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If you follow me on Instagram, you probably have already seen all of this, (@jacobfatz) but oh well.
A friend of mine is in the vinyl wrapping business and he had some satin black film left over from a job. So I wrapped the center console and radio door in it. Still unsure about it. UPDATE 5/19/2017: The vinyl was removed within a month of wrapping it.
Moving on...
I'm not sure if I added it in there, but when I got the PF01s, I swapped over the junk tires I had on my AP2v1 wheels just so I could have them on the car and run the BBK. Well, Hankook was running a special plus a $100 rebate, so I bought a set of 215/45/17 front; 245/40/17 rear Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2s.
Total cost was $240 FOR ALL FOUR INSTALLED!! I really hate to say I only bought this tire because they were so cheap, but to be 100% honest, I only bought them because they were so damn cheap for a high performance summer tire. I sold my front tires and threw the rears away because of dryrot. For $240, I'm extremely pleased with them. The break-in period is 600 miles I believe... It'll take me a few months to get there. So far they feel a whole lot more sticky than my crap tire setup. Hopefully steering feedback is improved after they break in, but I also read a lot of reviews where that was the main issue with these. I have gone on one mountain run with these tires and they were very predictable. They talk a lot before they let go. Only lost it once and was easy to recover. The tires were fine, but the Swift Springs really showed their true colors here... Which brings me to my next point.
As you guys know, I installed Swift Spec R lowering springs on my OEM shocks. I wasn't happy with them and planned on getting Koni Yellow shocks with maybe ground control coilover sleeves for them. I was about to pull the trigger on a set (through Moddicition of course) but conveniently a set of Öhlins DFV Road and Track coilovers came up for sale locally. Barely used for a fair price... I bought them and sold the Swifts springs immediately.
Seriously. Oh my god. What a difference. I had KWV3s installed on my AP1, which I loved... But wow. The Öhlins are super super smooth and the ride alone is worth upgrading to them. I haven't driven very much on them so far, so I can't speak on handling differences yet and I haven't really messed with the shock settings (tried 7 clicks from full soft and 10 clicks from full soft so far)... But holy shit. Hopefully I'll have track impressions or at least a mountain run in there to really judge them. But I've NEVER ridden in a smoother S2000. Not bouncy at all even though it's set pretty soft and handles on the street very predictably.
Here is how the car sits now:
Last pic is on Swift springs, first one is after Öhlins install.
Made a total impulse buy... Probably one of the last sets of OEM GPW side strakes left. These are discontinued in GPW so I jumped on them and probably paid way too much. Upon them getting here, I didn't want to install them. They've been sitting in the Honda box inside my closet for the better part of four months now...
I also ordered a set of Spoon subframe rigid collars. Installed in an hour or so at work. The whole process was pretty painless after you figure out exactly what it is you need to do.
After the install and an alignment, the car felt awesome! Pretty much everything they advertised was the outcome.
You can see the collars between the body and subframe... Out of focus but you get the idea.
After subframe collar install/alignment:
The final piece to the suspension puzzle was to get the car corner balanced so I could really see what I had put together. My friend works at a NASCAR race shop, so he invited me over to corner balance the car myself on his scales.
The S2000 BAAAAAAAAARELY fit on the existing machines, but it fit. The numbers in green show the weights across the four corners and the number in the bottle middle is the total weight of the car. We preloaded the driver's area with about 220lbs (a little more than I weigh, but that was the best we could do with the resources available) to simulate me sitting in the car. When it was all said and done, the weights with me actually in the car were really close (within 5lbs at each wheel) versus having the sandbags simulating me sitting in the car. It was done with 1/2 tank of gas to give a wider range of error versus having a full tank of gas or no gas. Top down of course, because that's the only way I roll. I wanted to raise the front of the car a bit and we actually ended up at 1" lower than factory height by the end, which is perfect. There is a 1/16" negative rake as well. Hopefully as I drive more, I can judge if adjustments need to be made.
With simulated driver:
Without driver:
That's damn close on both for not adding any weight!!
Afterwards, I drove home, re-preloaded all of the control arm bushings, and aligned the car to factory specification. The car feels AMAZING.
Also, Honda lists a 2004 S2000 @ 2809lbs. Mine weighed in @ 2701 without driver. That means that between the new wheels, brakes, and coilovers my car has lost over 60lbs. We can assume that since it was at 1/2 tank of fuel, and one gallon of gas weighs 6lbs, that ~36lbs of gas (call it 40lbs even) should be subtracted from Honda's listed weight. So from 2769 to 2701, that's pretty substantial weight savings... and all of it is unsprung mass lost.
Had to take the car back out the following weekend for some Togue action with some friends. (DougEFresh, Yoyosupmang, Jasserv, nMeOne to name a few. Don't know everybody's handle on here.) The car did AMAZINGLY. During the downhill, I was following Doug in my AP2 with the GT-R in front of his AMG. I was able to stay relatively close to them considering they have 3x the power. Safe to say that this setup was 101% worth it.
Local guy wanted to trade door panels. My all black 04+ panels for his 04+ black with red insert panels. I swapped for really no reason. Not entirely sure how I feel about the swap yet.
New - top
Old- bottom
Few more shots of the new interior all together. It's growing on me.
Swapped back to my Moddiction Anvil 1 shift knob. Trying to decide which of the two I like better as well.
Nice cornerbalance. Loosened all bushings then did the balance?
We actually didn't. I thought of that afterwards as well. After realigning and preloading all bushings, it didn't seem to change any numbers. Still corner balanced luckily!
Originally Posted by PenguinS2000
Damn dude, awesome progress! I like the black/red door panels
Thanks! They're growing on me. I think I prefer them now that I actually have them. I would like to get some OEM seats reupholstered in suede similar to CR seats, just red, with matching door panel inserts to compliment them. That- or Recaro Pole Position seats in red/black with red cushions are my next mod hopefully.
08-22-2016, 05:34 AM
