Joining the club

[dramsey68]

]Flying to NY, this Friday to pick up my new Nomad! It has 400 miles, I'm so thrilled.

[John Scherrer]

Looks great Doug, glad you finally got one .. !

Have fun ..

[dramsey68]

Looks great Doug, glad you finally got one .. !

Have fun ..

Once TMI confirmed they aren't making anymore for a while, my heart sank. Then this one popped up on a FB Ariel group. The owner had a change of priorities and needed to sell it.

My wife, surprised the hell out of me when I told her I need to act quickly and she said "If it's your dream car, get it." I was like "Who is this amazing person?" LOL.

The only thing it doesn't have that I really wanted is Ohlins vs. the JRI dampers. I would love to hear thoughts from anyone who's experienced both.

Regards,

Doug

[dramsey68]

I made a few mods that really make the Nomad more useful and improved the driving dynamics.

Larger diameter steering wheel
New seats
Luggage rack and Pelican Box
Removed spare wheel and jack ( saved over 100lbs, easily)
Added Brake Bias knob
New racing harnesses

I drove it home 8 hours and it was so comfortable and less twitchy with the larger steering wheel.

Changing to Ohlins soon (I believe I bought the last set from Ariel). Will report back.

[Strowrum]

Dramsey68

Congrats on the new Nomad - looks awesome.
I know I only just got my Nomad, but I've got a couple projects planned and I see you've already taken a few of them on. So I figured I would learn from you and hopefully make my life a little easier.

Seats: Which model of Cobra seats are those? and more importantly, how cool are they?
It hasn't been too hot for the few drives I've done but I get sweaty sitting on the hard plastic stock seats.

Luggage rack: any info/details would be appreciated on the rack and the case.

Steering wheel: Has this made a big difference? This wasn't something I had even considered but I had commented to a friend that the steering was a little twitchy. So defiantly worth looking into . Wheel looks like a Momo Ultra?

Phone mount: noticed the phone mount in one of the pics. can you provide any details/pics for this and is it powered?. I'm looking to add a few more electronics to the car and have looked at various electrical distribution systems. Leaning toward Fuzeblocks for a switched option. I want to add a backup camera, which will also require a screen. Radar detector is probably a good idea too.

Lastly, what have you wrapped around the frame tubes on the drivers side? Guessing to protect the paint and its a little softer on the ass when sitting when getting in and out. My left arm is getting a decent workout climbing in and out.

Sorry for the long winded message - I'm just a little excited now that I have the care.
Any info or additional pics you have on any of this would be greatly appreciated.
Keep safe and enjoy the ride.

[Maxnomad]

@Strowrum congrats on your car. Mine will arrive in a couple of months so I'm also interested in the upgrades you did. Could you provide some more details on the steering wheel.and the phone mount? Thanks a lot.

Max

[dramsey68]

I love my Nomad! PM me your number and we can talk a little bit too.

Seats - Cobra Suzuka Pro-Fit. You will need an adaptor and "shave" the body of the seat a little to fit. I know the guy who makes the adaptor. Huge difference in comfort and the seat position is tilted back a little. More evenly distributes weight and I drove it home 8 hours and super comfy. Minor issue - right foot got tired of pressing the throttle for 8 hours. Definitely, get the Purple Back Cushion gel pads for the seat and lumbar. You stick right under those two areas. Must have!

If you change seats to the Cobras and possibly others, the front 1/3 of the seat will be higher an you may want to install a taller shift knob like the Momo Race Aluminum shift knob in my Nomad.

Steering wheel - It's a Momo Ultra w/ SPA European Quick Release to OMP/Momo Wheel Adaptor. The original wheel is smaller in diameter and has a flat bottom. The Momo is a bit larger in diameter (more mechanical leverage over the front wheels=easier to turn in parking lots or low speeds, and the larger round wheel is much smoother.

Luggage rack - Waaay more useful than a full-size tire when you add somethng like a Pelican case. I put emergency tire repair kit, inflator, jump start tool, and a few other things. The rack is custom made by the same guy who makes the seat adaptor - $800.

Phone mount - it was installed when I bought the car and it wasn't wired to power. I'm may do this real soon, and I'm considering a different phone mount and relocation. Otherwise the mount is very good.

I will get you the name of the manufacturerer for the roll bar padding with velcro. I think it's NRG, but when I looked at their site, i didn't see it, but I didn't look too hard.

I took my Nomad to Mid-Ohio's 3-day Advanced High Performance Driving Course. It was so fun. Due to my SUV YokoGeos, most cars caught up with me in the corners, but on the straights I out accelerated, or at least kept up with most of the cars out there on the Open Track day w/ passing on the straights only.

Definitely PM me your numbers and I would love to chat with both of you!

[Maxnomad]

@dramsey68 thanks a lot for your help. I've send you a pm.

Kind regards
Max

[Mrlizard]

cracking looking nomad

[dramsey68]

Thanks for the compliment, mate!

The rollbar tube wraps are from NRS.

[dramsey68]

I didn't answer your question about how cool the seats are. They breathe really well and I didn't feel that the seats contributed to me feeling sweaty.

[dramsey68]

Added some spicy upgrades:
The last set of Ohlins dampers from Ariel UK
BD overhead lights 6"
Ultrahook

[dramsey68]

Forgot to add the Chill Out air scoop.

[dramsey68]

Added: Rigid Fog lights (light assembly cover off), a sexy pic of the supercharger and the new air filter.

[dramsey68]

Lights on! Stock candle light on right side, new blue led on left. Main lights are aftermarket leds as well.