My S2000 Weekend/Track day warrior

[eskimo_firefighter]

Beautiful! A true dual purpose s2k.

Thanks heaps. I plan on keeping the duality of this street/track car.

Looking good Pete!

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Cheers Todd!

Such an inspiring build; Great pics, great steering, great write ups
Cheers for putting in the work there.

Love that it seems to have two modes, street-car and track-car!

Keep us updated!

Thanks heaps for the kind words and for reading this blog. I love switching between the two modes! The car is too much fun to not drive on the street or track.

[eskimo_firefighter]

The S2000 goes on a diet.

I decided to do some weight reduction to the car to hopefully improve the car in every way possible, from braking, cornering and acceleration. Inspired by Todd’s S2000 which motivated me on doing this after seeing his performance H Nationals 2017.

Air Pump Delete Kit.

The only purpose of the OEM air pump is to pump air into the engine on cold starts. This allows the catalytic converter to reach operating temp faster for emission purposes. The EGR Air pump delete kit, deletes the OEM air pump as a result removes 4kg from the car and unclutters the engine bay by removing many hoses and hard lines.



A/C Delete.

I’ve come to a realization I never use the A/C in the S2000. I decided to delete it to save roughly 15kg. I purchased a shorter serpentine belt (part #6PK1145) as the a/c compressor unit is removed. Removal of the front A/C radiator also allows the front KOYO radiator to receive more airflow.

Carrying this Box of dead weight, made me appreciate the work done.



Project MU HC800 + New RDA Rotors.

Replaced @ 155k km. The previous set of Project MU HC800, lasted 3 track days before needing replacement. The pad consumption is quite rapid and this needs to be addressed. I tried to purchase a more track orientated pad such as the Winmax W5, PMU RC09 Club Racer and Endless CC-RG, however all distributors were not able to get these in time for my next event.

Z221’s sold, Kumho V70A. Mediums - 255/40/17 x 4

I decided to sell the Z221’s and purchase the Kumho V70A on special, it was an economical purchase. I have seen great results from these tyres so I decided to give them a try. The medium compounds are rated at 50 Treadwear, will report back with how they do at the next event.



J’s RACING 70RR C304 headerback exhaust – Track Use Only.

I am retiring the Spoon 60mm N1 exhaust in favour for this 70mm exhaust, in hopes of gaining a bit of power. This is quite a light weight exhaust with a very straight design in comparison to the Spoon, this hopefully also translates in extra power. The 70RR is a one piece exhaust in Japan, however the rest of the world gets this exhaust in a two piece design for shipping and packaging purposes.





The exhaust well packaged and has a few measures to make sure the exhaust is sealed up the slip joint which is nice to see. It includes some heat tape to seal the joint, a clamp to hold the slip joint together and two tension springs to join up the exhaust. This exhaust should have very little chance of leakage.







It is also, pretty loud. Haha.

FullRiver HC20 battery.

This is a lightweight battery, coming in less than half the size and weight of the OEM battery. This saves roughly 5kg+ or so.



Uncluttered engine bay with no A/C Lines and Air pump lines.



The weight reduction on each item may seem insignificant, however I believe together will provide better overall performance to the car.

155K KM Maintenance Log.
- Castrol Edge 5w30.
- OEM Oil Filter.
- Motul 90PA diff oil.
- Honda OEM Gearbox Oil.

[plAythiNG]

nice upgrades peter. with the fullriver, did the teminals feel a bit loose to you? No matter how tight I did mine, they would slip up effortlessly. To ensure mine were secured, I ended up utilising a washer, and a screw up top. Looks a little ghetto but functionally, it works.

[eskimo_firefighter]

nice upgrades peter. with the fullriver, did the teminals feel a bit loose to you? No matter how tight I did mine, they would slip up effortlessly. To ensure mine were secured, I ended up utilising a washer, and a screw up top. Looks a little ghetto but functionally, it works.

Cheers Alex, The terminals did feel loose at first. All I did was I compressed the terminals with a clamp for a slightly tighter fit and it fits nicely now.

[stephen8512]

Nice! How does the J's Racing exhaust sound compare to the Spoon? I'd take it it's a bit more raspy at WOT?

No AC lines does clean up the engine bay. That fullriver battery, I'm guessing you'd need to use a trickle charger or something to keep the charge on hand when you're not using the car or is it okay without it?

[plAythiNG]

The fullriver unlike the oddessey lasts much longer. I think todd on here let his car sit for two weeks whilst on holidays; and it still fired up!

Would reccomend to use a trickle though. Repco often have 40% sales!

[eskimo_firefighter]

Nice! How does the J's Racing exhaust sound compare to the Spoon? I'd take it it's a bit more raspy at WOT?

No AC lines does clean up the engine bay. That fullriver battery, I'm guessing you'd need to use a trickle charger or something to keep the charge on hand when you're not using the car or is it okay without it?

