My S2000 Weekend/Track day warrior

[eskimo_firefighter]

I haven't found a replacement yet, I'd prefer an OEM one so it most likely will have to wait until Monday. I haven't done that yet and I probably will do that tonight when I get back home.

[mlracing]

It's not the same as B-Series but does share with some of the v6 options. If you'd like aftermarket options let me know, Mishimoto etc

[eskimo_firefighter]

It's not the same as B-Series but does share with some of the v6 options. If you'd like aftermarket options let me know, Mishimoto etc

Cheers, I ended up sourcing an OEM one from Honda.

[eskimo_firefighter]

You know it's a long update when the forum gives you the following error. TWO POST UPDATE.

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19/05/2018 - Cooling Issues

Continuation of the previous post with the cooling issues, I had to delay the tune of the car at this point as it seemed like the bottom hose never wanted to heat up, meaning there was some blockage in the cooling system somewhere. I had noticed that the temperatures were hovering around 90 degrees or more while cruising, so it would have little chance of surviving the dyno tune.

Possibilities of what I thought was happening.

1. Air pockets in the system – not sure why or how air pockets would develop in an enclosed cooling system with no issues leaks. But I re-bled the system a few times, with no success to fixing the issue. Top hose was still hot, bottom hose was cold and the heater would blow HOT air indicating that the system was flowing to some a certain extent.

2. If there are no airpockets in the system, it had to be the thermostat. The car having 155K KM on the odometer, this was a strong possibility. And according to the S2000 Helms manual. The thermostat should have opened partially at 76 degrees and fully open at 90 degrees. The current temps were higher than 90 degrees while cruising.



Went to a Honda dealership and purchased an OEM Honda thermostat. $82 with the gasket. Part number #19301-P8E-A10.

Begun removing the thermostat. Made a huge mess with missile spec coolant upon removing the drain plug.



This is the old thermostat, it seemed a little tired and corroded. This perhaps caused it to not open properly.



Just to confirm that it was the thermostat, I put it on the stove and observed the thermostat as the temperature was rising.


Confirmed it was indeed the thermostat! The valve didn’t open when it should have according to spec. The spring should compress and open up the thermostat to allow fluid through.
Installed the new thermostat, took it for a drive. Operating temperatures were now in the low 80 degrees, opposed to over 90 degrees! Success! Car is officially ready for the tune.

Bolt check on the night before the tune...
Ecstatic with the cooling system working. The night before the tune, I decided to do a spanner check on all the bolts. Found that the bolts on the supercharger pulley onto the crank pulley needed to be re-torqued, lucky for all the texta markings I had done on the install.

I found more bolts that needed to be re-torqued.. The charge pipe from the supercharger compressor. With this loose it would cause some serious boost leaks..



Tightened two bolts no worries, then on the 3rd one, it went SNAP! Highly likely boost leaks would occur with this.



It was 10PM and the tune was tomorrow, I decided to leave it and let the tuner look into removing the broken bolt.

18/05/2018 – Drive to the Tuner

Pretty nerve racking drive. The Haltech Elite with custom wiring harness was newly installed without much testing, it was a Monday morning with plenty of traffic, the tuner was over an hours drive to Seaford. So a breakdown now was not ideal to say the least.

Made it! Poured a full tank of 98 at a petrol station close by the shop. Just when the car is back on the road, petrol hits a new record of 170’ish for 98….



Choice of tuner – CMS Performance

Based off a few recommendations but mostly based on my experience with chatting to Shane over the phone. Even before any commitment of getting the tune done, Shane was willing to answer the millions of questions that I had in regards to his approach and what I should be doing to prepare for it. Based off on many conversations with tuners, Shane from CMS Performance was my preference despite the distance needed to travel.
From the get go, Shane had fixed my snapped bolt and replaced it with new high tensile bolts. It seems the bolt that was slotted into the bolt hole was too long for it and caused it to snap when I applied torque to it.



The S2000 strapped onto the dyno. TUNING BEGINS, finally!



This is going to get a bit wild. I will try to document this as best as I can. While the tune is happening, I am at work checking for updates on my phone… Haha.
Early into the tune a baseline run was completed with heap of timing had been pulled for safety, I am messaged that the supercharger is making around 170kw with 15.7PSI @ 8800RPM. Already at this point, I am already crapping myself here. As the HKS Supercharger kit should only be rated for 10PSI, running 16psi on this motor is possible of course, but probably not for long.



