T10000000's Journey to the S2000

[Toddxxx]

14 cars at a track day sounds amazing!! Haha
Good work on the PB man. With some more time behind the wheel you will easily see that time drop even further

[eskimo_firefighter]

Good to see another S2000 at the track. Great time for first time out in the car. Keep it up!

[T-10000000]

The open track was pretty good. So easy to create a gap between the car in front to setup for hot laps and no need to worry about traffic at all. I wish all track days were like this!

[T-10000000]

October 2015 – Front rotors/Downshift/Spark Plugs/Compression Test/Cabin Filter/Brake stopper/Burnt bumper
After the track day in September, the front rotors were close to minimum thickness so it was time to replace them. I decided to go for RDA 7600 blank rotors to match the rears and grabbed a pair for $80 and bled the brakes at the same time.

Downshift held their first event in Canberra with underground industries. I went to that to check out the modified car scene in Canberra. Here’s a picture of my S2000 with a DC2R and another S2000.



Looking at the logbooks and receipts provided by the previous owner, I wasn’t sure how long ago the spark plugs would have been changed so I decided to change them. I bought 4 NGK Laser Platinum spark plugs and installed those. I ran a compression test to see how the motor is going and after doing 3 readings on each cylinder, the final result was a consistent 215PSI across all 4 cylinders.





I bought a cabin filter and shin etsu grease off Kaizen Industries which arrived fairly quickly. I took out the old cabin filter and it wasn’t that dirty but I replaced it anyways. I bought the grease as my hardtop makes squeaky noises and will put some on next time I take it off and put it back on.



I bought a Cusco brake cylinder stopper from Japex Trading a while back but wanted to install it after my first track day so that I at least had some sort of baseline. On the street, there isn’t much of a difference so I’ll have to give it a proper test the next time I’m at the track.



After my first track day, I noticed that the exhaust had somehow burnt the black trim on the rear bumper. Even with the J’s exhaust rubbers, it looks like the exhaust managed to move far enough to melt some of the black trim and also left a mark on the inside of my exhaust tip. From a distance you can’t see it but it’s definitely there when close up.

[plAythiNG]

car looks so good with the HT!

the cusco brake stopper i find works well at the track, or very hard braking. i remember i realised the dfference when this guy wasnt going to stop for anyone at a roundabout and I had to slam on the brakes!

[Toddxxx]

Basically every aftermarket exhaust seems to start melting the bumper at some stage -__-
My other stock bumper (before the cut one) had completely melted all around the exhaust tip

I also believe you'll only notice the difference from the BMC stopper at the track.

Will reply to your inbox now

[T-10000000]

car looks so good with the HT!

the cusco brake stopper i find works well at the track, or very hard braking. i remember i realised the dfference when this guy wasnt going to stop for anyone at a roundabout and I had to slam on the brakes!

I'm currently driving with it off over summer but can't wait to put it back on!

Basically every aftermarket exhaust seems to start melting the bumper at some stage -__-
My other stock bumper (before the cut one) had completely melted all around the exhaust tip

I also believe you'll only notice the difference from the BMC stopper at the track.

Will reply to your inbox now

Yeah, similar thing happened with my DC5. Unfortunate that it melts it but i'll live!

[T-10000000]

November 2015 – Wakefield Track Day
Since the first Trackschool day was good, I decided to go to another one with my brother. This day had about 20 cars so they ran 4 groups (1 race car + 3 standard car groups) with ~7 cars in each standard car group.





The only difference in setup for this track day was the addition of a Cusco brake cylinder stopper. I felt a bit more confident when braking hard but I can’t say it was a huge difference. I might have to take it off one session to feel the difference back to back with and without it.





It was a hot day and I wasn’t able to get my tyre pressures right. I was pretty much shredding tyres all day, siding everywhere and was getting inconsistent times. I finished the day with a best lap of 1:12.9 so no new PBs today. This was my last track day for the year and I hope to be back in autumn to improve!



My Modifry GoPro mount snapped as I was unscrewing it to take the GoPro off on the day so I tried out a different setup. The GoPro was mounted just behind the driver’s side window onto the hardtop and the microphone was taped along the exterior onto the rear bumper just above the exhaust. The sound is better than having the mic inside the car but I’ll have to play with moving the mic around to find the best spot.

I’ll also look into a way to feed a 3.5mm extension cable from the wind deflector to the boot rather than having cables on the outside of the car. That way, I can mount the GoPro inside the car using the Modifry mount and have better sound.

Here’s a video of my best lap for the day with this camera setup:

[Toddxxx]

Sound is really good in that video! i like it

[T-10000000]

December 2015 – Hard top off/Sunshade/Spoon rear view mirror/Remote Shell/Touch up paint/Clean up front hub

I decided to take the hard top off and run the soft top over summer. I hadn’t driven the car with the top down since putting on the exhaust and was keen to hear what is sounded like. I’ll probably keep the hardtop off and put it back on in autumn.



With the S2000 being my daily driver, my car is parked outside in the sun so I bought an Intro Tech sunshade from the US. It is a perfect fit and protects the dash from fading, hot leather seats and hot shift knob. I asked a friend that owns and runs AO Graphics if they could make a vinyl sticker for it and it turned out fairly well!



I bought a spoon rear view mirror in an order I made a while back and just got around to installing it.



