Todd's new S2000

[Toddxxx]

And a few more pics from Honda Nationals from therightwrong









Also booked in SMSP for monday so that'll be fun

[ptrann]

one of my fave s2000s now todd

[Toddxxx]

one of my fave s2000s now todd

thanks phillip

[Toddxxx]

A while ago I purchased a spoon rigid collar kit through Bede at Gaijin Garage along with my rear view mirror.

Before my track day at Winton my alignment guy mentioned that my alignments although close together tend to be a fair bit out after every track day. I'm putting this down to track day abuse but maybe this install will help a bit.

The idea behind the rigid collars is that the subframe bolt holes are a lot bigger than the bolts themselves allowing for play and ease of install. The rigid collars slide into the subframe holes and center the bolt allowing for almost zero play which centers the subframe properly and should hopefully stop it from moving around as much?

Explained here in this video

The kit comes with all the collars for the front and rear subframes (there's two sizes for specific bolt sizes), some copper grease and instructions. Although they're in Japanese the instructions help a lot with the pictures supplied so install is easy enough.



I started with the rear subframe, which is meant to be the harder of the two.
Basically support the subframe and drop the bolts out leaving about two inches room to slide the collar in. The larger side slides into the subframe and the smaller into the chassis. Apply a bit of grease on both sides to stop it from binding and once they're back in raise the subframe back up and position it back in place. This will take a bit of play as the subframe is so far out originally.





The rear subframe took me about an hour all up. I did find that removing these brake line brackets was essential as when dropped there was a lot of pull on them and I didn't want to damage them.



Front subframe is the same. Support and drop the bolts out. Install the collars the correct way with a bit of grease then raise back up and centre properly.
Now this is where I had an issue. Adjusting took forever and after 4 hours of trying I finally got it but not without lots of swearing and shouting haha
This was meant to be the easier of the two



I made it difficult trying to install by myself and with one proper jack so I definitely recommend this as a two person/two jack job just to help with adjusting the subframe once the collars are in place.

Already with street driving i have noticed that the car feels a lot smoother and bumps and joins in the road dont feel as harsh through the cabin.
I got my usual wheel alignment done this morning and am getting ready to head out to SMSP for this afternoons session so we will see how they perform there but so far so good.

[Toddxxx]

Okay I really need to get back on top of this thread as I've neglected it for a while now, just like my car lol.
First up, trackday #14



22/08/16 FORMULA COMPANY SMSP TRACK DAY

There's been no real rush to get this update written up but I finally got around to it.

Coming into this track day I was very excited and had high hopes. It has been a year since my last GP track day so since then the car has got faster and my driving us improved so realistically I was hoping to crack into the 1:49s which would mean dropping 2.5 seconds off my current PB. I was ready and pumped up however the weather gods had other plans ��

Checking the forecast for the week leading up to the track day it showed cloudy skies, sunshine, overcast, back to partly cloudy but never any rain so when I woke up on Monday morning and was met with a very bleak looking sky I was optimistic, then I checked the radar. Rain all afternoon. Great!

Still by midday there was still no rain so I again tried to stay optimistic and headed to the track. Literally as I pulled into the gates it started to rain. Why? why? why? The rain didn't let up for the remainder of the afternoon and this meant that this day at smsp became my first wet track day in 2.5 years (I guess my lucky streak had to come to an end at some point)

SESSION 1

Rain had been falling lightly up until this point so the track wasn't too wet just yet. Went out and was very cautious as it was my first time in the wet. Sliding here, there and everywhere for the whole session. Had a couple spins and was just driving too aggressively for the conditions I think. Still not a bad starting point.

2:30.22
2:33.06
2:23.78
2:26.02
2:26.62

SESSION 2

Decided I had no idea what I was doing in the wet so I got Nathan Antunes to hop in the car and give me some pointers. The rain also turned into a downpour in this session.
I did a couple laps my way and Nathan observed. He got me to smooth out my driving and changed my lines a bit. He also stressed the importance of throttle modulation in the wet along with your braking.

SESSION 3

Was keen to head out this session to try and better my times. The rain continued to fall very heavily and after completing half of my warm up lap the session was red flagged. A Porsche had ended up in the wall around the backside of the course. Driver was okay but his car was damaged so not the best day for him.