The OEM MAP sensor is only good for 1.5BAR/10PSI reading, the vacuum line was routed to the internal map sensor on the Haltech elite which is rated for 3.5BAR.

At this point the dyno map sensor + ECU is now both reading 16PSI.

Shane asked me if I'm cool with this boost. I said yeah, I guess so? Despite being massively confused with why it was showing 16psi opposed to the 10psi it was rated for. At this point I was worried that I was supplied with the incorrect pulley sizes or something funky was going on. Or that the internet lied about running 10psi as they are basing this boost pressure of the OEM map sensor that was only good for a 10psi reading?

More tuning ensues, boost pipe pops off. Ignition misfire occurs, due to the spark plug gap setting.

End of day 1 tuning.

Bonus meme image. Memes are good stress reliever.

[eskimo_firefighter]

Day 2 of tuning.

At this point we were already contemplating whether to continue running 16PSI as this is a standard F20c that I still want to somehow last for a while longer. The kit includes two sizes of plates to control boost levels with the charger, we are currently utlising the full 58mm diameter of the compressor to generate 16PSI.



We decide to look into installing the 37.5mm pansy as restrictor plate, so I dropped it off this morning.

Spark plugs were gapped to 0.8mm from 1.1mm. No more ignition misfire.

37.5mm restrictor plate installed.

Boost is now showing as 7.3PSI. Better, but we don't have enough boost now. We need more boost.


With that in mind, I gave him the go ahead to bore out the plate from 37.5mm to 45mm in effort to get the right amount of boost. I probably should have went up in smaller increments, but yolo?



With that done, another baseline run done. 12-13ish PSI @ 8800RPM. Better but a bit more than desired, no going back now, haha.

After a few more dyno pulls, Shane finds that were making shit power for the amount of boost were putting into the motor, 170kw @ 8800RPM with 12PSI. At this point, I am wondering whether my motor is cooked or not.

Shane deduces that VTEC is not engaging despite the ECU sending the signal to turn on VTC, but the VTEC solenoid isn’t engaging. After some troubleshooting it turns out that the custom harness provided by some other source has had the pins mismatched for the VTEC and Check engine light!!! Shane fixed the pin layout in the harness.

VTEC NOW WORKS, WOOO. BUT NOW THE BOOST IS SHOWING 8.2PSI, ARGHH.

So somehow, the lack of VTEC had showed an incorrect boost reading all this time. This means that the initial non restricted plate with the 58mm inlet that was showing 16psi initially should show 10PSI or so now with VTEC working. I give Shane the go ahead to swap the plate back over to the 58mm bracket.

P.S – I have no idea why the lack of VTEC affected the boost reading, there was an explanation but it went through my head.

58mm unrestricted boost plate reinstalled.
11.4 PSI! YES!

With boost readings finally correct, VTEC now working. Shane worked on the tune and the end result are as below.

Power (KW) X Torque (NM)


Power (KW) X PSI


Max Power 235.8KW @ 8700 RPM
Max Torque 266.5nm @ 7730 RPM

Ecstatic with the result. The graph is linear, power keeps increasing as revs increase. The car basically pulls until no end. It’s pretty amazing, I will do a better write up as we do a track day. As right now, hitting boost on the street is really asking for trouble. The car is faster than I had anticipated. Even on straight line acceleration, the rear end is quite squirmy so this will need to be rectified with alignment and suspension changes! This thing is going to be handful at the track, that is for certain.

Thanks Kev for the video!

We moved from 130KW ATW to 235.8KW ATW on 98 Octane……..

N/A Power modifcations at the time.
- Spoon N1 60MM

S/C POWERRRRRR
- HKS GT Supercharger Kit @ 11.4 PSI
- Injector Dynamics 1050x
- DW200 Fuel pump
- AEM FPR/Fuel Rail
- CLeib 70MM exhaust
- Haltech Elite 1500

Still even more to be made with E85! This will be done later down the line.

In addition to Shanes great tuning work, he quickly fabricated a nice bracket for the Elite ECU which is placed roughly where the standard location is.



Review of CMS Performance

Customer service from CMS Performance is excellent. Shane went through his tuning method, suggestions, explaining in great detail on what is what, which gave me great comfort to trust him with my car. I learned a great deal in the process. When the car was making a lot of FAKE boost, we were also fearing for my engines sake as a track car. He was willing to constantly swap out boost restriction plates and modify to get the FAKE(LOL) boost reading to the right level. The issues with VTEC not engaging was quickly resolved. While also tuning, he was giving me updates and taking all the screen captures I wanted for the blog.