Cheers! The J's is bat shit crazy loud but I don't find it raspy at WOT, I would say it has a nice deeper cleaner tone compared to the Spoon at WOT which I am loving so far.

As a exhaust to drive on street daily, it would be very tiresome. So when I am taking a break from the track days, the OEM exhaust will be reinstalled.

As I don't drive the car that often and my car has a parasitic drain issue that I've had ever since I bought the car, I usually disconnected the negative terminal when the car is parked for a while. I should fix this but I haven't been bothered. Also I have a CTEK trickle charger that I do use here and there to recondition the battery.

The fullriver unlike the oddessey lasts much longer. I think todd on here let his car sit for two weeks whilst on holidays; and it still fired up!

Would reccomend to use a trickle though. Repco often have 40% sales!

That's great to hear!

[stephen8512]

Cheers! The J's is bat shit crazy loud but I don't find it raspy at WOT, I would say it has a nice deeper cleaner tone compared to the Spoon at WOT which I am loving so far.

As a exhaust to drive on street daily, it would be very tiresome. So when I am taking a break from the track days, the OEM exhaust will be reinstalled.

As I don't drive the car that often and my car has a parasitic drain issue that I've had ever since I bought the car, I usually disconnected the negative terminal when the car is parked for a while. I should fix this but I haven't been bothered. Also I have a CTEK trickle charger that I do use here and there to recondition the battery.

Ah nice! Yeah was going to suggest the CTEK. I have one and use it too and theyre great.

The only thing I dont like about the J racing exhaust is that it's a single pipe, meaning that the other exhaust cutout on the bumper isn't being utilised and my OCD hates that hahaha! But I guess that one negative is outweighed by the massive positive like the weight saving which is what you wanted and the awesome exhaust note at WOT.

I find myself deeply lusting for an S2K more and more. Stable mate for my MX5 perhaps? Such an awesome car

[Toddxxx]

You guys see my recent insta story? Car Sat for three weeks without being touched and it started first go. The HC20 is amazing compared to the pos pc680 lol. Much cheaper as well.

Also I'm glad I could inspire you and help you make positive life choices Peter keen to see what you think come next track day with all the different mods done

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[Shakeel]

Please don't opt for Swiss cheese

[eskimo_firefighter]

Ah nice! Yeah was going to suggest the CTEK. I have one and use it too and theyre great.

The only thing I dont like about the J racing exhaust is that it's a single pipe, meaning that the other exhaust cutout on the bumper isn't being utilised and my OCD hates that hahaha! But I guess that one negative is outweighed by the massive positive like the weight saving which is what you wanted and the awesome exhaust note at WOT.

I find myself deeply lusting for an S2K more and more. Stable mate for my MX5 perhaps? Such an awesome car

I am happy to make some sacrifices for the PB's, I definitely prefer the look of the dual exit exhaust too. The dream for the street setup would be the AP2 rear bumper with OEM exhaust with AP2 tips. I prefer the 'classier', cleaner look.

Definitely pick one up as soon as you can! S2000/MX-5 would be a great roadster collection and if you do get one it would be a quality build judging by your quality MX-5 build!

You guys see my recent insta story? Car Sat for three weeks without being touched and it started first go. The HC20 is amazing compared to the pos pc680 lol. Much cheaper as well.

Also I'm glad I could inspire you and help you make positive life choices Peter keen to see what you think come next track day with all the different mods done

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Didn't see your instagram story but great recommendation! Will report back with results soon. I am keen as I ever been! HNationals definitely sparked up some motivation to keep pushing.

Please don't opt for Swiss cheese

No swiss cheese will occur in the build of this S2000. Haha.

[munkaii]

Awesome stuff Pete! Doing the exe day this weekend? How have you found the catch can? Do u collect a decent amount of oil? Been reading about AP2 Valve covers too.

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[eskimo_firefighter]

Awesome stuff Pete! Doing the exe day this weekend? How have you found the catch can? Do u collect a decent amount of oil? Been reading about AP2 Valve covers too.

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Cheers Kev. I will be at EXE this weekend. I am running the Cusco oil catch can and it has caught a lot of oil. Depending on how hard i drive I can almost fill up the can after 2-3 sessions at Winton, but PI it can fill up much quicker. AP2 valve resolves some of the issue with this I believe.

[eskimo_firefighter]

02/10/2017 – S2000 gets another alignment.

Ray at Tyrepower Reservoir did the alignment on the car. He did the alignment at the exact figures I requested. Very happy.



Fancy new Powerhouse Amuse Titanium Shift Knob.

I ditched the random branded shift knob that I have been using for at least 3 years or so and got this. I really like the grip of this shift knob, it is perfectly sized, nicely weighted so shifting is really nice and it looks pretty cool.






New fancy Blue Visor for the Sparco Helmet.



