Awesome work, you're not wasting any time. I need to post up a thread for my exocet. This is good inspiration to get cracking on the build, for sure.
Awesome work, you're not wasting any time. I need to post up a thread for my exocet. This is good inspiration to get cracking on the build, for sure.
Looks like a party!
In reply to dr_strangeland :
do it! 
I drove it some more & was letting the Holley Terminator do it's self learning thing.
But my success was short lived. I had a leaking thermostat gasket. So I replaced it, then the water pump started leaking from the gasket to the block. So now I'm replacing that too. Thankfully the water pump is insanely easy to do in this chassis.
JahjahSQC said:I drove it some more & was letting the Holley Terminator do it's self learning thing.
Please do not rely on this "feature" or drive in anger on a Holley Wizard tune. The auto generated spark maps on the Holley software are piston deleters even without boost. The only thing the "self tuning" does is closed loop fuel correction to build an okay fuel map. This is a sweet build please get it tuned properly if you aren't confident on the laptop.
I would review your radiator mounting scheme. IMHO, you're looking for trouble with a hard mounted radiator through the end tanks. The radiator is hanging off the front (no kidding, Capt Obvious...) and all the bouncing force is getting directly applied to that 2"x3" welded interface on each side. There's a reason most OEM radiator mounting schemes use the bottom and top of the rads...
RacetruckRon said:JahjahSQC said:I drove it some more & was letting the Holley Terminator do it's self learning thing.
Please do not rely on this "feature" or drive in anger on a Holley Wizard tune. The auto generated spark maps on the Holley software are piston deleters even without boost. The only thing the "self tuning" does is closed loop fuel correction to build an okay fuel map. This is a sweet build please get it tuned properly if you aren't confident on the laptop.
Good to know. That was in the plan anyways, but I'll definitely move a tune towards the top of my list. I see a lot of people using remote tuners. I previously had an NC Miata, where remote tuners are a super popular solution. Are they any decent remote tuners for the Terminator?
rdcyclist said:I would review your radiator mounting scheme. IMHO, you're looking for trouble with a hard mounted radiator through the end tanks. The radiator is hanging off the front (no kidding, Capt Obvious...) and all the bouncing force is getting directly applied to that 2"x3" welded interface on each side. There's a reason most OEM radiator mounting schemes use the bottom and top of the rads...
Yeah I wasn't super excited about the mounting options of this big radiator. Between fitting the Exocet front nose/hood & the inlet/outlet on the same size this was the best I could come up. The front part of the Exocet chassis also has all the support towards the top.
I'll have to keep an eye on those welds. At least I had the fore site to have a professional weld the aluminum!
JahjahSQC said:RacetruckRon said:JahjahSQC said:I drove it some more & was letting the Holley Terminator do it's self learning thing.
Please do not rely on this "feature" or drive in anger on a Holley Wizard tune. The auto generated spark maps on the Holley software are piston deleters even without boost. The only thing the "self tuning" does is closed loop fuel correction to build an okay fuel map. This is a sweet build please get it tuned properly if you aren't confident on the laptop.
Good to know. That was in the plan anyways, but I'll definitely move a tune towards the top of my list. I see a lot of people using remote tuners. I previously had an NC Miata, where remote tuners are a super popular solution. Are they any decent remote tuners for the Terminator?
There's a few that are recommended pretty highly on the Terminator X Facebook groups. Do some searching around there otherwise Joe Simpson, Sloppy Mechanics and Devin Vanderhoof have some great YouTube videos on understanding the software and building out some basic tunes. If you ever wanted to start learning engine management the Holley is a very user friendly system to learn.
Its feels pretty wild to actually have this running & driving. I started the process of remote tuning the Holley Terminator through a company called Full Throttle Speed. I'm very happy so far. I'm about 4 revisions in & they are ready for some WOT pulls so I decided to pause the tuning for the moment & finish up some things on the car like seats & belts. I also installed the side panels. This eliminated almost all of the rocks being thrown into the car, but definiately not all.
I also had my helper assisting in making some of the circuits. I showed her how electrical circuits work on cars. We ran some wire for the tail lamps.
Tail lamps in, plate & light mounted.
I may have said this already but I feel like I'm a hundred 10 minute jobs from being ready to get this thing titled. Here is my very specific list of what's left.
Current to-do list:
Then I have 2 issues that might hold up the car from seeing the road or track anytime soon.
One of the front shocks has less than 1mm of clearance between it & the upper control arm. I'm thinking this will solve itself when I get the car actually aligned. As best as I can tell I have everything installed correctly.
I think the T-56 trans might have an issue. The entire drivetrain was purchased by the previous owner back in like 2017 from a junkyard. It is supposed to be fairly low mileage, but it has popped out of gear a time or two. Oddly enough, once the tune has gotten better the issue has mostly gone away. I'll continue to monitor, but I expect to have to remove the trans again in the future.
Have you changed the fluid in the trans since it was installed? I normally start with fresh fluid on goofy manual transmission issues.
