorted out beefier front shocks that are close, but not quite the as high of rebound damping as the Custom Gaz.  I dropped spring rate a bit, but will wait until corner weighing and moving stuff around before determining if not responsive enough.

- Front swaybar, radiator, oil coolers, an front wing/bumper mount sorted out.  It's removable and adjustable 3" up/down/for/aft, with 1" up travel if hit curb and 0 down.  Front impact, after holes drilled roughly calculates at 4-7K LB  0 +/- 18deg, not counting 24-36" of 1/4" alu front wing mount..    Wing mount upt to 12K Lb 90 degrees down with 1/2"bolts.  Obviously the alu wing mounts will crush first.  The steel connecting rods and mount will be a point in future to lighten up.  As I doubt 90 lbs of coolers, fans, radiator, swaybar, and eventually front wing will require mounting more robust than the engine trans or rear dif.

In reply to bonjo2 :

In reply to bonjo2 

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In reply to MyMiatas :

i think it's a 9.25.  Its a GM unit from a 2019 SS camaro Auto (400miles) but shares a lot with bmw etc.  maybe getrag?

In reply to MyMiatas :

i think it's a 9.25.  Its a GM unit from a 2019 SS camaro Auto (400miles) but shares a lot with bmw etc.  maybe getrag?

In reply to singleslammer :

it was a guy on ebay, he picked up a very low mileage 750IL? flood car, trans was replaced but they took the mechatronics for the SSN.  Trans was $200 I picked up a super cheap M2 mechatronics $250 with a bad rev solinoid.  Solinoid on ebay $29, then a evil energy NPT plug for the stop and go accumulator BS.  tested on bench 100% go on mechatronics/valve body.  I took apart trans major pain, and there was no water/salt, 100 pure clean...  I rbought torque converter to friend and he flushed and we filled with liquimoli crazy zf trans fluid.  I sold my T56 Magnum for about 3K, after all bits sold, so pretty good for budget.  Less the 1300 GCU and wire harness.  HTG GCU the missing link and potential anchor to this project.

In reply to bonjo2 :

1 step colder plugs and swapped injectors from stock ls3 to 85lb Holley.  Crazy how stock stuff sells for so much... 

Stock LS3 intake, but I moved the MAP and IAT sensors and filled/smoothed out the inlet due to flow/tuning issues over 500 NA.  Probably not an issue with 6-8lbs boost.  Who knows?  Sure beats 1k for an intake manifold..