Baldrick

Right, I thought i'd post up a few bits of a thread that I have running on an Irish forum that I use for track days, so bear with me if this seems like a bit of a copy & paste of the last year to get up to date.Last August I bought a 1999 JDM s2000. I'd sold my motorbikes and decided that I'd get an s2000 as I had wanted one for a while. When I went looking, I had a few stipulations in mind. It had to be 15 years old, as it was to go on a limited mileage classic policy. It had to have lowish mileage for the year. I wanted some kind of service history & I planned on trackdaying the stones out of it....

It came with details and reciept from every owner since brought into the country. Nct'd last week, in fantastic condition. No rust & no stone chips. The previous owners family has a multitude of classics. So to say it's clean compared to some others would be an understatement. Dare I say mint. The only thing I could find that has to be done is one perishing engine mount.

It came with the the a recent clutch, drive shafts, timing belt, service and has only covered a few thousand miles over the last 4 years. 70k miles and I practical stole it on price.

Now the 2 things that are a bit marmite are the front lip and the wheels. But I'm going to leave them for the moment. It has the standard exhaust on it at the moment. But it came with a full manifold back stainless japspeed exhaust as a spare.
It's a Jap AP1 s2000.

Finished in Silverstone Grey, with half leather interior. Genuine Honda mats in perfect condition. Optional Silver Radio Door.

Rare Genuine Mugen Front Lip with De-badged and smoothed front Bumper.

Low-Pro Aero Side Diffusers.

Back Yard Special Rear Boot Spoiler.

Custom Stainless Exhaust & standard system included

Lowered on eibach springs

Genuine Work VS 18" Split Rims, Hub centric wheel spacers.

Rare Factory Option - Engine Cooling Plate & Cold Air feed channeled through bumper.

Cosworth Hi-flow Air filter.

Tegiwa Engine Torque Damper.

Tegiwa Driveshaft spacers & New Driveshaft's.

Also two brand new rear calipers fitted. Full suspension and geometry set up

Baldrick

Well the front of the honda was.so low that it caught coming into the driveway and scratched the front badly. So the only thing for it was a return to stick height. It was something I planned on doing anyway. I asked on the s2000 owners club and someone duly obliged with a free set of oem springs.



To give you an idea of how low it was


Front arch



standard spring vs the eibach i took out




It was fairly straight forward to take them in and out.


after it settled a bit


Also this week I got a spare set of keys and ordered new engine mounts. Considering I got the new family wagon last week I'm fairly pleased to get anything done on it. Unfortunately I've found the rear light misting up and water got in during torrential rain into the cabin. Not loads, but a bit. Which requires further investigation



Weeks on and I'm still waiting on my engine mount from a well known irish supplier. They said Tis going to be another month. Possibly longer. So I've cancelled my order and ordered them on ebay. Can't warrant waiting on the unknown just to keep the money with a local supplier.

So just some tidying up really. Replaced any trim clips that were broken.

Baldrick

Seen as the weather is starting to turn, it's getting close to hibernation season for convertibles. But I don't want to pack it away until I have the mounts done. So the brother in law said it can go into his shed while I get the last few bits sorted. It's somewhere dry for me to work on it for a change.

So I went and got a full load of autoglym products & spent a day polishing it, sealing it and reviving the roof, seals and seats. It's frustrating waiting on parts, suppose it could be worse.





This week, finally the engine mounts and gearbox mounts arrived. Haven't gotten around to putting them in. But they look like a nice piece of kit

I'll throw a detailed post up when I put them in. Unfortunately I won't get round to it for another week to two

So on the track wheel front I tracked down a set of oem correctly staggered wheels that have only 4k miles on them. In great condition


I'd to bite the bullet and get someone to put in my engine mounts and gearbox mounts. I haven't had a chance to put them in and work wise it doesn't look like I'll get a chance this side of Xmas. So I got them put in by an independent called willie martin. He builds autocross cars on the side and is a verified honda nut. That and the fact he is 5 minutes from where the cars currently located.
The old mounts came apart as soon as the weight of the engine was lifted off them. I knew they were bad.







The gearbox ones were fine. But as I'd bought megan racing ones I threw them in.

