toddxxx

while i was away in japan i decided it would be the perfect time to fix up a blemish i had on the rear bar. the previous owner had reversed into something lightly and had slightly pushed/creased the paint on the drivers side rear corner. took the car to my friend benji (owns the cream eg/just dip it hydrographics company). he had the car for a few days and worked his magic. looks perfect again. forgot to take a before pic but tbh it was barely noticable but it annoyed the shit out of me. people dont really like respraying silverstone as its such a hard colour to match but he got it almost perfectly.

during


after
(full car photos later on so you can see it better)


also got some things hydrodipped while he had the car. matches in with the intake etc now

fuse boxes and fuel rail cover



now if you have been paying attention to the build you will have noticed a few new parts in that last photo. i was able to sell the neochrome coil cover as i had come across the part i had always wanted for the car but its been discontinued for a few years now and pretty rare to find
yep im talking about the dry carbon mugen coil cover
again it compliments the intake, cooling plate and newly carbon dipped parts. also added are the mugen dress up bolts added to the valve cover (and other places throughout the engine bay) and js racing oil cap.

over in japan i bought the js racing oil filter stopper and heat shield. the stock heat shield is big and bulky and black. the silver of the js racing unit blends in better with the factory silver and has a hole for a torque dampener if i chose to run one in the future.


also installed the oil filter stopper. the f20c/f22c are both known for excessive vibrations especially when in high revs thus a common problem involves the oil filter coming lose. this kit is basically a hose clamp and bracket that gets bolted to the block. quick, cheap insurance basically. a hose clamp around the oil filter is always a good idea as cheaper filters tend to buldge a lot as the oil heats up causing a loss in oil pressure. again simple cheap insurance for your motor


put my js racing plaque on my cooling plate as well


not the best picture but how the engine bay looks now


moving onto the interior of the car
added the head cushion and seatbelt protector pads the the bride and reinstalled it in the car


while in japan i bought a works bell quick release and boss kit. i was planning on buying a js racing steering wheel but 1 day before visiting js racing the steering wheel i wanted popped up for sale in melbourne. the guy agreed to hold it until i got back so i could pay him then, it was like fate! again this part is now discontinued and hard to come across let alone in this condition!
again its another mugen part. a mugen 3 steering wheel to be precise

parts ready to be installed


quick release hub and boss kit


steering wheel attached


i have a second OMP steering wheel too and im just going to use that to daily the car so i dont wear out the suede on the mugen wheel etc

next up i stocked up on some oem items
mtf 06 gearbox oil and hamp oil filters for future services. going to purchase a few engine oils as well. probably go nulon


also bought some hardrace driveshaft spacers for when i get coils and go lower


my new plates finally arrived. got silver on black premium edition. matches the car colour and super stoked on the end result.
keeping with my theme of engine numberplates (EGB-164) i got XF-20-CX this time


the exterior also go a touch up. i finally got around to installing my carbon fiber side diffusers. fairly straight forward. drilled some holes through the side diffusers, then measured and matched holes onto the body and drilled holes into the under side of the body then just tek screwed them on. thought theyd look funny and out of place on stock body and stock height but they look good



so thats the loooooooooong update. soz for so much but i hadnt updated in a while. currently have 2 parts in transit from japan and theyll be here before my two tracks days booked for may 6th and june 24th. fun fun fun

toddxxx

broke the post up as these are just shots of the car and didnt want to make the update any longer than what it already was haha
first off few shots of the car. you can see where the rear bumper was fixed etc in these photos and how well the paint matches







im a part of aus s2k and attended the monthly cruise on sunday and it was a very good good turnout. good guys, good cars and good vibes.
we got rained on/even hailed for a bit (only small) halfway through the day and quite a few people bailed but those who stuck around and waited it out met up again at this lookout near bilpin in the blue mountains and had chats and took some pictures etc

toddxxx

Ordered some parts from Japan
part 1 of 2 has already arrived. hopefully the part 2 turns up soon

toddxxx

now onto a small update
got bored this afternoon and decided to do a bit of DIY and remove the fender badges. wanted to do this for a while and really happy with the end result
really easy to do. just need a hair dryer, fishing line and a rag. took about an hour all up and that was with the passenger side being a massive bitch!

