[mcopley]

I unfortunately over-revved the S2K coming down into the basin at Barb's a few weeks ago. We were running the long track in the dark and there is no lighting over the hill so it was very difficult to judge the braking point

I've had a set of AP2 valve springs and retainers sitting around for a little while now and this seemed like a good prompt to get the job done.

I used the tool from EuroExport (http://www.euroexpor...compressor.html) which made the job a lot easier.



As you can see from the next picture, we used a very 'un-JDM' chopstick to measure that the piston was at the top of the cylinder;



By doing it this way, and rotating the crank for each cylinder, we avoided the need to use a compressor of any kind. This made the job pretty straight forward...

None of my existing retainers were cracked - but it's certainly a nice weight off my mind knowing that I don't have to worry about this any more

[vyets]

haha nice asian chop stix!

[AdN]

Have you found a trailer for you car yet? I sent you a link a while ago but i think it sold pretty quickly.

[fireball]

did you take off all the retainers to check for cracking ?
if you just look from the top down you will most likely not see any cracking.

the cracking occurs on the underside, not visible unless removed.

i have quite a few retainers that look great on one side but almost cracked through when viewed from the other side.. quite scary really

[mcopley]

fireball, on 23 October 2011 - 12:10 AM, said:

did you take off all the retainers to check for cracking ?
if you just look from the top down you will most likely not see any cracking.

the cracking occurs on the underside, not visible unless removed.

i have quite a few retainers that look great on one side but almost cracked through when viewed from the other side.. quite scary really

I removed and replaced all of the retainers on both the intake and exhaust cam. I have inspected all of the old ones that I removed and none of them have any cracks on either side.

[honda9krpm]

Thanks for the link mcopley.
I've ordered and received the tool as well. I never know when I will need it since I put very little km on my S. The seller is awesome. Very prompt service.

Thanks again

[aozora]

Love your build thread!
Just wondering how the Project Mu Club Racer pads hold up? I'm due for a new set soon

[mcopley]

aozora, on 17 November 2011 - 01:22 PM, said:

Love your build thread!
Just wondering how the Project Mu Club Racer pads hold up? I'm due for a new set soon

The pads are holding up really well. They don't have quite the same bite as the DS3000's, but they produce heaps less dust and are quieter

[mcopley]

honda9krpm, on 30 October 2011 - 08:04 PM, said:

Thanks for the link mcopley.
I've ordered and received the tool as well. I never know when I will need it since I put very little km on my S. The seller is awesome. Very prompt service.

Thanks again

Don't forget you need to attack the back of the tool with an angle grinder when you come to do the intake side. Unless you remove the intake manifold - because this interferes with the fitment of the tool.

[mcopley]

I've been having trouble trying to find a suitable trailer for my car. The J's front half spoiler is low enough to cause major problems on all conventional trailers, so I was looking to buy a tilting trailer. Turns out that they are super expensive, so I need a new plan. I'm going to design a 'quick release' system for the front bumper so that I can remove it very easily. This way I can just rent a normal trailer and not have to worry about the usual destruction of my front bumper.

I started by removing the front bumper to see what I had to work with;



Next I removed all the oem junk that was in the way or just heavy. This included the fender liners, bumper support beam and air pump;



Having removed all this I've found a simple (yet strong) way to attach the bumper using a combination of Dzus fasteners and bonnet pins. I will post a photo of this when it's finished.

I'm now left with no flat undertray or ducting to the radiator, so I've started mocking up something that will permanently attach to the bumper;


This will ultimately be made out of aluminium once I'm happy with the template.

[mcopley]

Removing the air pump was always going to throw a CEL so it was time to upgrade to a standalone EMS. This would not only avoid the CEL but also help to get me more power over the Apexi NEO that I've been running so far. Haltech seem to offer the perfect option for those with an AP1. Their Pro Plug-in ECU is a direct replacement for the oem unit and plugs straight into the factory harness (it's also very reasonably priced);



The car started up perfectly with the provided base map, and also idles just like factory. I will be getting this tuned in the new year with some new injectors (and maybe some other bits ), so it will be interesting to see how much more power we can make over the NEO.

