Love It Or Hate It - Another Exocet Build in Tampa
#184
I am now street legal in Florida. It was a very strange journey but it ended successfully.
I spent two weeks trying to get someone at the DMV in Tampa to call me back to set up an appointment to turn in my paperwork. I finally got in on Tuesday and they tried to register the car using the Exomotive VIN. That number was already used on a motorhome so they gave me a new FLA VIN and a temp tag to come back in today for the inspection. I pulled up for the inspection and they took my paperwork and disappeared. They then showed back up with about six guys from upstairs to show them the car and talk about the build. Never checked a thing. No turn signal checks, no parking brake check, no headlight check, absolutely nothing. They slapped a VIN sticker on the frame and sent me on my way. I have been stressing about the inspection for weeks and they didn't check a damn thing. I'm almost pissed that I didn't get to show them everything I did to be street legal. Oh well. Time to enjoy the ride now.
I'll be shaking the car down for a few hundred miles and then getting ready for my turbo install. This thing is a blast right now, I can't imagine what it's going to be like with another hundred or so HP.
I spent two weeks trying to get someone at the DMV in Tampa to call me back to set up an appointment to turn in my paperwork. I finally got in on Tuesday and they tried to register the car using the Exomotive VIN. That number was already used on a motorhome so they gave me a new FLA VIN and a temp tag to come back in today for the inspection. I pulled up for the inspection and they took my paperwork and disappeared. They then showed back up with about six guys from upstairs to show them the car and talk about the build. Never checked a thing. No turn signal checks, no parking brake check, no headlight check, absolutely nothing. They slapped a VIN sticker on the frame and sent me on my way. I have been stressing about the inspection for weeks and they didn't check a damn thing. I'm almost pissed that I didn't get to show them everything I did to be street legal. Oh well. Time to enjoy the ride now.
I'll be shaking the car down for a few hundred miles and then getting ready for my turbo install. This thing is a blast right now, I can't imagine what it's going to be like with another hundred or so HP.
#186
The wiring is crazy looking for sure. I just hooked everything up and dumped all the unused connections in the wiring tray instead of cutting them. There's a ton of unused leads and connectors that the Exocet doesn't need. Everything works perfectly and I still have everything labeled so I'm hoping things stay that way until I install the turbo. I'll be rewiring everything then. God help me.
#188
Here's a quick overview of how I got my short hub adapter for my NRG quick release to work with keeping the clock spring.
I ordered this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Steering-Wh...item284a33ca56
Instead of this:
Because I'm cheap.
The outside ring will need to be milled/cut down about 3/8" so that it doesn't rub on the clock spring. That's the issue that most of the guys that have tried to install these run into. If that outer ring isn't cut down it will never work and you will have to remove the clock spring. This is after milling down the outer ring:
You will also need to destroy the clock spring connector on the front of the clock spring so that it fits inside the hub. Once you cut everything off you are left with just the leads. The copper connectors on the left are for the airbag. The four steel prongs are for the horn. Only the very left prong is going to the horn. The other three are dead and go nowhere. I used a connector that slid right over the first two prongs and it fit perfectly.
Then snake the connector through the hub and connect to the NRG quick release hub and connect the ground
The real trick to make this work with the clock spring is shaving off the outer ring so it's not dead headed on the clock spring when you tighten down the wheel. Everything else is pretty straightforward. This is for a 1999 so other models might be different.
I ordered this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Steering-Wh...item284a33ca56
Instead of this:
https://www.amazon.com/NRG-SRK-160H-Steering-Adapater-Prot%C3%A9g%C3%A9/dp/B00HKM5X8A/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=NRG+SRK-160H+Steering+Wheel+Short+Hub+Adapater+For+Mazda+RX-7%2C+RX-8%2C+626%2C+Miata%2C&qid=1554384723&s=automotive&sr=1-1-fkmrnull
Because I'm cheap.
The outside ring will need to be milled/cut down about 3/8" so that it doesn't rub on the clock spring. That's the issue that most of the guys that have tried to install these run into. If that outer ring isn't cut down it will never work and you will have to remove the clock spring. This is after milling down the outer ring:
You will also need to destroy the clock spring connector on the front of the clock spring so that it fits inside the hub. Once you cut everything off you are left with just the leads. The copper connectors on the left are for the airbag. The four steel prongs are for the horn. Only the very left prong is going to the horn. The other three are dead and go nowhere. I used a connector that slid right over the first two prongs and it fit perfectly.
Then snake the connector through the hub and connect to the NRG quick release hub and connect the ground
The real trick to make this work with the clock spring is shaving off the outer ring so it's not dead headed on the clock spring when you tighten down the wheel. Everything else is pretty straightforward. This is for a 1999 so other models might be different.
#199
Changed out my big DOT dominators with something more stylish. Fab’d up some mounts on the CNC at work. 10 degrees of angle works perfect for my mount location. One of the LED’s inside the lights took a **** so I’m running without the inside blue light for now. The projectors are a huge upgrade compared to the Dominators. No low beam cut off but I rarely drive at night so they are aimed so that I'm not blinding people. Pretty happy for now. I’ll be replacing the blue lights inside the halo soon to make it complete.
Last edited by Garman; 07-10-2019 at 03:55 PM.