sick_AP1

Hello Everyone

Decided to put my build journal up finally since I've been procrastinating since the start of the build so... here we go

I have been a S2000 fan since around 2002 when I was in high school when I saw a Berlina Black flying through the streets and the one thing that go my attention was the way it looked in motion, it just pulled me in. After that day, I decided that on my senior year I would save up money to buy myself a car when I graduate college So I started to save up.

On October 2013 I bought myself a 2001 Honda S200 Spa Yellow. This was no later than a month after I graduated and it took me awhile to find this beauty but I did go through some tough roads to get this car as it was not my first choice. When I started shopping I found a mint 1 owner Rio Yellow Ap2 in North Carolina with an OEM Roof and J's Racing Single Exhaust. I was hooked and I bought a one way ticket to North Carolina to pick up the car and drive it back but this was a bust. I was in contact with the dealership that had the car and the salesperson notifying him that I did buy a ticket and that I would be traveling down to see the car the prior week. The week of the sale I called him up and I was told that the car was sold I was so angry that I was not notified by the salesperson because we were in talks for 2 weeks about the car and my plans.

So the same week I got the bad new I started hunting for another car wasn't expecting to find anything but then again another Yellow S2000 caught my eye and it was a 2001 Spa Yellow 1 owner with 33,764. As soon as I saw it I called the dealership and emailed them notifying them that on Friday I would be making the drive to Franklin, Mass - 6 hours from New Jersey to see the car and potentially buy it. On October 18th 2013 I took the 4-5 hour drive to Franklin and I was hoping that the car would still be there. I arrive and I see this Yellow Beauty parked in front of the dealership calling my name as I got closer to it. The greatest thing of all was it was unmolested (until I got my hands on her lol ) nothing was done to the car but regular maintenance which I have all the receipts and books to show for since the owner kept them all.

I bought the car that day and I was the happiest man in the world

From that day forward she was known as...


STACY


1st picture(s)

Stacy 1st picture by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Stacy sexy 2nd by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

The thing I did not know was that I could not take the car home that day. I found out after I signed the papers that Massachusetts do not carry temp plates that you would need actual plates to drive off. So I had to drive home happy the car was mine but itching to drive her home so after the long week and paying for the plates (they reimbursed me plus gave me more back as a inconvenience fee). At that point I did not care so on October 25 in 40/50 degree weather I was driving home with the top down! hitting vtec of course lol





So here starts the mod list!

Mod 1

Dealer sticker removal (March 25th)

the first thing I did to the car was remove this hideous dealer sticker off the back
Stacy jason shop by Sick_ap1, on Flickr
on the left side of the trunk sorry bad picture.


For the next couple of months the car would be in hibernation and just taken out for weekend drives with the girlfriend.

DSC_0195 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

DSC_0214 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Until a friend would drag me out unwillingly to a drag strip Island Dragway in NJ.

I know the car isn't for drag racing so I just went to see what it can do with my foot all the way down.

DSC_0215 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

DSC_0216 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

DSC_0217 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


November 10th 2013

MOD 2

Go Pro Placement

I did this just for the drag racing event as eventually I would change the go pro mounting area.
DSC_0218 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


On the last run my friend ended up snapping an axle. So we had to wait until the tow truck arrived to get towed back this was about 4 hours later.

DSC_0219 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

December 31 2013

Last minor changes for the year

Mod 3/4

- Password JDM Brass 540 Gram Shifter (540-560) and Circuit Hero Extender / Also replaced all my Markers and brake lights with LEDS


Decided to change the shifter with a heavy knob and extender which didn't last long as the length and the weight made the shifter very loose which I ended up staying with the extender but put the OEM knob on top for the moment until I get a brass one to complete the set.

