Lots of work ongoing but nothing too interesting.
Finished exhaust aside from final welding and, well, finishing.
Mounting the bike mufflers was a pretty big challenge. There's really no attractive way to mount them to the side of the body with any kind of rubber isolation (I also don't know how they're going to sound so didn't want to build a big mount right through the carbon panel if I might switch to a normal muffler someday). Also, to clear the fender they are probably 6-8 inches from the side of the car so, again, it wouldn't be pretty. I'm happy with the solution, though. It's a cantilevered mount with 4 silicone mounts. The inside pair are flipped one way and the ouside the other so that all the mounts are basically in compression. Then there's a stand off that the cans bolt to.
Next up was the parking brake. This sucked because I don't even want the damn thing, it's just for legality. Also, no matter how you do it it takes up a bunch of valuable real estate. A normal Miata pull handle would kill the tiny amount of center console space so instead I used an old school under-dash pull and twist handle but put it between the driver and passenger. That takes up a small amount of trunk space which I'm also trying to keep sacred but seemed like the right trade. Oh well, it works great and is out of the way. Still need to make a nice handle.
You can also see I've been busy with interior aluminum paneling. Going very well. Everything held together for now with #4 sheetmetal screws which leave a smaller hole than you need for a rivet so I can get it mostly assembled before painting and then go through and rivet everything. I think clecos have been usurped by the advent of the Li-Ion drill, no idea why I would monkey around with them when I can drill and shoot screws nearly instantaneously.
Alex