One of my Honda remote shells were looking fairly scratched up so I bought one off eBay for $10. I don’t think its OEM but it looks legit. I took apart my old remote and transferred the internals to the new one. I was worried about fitment and luckily it fit pretty well.



There were some paint chips on my car when I bought it so I went to a local paint shop and got some touch up paint made up.



Since I’m no longer running centre caps, I wanted to clean the front hubs as it looked all rusted. Using a metal scrubbing tool, it turned out pretty well.

[Toddxxx]

Nice work on the centre Hub covers! Mine are all rusty and gross as well. I really need to fix mine. I think I'll just paint mine with some high temp caliper paint or something though ie. The lazy way :P

[T-10000000]

January/February 2016 – Oil change /303 aerospace/Side strakes respray/IACV clean/Sold old wheels

It was time to change the oil and I went with Castrol Edge 5W-40 and a hamp filter.



I bought some 303 aerospace vinyl cleaner. The soft top is already in pretty good condition and after applying this, there was a noticeable difference.



My side strakes were fairly scratched up and chipped all round, and the rubber seal was looking fairly worn out too so I decided to get that fixed.





I got them resprayed at J Racing in Canberra and gave them my fuel lid for a few hours where they were able to match the side strakes to that colour. I also bought Honda OEM moulding tape from the US which is used for the side strakes and front lip. I tried to source it from an Australian Honda dealership but no luck. I heard there was a similar part for Toyota’s but decided to buy OEM.





I experienced an issue at cold start where the car would chug at ~1000rpm for 1-2 seconds and then idle at ~2000rpm as per a normal cold start. I did some testing and noticed that this would only happen for the first cold start of the day. I did a cold start and turned the car off. When I turned it back on, it would start normally. At first, I thought it was the battery and I went to get that checked where they reported it was healthy. Looking on S2Ki, there were a few threads that suggested cleaning a few things: air filter and MAP sensor. None of those worked. I read a bit more and they suggested cleaning the IACV. I took that off and gave it a good clean with brake cleaner. I disconnected and reconnected the battery to reset the ECU and the chugging at cold start was gone after a week of normal driving.

I finally sold my old OZ racing wheels to a guy in Brisbane. Packing them required some effort as we cut cardboard to cover the face and back of the rim, and then used clear wrap to tightly wrap the wheel. To give you an idea of the cost of shipping wheels with tyres, each wheel was ~20kg and shipping 4 of them from Canberra to Brisbane was $100 using E-Go.

[plAythiNG]

nice update, where did u get the 303 roof cleaner from?

[T-10000000]

I bought it off ebay from a seller called 'au_autoworx'.

The one i bought was 303 Aerospace Protectant.

[T-10000000]

March 2016 – Registration/Insurance/Bride VIOS III

It’s been 1 year since I’ve owned the car and it was time to renew registration and insurance. As I’m 25 now, there are companies out there that will now insure me and I’m at the age where I’m considered a ‘safer’ driver. My previous policy was $1250 with an agreed valued of $19,500 through AAMI. The renewal fee for this period went up by $20 and the agreed value dropped to $16,000. I heard that Shannon’s were good but their quote was $2000 with an agreed value of $16,000. I ended up going with Lumley special vehicles for $950 with an agreed value of $26,000. A guy at work has used them before and had his car repaired from an accident with only positive things to say about them as you also get to choose the repairer.

In late February, I was in the market for a bucket seat. I was looking around for a good used option and found that the most common seat people had for sale was the Recaro Pole Position. The S2000 is pretty tight inside and not all seats will fit without touching the door or the centre glove box. I still wanted to be able to open my glove box and use it so I narrowed my affordable options down to the Recaro Pole Position and Bride Vios III. It seemed most people used Buddyclub rails or the more expensive option of the Recaro rails and sliders and a seat belt extender for the pole position. With the Bride seat, most people on s2ki seemed to just use the belt buckle from the OEM seat and get the matching bride rails.

I did some more reading and decided on getting a Bride Vios III. I’ve noticed that a lot of people run replica bride seats but I only want to have genuine parts and wanted something different to the standard Vios III. I found that it comes in a number of varieties and liked the look of the Vios III Reims. It is based on the Vios III sport shell in a suede finish and was in my price range.

I ended up ordering a Bride Vios III Reims in black from Japan with the matching bride LF driver side rail for the S2000. I also ordered a bride bolster protector but they told me it doesn’t stick well to the suede material so I gave that a miss. It was manufactured by Bride in under a week and was at my door within 2 weeks of ordering it.























When taking out the stock seat, I read that there is an airbag sensor and seatbelt sensor to unclip but I only had the seatbelt sensor to do. I used the seat belt from the stock seat and mounted it onto the new rail. With the way the seatbelt is mounted, it isn’t too hard to get it in and out.

The centre glove box opens and closes very easily but touches the seat lightly. I had to adjust the seat a couple of times on the rails to get it in this state. I’m sure with more adjustment, you can move the seat to open the centre glove box without touching the seat.

It’s definitely a different experience getting in and out of the car as it is really tight and the bolsters are so high. I’m a 31 waist and the seat is rated for people up to 34 waist size and it is very comfortable once you’re in the seat.

Initial feedback with the seat is that it gives much more confidence taking corners fast. The seat just holds you there. I'm sure once i try it on the track, it'll be a night and day difference between the stock leather seat.