Replaced the with LEDs as the brake light blew out on me so I shouldn't have this problem any longer

DSC_0349 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

DSC_0392 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

DSC_0393 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

DSC_0398 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr




--- Some Random Drives from Jan until March

IMG_20140505_194552 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

IMG_20140505_194541 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

GOPR0650_1394603228721_high by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

IMG_20140311_185950 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


March 15th 2014

Maintenance preparation for the start of Auto Cross/Auto-X season!!!!
IMG_20140315_114706 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

IMG_20140315_114831 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Mod 5

Installed a Saikou Michi - Oil Catch Can between the PCV and Intake Manifold - Was worrying about oil burning so this was the first thing I got for Auto X

No picture ill get on eventually



March 22 2014 - First AutoX event MSNE Event 1

IMG_20140322_101421 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

IMG_20140322_160335 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

IMG_20140327_132643 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


I have been doing AutoX since 2005 but took a long break from 2007-2014 since my previous vehicle was stolen. This was my return to the sport and wow was I happy. That day was great but a headache at the same time as the event coordinators ended up having timing issues so nothing was actually 100% correct. The other racers were very upset with the end result . I would place 6th for my first event which was not bad. The car was giving me a lot of oversteer with the skinny tires and the fact that they were all season tires didn't help at all.After talking to some people I decided to look up cures for the oversteer before my next event which was the following weekend.


MOD 6

UK Aggressive Alignment (Max Negative Camber)
I took the car to a regular alignment place thinking that they would be able to do the setting I desired but boy was I wrong.So I took it to this place that was known for their alignments and I asked them to give me max negative camber on stock ball joints and 1/4 total toe. The guy had no idea what I was talking about in the toe area so I left with no toe and just max negative camber. I stuck with it for about 2/3 weeks until I met Steve Farkas.

IMG_20140328_073156 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Mod 7

WhiteLine 30 MM Solid Front Sway Bar -

At this time I knew I had to do more to fix the over steer so I needed to plant the front more so I got a heavier bar to do the jobs. I didn't want to go all out and get a Gendron Bar just yet so I opted for the easy stationary bar for the time being. The Installation was straight forward and now I was ready for the next auto-x event

IMG_20140326_110353 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

sick_AP1

Mod 8

Spoon Air Filter

The car became noticeably louder and the response was slightly increased - great filter in my point of view

got a steal on it so I am not complaining.

Spoon filter by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


Spoon installed by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

March 29 2014 NNJR SCCA First Event

So my first SCCA event - I was placed in the Novice group even though I was not a Novice. I placed 6th in the Novice group but would have placed First in B street.

IMG_20140329_144231 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

[media]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8zgOsfu0UE
[/media]

March 30th MSNE Event 2

Another Rain Event - Needed more seat time so Here I go!

[media]http://youtu.be/MalaYxq17Lg[/media]

I could tell I was afraid of pushing the car because I did not want to spin out and the fact that the course was very wavy made it worse so I slowed down a bit. Eventually I would fix all these bad driving habits through out the season.

Home Bound

IMG_20140330_093709 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

IMG_20140330_160325 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

sick_AP1

For the Next Couple of Months it would be trial and error with my driving on trying to tame the car in different ways from late braking, Trail braking, down shifting, entry angles, etc etc. I would figure out the limits of the car stock and would eventually crave more from the car because it wasnt enough.

Some Auto X recap pics

Banana Twins by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Jose shot 2 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr
(thanks Jlozano180 - Jose for catching me)

MSNE / S2KI group event by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Karcepts MetLife 3 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Off day trip pics

Warwick trip by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

S2ki Stacy by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


Videos from the season

with Rear Bar

[media]http://youtu.be/Y3FmiGFUk2U[/media]

[media]http://youtu.be/Qv8dkxzSUtM[/media]

Mod 9 /10

After a couple event I decided I needed to give the car the proper maintenance it needed and I took the car to Billman on May 23rd so he can do the major things needed to withstand the beatings of auto cross. Billman would do the AP2 retainers / with a valve adjustment. I also changed the TCT to his X version didn't want to go through the headache of replacing it later.

Billman tct/valve/retainers by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

sick_AP1

MOD 11
I removed the rear bar because I felt that the rear was still giving me oversteer especially with the big front bar. Running stock with only a big front bar was amazing as the car wanted to grip in every corner even with stock ap1 rims and all season tires. Of course the alignment was another big factor in the grip but with the rear off it gave me no issues in regular driving instead it improved.

