Front & Rear Bulkheads
Tools Required
Rivet Gun
Drill
3/16th drill bit for rivets
4 quick-style clamps
Cheap brush or rag for wiping metal shavings
Optional: Rivet Gun Conversion for Reversible Drills
Parts Needed
Exocet Chassis
Aluminum bulkhead panels (2 front, 2 rear)
Rivets
Sealant (RTV or Silicone)
Time to flip the car back right-side-up. You’ll want to attach the car’s forward aluminum bulkheads before you marry the Exocet frame with the Miata. Here’s what they look like:
And here’s how they sit on the Exocet (in blue now):
Optional Step: Scuff up the aluminum with some 120-220 grit sandpaper to give it some scratch-resistance. A belt sander makes this easy, and it looks great. Here’re some panels after a month of hard use:
Test fit the panels, trim the aluminum if you need to, and then lightly hold them in place with a few quick-clamps. The passenger side panel is designed to be compressed a little and then pop into place. Notice the laser-cut holes? Remember the floors? Same drill (hah). Once you’re done drilling those holes, pull them off to clean the swarf, or you’ll get little scratchy noises down the road (hah again).
Once you have the holes done, you can choose how you’re going to finish the panels. They should be small enough for a local powdercoater, you could scuff them up yourself in a pleasing pattern, rattle-can them, have them anodized, sand and polish them, wrap them in vinyl, or just leave them bare. It’s up to you. Minor scratches, scuffs, and marks from our sheet metal provider are the norm.
Optional step: A thin bead of sealant between the frame and floors will help prevent rattles in the long run. RTV or silicone is the best choice. Be sure to wipe off any excess immediately.
Once you have cleaned the shavings out and applied your optional sealant, place the panels back in position and install the rivets or screws. Screw caps are available at any home improvement store and are a nice touch if you use screws. They are the black caps visible in the picture below.
The transmission was designed to accommodate builder-elective edge trim at the front to absorb vibrations in the cleanest street builds. Without the edge trim (most builds), it should be positioned with a small (1/16″) gap at the front top (where it hits the aluminum bulkhead panels). It should not be positioned based on the floor tubes, as that joint is made to line up on those builds with edge trim. This gap at the front will eliminate squeaks and vibrations. If more rigidity is desired in the tunnel, there are pre-lasered holes on the front of the transmission cover for rivets or other fasteners. These will connect to the “ears” on the bulkhead panels.
Optional: If you want to keep your floors scratch-free, you can install skateboard grip tape.
Pre-cut adhesive backed versions are not yet available for sale, but feel free to use the templates below to cut your own. Each shape has multiple pages, as the shapes are bigger than 8.5″ x 11″. Print out all pages, then line up the shapes visually, using the positioning circles and rectangles on the inside. For each pattern cut out grip tape both forwards and backwards, as the pattern is not symmetric itself.
Exocet-GripTape-Floor
Exocet-GripTape-Kick
Exocet-GripTape-Driver
Exocet-GripTape-Passenger