In reply to JahjahSQC :
The radiator mounting concerns me as well
I would at least consider making the radiator the meat in a rubber bushing sandwhich. That should calm the vibrations a little.
this thing is rad
JahjahSQC said:One of the front shocks has less than 1mm of clearance between it & the upper control arm. I'm thinking this will solve itself when I get the car actually aligned. As best as I can tell I have everything installed correctly.
Do you want to post up a close up picture or 2 and what shocks, arms, etc you have on?
You can remove the springs and move the suspension through it's full travel to check for any dangerous contact - clearancing control arms isn't unheard of for miata shock clearance. That wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, but pictures would help tell the story a bit better if you're looking for help.
Great work!
accordionfolder said:JahjahSQC said:One of the front shocks has less than 1mm of clearance between it & the upper control arm. I'm thinking this will solve itself when I get the car actually aligned. As best as I can tell I have everything installed correctly.
Do you want to post up a close up picture or 2 and what shocks, arms, etc you have on?
You can remove the springs and move the suspension through it's full travel to check for any dangerous contact - clearancing control arms isn't unheard of for miata shock clearance. That wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, but pictures would help tell the story a bit better if you're looking for help.
Great work!
I'll get a pic & upload it tonight. I'm running NB arms with Vmaxx XXtreme track pack coilovers. Its definitely not a deal breaker, just not something I haven't really focused on yet since I'm making progress in other areas.
spandak said:In reply to JahjahSQC :
The radiator mounting concerns me as well
I would at least consider making the radiator the meat in a rubber bushing sandwhich. That should calm the vibrations a little.
this thing is rad
Thats a pretty good idea. I was also thinking about adding some kind of bracing at the bottom when I add an air dam/splitter once I have it legal
RacetruckRon said:Have you changed the fluid in the trans since it was installed? I normally start with fresh fluid on goofy manual transmission issues.
Yeah, it was empty when I got it so I added Valvoline Dextron3. The previous owner had found some apparent input shaft bearing issue & had it fixed.
The paint chipping on the control arm makes it looks really bad, but that is just where the previous owner rattle canned the arms & they flaked off during install. There is enough room for me to cleanly slide a piece of paper in between the shock & arm, but no more than that. Do I just need to bend back that lip on the upper arm? For what its worth, those are NA upper arms with NB lower arms & I think NB model specific shocks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1F0tNgjHmw
Its nice to have the Exocet on the ground again. All lights are working. I'm focused on getting it registered now. I had a quick chat with a local auto salvage inspector (same person who will inspect my car & give me a pass/fail). He told me I needed to add a horn & turn signals. So I'm mounting the hood/nose to mount the turn signals. I also installed the 9 Lives Racing end plates that I ordered.
The Exocet is ready for state inspection. I'm waiting on a response from a mobile inspector. Hopefully I can do that instead of towing this thing over to someone's shop. Once I have a license plate & insurance I'll finally be able to drive it out of my neighborhood for a much needed alignment as well as finish the tune.
I have a few things to do before the first track day or driving it in anger anywhere.
I'd like to do a track day this year & an autocross. If I can manager that, I'll be super happy. Winter project will probably be adding electric power steering & maybe a front wing/airdam.
Oil catch can: if your problem is oil in the intake, the fresh air oil separator from the ZL1 camaro solves that nice and easily. To fit it under my hood, I had to swap the valve covers left to right so the filler ended up on the left rear instead of the right front.
Are you happy with the remote tuning? Really fed up with my LS swap and need to get it tuned properly.
Keith Tanner said:Oil catch can: if your problem is oil in the intake, the fresh air oil separator from the ZL1 camaro solves that nice and easily. To fit it under my hood, I had to swap the valve covers left to right so the filler ended up on the left rear instead of the right front.
Oh very interesting! I'm going to look into that. I had purchased something similar that I was going to try to make work. I don't have any issues at the moment, but right now my valve covers are vented to the atmosphere so I was just going to rig up a simple catch can to vent them to.
Scotty Con Queso said:Are you happy with the remote tuning? Really fed up with my LS swap and need to get it tuned properly.
I'm super happy with it. I've done remote tuning before & this was the easiest yet. I have a Holley Terminator & I'm using Mead Motorsports. They are fast to respond & very reasonable with what they charge. https://www.facebook.com/MeadMotorsportsTuning
I'm on like the 4th revision & they need some WOT data logs, so I paused tuning till I could get the Exocet street legal.
In reply to JahjahSQC :
Good info thanks.
Yesterday I rented a U-haul truck&trailer to take the Exocet to the most difficult thing I've had to yet in this build. The state inspection.
I had 3 inspectors refuse to come do a private inspection because they "don't do kit cars." I then had another 2 refuse to do my inspection if I brought it to them for the same reason. I finally reached out to Bradley's Inspection in Gainesville, Ga who said "Oh yeah I think I've seen one of those before. No problem. Bring it on in & we'll take care of it." The whole process was painless & took about 15 minutes.
This was the last thing that I was really worried about because everyone's experience was different. With that done, all I have left to do is take all my paperwork & go to the DMV for a title & plate.
Bonus points for the friendly shop cat who thought my car was interesting enough to crawl over it.
Congrats on passing the inspection, that's a big deal. It can be a huge pain and near impossible in some states.
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