Finally removed the Rear bar

[media]http://vimeo.com/98291690[/media]


[media]http://youtu.be/Eqdq0pbBuHQ[/media]


After removing the rear bar the rear was very stable during hard turns and I knew I could push the car even further . This resulted in me cutting off about 3-4 seconds in my times actually catching up to everyone which was pretty amazing.



Will continue updating this thread during the week so I can catch up to my current setting -- as of now its BED TIME!

but I will leave a sneak peak of my current setup.


10623764_10153175675524148_6997627654377740733_o by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

jonner

Keep up the good work...

Carbon Blue

keep up the good work, are you now on non stagger 255? Car looked pretty fast in your last vimeo video. How does the car handle on regular city driving without the rear bar?

sick_AP1

Im currently running a square setup 255/40/17 dunlop z2 on TrMotorsports

On the stock setup the car was fine with out the rear more stable actually. Now that I'm running all the suspension goodies I'm actually going back to a rear bar because of the stiff setup I currently have the car is a bit twitchy in the rear.

sick_AP1

previous posts updated and now it continues!

For the next couple of month as I fine tuned the car and my driving skills I would horde parts in my garage from Suspension (Ohlins DFV) , Rims TrMotorsports C3 17x9 by 62mm offset , Dunlop ZII 255/40/17, Swift 700lbs springs, Hardrace 6621 ball joints, Spoon Sport Dual Exhaust until one specific part would come out

and that was the KARCEPTS Front Sway bar!

MOD 12

The Bar came out the 6th of August to the pre order list - I had mine in my hands the 8th of August and that was the day the bad boy went on!!!

Karcepts bar!! by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Karcepts number 2 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Comparison to the Whiteline bar

Karcepts vs Whiteline 30mm by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


Installed!!!!!

Karcepts installed!! by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


I would use the bar in stock form for a couple of event to do some trial runs (2 events) but the improvement in those events was drastic I would constantly be going faster as I would be able to adjust the bar in a matter of 2-3 minutes. The bar is very well built and when I saw the amazing pieces and how easy it was to install / adjustments it made the wait 100% worth it. After the two event I knew that it was pretty much over for my tires as I did more than 25 -30 events already plus road trips on the aggressive camber/toe wore out my all-season tires.

Last event in B Street

Karcepts first MetLife by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

and now onto STR CLASS!!!!

So right after that event the car went up on jack stands and surgery commenced!!!

Surgery day one! by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

First up - Exhaust


Mod 13

Install Spoon Sport Dual Exhaust -

I had a great deal on this exhaust that I could not turn away. I have always like the single style Spoon Sport Exhaust for my 98 Honda civic and when I came across a dual one for my S2000 I decided to jump on and try it first hand before I go to a different dual exhaust or a single exhaust which I think I will eventually change to which one only time will tell.

Spoon exhaust by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Exhaust installed by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


Mod 14

Suspension

Ohlins DFV with 700LBS swift springs in the Front / 572 Ohlins Springs in the rear.

I have contemplated on what suspension to pick for months when I first got the car and when it came down to it I was between KW3 and Ohlins. I decided to go with Ohlins because of their reputation and because I have yet to see a bad comment about this suspension. Since I was trying to run my setup for autocross I ended up contacting URGE and he gave me advice on spring setups for the Ohlins DFV which would end up being 700lbs Swift Front Springs and placing the front Ohlins 572lbs to the rear. The installation of the suspension was really easy I didn't think it would be that easy but the installation only took me about 3 hours and an extra 2 hours of tweaking the height. I wanted a functional drop something that looks good but that I can drive anywhere so I dropped it about an inch all around.

Install Pics

Rears

Ohlins rear setup 572 lbs rear by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Rear installed by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Close up

Rear 2 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Mod 15

Next up while I had the car up I needed to install balljoints to add more camber in the front so I opted for Hardrace 6621 front lower ball joints and installed them without the plate making them STR legal.

