Todd's new S2000

[Toddxxx]

Track day next Wednesday and of course I've left everything to the last minute in true Todd fashion.
List of jobs that need doing

-Engine comp and leak down tests
-AP2 valve retainers/cotters fitted
-Valve adjustment
-Sump off and cleaned
-Moroso sump baffle welded in
-Buy fitting to replace pcv for catch can
-Buy new tubing for catch can
-Drill holes in top of catch can to vent
-Space bonnet and remove rubber strip
-New voltex wing holes drilled into boot lid
-ASM duckbill sprayed and fitted to boot lid
-Make hood prop
-Tpms fitted to ce28n
-Alignment (uk spec?)
-Oil filter and oil change
-Check over suspension bolts/tighten etc

Yep it's going to be a busy week

[Shakeel]

Good luck Todd. Alex and myself will be there next Wednesday too

[Toddxxx]

Good luck Todd. Alex and myself will be there next Wednesday too

He was telling me the other day. Should be good to have 4 s2000s out there racing

[eskimo_firefighter]

[Toddxxx]

most certainly peter!

btw im looking to get down to winton sometime this year

[Toddxxx]

With the upcoming track day I figured it would be the perfect time to get a few little jobs done so I took the car down to street class racing for them to do their thing.

First up were compression and and leak down tests. Turns out my motor is extremely healthy with 235-240psi across all 4 cylinders.
With the motors health checked and cleared we moved forward with installing the AP2 cotters and retainers. Upon removing the AP1 (?) retainers no cracks were found so either the engines been looked after its whole life or they've already been changed out? Either way I know myself it's been done now so one less thing to worry about.
Valve adjustment was done afterwards but everything was pretty good to begin with so its good to know that after 4 track days the stock motor hasn't missed a beat and is still running as it's designed to.

The stock sump then came off and was cleaned before the Moroso baffle was welded in. Took advantage and got the oil and oil filter changed as well.

The car got one final check over and was given back to me and off to the tyre shop we went. I had the tpms installed into the ce28n and actually got an alignment before a track day for once!
-2.1 camber front
-2.3 camber rear
max caster front (6.1 degrees)
and unfortunately the first place messed up my toe specs so ill be getting that fixed last minute tomorrow.

final adjustment specs will be
-2.1 camber front
-2.3 camber rear
max caster front (6.1 degrees)
1mm toe in each side (2mm toe in total)



Took the car home and parked it to finish off a few smaller jobs myself. Mainly re doing my oil catch can and mounting the duckbill spoiler to my boot lid with the voltex wing.
Got bored at work and finally fabbed up a block off plate to replace the last part of my air pump delete.
Beats paying $50 for one shipped from the states and took only 10 mins





With all this done its now time to go racing!

[Apu]

Going for the JDMYard track day tomorrow? Look forward to seeing this there!

I'll be in the MX5 as my Integra isn't finished yet...needed to fab some flanges for the exhaust. Delays delays...

[plAythiNG]

See u there bryan. Several of us citr guysbare going down!

[Toddxxx]

Going for the JDMYard track day tomorrow? Look forward to seeing this there!

I'll be in the MX5 as my Integra isn't finished yet...needed to fab some flanges for the exhaust. Delays delays...

Yep I'll be there man. I'll be sure to say hi.

See u there bryan. Several of us citr guysbare going down!

You mean cs2k?

[Apu]

Excellent! Looking forward to it...will be towing the MX5 down, so you're all likely to pass me along the way!

[kcl69]

Woohoo! Good luck todxxx!

[Toddxxx]

Woohoo! Good luck todxxx!

thanks man

[Toddxxx]

01/04/15 - JDMYARD WAKEFIELD TRACK DAY

Track day number 5 for myself and the S2000. Again it was another day held by jdmyard at Wakefield.
The morning started off cold and patchy rain and heavy fog made the trip down a bit of a second guess. However 10mins out of Goulburn the sky cleared up and the day turned out to be quite a nice sunny/cloudy day.