before:


during (ignore the retarded hand holding the hairdryer):


after:


simple yet effective. gives a much cleaner look
i dont know if its just me but my side indicators look as if they are crooked? :S

toddxxx

big update incoming
ill start off with the usual stuff. more parts arrived at my doorstep
defi advance zd package turned up last week


picked up a set of project kics r40 lug nuts


then i did something stupid and purchased these haha



more on those at a later date though


the easter long weekend provided me with lots of time off from work where i could do a fair bit of work to the car and carry out a service and prep for the upcoming JDMYARD private trackday. originally i was going to revert the car back to completely stock form for the track day but that didnt happen as i had an assortment of parts sitting at home from my trip to japan so why not take the chance to install them. none of them rally add to the performance side of things so ill still be able to get a 'stock' lap time for wakefield to refer back to and see what mods benefit the car etc

we will start up front then move our way back. cooling is a major issue with any sort of tracking to the car so with that in mind i wanted to make sure i had the s2k's cooling system up to scratch.
i drained the coolant and removed the stock radiator and finally got around to fitting the mishimoto radiator ive had sitting under my bed since december last year. the radiator is the x-line performance model so its a triple core radiator and double the thickness of the stock radiator.


i coupled the upgraded radiator with my js racing low temp fan switch and low temp thermostat.


fan switch is a straight forward install and goes into the bottom of the radiator. thermostat is a completely different story. coming from a b series and having the thermostat so easily accessible then going to f series is to put it nicely completely effed haha. have to get under the car and use two different positions to access the bolts holding the housing on and bend arms in all different directions to access. eventually got it done with a lot of swear words and skinned knuckles haha

i picked up a water temp sensor adapter from motorsport connections and installed that into my top radiator hose like so


having to take my intake out to install the radiator also provided me with the chance to adjust the positioning of the snorkel for my js racing intake system and make a few adjustments to the hole i had cut in the bonnet to make it fit. Finally sanded off the edges and wrapped the cut with a rubber seal to protect the paint and the intake (which already has a number of scratches on it)


next up i dropped my old oil and fitted my spoon magnetic engine bolt (haven't done the transmission bolt yet)


then it was time to install my greddy oil sandwich plate with my two oil sensors for the defi. straight forward install. choose which size o ring/oil filter adapter fits your car (universal product so comes with two of each). remove oil filter, slide on the sandwich plate and screw on the adapter thread. i would recommend fitting the sensors before installing like i did to make the install a lot easier. fit new oil filter and youre done.


next up i plugged up all the wires for the multiple sensors in my engine bay now and ran them neatly through the engine bay and through the firewall using the main loom under the battery.
and this is what the engine bay looks like now


the only upgrade (or downgrade) to the outside of the car came in the way of removing my side diffusers. probably not going to make much of an aerodynamic difference but like i said i want a stock time and with 4 screws holding each side in it took a whole 2mins to remove while the car was jacked up.

moving onto the interior of the car.
first of all i installed a fire extinguisher into the passenger footwell area. just a bit of a safety upgrade as you dont want something to go wrong and lose the whole car when it could be stopped.


repositioned my steering wheel as last time i installed it it was a little off center and these things annoy me haha

time to install the defi advance zd display and contol units
ive seen many different positions for mounting all the items and with the main reason for purchasing the zd over gauges being the lack of room in the s2k's interior i wanted to have all the items mounted in positions that didnt look out of factory so to say. this meant no mounting on the dash.
to start off i mocked up some crude mounting brackets for the items using a $1 bracket from bunnings. conveniently the holes lined up perfectly


the main controller is mounted on the passenger side of the interior inside the basket at the moment. it is easily accessible if needed and still out of the way


the handheld control unit was easy as i knew i wanted it out of the way and 'hidden' the centre console privided this for me and i placed the handheld unit in an easily accessible position that is still hidden from view. running the wire under the carpet was also easy


display unit was a little trickier to mount but again i knew where i wanted it. i wanted a central location with the info in front of me so i wasnt having to look away to see the info i wanted. as i am able to run the speedo through the zd where it is mounted is not a problem. i removed the shroud and screwed the bracket into place and remounted the display screen.


and with the car on and the display running. (note: i havent set up the screen yet but i will be running speedo, water temp, oil temp and oil pressure at all times on the screen) i love how the orange of the zd matches the orange of the cluster. gives that OEM feel that i wanted


as mentioned earlier i have a trackday coming up so a service was in order.
new oil was put in. i chose penrite 5w-40 full synthetic as its a suitable replacement for the stock 10w-30 and during a trackday id like to have that little extra protection of the 40 weight up top as revs will be high throughout the day. A new OEM oil filter was fitted as well.


as the cooling system was fitted i refilled with new nulon long life coolant.