SESSION 4

First good session of the day really. The rain was still heavy but after following the tips from Antunes I was more confident in the car and was really improving my wet weather driving. The car still wanting to slide everywhere and it felt like I was forever fighting it to keep it on the track. Not sure if this is a S2000 thing or a RS3 thing.
Still I got some decent times and had definitely improved my driving from the first session.

2:25.30
2:24.63
2:21.56
2:23.18

SESSION 5

Another good session. My confidence was really growing and I was getting used to driving in the wet. Still a few sketchy moments where the car would get loose but I think I managed it well.
Was really trying to focus on my braking in this session and really smooth out that process. Obviously braking in the wet is completely different to braking in the dry!
One point of disappointment from this session was my last lap where i came onto the straight at the end of a fast lap and saw the checkered flag and for some reason I decided to pull into pit lane straight away instead of finishing the lap. Turns out I was 1.2 seconds up from my PB at that point ��

2:22.56
2:20.98
2:20.62
2:23.82

SESSION 6

Final session of the day. Probably my longest and most consistent session too. By this stage most guys had given up on the day and had left so only a couple cars went out. I used the extra space and got into it straight away putting down two back to back fastest laps. I was on a third fast lap when I spun at the hair pin as I was just pushing too hard
Regrouped and went on to do 4 more back to back laps under 2:25. Was happy with this and how my times had got better throughout the day.
Had one sketchy moment in this session right at the start on my warm up lap where I though I was going into the wall for sure! Can see that moment in the linked video.

2:20.49
2:20.40
Spin
2:23.18
2:24.71
2:21.24
2:20.76


PROS:
-New experience
-Did progress my driving skills
-Didn't bin it

CONS:
-Still experiencing brake shudder
-Rain! ��
-Pretty sketchy track day

[Toddxxx]

After that wet track day I developed an issue with what I think is the rear passenger side coilover.
Driving anywhere especially uneven road surfaces the car would produce this delightful noise...

So with this new discovery it was time to try and diagnose the issue.
I inspected the coilovers and made sure the top nuts were properly torqued; no issues there.
I pulled the coilovers out of the car and pulled them apart and cleaned them etc. After reinstalling the noise persisted.
I checked the bushings and all the arms for seized bushings and whatnot. Everything was fine there.
After exhausting everything i could myself at home i borrowed a set of stock shocks from a friend and threw them in. Drove around for an afternoon and not one noise.
After this i deduced that the issue/noise had to be from the coilovers.

I spoke to heasmans at WTAC about the issue and organised to get the car looked at once i got back from holidays. Fast forward 3 weeks and im back from japan and i decide to take the car out for a drive (BTW fullriver battery is amazing! The old odyssey battery struggled to start the car after a week of sitting and the fullriver after sitting for 3 weeks started the car first go perfectly!) Anyway i go to take the car for a drive and zero noise!?! Still a week later and a few drives to work and around and still no noise. Im a bit confused with all of this so im thinking ill still get the car looked at but im in no rush now.

If anyone with experience cares to chime in, do so

[Toddxxx]

Somewhere in between the coilover issue saga and WTAC I did a DIY job on some wing braces.

Before when you pushed on the wing it would flex and move side to side/front and back etc. This is due to its design with it being bolted together at 2 points (wing to stand and stand to base). There's flex in this design and it's not very stable and in theory if it's moving around like this with little force from my hands it'll probably be moving around on the track affecting AoA/downforce (not very important to a driver at my level as I won't notice this but hey I was bummed about the coilovers and everything helps right?)

A friend in Melbourne had done similar bracing so I got some info off him and headed to bunnings.
This is what you'll need to make the braces (note: my way requires a press)

2m 3.2mm stainless steel 7x7 construction tension wire
2x 4mm jaw to jaw stainless turnbuckles
4x M6x80mm stainless eyelet bolts (will need to cut down to size)
4x 3mm stainless wire thimbles
4x 3.2mm stainless swages

Total of the parts comes to $60 so it's a pretty cheap and easy DIY to undertake. I've actually made a few of these now for a couple friends cars and all have taken me about half an hour to complete.

Like I said this way will require a press to crimp the swage over the wire. If you don't have a press you can substitute the swages for the screw in type which crushes the screw against the wire to lock it in place. I have seen this style come loose before though.