The results do speak for itself, the car is wild now. Whilst making ample power, the car retains awesome drivability, decent fuel economy cruising as the wideband corrects AFR to lambda 1 (14.7 AFR) which helps for the long trips to the track.

It’s been a long time coming, but everything works as intended! The work and effort put into this build was definitely worth the end result. Would like to thank CMS performance once again for getting the car to this point.

After nearly 8 months off the track, the car is set to make its return in the very near future. I have honestly never been this excited to get back out there, it's like buying a new car and taking it to the track for the first time ever.

[plAythiNG]

awesome write up Peter!

cant wait to hear how it is at the track!

[kev89]

Can confirm the car is quick. 29’s out of the box or bust.

[chaumeh]

Very insightful and comprehensive Pete, thanks for sharing.

This part was the best haha.

Boost is now showing as 7.3PSI. Better, but now we don't have not enough boost now. We need more boost.

[Toddxxx]

Wtb: hks supercharger kit

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

[DJDOC]

Hi Pete,

Awesome build thread! Couldn't concentrate on work because i found this during working hours! LOL

Quick Q - Do you mind if you share the source of your Elite ECU Harness?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[eskimo_firefighter]

awesome write up Peter!

cant wait to hear how it is at the track!

Thanks Alex, another write up coming up regarding that. Have been a little busy to do a decent write up.

Can confirm the car is quick. 29’s out of the box or bust.

29's first time out with the setup. That would have been nice, haha. Baby steps for now.

Very insightful and comprehensive Pete, thanks for sharing.

This part was the best haha.

Thanks for reading my blabbering. Thanks for picking up my poor grammar. I have fixed this in the original post, haha. I was tired when doing that write up.

Wtb: hks supercharger kit

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk

It's good, but N/A + mad weight reduction is still best.

Hi Pete,

Awesome build thread! Couldn't concentrate on work because i found this during working hours! LOL

Quick Q - Do you mind if you share the source of your Elite ECU Harness?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks mate. Sorry to your manager/boss if you have one for disturbing your productivity.

Sure, I got it from TNTGarage. If you do a quick facebook search, he is located in Melbourne. Otherwise Quantam performance and Nakama workshop also makes these harnesses.

If I were to do this again, I would probably attempt making it myself. It is not as difficult as I once thought it was.

[eskimo_firefighter]

Track day preparation for Supercharger Shakedown.

Since the tune which was completed on the 23rd of May, I have been driving the car everyday after work. To ensure that the car is reliable for the upcoming track day I had booked, 2nd of June.

The car on the street was working perfectly up until the 31st of May. Two days before the track day. The fuel pump decided not to prime.

Troubleshooting time.

I thought of the possibilities of why this was happening. Trying to diagnose an electrical fault can be quite a task. As usual, I try to start off with the easy solutions first with the process of elimination.

- Fuses ok.
- Battery ok.
- Wiring seemed ok.
- Fuel pump wiring was ok.
- ECU jumper harness was ok looking.

Then I tried to connect the laptop to the ECU. The ECU was not communicating with the Haltech Elite 1500. The ECU power light would constantly flash red, green and white constantly. This was not a good sign.
Connected the OEM ECU back in and the fuel pump primed.

After getting in contact with Haltech, they had confirmed that it was indeed the Elite 1500 at fault. Due to some internal error that was causing the ECU to malfunction. I send back the ECU to Haltech for a replacement under warranty.

At this point I was pretty gutted to have to withdraw my spot from the track day, until Kevin/Shane from CMS performance offered me to lend their Elite 1500 and load up my map in. 100/10 customer service.

01/06/2018 – Night before the track day, plugged in the borrowed Elite 1500 ECU with the S2000’s map. And started perfectly!

02/06/2018 – EXE Winton Track day.

I Wasn’t confident in the cars reliability ever since a few annoying issues popped a long the supercharger build that were out of my control, a few hurdles were to be expected from a power increase of this magnitude I guess. In addition to this, a 105KW at the wheel increase with no seat time in the past 9 months was a little daunting. I had considered towing the car up but it was a pain to organise a tow and it is against my belief on what a great street/track car is supposed to be. As the internet states these days, just send it.

For this track day, the goal was not to PB but mainly was to iron out any issues and learn more about the car. This means no emphasis on laptimes and just focusing on the cars wellbeing and not stacking the car.

S2000 about to head out on the track with a supercharger! Courtesy of Vijay live feed for coverage.