Baldrick

I had the car in the brother in laws garage for the winter and I took it back out yesterday. But before I drove it home i addressed a few issues. The rear light on the drivers side had let in a bit of water last year, so I changed the foam gasket on both sides as its the most likely culprit.

The light was fairly handy to remove, peel back the trim, un-clip 3 wires & loosen 4 bolts.

However, the foam was so old, it came off in pieces, so of it had to be scrapped off millimeter at a time. The light which hadn't let in water was just as brittle, So I'd say it wasn't far behind... All back in now.





The original battery tie down was the only bit of rust in the engine bay, so i got a new aluminium one, however I'm not to sure on it. I think Ill clean up the original and re spray it in stone chip. Here it is in all its bling glory



I then regressed all the seals with some silicone grease. Honda recommends this & don't make their own SHINETSU grease anymore. its supposed to increase the life cycle of the seals.

I also found the last few missing bits for the original tool kit online


All of the s2000 forums see to have a horn for bg44 injector treatment. So I bought some just to fit in. All the cool kids were doing it. suppose its just like a fancy dipetene...



had to add a jdm freshener and a key-ring because I've the mentality of a five year old when it comes to cars. Updating a thread when you buy an airfreshner is the way of the future...

Baldrick

I also got a set of A048r for the 16 inch oem wheels for doing track days. I managed to get the old stock that has the better rating

I've to replace the bump stops and get a geo set done before the next octane day. After driving a diesel vw for the winter, it was brilliant to push on something with some poke. I'd never driven it in the damp before storing it and I can now say the 18" vs works wheels seems to have plastic tyres fitted. So ill have to go to the drawing board for a decent set of all season tyres for these as they are the daily wheels.




I also got the alarm working & it works perfect except for the arm / disarm noises. Pure tack... The neighbours will hate hearing it. Proximity sensors calibrated for soft top up and down. Nice bit of kit.

https://youtu.be/XblX1Iqrl0g

There's a little video of some of the sounds

Oem hardtop fitted today. They don't come up to often in ireland for sale. So I was all over it like a fat kid on cake...

Fairly handy to do
Remove a few interior panels, bend one bracket each side, trim the underside of the plastic trims and bolt in the brackets. Took about an hour and a half. Now its a 2 minute job to take on and off. As it's an oem one it fits perfect.



It's been plasti-dipped black. I'll leave it as is for a while.

When I was putting the oem springs in I noticed the bump stops were in bad condition. So I removed the suspension



old vs new


a bit worn to say the least

Baldrick

Then I put on the oem wheels with the A048r's for the upcoming octane track day




Octane track day report


Well what a day. Started off excellent, dry weather, familiar faces and a new car sure what could go wrong. Arrive on time, give damo a bit of stick at sign on and get briefed. 1st session out nice and short to get the feel for the car and it was all good. Check the wheel nuts and back out. I thought I'd heard a whine from the car but thought it was new car nerves. 2nd session, flying! Finding grip limits, small slides and massive smiles. I was way slower than previous days in the puma as per the timer, but having brilliant craic getting used to the new car, ended the 6 lap session after the hail stones came down.

Then I went for the next session, 1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd.... 3rd.... 3rd.... wait minute, I'll try 4th... no that's not working... no gears.... so I coasted in the back entrance to the tunnel and came in with a Squeaky bum and a worried luck on my face. I coasted to a stop beside darraghs and regurgitated a million worries as he had a nosey at the gearbox. Being fairly knowledgeable on all things s2000 he out my mind at ease that it's probably not the gearbox. So I headed over to pack up my fuel and tools with my tail between my legs. I resigned myself the the fact that the 1st trackday was going to show the weaknesses and issues and this was it. As I gathered my tools I was talking to ray, mick and jack.

I explained I was going to nurse the car home in 2nd. Ray offered to drop hsi home and come get me on his trailer. Mick wouldn't hear of it. Straight away mick and jack wouldn't hear of it. So at lunch time the honda was loaded onto the trailer and like the preverbial Bandaid, I took the sharp pain and dropped it straight to icetronix. There was no point in dropping it home and then sending it to be fixed a few weeks later. Diagnosing a gearbox / clutch is well past my skill set. Especially after darragh had explained what a pain it was to do.