did a spark plug change. replaced the standard platinum ngk plugs with a new set of iridium ngk plugs. both plugs are rated the same temp range just that the iridium were readily available, a few dollars cheaper each and offer a tiny bit better spark than the platinum series.
the plugs that were in the car didnt need changing after i pulled them out and were in near new condition (after checking log books the last service was done just before selling at 65500kms and i currently sit just over 68000kms. lol 2500kms in 4 months of ownership ) its my daily i swear!

old vs new


brake reliability is another factor that will hinder my track performance as im only running oem pads. they have lots of meat left on them front and rear but i bought a set of ferodo ds2500 as a back up set of pads if i need to replace the OEM ones at the track day.


also bought a new race helmet. nothing crazy but meets all the safety standards and does the job fine


thats pretty much it. all thats left to do is buy some suede racing gloves (looking at rpm) and get a wheel alignment a few days before the trackday to make sure everything is sweet and im good to go


TL;DR

toddxxx

quick final update before my track day tomorrow at wakefield

finally got my defi gauge working to display speed and tacho. i was pulling my hair out searching for everything to figure out why it wasnt working and in the end it was such a simple thing that i overlooked it. the wire splicers supplied with the it hadnt actually cut through the insulation on the wires. 5mins later and both were working fine -___-
in the end though i couldnt be happier with the outcome!



purchased a js racing radiator cap as i didnt like the mishimoto one and have read a few stories of it leaking etc



picked up a set of alpinestars suede tech 1 race gloves.



And finally got a wheel alignment done. nothing crazy just making sure everything was straight and to achieve a little bit more of a track alignment
ended up with -2.2/-2.1 camber in the front and -2.4/-2.3 in the rear. This coupled with a slight toe out and the car should be handling sweet well as well as it can on stock suspension and tyres/rim size



Lets go racing

toddxxx

So last Tuesday I attended the JDMYARD private trackday at Wakefield park. It was my first time hitting the track not just with the s2k but in general so I was really eager to get there and have a day full of fun

Packed up all the essentials the night before as I was set for an early start. Surprisingly it all fits in the boot fairly easily haha.



The track opened at 9 and the timing started. As the day progressed I dropped my times bit by bit starting with a 1:20.82 while still getting to know the track in the morning sessions and finding lines and breaking points and the limits of the car. Had a few hairy moments while the track was still cold and I got over zealous and pushed way too hard into the kink and turn two off the straight resulting in a 160km/h 180 into the grass haha

Dropped my time to a 1:18.32 by the end of the next session and was getting more and more confident with the car.

The session just before lunch time was my best with consistent 1.17-1.16 times with the fastest being a 1:16.03. My goal for the day was a 1.15-1.16 with the car stock and my lacking track skills so I was happy!

Throughout the day I monitored lots of things and took notes etc on how the car was acting and what needed to be upgraded to perform better and help achieve better times.

You may have noticed I said the middle of the day was when I achieved my fastest times. This was due to my tyres giving up after that point. They had just had enough. The afternoon sessions consisted of 1.17s and a few high 1.16s but the car was more erratic and losing grip a lot of the time. So first upgrade is going to be a set of better tyres! The re002 just don't cut it for track imo. They heat cycle really bad giving a total of about 5 laps at a time before giving out. Will probably go with a set of rs3's on the stock rim sizes.

Being rwd and an s2000 the rear was extremely tail happy. Hopefully the new tyres will help have a bit more grip in the rear and developing my driving skills will also help combat this. To help even more though i will more than likely upgrade the front away bar. Probably a whiteline 30mm unit or even a cusco 32mm.

The s2000 and f20c are known for high oil temps when being used hard and i did experience this a little throughout the day. Having the defi right in front of me was great for monitoring temps and throughout the sessions around the middle of the day i watched the oil temp rise to a max of 122 degress. High yes but not disastrous to the motor. Id be more comfortable with it down around 100-110 though.
this track day i was running 5w-40 oil and was very happy with it as i did not notice any burning of oil and the oi level being at the same level at the start and finish of the day. The heavier oil may be causing the higher oil temps though so next track day ill trial a 10w-30 oil and monitor temps. If they are still high or i notice oil burning i will be investing in an oil cooler. Thermostatic of course so it only comes into use on the track basically

The OEM pads are almost completely worn out as well (i didnt have to replace them with the ferodos) so the ferodos will be going on the front and a new set will be going on the rear.