With all the prep done to the car the week leading into the track day and the upgrade to the 17 inch wheels i was very excited to get out there and see how the car performed.
Immediately the difference was quite noticeable. Turn in had greatly improved, the amount of grip available had increased 10 fold and corner speeds were way up from previous track days on the 16s. The car didnt feel as erratic as it did on the 16s either which was great. I was worried that going to the square set up without a front sway bar upgrade would hinder me but in actual fact the car felt great and i have no complaints.
Coming back in from my first morning session to just feel the car and set it up yielded a best lap of 1:11.5. Not a PB but i wasn't really pushing hard and hadn't set up the tyre pressures pr anything yet.
Upon getting back to the pits and opening the bonnet i noticed that there was a bit of oil spray on the valve cover and underside of the bonnet. My oil cap had come off. Luckily it was still in the engine bay stuck on my intake manifold. I cleaned up the oil and let the car cool down for a bit to check the oil level. All was well so i headed back out there and made sure my oil cap was super tight this time.

Played around a bit with tyre pressures on this track day again. I started at 38 hot like i had the old set of RS3. With the smaller sidewall of my current RS3 they didnt like the high pressure so i dropped them to around 33/34 hot and they seemed to like this range a lot better. I was told that this is still a little high and to drop them to 32 hot to get the most out of them so ill try this next track day.

I also spent the day practicing my heel toe technique and got a lot better at it. I could heel toe at lower speeds previously but as i pushed harder and got faster i focused more on braking and steering the car and the heel toe suffered so im happy that im now getting it all mixed together.

Throughout the day my times were consistently lower than previous track days. The day saw 9 1:10 and 11 low 1:11 lap times so my average lap time has dropped by about a second with the increase of tyre size. The tyres however are near the wear indicators so they are nowhere near performing at their optimum so its good to know that there's still lots left in the car once a new set is put on.

One cause of concern is the constant shudder/shake/vibration throughout the car. I had the same issue two track days ago but it had gone away. I dont notice it at low speeds so driving around normally but as soon as i got on the freeway down to Goulburn and hit 110km/h i could feel it a bit and once at the track it became very pronounced. Especially down the straight and hitting 170km/h.
Hopefully over the Easter break i can diagnose the problem and fix it.
At the moment im thinking it could be one of the following

-wheels not balanced
-warped rotors
-rotors not fitted properly to the hubs
-wheels not seated properly
-driveshafts pitted (im running spacers so i dont think so)

Now onto the important stuff. Yes i PB'd on the day
As stated above i did 9 laps in the 1:10 bracket with the fastest being 1:10.51. Even the fastest lap wasn't the cleanest so i definitely think there's a low 1:10 in the car with the current tyres. Every time i put together a very clean first half of the track id mess up the second half or hit traffic or something. Unfortunately my go pro for some reason didnt save any of my afternoon sessions so no video of the fastest lap. I have linked below another 1:10 lap though. Similar laps except i was a bit sloppy going up and across the top of the hill so i lost some time there.

As usual though nothing broke and i was able to drive home after PBing so it was a great day

PROS
-much better turn in grip
-square set up wasn't that bad. Quite balanced
-new PB
-improved heel toe technique
-9 laps in the 1:10s. Another 11 in low 1.11s so my average time has dropped

CONS
-persistent vibration/shake throughout car
-tyre tread is close to wear indicator so on their way out. Maybe one more track day
-learn to be harder on the brakes
-oils temps got to 120s quickly in 26 degree heat
-go pro corrupted in afternoon
-oil cap blew off

MENTAL NOTES
-remember to tighten oil cap! Haha
-smaller sidewall on 245/40 RS3 likes lower PSI. 34 was sweet


Video of 1:10.79 lap time
watch in HD

[Toddxxx]

some pics from the day



A favourite pic of mine. Wish it was high res though and not just taken on my phone. Might see how it goes when i blow it up and maybe put it on a canvas to hang up on the wall.



My first proper on track pic!



Great shot by Jono. In this picture you can see the combo of the ASM duckbill and Voltex gt wing. I need to take some finished pics of this when i get some time.
Also the car needs a rear diffuser to finish off the rear end.

[Apu]

Well done Todd, and nice meeting you.

I was discussing oil temps with the other MX5 owner - he has a similar set up to me and has the same oil cooler located in the same place. He was getting 125 and I was getting 115 (120 if I pushed). Both our cars are turboed though.

Do you have an oil cooler in yours?

Bryan