Now I'm still in the dark as to what the issue is, but it's in the right place. So I went back and watched from the sidelines for the afternoon & got a lift home from frequency modulated at the end. So as usual the backroads crew came together to help me out again. It never ceases to amaze me at how helpful everyone is. I'll be back at the next one as usual.

Right, at the track day all I thought would be a problem was running non oem nuts with the oem wheels. So on the morning of the track day I swapped them over to oems



Then at the track day the car wouldn't go into gear



So off to Icetronix, as I couldn't do it myself. Gearboxes / clutches are way past my mechanical skill level. They had it for 2 weeks and found another few issues. The car needed 2 drop links, a driverside balljointand new propshaft bolts.While it was there I decided to get the sump baffled and a few kill switches fitted.

Baldrick

First the gear box was removed, the clutch was goosed. as you can see from the pictures.
















It also got an oil change and a gearbox oil change.

and back in it sounds good. I have to bed it in before I give it the beans and test it


Overall I was hapy with the work done by icetronix & I'd use them again. The work took about 2 weeks, but the main delay was the baffle kit for the sump coming from the UK, which was then welded in.


The rear brake pads look a littlelow, so I must get around to changing them shortly. Gives me something to do I suppose.

Baldrick

Not much done this month.




I swapped the soft top striker plates for the thicker hardtop striker plates as recommend. The difference doesn't seem to big to be honest. It only took about 20 minute's.

The original tape deck I got for the car wont work. The code supplied by honda didn't work & an online company supplied a few codes and none would work. So I also threw the halfords spec pioneer back in. I'll decide what to do with it over the next few days


Changed the wipers for oem ones. They come with the little blades on them to aid with movement at motorway speeds etc



Nct'd it today.... that's when I found out the car has a decat fitted. With a cel bypass, hence no warning light. Everything else was grand & the tester came our for a chat in the car park afterwards and commented on how clean it was etc


So I've to throw the cat back in. I was given one in the box of parts that came with the car and get it retested. Might replace the exhaust gaskets at the same time
New battery today. The old one is only 7 months old. So it was free. 2 year warranty on it from the local motor factors



Then i started to remove the decat


So I could pass the nct. But I couldn't get enough purchase on one bolt underneath the car on the driveway. Poxy! If it was on a lift I'd have it off in 5 minutes. Might have to get someone to remove it, which pains me as it's such a simple thing. I need a trolley jack which has a higher lift and low entry sooner rather than later.



New gasket

The old one


And the cat to go in

Baldrick

On a lift and the bolts opened with a breaker bar. Cat installed and the nct passed. But now I'm going to take it back out. There is a definite lack of throttle response with the cat installed. It doesn't seem to pick up quite as quick with the cat in. I also have a stainless system that came with the car that I might throw it in before the next octane day for a bit of craic. It'll probably grow old very quickly though
Just put it on with the decat. It's a bit droney alright. It's not my cup of tea at all. I'll leave it on for mondello tomorrow and take it back off again. Leaving me with the decat and standard exhaust.

This is what i put on





Standard vs japspeed.

It won't be staying on to be honest

The exhaust was a bit of craic on the track day, but it has to go.

I got as far lunch time out of my pads






Nothing like getting good value...

Swapped in carbon lorraine rc5+ pads

Baldrick

Great craic of a day






This week, I ordered new standard brake pads, I'll keep the carbon lorraine for track use only. I also ordered new front calipers as the ones on it are goosed. I'm still waiting on them to arrive to fit them. I put the standard exhaust back on & in good news I got my insurance renewal of 360 quid for the year. Pleased with that. Just have to pay the car tax later on & ill have the triple in the window again. So all in all, an expensive month for the goldfish faced honda

I thought I'd warped a disc at the track day. But I drove easy to cars and coffee. But it was really noticeable. So I gave them a good look over and found this crack when I got home



So thankfully I'd ordered new discs and braided lines during the week. So they whole brake system is now going to be overhauled next week

New discs- pads- calipers- lines- fluid.

Needless to say I won't be driving it until i fix it.

one from cars and coffee