Test and tune Winton track day – 06/10/2017

Having not taken a day off from work in quite a while I decided last minute to take the Friday to do the Test and Tune Winton day.

This is a bare bones track day with no official Natsoft timing. What you get in return is a low volume of participants so that gives you heaps of track time to be able to test and tune your car. It is also cheap at $150.
This is the first time I’ve ever done a Test and tune, and was quite impressed with the track time available to tune the car.

I used a lot of track time from this day to tune the rear dampers and tyre pressures. The dampers are now 13/16 clicks stiff, the fronts are still fully stiff. Right now the handling balance is near perfect for me.

Main changes from the last track day.

Spoon N1 to J’s Racing 70RR

I really like the exhaust tone of the 70RR. It seems like the engine picks up quicker however this could be in conjunction with the weight reduction done with the car.

Hankook Z221 to Kumho V70A

Being a tyre that was bought from a clearance sale due to being old stock (manufactured in 2012), I had my doubts whether these would be any good.
The tyres blew me away with its grip levels and consistency. The compound and sidewalls seems like it was softer than the Hankooks, it was much easier to get them up to operating temp. Heaps of feedback and grip.

Tyre PSI’s.

I ran these at 25 PSI at the front left, 26 psi at the front right. 27 PSI at the rears. Generally the psi’s would jump up 4-5 PSI after coming in after a session which is what I am aiming for hot PSI readings. The reason for running the front left slightly lower is that Winton is full of right handed corners that puts more stress on that tyre.

Weight Reduction – Lightweight battery, A/C delete, Air Pump delete.

As predicted this improved the car in every way. Most notably the front end turn in of the car, as at least 30kg from the front axle area has been removed the front in turn in is exceptional. Acceleration seems to have picked up slightly with top speed traps have increased by a 2kph or so, once again this could also be in conjunction with the J’s Exhaust.

The current PB of 1:33.7400 was set back in 04/06/2017 at the EXE track day.

To be honest this laptime was a one lap wonder from the weekend, after many 35’s and a few 34’s.
The car is feeling great, so I was really excited to get back out there.

The test and tune proved to be successful. With a new unofficial PB on Racechrono of 1:33.38!

Optimal was quite skewed as the GPS was playing up. I marked quite a few laps as invalid as it was clearly inaccurate to show a more accurate optimal and it showed a 1:33.1.




08/10/2017 – EXE-Crew Winton Track day.

The weather was 22 degrees with a bit of overcast. About 3 degrees hotter than yesterday’s test and tune. I had left the cars setup the same as yesterday as I thought it was on point.
The rear bar had a bit of damage, the V70a’s seem to run wider and the rear bumper didn’t like it. All the tabs and cable ties holding it on broke so I just removed it from the car.



Courtesy of Brett for this shot.



Lap times as below from the track day, from Natsoft.

Session 1: 1:53.9070 1:41.1470 1:35.0830 1:34.0300 1:50.6850 1:45.3180 1:33.6430

Session 2: 1:45.0660 1:33.7320 1:52.5360 1:33.8630 2:03.1800 1:33.9320 1:56.0730 1:33.7080

Session 3: 1:53.4530 1:34.2020 5:02.4500 1:48.1910 1:33.4360 1:33.9910

Session 4: 1:49.3480 1:33.3380 1:33.5050 1:58.3020 2:05.6280 1:42.1740 1:44.3700

Session 5: 1:50.7860 1:42.2070 1:33.4500 1:49.2040 1:53.1430 1:34.2440

Session 6: 2:10.4330 1:33.7510 1:59.8990 1:33.7730 1:57.3680 1:56.8590

New official PB of 1:33.3380! Video below.

Happy to see the new PB but also the consistency. Twelve laps in the 33’s, one lap in the 35’s and three laps in the 34’s. To find that 32 would be a big task, but I am going to persist next year.

Session 1: 1:35.0830 1:34.0300 1:33.6430

Session 2: 1:33.7320 1:33.8630 1:33.9320 1:33.7080

Session 3: 1:34.2020 1:33.4360 1:33.9910

Session 4: 1:33.3380 1:33.5050

Session 5: 1:33.4500 1:34.2440

Session 6: 1:33.7510 1:33.7730



Overall Impressions of the car in current form.

Amazing, I can confirm the car is at its best its ever been. The handling is very well sorted thanks to the combination of the cars suspension, alignment, tyres and weight reduction. It is still a handful but extremely rewarding to drive. It has a lot of feedback and progressiveness that makes driving this car at the limit still very exciting. It basically does what I want it to, whether I want it to grip or rotate it will do it at will. I am really glad to see the car still putting up with my constant crap and still able to perform like this consistently.

It might be time to think of options on what to do next to keep pushing the limits, but I may want to somehow try for a high 32’ in its current form.

Once again thanks to the EXE-crew and friends for making this such a great weekend.

[Shakeel]

Congrats Pete

I love how you still find ways to push this car to the limit!