Hardrace 6621 balljoint by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

compared to stock

Front balljoint comparison by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

sick_AP1

Mod 16

Rims and Tires

I picked up some TRmotorsports C3 & Dunlop ZII 255/40/17 from one of my friends Hezron- IamxpL thanks bro!!

RIMS by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

First to clean and prep

Clean rims by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

then install with test fittings.


Height adjustment 2 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Height check

Height check by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

after a couple adjustments the car was not rubbing in normal driving or when I pushed the car and so the car sat like so.......

Final setup! by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Final 2 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Shower 3 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Shower by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


Mod 17

Corner balance

After everything was installed I needed to corner balance the car before I did an alignment or setup and appointment with Steve Farkas at his place SJF Performance

So I went to my friend place and literally after 5 minutes and one adjustment i had 50/50 perfect corner balance on the car. Easiest one ever!!

Corner balance 1 by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Corner balance compete shot by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

Mod 18 -

Re Alignment with SJF Performance.

I ended up going to Steve Farkas as he is the guy to go to for custom alignments. Steve does alignments with the driver in the car so the settings are not down with no load instead with the preload the car has exact alignment when you are driving it.
Current Settings

-3.0 front
-2.5 rear
5.5 Front Caster
Front Total Toe
Zero
Rear Total Toe
1/4 rear toe

Farkas alignment! by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


So after everything was said and done I was aching to test the car out at an autocross event so i took the trip out to Nassau Coliseum. I don't like Nassau because of the course and the course designs (too many accidents - someone went off course the day before and hit a parked car - parking lot is being shared with a dealership for their new cars) . Only reason I went over there was to prepare for a MSNE event in Meadowlands as I wanted to go to the next event prepared to compete. So here is my best run.

[media]http://vimeo.com/105081090[/media]


During my runs I actually realized that my tires were rubbing against the wheel well. The rubbing ended up burning the fender clips and some of the fender liner which was all over the tire. When I realized this was happening I adjusted my front suspension to full stiff so I can hold the front up for at least this one event but in the back of my mind I knew that it was still rubbing. This actually caused me to slow down a lot in the turns and especially in the slaloms because I did not want to hook into one of the fender tabs and end popping out the fender. Even though this was test run and that I held back in my runs I still ended up placing 3rd in the STR class which I was very proud of.




Mod 19

Fender Roll

After that event I knew I had to fix this issue and even though raising the car was one option I knew that eventually I would have to fix the problem at its current state if I ever wanted to run bigger tires or rims plus the fact I just got it balanced and aligned ehhh so I rolled them fenders!!


Fender roll by Sick_ap1, on Flickr


9/6/14 MSNE AUTO - X Event!

The night before I would prep the car for the event by putting my rims back on (placed the stocky on for the week), clean out my catch can, tape her up with painters tape (I love keeping my car clean and even though I race it she will be clean to the end!!!) , sway bar adjustment and empty out my car. The problem is that night I would end up doing something wrong because the following morning as I was leaving I turn the car on and the car would idle/rev between 1-2500 k. I would go crazy cleaning the IAC/checking the spark plugs/ wires/ hoses and hoping that it would go away but it did not. I showed up to the event revving up and down and just ended up running the car even with the idle but that turned out to be a bust. The issues put me off my game as my mind was not focused and then during a run the car would go into safe mode disabling vtec. This event would be a bust except for this one picture that made it worth the headache. (Thanks Jose)

10623764_10153175675524148_6997627654377740733_o by Sick_ap1, on Flickr

After the event I would go days figuring out the problem and finally 4 days later I checked the oil catch can and realized that I left the nipple open..... yes i know rookie mistake... sucks



Well this is my current setup and I will update it again this week as I have more parts coming in and I have way more plans for the off season so please stay tuned because this car is going to be a monster..... I PROMISE!!!!!!


Stacy STR BEAST!!!!!

iamxpl

Nice dude! looking good!!!!