I haven’t had much time to work on the Exo lately. Last Sunday was Radwood and I’ve been trying to keep my life debt down(stuff you mean to do but don’t get around to - like cleaning). However, I did manage to get the new suspension bits put together last Saturday.
The new dampers are KYB AGX and the springs are Tein SKM44-AUB00 S.Tech. Hopefully the springs aren’t too soft. I figured I would start on the soft side and work my way up from there if I don’t like them. Spring rates are 235lbs/in (front) and 173lbs/in (rear). That sounds super soft, but this setup appears to be right in the middle of comfort street and autocross according to Exomotive’s recommendation.
You may also notice that I got the the Exomotive spacers put on to raise up the ride height. That fixes the issue with the lower front control arm having a bad angle and raises the car up a small amount.
The wheel spacers went on easy. I don’t love the idea of running 25mm spacers but without them, the rears will rub unless I get some 0 or negative offset wheels. I’m still undecided on wheels. The shop wheels on it are a somewhat beat set of Kosei K1's (I think +25mm). I kind of want to run Advanti Storm S1 wheels like I have on my Miata (but black) except they are +25mm. The spacers would effectively 0 them out. Unfortunately, that also adds unsprung weight (boo!). +0 6UL’s are the best option but it’ssomewhat costly. I guess it breaks down to: looks, weight, price; pick two.
So that brings us up to today. I finally got the seats test mounted. The previous builder welded a sloped mount on 1 inch steel tubing for the driver’s side. Unfortunately, it’s about 1 inch too narrow for my chosen seats. On the bright side, I felt like his mount was about an inch off for proper gas pedal position, so it should work out about right. If not, I’ll find out quickly.
The passenger side is a bigger challenge. It’s more narrow than the driver’s side (look at the gaps between trans tunnel and seat) and has a sloping floor. To get that seat mounted, I had to build my own bracket. It’s pretty rudimentary and involves some 1 inch square tube, 3 inch wide flat bar, some hardware, and lots of measuring.
And there it is. They aren’t bolted into the car yet. I was getting tired and you don’t don’t start drilling holes in your car when you’re tired.