It was nerve racking to say the least. Previous session had a car with a massive oil spill on the racing line. I proceeded with extreme caution. The track was still clear enough to experiment with the new setup.




Review of the HKS SUPERCHARGER on TRACK.

Marvelous. The power increase has no doubt made the car more difficult to drive, but with more seat time and understanding how the car reacts with throttle inputs, I can see this car maintaining similar cornering speeds to the N/A setup.

With the N/A setup, I could apply FULL throttle mid corner/exit. With the S/C I will have to be careful on throttle inputs, as it will result in snappy oversteer.

Despite the huge power increase, the car still retains N/A characteristics with a linear power band which allows the car to still be manageable in the corners.

The sound that the car makes in the cabin is addictive, it has definitely made the car more enjoyable to drive on the street and on track.



Although I had a lot of fun with the new setup, as expected, a few issues is to be expected from a setup change this big.

1. Clutch slip – I saw this coming. It didn’t slip on the dyno, it didn’t slip on the street. But once I went full throttle on the track for a short period of time, it would slip. This only allowed me to go 60-70% throttle. Which still felt plenty quick. The car is still running an OEM Honda Clutch. When I bought the car at roughly 105k Km it had a new OEM clutch installed by the previous owner at the Honda dealer. The car is currently at 155k km with 30+ track days. The OEM clutch has served me well.

2. Fuel Surge – When I started to give it a little more in the corners. The car would surge even with near a full tank of petrol. This put a heavy dampener on how I applied the throttle on certain corners. It would only occur on left hand corners at Winton, and it even happened at the S bend. This is a big issue that I have to get resolved before I head back to the track as fuel starvation can cause catastrophic damage to the motor.

3. Brakes – The brakes were feeling a little sketchy. It is a very good time to look into upgrading something in this department.

Despite the issues above, I saw a new trap speed of 184. Compared to 170kph in the N/A setup. Once the issues have been ironed out, it would be out of the question to see it go over 190kph+ at Winton. Which is a bit nuts to be honest.

Gearing notes at Winton with S/C compared to N/A is best.



T12-T1 – S/C we now need to shift into 5th gear. Downshift into 3rd as usual for the S bend aka T1/T2.

T2-T3 – We now need to shift into 4th gear and then downshifting into 3rd for T3. N/A I was able to keep it at 3rd and limiter bash it for a split second and carry that into T3.

T4 – Same as usual, take it in 3rd. Same as N/A.

T5 aka Sweeper – S/C take it in 4th. N/A I was able to keep it in 3rd the whole way.

T7-T9 – After taking the sweeper in 4th, double downshift into 2nd and carry this from T7 – T9.

T9-T10 – S/C shift into 4th before having to downshift into 2nd for T10. N/A I was only able to hit 3rd gear here.

T10-12 – S/C shift into 4th and downshift into 2nd for T11-T12. Maybe able to use 3rd with S/C midrange power now for T11-T12, will need more experimenting.

The best time of the day was a 1:36.2430. With barely pushing the car due to issues above. The car has insane potential that requires a lot of finer adjustments, refinements and driver adaptation.
One other minor issue with the supercharger, fault of my own. I had filled the supercharger cooling unit with fluid and it overflowed. Overall, successfully and very fun day. It was rewarding to see that the car had made it through this day and back home in one piece. The Supercharger and tune was faultless.

Laptimes of the day.
2:07.2270 1:53.2120 1:44.4040 1:41.2590 1:51.7650 1:47.1440 1:48.4110 2:03.9730 1:49.4410 1:50.0540 1:47.3830 1:38.5420 1:37.6340 1:53.6260 1:56.6040 1:40.4550 2:06.3090 1:46.8810 2:06.8070 2:05.6220 1:53.0060 1:45.9290 1:38.1190 1:36.2430 1:59.1610 1:47.8780

There are a few things to sort out. I am on top of it and hope to get it done sometime this year. Until this is all resolved, track days will be put on hold. Haltech has already sent me back a replacement ECU and the car has been running great ever since.

[chaumeh]

Great S/C shakedown recap!

[Shakeel]

Happy to hear everything went relatively smooth on your first outing back Pete!

[eskimo_firefighter]

Great S/C shakedown recap!

Happy to hear everything went relatively smooth on your first outing back Pete!

Thanks guys, very happy with the shakedown results all things considering. Super fun and it feels like I've started fresh again with a new car. Exciting times ahead I hope.