Anyway, wing is now solid as! Any force applied to it i.e. pushing it actually rocks the car back and forth so these brace definitely work. Will I notice a difference? Probably not. Does it look sick? Hell yes!

Here's a pic of it completed at WTAC.

[Bluscreama]

Nice updates!
Weird how the noise all of a sudden has just gone lol..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Toddxxx]

Nice updates!
Weird how the noise all of a sudden has just gone lol..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah it's frustrating more than anything cause it has me in two minds.
Is the issue really fixed and gone?
Maybe it's an intermittent thing?
Maybe the issue is still there but the noise has gone?
Do I go and do track days again?
Do I get them looked at even though there's no noise anymore?
The list goes on

I just miss going to the track lol

[eskimo_firefighter]

Nice save early in that video Todd! These S2000's are way too sketchy in the wet!

[Toddxxx]

Nice save early in that video Todd! These S2000's are way too sketchy in the wet!

I'm not sure if it was the S2k or the RS3 but either way this track day was sketchy as! Not keen on trying it again haha

[Toddxxx]

If you read my last update you will have noticed I said I went to Japan. It was mad! Did some cool stuff, saw some cool things and most importantly I bought a total of one car part for the car haha (bit different to the last trip over there)

After 3 years my original Js Racing plaque showed a fair bit of wear and tear so I grabbed a new one straight form the source.




Upon returning I organised to have my hardtop rear window replaced by the guys over at BYP.

When I bought the hardtop the rear window had two little cracks in it (maybe 1cm in length) well over time those little cracks have developed into big cracks with one almost half the length of the window. It didn’t look nice, rattled around and let in water in heavy rain so it was time to replace it.

Pulling the old window and seal out turned out to be a nightmare. The previous owner had decided to double sided tape/silicone/sikaflex the window and seal in which was horrible to remove but 2 hours of scraping with a razor did the trick. The new lexan window was installed by a mobile glass guy so done properly and nice and neat.



The new window has a much lighter tint (purple hue as opposed to the old jet black), it makes seeing out of a lot easier and actually makes the interior brighter during the day which is nice. Glad to finally have this fixed

[Toddxxx]

And now a few pics from the recent CLUBITR BBQ event. Always good to catch up with everyone. Easily the best car club in aus!







Still no noise coming from the coilovers but i think the car is developing a wheel bearing issue so maybe this is what has been causing the issues all along? Something to look into another time.

[felixR]

Love it. So tough.

[Toddxxx]

Since I bought the mag blue ce28n I've never truly been sold on the colour. Well actually that's not true. I love the mag blue but I'm just not a massive fan of dark coloured wheels on light coloured cars.
I feel the rims get lost and just appear as black blobs in pictures and at low light times i.e. night time.

The decision to change the colour of the rims has been going around in my head for a while now. After adding the black hardtop and all the other carbon accents the wheels were really starting to bug me. I had other things to do first and the main goal with the car was to track so the rims took a back seat for a fair while.

Finally with the car on a bit of a hiatus for the past few months I took the time to finally 'fix' the rims.
Now it still wasn't straight forward. I was set on powder coating them but everyone was like "no don't get rid of the mag blue, it's the best" etc etc
That's when talk of halo efx came up and my mate Benji at just dip it had been working with it and said that doing the rims this way would have really good results.
At around the same cost as powder coating but with the option of being fully reversible I was sold. I would have the best if both worlds!

Fitting in some time with Benji took a couple weeks but finally we were able to get the wheels done.
I originally was wanting something very close to the offered ti silver colour from rays but ultimately just wanted silver rims. I dropped them off and picked the wheels up three days later just in time for jdmyards end of year Honda show off.

Here they are baking after applying the first layers of the halo paint



At first I was a bit bummed as the rims weren't the exact colour I was after and were darker than ti silver but once on the car they matched in really well with the body colour and the rim colour itself is quite unique and has really grown on me. What really matters is that I now have silver wheels! ��



To go with my new rims I ordered some new rays maintenance stickers for that fresh new look.



I only applied the 'rays engineering' spoke stickers as I've never really been a fan of the 'CE28' lip stickers.


And now here are some pics of the car with the new rims at the jdmyard meet. Super happy with the exterior look of the car now. Wingless looks good!