[mcopley]

Whilst I was pulling bits off the car, I wanted to see how much weight I could save with the doors - so I removed them ;




I wouldn't get very far in scrutineering like this, so they needed to go back on - but not without some gutting first;

Factory door with glass and hardware removed;



The angle grinder is required next;



The nearly finished product (just waiting for a bit of paint);



Cutting our the door bars is a real PITA... but I have saved heaps of weight. Including the glass, I have managed to take 14kg out of each door! Combined with the air pump, bumper beam and other bits the car is approximately 35kg lighter than it was a week ago

[MAD828]

Arent you worried about side Impacts and intrusion now? With out a full cage I would be.

Nice weight reductions otherwise, car still looks very clean for a track car I like that.

[mcopley]

MAD828, on 30 December 2011 - 05:30 AM, said:

Arent you worried about side Impacts and intrusion now? With out a full cage I would be.

No, not really, but that's a very good question. I think anyone should carefully consider what they use their car for before making a change like this. My car is never driven on the road, I don't do W2W racing and the tracks I compete on have loads of run off with not much to hit. If any of these things were to change I would definately fit a full cage.

[mullens]

Hey mcopley

just read through all ur thread, was a real good read! good luck with 2012 ill definately be keeping an eye on ur your progess!

[fireball]

yep i would be worried without the side intrusion bars. even without w2w racing there are enoungh idiot heroes out on Timeattack days that could potentially see an accident. not worth the weight saving.get a full cage imo.

have a look at this tosser of a driver
eastern creek

or this t bone
t bone

This post has been edited by fireball: 31 December 2011 - 05:20 AM

[mcopley]

Hey fireball, thanks for your comments - I appreciate your concern. I thought that removing the side impact bars would be controversial. I think that what I'm about to do with the intake side of my engine may cause even more controversy.....

[fireball]

safety first.

if your intake is anything like mine , destroying an engine... well at least it's replaceable with a better engine next time

[mcopley]

fireball, on 31 December 2011 - 05:25 AM, said:

if your intake is anything like mine , destroying an engine... well at least it's replaceable with a better engine next time

I don't know if this has been covered before in a different thread, but how did your intake destroy your engine?

[fireball]

hasn't happened to me yet but itbs+ no filter. I'm guessing it is a matter of time

[EVILS2K581]

I really appreciate forum topics like these makes a good read, and really has made me change my mind of a few things done to my car for track work.
Keep up the work mcopley! hope you do decide on getting a cage nows though... as fireball has said, "safety first" =) have you thought of going carbon fiber doors too??

All the best for 2012.

[mcopley]

Just finished fitting the new Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors and AEM fuel rail. These are a bit overkill for my setup at the moment, but I wanted to get them in before spending loads of time tuning the Haltech. The fuel rail is also to support moving to an aftermarket intake manifold some time later this year.

Injectors side by side (OEM on the left);


I bought the kit that comes with the custom S2000 pigtails, so fitting them is completely plug and play. Just enter the correct values (supplied by ID) into your ECU software and the car will start and idle perfectly.

Picture showing AEM fuel rail and pigtails;


I also have a 74mm throttle body waiting to go on, but I think I may keep this in the box until the new intake manifold is available. Also, BC Stage 2 cams are on their way, which I will fit next week before finally getting the car tuned. Can't wait to see how the car feels then

[mcopley]

Finally got the Haltech tuned on Friday. I haven't fitted the cams or throttle body yet. Best run was 202hp atw with VTEC set at 4800rpm. Simon (the dyno owner) said that his dyno reads very low and it is more likely about 220-230hp atw.




I haven't had a chance to drive the car yet to see how it feels, but I'm sure it will be a lot healthier than before.

[jooboo]

wow, just read through your whole thread mcopley! awesome stuff...cant wait to get some more track time myself

[mcopley]

Before the first race of this season I had one final thing I wanted to try. My A050 tyres were getting pretty hard after 18 months, but still had plenty of tread left. I had read some interesting things about tire softning products and decided to give a new Aussie product a try;



You have to paint this on the tyres and then wrap them in plastic and leave them for 3 days;



I had also read that you should see a noticeable difference in hardness, so I bought a durometer to get some before/after readings;



I repeated the application twice in the week before my race (as suggested) but unfortunately there was no change in the readings on the durometer. This stuff really stinks and made me feel quite sick. I don't know what's in it, but it's extremely toxic stuff.