[mcopley]

Hi all,

I've been thinking about starting this thread for a while now, but never been really sure if anyone would be interested in my car. But the more and more I do to it, and the more extreme it becomes, it has started to get more interesting.

So this is fairly belated as I've been building up the car for about 18 months now, but I'll try and catch up to where we are now. Because of this some of the photos don't quite match up with what I'm writing as they weren't taken at the time.

Car started life (in my possession) as totally stock 2001 in Royal Navy Blue with about 35K kms. Stock that is, apart from the really dodgy Champiro tyres the dealer had put on. These came off pretty much immediately and were replaced by Toyo T1-R's. Having done this and a full alignment (to UK spec) the car took place in its first Superkhana.



I couldn't really drive the car with the roof up and a helmet on (I'm tall), so first mod I had to make was a low position seat rail from Backyard Special. This was really great and gave me the extra room I needed.

The first real mods started with where I always start - chassis bracing. I know people say this is a waste of time on the S2K but old habits die hard. So on went a Spoon Tower Bar and Lower Cross Brace.



After this the front end certainly felt more taught on the road, but that could just be my imagination. Not much happened for a while until I took a really fast bumpy corner trying to keep up with my mates RX7. The rear end felt terrible through the bumps and, after some reading, I purchased the TC Design pillowball rear control arms. The car was still a daily driver so I didn't get the race spec ones.



Another alignment was done and fast bumpy cornering was all good again. Yay!
 
I had been driving around with the air box cover off for a while, the noise mmmm..., and I got annoyed with it bogging down in traffic. The solution came with the K&N FIPK.



Great noise - no more heat soak!

All the while, I had not been doing so well in the Superkhanas. Most of the others were on r-comps so this had to be the way to go. Wanting to keep my T1-R's for road driving I shelled out for a new set of wheels at the same time. Meet the 5Zigen (what does that mean?) Pro Racer GN+.

Front: 7.5J x 17" +48 offset (7.7 kgs)
Rear: 8.5J x 17" +48 offset (8.2 kgs)



Tyres came in the form of Toyo R888's front 215/45/17, rear 225/45/17 tire. Didn't go up width on the rear because the tyre guy insisted that my rims were not wide enough for anything bigger than a 225! That said, the R888 in 225 is more like a 235 in reality anyway.



This totally transformed the car. Massive cornering grip and a generally very planted feel. Every time I switched back to my road wheels / tyres for daily driving the car felt positively dangerous! It always took a few days to adjust my driving.

One track day up at Barbagallo Raceway had my tyre guy conclude I needed more front camber. I also destroyed the brake pads. I went with some TC Design front control arms and Porterfield R4S pads.



Another alignment saw me with -3d of front camber, and plenty more to come if I needed it.

I needed to start shedding weight, so I ordered up a Mugen hard top in FRP. In the 3 months it took to arrive I also beefed up the front suspension with a Whiteline anti-roll bar. This thing weighs about twice the oem one (very bad) but did provide some benefit.

Roof test fitting;



Roof painted;



At this point I bought another car to be my daily driver (we had a baby on the way, so needed more space). I was then able to go to town on stripping out the interior.







I also ditched the soft-top and saved heaps of weight. Again the car felt transformed in all aspects with less mass to drag around.

Having stripped out the interior, and the car now being a track toy only, I was able to get a bucket seat and harness. Sparco Pro 2000, MemoryFab seat rail and Willans 4-point did the honours.



Just before the last round of the series (last year) I felt the shocks needed replacing with some coilovers. HKS Hypermax Sport III' were installed.



All this helped me to come 2nd in class for the 2008 Sprint Series, and I was very happy with the result. I also competed, with a co-driver, in the Fabcar one day rally in November. We ended up coming 4th in class, and 19th out of 60 overall, even managing to beat 4 of the PRB Birkin' in our class (http://www.prbaustralia.com.au).



Overall some great results and a brilliant end to the year.

This year, to save more weight, I have gone for a single exhaust system. I wanted a 70mm ss system (titanium is too expensive) so I went with the Greddy Ti-C single and an Invidia 70mm de-cat pipe. It' loud! I would definitely not recommend this to anyone who uses their car on the road.



I have yet to compete in the car with the new exhaust but I' hoping for some good improvements.

So that' where I' up to. One last photo to bring us up to date (this morning!);



I have more parts on order right now, so I should have some more updates over the next week!

