GRM Exclusive Reveal: Exocet Spec-A

Happy Thanksgiving guys!

And yes, some aftermarket coilovers are significantly shorter than OEM, and this limits droop travel. I just put some Teins on my street car, and assembled they were about an inch shorter than my stock HardS Bilsteins.

One of the design requirements for the Exocet was that you should be able to use your original shocks or cheap unthreaded replacements, and since the car is lighter, this meant the shock towers needed to be a little higher than on the Miata to avoid a "monster truck stance". The UK Exocet's shock towers are about 2.5" taller than stock, depending on the week it was produced.

Well, over here in the US, it has turned out that people are buying these to be performance machines rather than cute little go-karts to putt around your tiny British town in. People are willing to solve the ride height problem with new springs or threaded bodies. That said, there are still a number of people using the OEM-style coilovers, and the V-Maxxs work very well as-is, so it makes sense to keep the tophats where they are on the US-redesign.

For the guys that want to extract the last 5% of performance, race-oriented short-body shocks make sense, and these bolt-in tophat spacers will get the geometry right back to where it was in the Miata. There are few downsides to this solution. Those that want to save $700-2k can use oem shocks, and those that are willing to spend the money for extra go-fast can simply add a cheap bolt-in spacer to their new shocks. Its a win-win.

Pricing of the spacers is up to Kevin. I did my best to keep manufacturing costs low while making them very stiff, strong, and lightweight. They are their own check fixture and jig, so they fly together. I don't think he intends to make much profit off these, and I did the engineering work for free.

Is anyone having issues with the stock header flange hitting the steering shaft? I've got two 1.6 liter stock manifold (and the flange hits it on both) and also a cheapo 4-1 header from eBay that is also in the way. I can cut the flange some to make clearance but don't see how I can move the steering shaft to give more clearance.

Please post up a picture. This will sound funny but there are several different couplers from the shaft to the rack. On the NA 1.6 there was one with a cross bolt to lock it into the coupler and also one that used a clamp that did not pass through the groove on the shaft. The 1.8 rack is larger on the bottom of the coupler. Boss Frog uses an elongated coupler with their v8 kits. They also dimple the header for shaft clearance. Maybe the longer coupler would give you room to pass?

I'm not 100% sure, but a turbo should be a good way to fix this!

Photo - had to tweet it first as didn't have cable for my phone.

jjkarns wrote: Is anyone having issues with the stock header flange hitting the steering shaft? I've got two 1.6 liter stock manifold (and the flange hits it on both) and also a cheapo 4-1 header from eBay that is also in the way. I can cut the flange some to make clearance but don't see how I can move the steering shaft to give more clearance.

We had a clearance problem with the Raceland header on a '96.

We used a little MAPP gas torch and a 4lb hammer to get a little more clearance, denting the header tube just a bit.

Make sure that you fit the steering shaft with the rest of the assembly to see how much clearance you really need. It's not centered in the firewall hole on ours so we didn't need as much hammering as it looked like it would when we were just eyeballing it.

On the topic of steering mechanisms, does this piece get reused or skipped?

I have mine as far left going through the firewall hole as I can go. I also didn't reuse that piece you had in your post. Don't recall seeing it when doing the removal.

Extending the rack side of the coupler would solve this completely. Cut off the clamp with a band saw and the add in a 3/4" piece. Weld the clamp back onto the extension and you are good to go. It will move the u-joint 3/4" toward the frame and that will give you more than enough to make it past the exhaust still allowing for engine twist on the mounts.

The piece Jim shows sits between the steering column assembly and where it bolts to on the stock Miata dashboard support .... it should have come off with your steering column when you removed that from the Miata.

Warren, how many kits are you guys producing per month these days? Any more info on that windshield?

Meierznutz wrote: Extending the rack side of the coupler would solve this completely. Cut off the clamp with a band saw and the add in a 3/4" piece. Weld the clamp back onto the extension and you are good to go. It will move the u-joint 3/4" toward the frame and that will give you more than enough to make it past the exhaust still allowing for engine twist on the mounts.

If you're not an excellent welder, I would have the weld professionally done. Failure of the steering shaft will likely happen at the worst possible time. It is arguably what killed Ayrton Senna.

I absolutely agree! I do my own stunts but rarely my own welding ;-)

I reused piece pictured above & added 1" spacers lowering steering column and pod for a much cleaner fit. I actually built a square bracket as my spacer & integrated a nice attachment point up front for the pod to secure. This did require notching the firewall a bit. It also allowed me to get column toward center more as i moved drivers seat 2.5" inboard and passenger seat 1.5" inboard. This of course ment all new exhaust, but well worth it for a proper fit.

mrvwcastner wrote: I reused piece pictured above & added 1" spacers lowering steering column and pod for a much cleaner fit. I actually built a square bracket as my spacer & integrated a nice attachment point up front for the pod to secure. This did require notching the firewall a bit. It also allowed me to get column toward center more as i moved drivers seat 2.5" inboard and passenger seat 1.5" inboard. This of course ment all new exhaust, but well worth it for a proper fit.

I had the tunnel notched as well to move the drivers seat inboard and contain the seat inside the car.

jjkarns wrote:

mrvwcastner wrote: I reused piece pictured above & added 1" spacers lowering steering column and pod for a much cleaner fit. I actually built a square bracket as my spacer & integrated a nice attachment point up front for the pod to secure. This did require notching the firewall a bit. It also allowed me to get column toward center more as i moved drivers seat 2.5" inboard and passenger seat 1.5" inboard. This of course ment all new exhaust, but well worth it for a proper fit.

I had the tunnel notched as well to move the drivers seat inboard and contain the seat inside the car.

Did you do anything with the crotch belt attachment on the floor, as it is now probably way off center?

I remade all 3 belt points as well as the entire tunnel.

mrvwcastner wrote: I remade all 3 belt points as well as the entire tunnel.

Do you have pictures of the new setup?

not hosted on line, but i can text or email to you & you can post. I showed/measured today with another builder & I moved more like 3" plus.

Sean Castner 541-301-1966 mrvwcastner@yahoo.com

jjkarns wrote:

mrvwcastner wrote: I reused piece pictured above & added 1" spacers lowering steering column and pod for a much cleaner fit. I actually built a square bracket as my spacer & integrated a nice attachment point up front for the pod to secure. This did require notching the firewall a bit. It also allowed me to get column toward center more as i moved drivers seat 2.5" inboard and passenger seat 1.5" inboard. This of course ment all new exhaust, but well worth it for a proper fit.

I had the tunnel notched as well to move the drivers seat inboard and contain the seat inside the car.

The seat is mounted on 1" square tubes so I can safely loop the belt around it. Though - love the name "crotch" belt.

In reply to mrvwcastner:

Email sent. Thanks.

ashneyder Sent you many photos from my phone to your email. Let another local builder look it over and same for a potential builder (who also drove it). Sorry grant you can drive it next weekend I had to get the formula car out of the way & wire up my reverse lights in Exocet this morning (almost got the new roll bar sorted in the formula 440 today). I'll try to get up early & take to cars and coffee next saturday if anyone else wants to sit in or drive it.

Facebook group (join and post photos!): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1374932589468950/

http://vimeo.com/40900072

Be aware of your surroundings when driving these, the statement about being like a motorcycle on the street is true, people don't see small vehicles very well.

Fun fact: that video is how I found out about the original UK Exocet, as I recognized the gas station in Atlanta. That's Kevin in the video.

After driving something much smaller than an exocet for the first time I was tempted so mount a fine buggy whip flag on it to help people notice me. Really really scary how out of it some people are while driving