All in all it was a great day! I hit my target time and now have a benchmark to go from, nothing broke and I was able to drive home and I was able to pin point the weak points on the car to fix before heading out again. Apart from the points above though the car was great throughout the day. The S2000 is an excellent car to track from stock!

few photos from the day

My stocker parked next to yonas and zi's new s2000


heading down the straight with an gt86 and mx5 trying to keep up


hard braking into a corner


Until next time

toddxxx

Hey guys
It’s been a while since my last update. Not much has been happening lately in the way of buying new parts for the car. I have a second track day at wakefield coming up in July so I’ve been doing a little prep for that and just tinkering on the car here and there.

After the last track day I put everything back on the car and decided to reroute my catch can properly for the next one.
I bought a set of silicone nipple block off caps and blocked off the pcv valve and the port on the intake manifold. Now there is only one route from the valve cover to the catch can back to the intake.



Next up was the centre console. As every owner of an ap1 knows the centre console garnish gets scratched and peels over time etc. Gave it a good clean with nail polish remover and got it all shiny again.



I also replaced all my interior and numberplate globes with white LED version. So much brighter than the original globes. Great $6 ebay buy haha

Interior before



Interior after



Boot before



Boot after



Numberplate before



Numberplate after



Here you can see the comparison of the two different globes




Now for the track prep/important updates

I bought another set of ap1 stockies then sprayed them white.



Wrapped them all in a set of hankook z222 (rs3) 205/55 front, 225/50 rear.



Sticking with the standard sizes for rims and tyres will allow me to accurately measure how much the tyres affect grip level and time saved.
The plan was originally to just buy a set of hankooks and swap them over a few days before the track day when the allignment would be done but I found the set of stockies for dirt cheap so why not have two sets? This will allow me to transport the rims down to the track and swap them there to get the most life out of the hankooks. Win/win really!

Considering at one stage last track day I was racing at a tyre psi of 40+ hot I bought a tyre pressure gauge to moniter the tyre pressure throughout the day.



As you do with any track build you strive to eliminate as much weight from the car as possible. Im not really too keen on stripping the cabin of the car (atm ) however the passenger seat will be coming out next track day.
The boot however went on a diet.

trims/tool kit/spare wheel removed



Sound deadening removed (this was actually a really easy job and only required hitting with a mallet to break it off. No dry ice required) and prepped for sick spray can job.



All finished



The excess baggage



My attention was then moved to the front of the car. Out came the A/C radiator, compressor and all associated lines (I said I wasn’t going crazy with this build right ) Wasn’t all that hard and can easily be reversed. As the A/C compressor came out I had to buy a shorter alternator belt and fit that. While I was there I also decided to delete the air pump and lines cleaning up the engine bay even more and removing some more weight.
I used this chance to clean up the clutter around the intake manifold and tucked wires and moved vacuum lines etc. All up I removed about 7/8 brackets, re routed sensor wires and removed the air pump vacuum lines from along the fuel rail.

All the removed gear from the engine bay/front bumper area


Weight wise 15-20kg has been removed from the boot, 15kg from the cabin when the passenger seat comes out plus a little more with the driver seat and stock steering wheel with airbag already being replaced and 25kg from the front of the car im looking at a total of 50-60kg less than what I started with. This will make a bit of a difference come track day. Combined with the new tyres and improved driving im hoping to get the car into the 1.14s

Engine bay shot



im thinking of spraying the valve cover a different colour now as im no longer liking the red. Thinking along the lines of a light blue/aqua colour or even silver to match the rest of the car. May even just buy a js racing valve cover. Suggestions?

As with all track days a service should be done beforehand. I just ticked over 6 months of ownership with the car and have put 4500kms on it in that period so it was a perfect time to do the 70000km service. I got a mechanic to do this one to keep logbooks up to date. With fresh engine and gearbox oil im all set for the next track day

toddxxx

Quick unexpected update



I purchased an ultra racing rear lower brace the other day and it arrived today (3 days later). It replaces the stock folded sheet metal version but also bolts into the rails a little further up adding extra rigidity.

A great bonus of this brace and why I picked it over many others is the fact it is a solid steel brace compared to a lot of other braces being alloy. While alloy is light it is a softer metal and can have a tendency to warp under load. The ultra racing bracing being a solid steel brace can handle extra force without the warping and still only weighs in at 2.4kg.

With the s2000 having a tendency to oversteer ALOT the brace is meant to increase feel through the rear of the car helping the driver keep the car on the fine line between pushing the limit and spinning out.

