DC5R - S2000. Joining the crew

[Toddxxx]

The TE37SL look mint!

[ThanhNewgen]

Love the wheel choice!!

[jdm.itr]

DC5R - S2000. Joining the crew

Exciting update guys (well for me it was haha)
One of my goals was for this car was to make it as clean as i possibly can and take the do it once do it right principle into account. I’ve learnt from my last car when I kind of rushed it a little and bought things i didn’t need, changed things that didn’t need to be changed in the first place etc. Which is why i found myself swapping parts every week haha.
First plan of attack was the front end of the car, it had been battered by stone chips from mountain runs and scuffs from scrapping up driveways etc. On top of that my AP2 headlights have seen better days and were pretty faded. So I decided to get the front bar resprayed and headlights reconditioned.


As my car was going to be off the road for a week or so, i thought I’d finish off some things that i couldn’t do when the car was my daily.
Spray the roll cage black (less cop attention)
Install my I-Shift Light
Fix some interior bulbs on the dash while I’m at it
Coolant Bleed
Install Js Racing Camber Joints
Clean my interior/seats
Give the wheels a nice wash (inner barrel)
Full service
Alignment
So put the car up on stands, wheels off, seats out, roll cage out, front bar off, headlights out. The car was looking a little naked after this haha.

Sent the headlights and bar off to get resprayed and refurbed, while they were off i decided to get started on taking the roll cage off so I could spray it black. Obviously had to take the seats out before the roll cage so while they were out gave the interior a clean.
Took the dash out to install my Shift I Light and change some bulbs, this was tricky as taking the dash out is a delicate task and you have to be very careful so you don’t crack the plastics or leave any marks.
As the car was already on stands I dropped the old fluids out and put new fluids in as well as change to Iridium NGK Sparkplugs and Flush coolant.


17x9+22 is quite an aggressive offset to be running on a s2000, but since i love the look of concave face TE37s i have to make it work. I needed to gain more front camber because with the stock adjusters i can only get around -1.8 Degrees. Even with that the wheels were still poking a lot, and if i wanted to run a wider tyre, then i needed more camber. Group of our friends were organising a group buy from J’s Racing, so i decided to purchase Js Racing Camber Joints. So added this to a list of to dos for the car.

Got all my parts back and was extremely pleased with how my headlights came out because prior they were very faded and wasn’t pleasing to look at. Once i got all my parts back i reinstalled one by one. Pretty simple procedures so this is the end product [emoji4]

After install of the camber joints the front alignment was all out so got that sorted out ASAP. The car wouldn’t make it up the ramp for the alignment machine so had to take the front bar off which was a hassle but what can you do, if you have a lowered s2000, this is one of the problems you’ll just have to learn to live with haha.

Very happy with my purchase with the Js Racing camber joints as not only do my wheels finally sit inside the guards but with the extra camber i can now run a wider tyre and be more confident with the initial turn in as before it didn’t feel planted at all.

And sneaky shot next to my friends nsx

Next update will be track preparations and I've also booked tickets to Japan, so after the track day mods will drastically slow down while I turn my priorities else were for a while.
Thanks guys


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[Jayden95]

Car is looking nice mate [emoji4]

[jdm.itr]

DC5R - S2000. Joining the crew

Quick update before Winton this Saturday
I've recently decided to sell my Bronze 17x9 +22 TE37 because its just too aggressive fitment for what i want to achieve. I've had my eye on a set of TE37SL in 17x9.5 +28 with 245/40 tyres already on them from Japan. Once I secured the bid i sold my TE37s and hoped that the new wheels would come in time. Express shipped from Japan, they came within 3 days [emoji2]
Promise this is my last set of wheels for a while as I've had 3 different sets oif TE's in the last 3 months haha



First was a quick test fit and i will be adjusting the height to get the right balance between form and function. Also since the last update I've picked up
- Whiteline 30mm FSB
- Nardi Personal 330mm Steering Wheel
- HKB Boss Kit
- Spoon ECU (still deciding whether or not to use for trackday)
- Ferodo Rear Brake Pads
That should be it for the mods for track, all I've got left to do now is flush and change all my fluids.
Hopefully the weather stays clear this Saturday as I've been looking forward to this day for a while now. Stayed up until 5am flushing all my fluids and adjusting my height for track. Was a long and tiring day that's for sure. Oh and also my friend lent me his wing for the day


Next the car was booked in for an alignment.
Brought it to Tyrepower Reservoir and got referred to Ray as a couple of the other s2000 guys went to him. He suggest my desired ride height and camber/toe settings. First of all he said my car was way too low for track, one of the lowest s2000s his come across so defiantly needed to be raised for optimal performance.
Front camber was set to 4 deg and rear 3 deg with 1mm toe out. Car actually feels so much better now, much more stable and planted and no having to be scared of pot holes and every little bump in the road haha.



This is how the car sits as of now the long 2 days of work before the big day at Winton



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[Shakeel]

Awesome Huy!

How are you able to achieve such alignment specs on stock adjuster thingys?

[Bluscreama]

Js racing RCA shak.
Looking good Huy, Rays a good Man!
Will see you Saturday


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[felixR]

Very nice Huy.

[Stephen_AUS]

WOW! Killer ... perfect specs for my DC5R! Colour scheme is on point

[ThanhNewgen]

Very very nice!!!!

[wongy]

Nardi Personal Neo Grinta, great choice, had the 350mm one for my 34, and now i have a 330mm for my EG, great wheel

[jdm.itr]

DC5R - S2000. Joining the crew

Winton Update

Well the long anticipated day finally came, weather forecast wasn't looking good but i stayed optimistic because at the end of the day were in Melbourne, the weather is never predictable.
But as we arrived at Winton, the forecast was spot on. 10-20mm rain all day.
At this point I was quite shattered as this is the first real track day that i went to where i was 100% prepared and ready to set a benchmark for my S2000 since the DC5R. Oh well there was no turning back now as we were already there, not going to turn around and go home now haha.

Turned out to be a surprisingly good day despite the weather conditions. It was just good seeing everyone out there (especially the other s2000 boys) having a go and making the most of it.
I learnt a lot about my car and its limits in the wet, and was surprisingly happy with the way it handled. Had a couple of scary moments where i got on the power to quickly and the rear would snap out but it was fun learning to control it. Mainly got a load of understeer at the start of the day but i dropped my front dampers and seemed to work wonders.
After going out for a session with Ben Johnson (aozora, pictured above) i got to experience how far you could actually push a s2000 in the wet, despite the fact that ben knows his car inside out and you can see that in the way he controls his car. He ended up with a 1:53 and that was his best session which amazed me. Before the session with Ben i was sitting at a 1:59 for the day and i thought that was my limit. But when i got back into my car something came over me and i was determined to beat that 1:59, the rain did clear up a bit but parts of the track was still very wet which made it very dangerous, i was just happy that i didnt spin out all day or go off the track

With the end of the last session to my surprise i ended up with a 1:54 which i was amazed with, managed to wipe 5 seconds off my time that i thought want beatable for the day. So we packed up our things and once again headed on the 2+ hour drive home. Here are some photos from the day courtesy of Justin Lim and AL Captures.

[ThanhNewgen]

Looking good out there! Looks like circuit club winton was a s2000 car owners day ;P

[Shakeel]

I know a guy called Todd who would have loved that Ben fanboy experience!

Nice work Huy. Hopefully your next trackday will be dry

[iamtonee]

Good stuff Huy, time to do a dry day at winton with us on the 29/30 of Aug