[RedRover]

Hi mcopley, thanks for doing that - it's a great post :thumbup:

I see you mentioned Barbagallo so I assume you're in Perth. Is that right?

From your progression from stock standard to the current state I can see you've put in some thought to each new addition. It will be interesting to hear your reaction after trying the new single exhaust. Let us know how you get on.

[MAD828]

Awesome post, car looks hardcore.

[mcopley]

RedRover, yes you're right, I am in Perth. The first round of this year's series is on 29th March, so I'll be sure to post back here and let you know how I go.

[3r1k]

Nice Build!!! looking forward to see you on 29th.

[STAIN]

Great to see a Aussie track spec s2000!!! nice build!

looking forward to further mods and post ;)

[s2kadrenalin]

Anymore photos of the roof?

I have an MCB, and a Mugne roof (hopefully this time it won't get lost in the mail again......) prepainted gloss black, that i'm thinking of leaving black, but out of curiousity sake, I'd like to see a few images of it in blue.

if you don't want to post them up here, feel free to shoot me a PM :)

[mcopley]

s2kadrenalin, PM sent!

[ncmx5]

wow. looks awesome and inspiring! but i dont think ill ever strip my car like that! ahaha. how are the porterfield r4s pads? do they hold well on track and spirited driving? i was about to get them but got the ferodo ds2500 instead...

[mcopley]

Hmmm... the Porterfields. Not that impressed with them to be honest. I need something that bites hard from cold and doesn't fade, because the sprints are from a standing start with no warm up. The R4S pads don't seem to have as much initial bite as the oem pads, and although they do resist fade better, I have had them go on me :eek: . I am extremely hard on my brakes so I will be looking for something different next time.

Have you tried the DS2500's on track yet?

[honda9krpm]

Very nice setup :)
What camber do you have at the front?

This post has been edited by honda9krpm: 08 March 2009 - 07:47 AM

[fireball]

have you weighed the car ? would be interested to know how much it weighs as u have stripped it out ... i guess u have taken out the soft top and roof motor?

[vyets]

Badass!!! :):)

[mcopley]

Quote

What camber do you have at the front?

The front camber is -3 (maybe -3.25) degrees. I can't get more than that now because I have clearance issues with the HKS coilovers. I will be replacing the upper arm with an Ikeya Formula part that should solve the problem. You want some TC Design upper arms ;) ?

Quote

have you weighed the car ? would be interested to know how much it weighs as u have stripped it out ... i guess u have taken out the soft top and roof motor?

Nope, but by my rough calculations I must have saved about 100kgs so far. Yes, the soft top and roof motors are gone.


I appreciate all the interest and compliments guys!

[ncmx5]

Quote

Hmmm... the Porterfields. Not that impressed with them to be honest. I need something that bites hard from cold and doesn't fade, because the sprints are from a standing start with no warm up. The R4S pads don't seem to have as much initial bite as the oem pads, and although they do resist fade better, I have had them go on me :eek: . I am extremely hard on my brakes so I will be looking for something different next time.

Have you tried the DS2500's on track yet?

yeah i have taken it to track, but i tend to do more mountain driving

it does have good inital bite even from cool and but you can start feeling the fade after about 5-7 laps as you start needing to brake a little earlier.. it could be tyres as well. When you're 'hard' on your brakes, do you threshold brake at the limit before ABS or brake with ABS working?

[Vuey]

im a total novice when it comes to build up of the car for track purpose , on the other hand, ask me for advice on how to pimp out an S2000 and i will have advice in bucket loads :cool: :D

reading your post , from what i gather , you had a very simple/basic approach and it looks like it worked wonders for you :thumbup: some people forget and go overboard with mods ,looks like you stuck to the basics and got great results :thumbup: :)

i can only see this project going and going :D

[ninelarge]

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yeah i have taken it to track, but i tend to do more mountain driving

it does have good inital bite even from cool and but you can start feeling the fade after about 5-7 laps as you start needing to brake a little earlier.. it could be tyres as well. When you're 'hard' on your brakes, do you threshold brake at the limit before ABS or brake with ABS working?

I've used DS2500s for both track and road use. I've used them on the fronts in combination with OEM rear pads, as well as DS2500s on all corners. They work well, but I'm no Schmacher and I honestly can't tell too much of a difference between them and the OEM pads. Having said that, we tend to do some track analysis based on VBOX/PerformanceBox data and there's very little difference with the results, driver skills and techniques aside. The DS2500s do appear to be a little dirtier than OEM, but I don't mind the brake dust.