I won't be installing the brace just yet and will take it down to the track day on Monday to test it out. I'll run a few sessions throughout the day with the stock brace, no brace and finally the ultra racing brace to see if any difference can be felt.

toddxxx

So my second track day at wakefield has come and gone now. It was another JDMYARD private day and was very well run with zero problems (on my end).
I had a few goals for the day one being dropping my lap times from 1:16.030 to low 1:15s/high 1:14s. I also wanted to try new lines in certain sections and different braking points etc to see what worked best with the car and improve my knowledge of the track. I had also purchased the ultra racing rear under brace and wanted to test its usefulness at the track.

If you read my last update you would know that the only changes made between trackdays was the RS3’s and some weight reduction.
I had a friend (thanks jez) transport my second set of rims down in the back of his car to save the RS3’s from an extra 400kms of extra wear. Due to this I didn’t worry about an alignment before the track day as swapping rims continuously with different levels of wear and sizing would have thrown it out anyway.
With the car unpacked and new tyres swapped over it was time to hit the track.

The first session was used to get the right tyre pressures and consisted of mild laps around the 1.20-1.30 mark to get the tyres up to temp with constant pit stops to check/adjust the pressures. I had researched a few ideal pressure configurations that guys like to use with the RS3’s but of course I left the sheet at home! I could only remember one value and just ran at 34 psi front and rear all day. Upon getting home and reading the sheet this was the lowest psi configuration the guys liked to use. Will trial a few others next time but this didn’t feel that bad, not that I really have anything to really compare to coming from re002s.

Once I had the pressures all set up and I was happy it was back out on the track to start beating my old pb. Immediately I could feel the difference with the RS3 tyres! Road feel was amazing, I could carry so much more speed into corners and the car just felt a million times more planted. Not pushing all that hard I managed to beat my pb with a 1:15.2, almost a second taken off my previous pb already and a lot lower than I expected times to be that early in the day. From that point I knew I was going to see the times tumble quite significantly.

Next session out I pushed even harder and the car just went where I steered it without much fight. I watched times drop lower and lower into the 1:15 flats and eventually into the high 1:14’s with a 1:14.7. I couldn’t believe it I was already at my goal time and hadn’t even reached 12pm yet! One disappointment with this session was the fact I ran a very clean lap (by my standards) and in my excitement of a guaranteed pb I missed a shift into 3rd coming down the straight. I was crushed but still crossed the line with a 1:14.9. I knew the car was capable of much more!

At this stage I took the time to remove the stock rear tie bar which is essentially a piece of folded sheet metal and headed out for a bit with no brace on at all. Surprisingly removing this did actually make quite a difference. The usual happy tail end of the s2k actually felt even ‘looser’ and kept trying to slide out on corners I could usually hold my speed through.
I came back into the pits and got straight to installing the ultra racing brace.

Comparison of the two braces
Flimsy sheet metal vs solid steel bar (The extra piece on the stock brace is just a shield)



With the new brace on I headed back out and could definitely feel the difference over no brace with the rear end not kicking as much and holding its grip through the usual corners again. I could also feel a lot more through the rear of the car and it felt more controllable. Maybe just placebo as this is what described as the benefits of this brace but I believe the claims to be true
It showed too as I dropped my time down to 1:14.2!

Around this stage there was a crash on the track and a red flag came out. I came back in and parked the car. I was ecstatic with my times and had achieved more than I thought I would over the day. With the crash I became a bit wary to go back out so I opted to go for a few passenger laps in my friends car instead. I noticed where his lines varied a little from mine especially through the fishhook. I decided to head back out for one more session to try and lower my pb some more.

It was 3.40 by this stage and knew I wouldn’t have another chance to get back out on the track. I warmed the tyres back up and went straight into it. I recorded 3 low 1:14’s in a row before messing up on the next lap. I made the decision to do one more flying lap and just go for it. I tried the new line through the fish hook my friend had been taking and even though I braked a bit too hard into the last turn and lost some speed I recorded a 1:13.803!! I couldn’t believe it. The video in the car you can hear me yelling “yes!” and wooing haha.

Looking back now and watching the video I know the car is capable of better times as it currently sits as I can be smoother through sections and still alter my lines a little. All this will come with more seat time though so im not too worried. With this in mind I will try to not modify the car too much before returning to the track again. This being said I know the weak points and will address these in time. My OEM brake pads are now shot and almost completely gone so these will definitely have to be replaced with the ferodos I have sitting in my toolkit. They have lasted 2 full track days though so not bad.