If your car is for track use only though, you should probably look at the DS3000s and higher.

Btw mcopley, Nice Work :thumbup:

[ncmx5]

Quote

I've used DS2500s for both track and road use. I've used them on the fronts in combination with OEM rear pads, as well as DS2500s on all corners. They work well, but I'm no Schmacher and I honestly can't tell too much of a difference between them and the OEM pads. Having said that, we tend to do some track analysis based on VBOX/PerformanceBox data and there's very little difference with the results, driver skills and techniques aside. The DS2500s do appear to be a little dirtier than OEM, but I don't mind the brake dust.

If your car is for track use only though, you should probably look at the DS3000s and higher.

Btw mcopley, Nice Work :thumbup:

Yeah i agreee they dust HEAPS, but thats okay - another excuse to wash your car!!
Im running DS2500 fronts and Project Mu HC+ rears (donated to me) and IMO they are WAAAAAAY better than OEM. Its driver feedback that you want so you can drive to your own limits. I must admit, im not that quick around the track, and I don't go out there like a nut to chase down 0.01 sec lap times either. But yeah I just go and see how it feels around track.

I think the DS3000 need a bit of heat in them to operate properly, and since mcopley is doing sprints (cool starts), Im not sure if it will be the right pad for him. Taaxed runs DS3000 on his M3 and they squeek like a bitch on the streets. Gotta see what he thinks of them HOT/COLD performance.

[sT(.)(.)K]

Nice work mate, wish i could do the same :(

What spring rates are you running and how do you like the HKS??

I have a set of unused still in box ds3000's available. PM me if your interested

[mcopley]

[QUOTE]
wish i could do the same

[ninelarge]

Quote

I think the DS3000 need a bit of heat in them to operate properly, and since mcopley is doing sprints (cool starts), Im not sure if it will be the right pad for him. Taaxed runs DS3000 on his M3 and they squeek like a bitch on the streets. Gotta see what he thinks of them HOT/COLD performance.

Nothing a nice warm-up lap can't do to bring the pads up to its operating temperature :)

The reason why I suggested DS3000s is because they have been designed to withstand higher temperatures. You could probably get away with it, but they're not designed for road use - you just can't generate (legally) enough heat in them putting around on the road. This might explain the squeaking.

[mcopley]

[QUOTE]
Nothing a nice warm-up lap can't do to bring the pads up to its operating temperature

[ninelarge]

Ahh... you get warm-up laps here :)

Perhaps, you could take the first lap at 80%?

[mcopley]

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Perhaps, you could take the first lap at 80%?

I'll give a quick explanation of the sprint format here in Perth. You get 4 runs in total each event. Your slowest run is dropped and you overall time is a total of your 3 fastest runs. You run in order, one car at a time, and there are about 30 cars in each session. So your car gets about 45 mins to cool down between each run. You queue up at the timing lights when it's about 5 cars til your run, all the while brakes and tyres are cold. When it's your turn, the lights turn green and the timer starts when you break the timing beam - it ends about 2 mins later when you finish your run and then you head back to the car park.

So as you can see, no warm-up, no first lap at 80%, every second you are out on track counts towards your time.

Always makes the first turn exciting though :D !

[TAAXED]

Quote

Nothing a nice warm-up lap can't do to bring the pads up to its operating temperature :)

The reason why I suggested DS3000s is because they have been designed to withstand higher temperatures. You could probably get away with it, but they're not designed for road use - you just can't generate (legally) enough heat in them putting around on the road. This might explain the squeaking.

I've used the Pmu HC+ and Endless CC-R pads on track before...both are awesome but I prefer the Pmu HC+, I think the CC-Rs are overkill for sprints and track days.

That being said they are both far superior to OEM and DS2500s, but they do require a few hard stops to warm up properly LOL

As far as the M3 goes it's carrying about 250-300kg of extra weight over the s2000 so they warm up easily on mountain runs and work perfectly from cold in the mornings.

The main reason why I prefer them in all conditions is because I like the bite and feeling you get from track pads and the squeaking doesn't bother me that much...just people at intersections when I come to a stop :p

I also realise that I can't really get much extra stopping performance from the DS3000s because I'm on street tyres, so I'm mainly just using them for the braking feel and because they won't fade on me...hopefully!