sirbikealot7

Hey dudes, figured I'd start a post to document the shit that I'm doing with the car.

I'm 25 and have had a fair amount of cars along the way but I got into lapping with a turbocharged Miata a couple years ago, started pretty basic and over 2 years had the car well dialed, managed heat properly for 25 minute sessions without fail, but got sick of dealing with a home brewed aftermarket forced induction on a car that wasn't ever really designed to go that fast.

I built the engine as a 1.9L ran 19psi and made 295 whp and 260ft lbs on a Mustang Dyno, and the car weighed 2250lbs wet. It was damn fast but after losing multiple sets of wheel bearings in the same year, stupid little failures here and there that cut track days short I decided to part ways with the car. A really cool dude drove up from Bend, OR with a car trailer and a cashiers check for $14,000 and she was gone.



Enter the S2000.

After going back and forth between replacing the Miata with a C5 Vette, 350z or an S2000. I decided on an S2000. After a couple months of scouring craigslist I couldn't find anything for less than $10,000 that wasn't a POS with a ton of miles. A buddy of mine bought a Suzuka Blue AP2 from the auction and rebuilt it. After talking with him, I started looking at IAA auctions and found this car in Portland. Pulled the carfax.
2003 Suzuka Blue. 1 owner, 70,000 miles. Super clean besides the damage.

sirbikealot7

They forked it on the trailer and got it to Seattle for me. Once I got it home I started disassembly and getting replacement parts.



Stanced as f@#k lol





Quarter panel had a small paint crack but the lip was pretty much straight.

Started tearing everything apart to asses the damage. Ended up replacing the subframe, diff mounts, control arms, caliper, knuckle etc. Installed KW V3 and Megan bump steer kit instead of replacing OEM components



Took the car for a maiden shake down. Felt solid but was way too low. Had to get a temporary trip permit and schedule an inspection with the State Patrol and get the car signed off.

sirbikealot7

I'm an HVAC Service tech and have a company van that comes home with me which they are relatively lenient on personal use with during the week. But since it's kind of a no go to fire it up on the weekend and drive around I had a 98 F150 to take the load off the Miata at the time. Problem is that I hated driving the F150 so much that I ended up firing up the Miata with a built engine even to go to the grocery store and back. It had gotten really old and I felt like I didn't want to make the S2000 an inconvenient pain in the ass like the Miata was.

So mods start pouring in, initially I decided I wanted a fun streetable, and easy to drive car that I could take lapping here and there, but not make it into a race car.



17x9 RPF1 with 255 Nt05s. It was winter time and I didn't want to worry about driving in the rain, NT05s seemed like a good compromise



Installed a Berk Headerback and dropped a vibrant resonator in it to help with the drone.







Enter the last couple months. I finally got rid of that POS F150 and bought a 2004 Titan, dropped some Bilsteins, leveling kit, brakes and upped the tire size a bit. Having a truck that I enjoyed took the load off of the S2000 for the little amount of daily driving that I used it for. I simultaneously sold my Triumph and decided that I wanted to get serious with Prepping the car for the track and signed up for September 2nd at the Ridge.






So, being 6'3" and 210lbs fitting in the car safely on the track requires some ingenuity. Ordered a Ballade V2 rollbar, Sparco EVO2s, Crow 6 points, OMP wheel and NRG hub and quick release and there went the motorcycle money.

Test fit, the seat took a ton of work to get fit just right, but it's perfect now and I barely pass the broomstick test. Success! The 90mm Dish 330mm OMP Corsica wheel fits right in my lap and I can still see the cluster. Passenger seat next.



Moroso pan baffle with NPT fitting



AEM X series Oil pressure, temp and water temp. Not installed yet, Ortiz pod on order





Bit the bullet because I want to go fast. APR GT250 with 275mm stands from Rockstar along with a Gears lip



I was up until 1am before my track day trying to get the splitter on so the car would be balanced. 1/2: birch FTW, paint and Vinyl wrap still to come.



Cut out the rear to slip onto the brackets, holds tight and easily removable. Front of the splitter is supported with 1" aluminum square tube to the frame rails. Need to get the Longacre turnbuckles on still.

sirbikealot7

Made it to the track after 4 hours of sleep and its pouring, f@#k me.



It cleared up after the first session though and turned out to be an Awesome day.



I fell in love with this car on the track. I have limited experience but previously I ran a 1.58 with old Toyo RARs on the Miata with 132mph top speed on the straight. I ran a few 1.59's even getting help up by a little traffic in the S2000. New top speed was only 121mph. The car carries incredible speed through the corners, and it's a bit tougher to drive and keep it in the power, but it's very rewarding.

Winmax W4 pads and the NT05s did well.


How the hell do embed a video??

Track footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5o8L2zK1o









Also got really lucky that the splitter clears my driveway by 1/8" or so. If I go slow enough, it doesn't touch somehow



Decided to get setup for future mods and faster times.

17x10 6uls with 255 NT01 vs 17x9 with 255 NT05

sirbikealot7

I stopped at a scale on the way home from the track and the car is 2680lbs with 1/2 tank of fuel. I'm not really where to go but I'd really like to get that number closer to 2500.

BBK, brake ducting and oil cooler should come this winter. At that point the car is pretty well sorted in NA form, really looking forward to next season, I might be able to get back out before the year ends hopefully.

manystyles

Awesome progress! Surprised this thread doesn't have more followers. Keep up the good work.

cahooa

Cool car man, I love that all blue interior. I hope to make it to the Ridge next year, it looks like a blast.

mattfduk

Car looks good!

How the fit of the 10J's?!

I've got my eye on a set maybe but worry about BBK clearance and how much arch work will be needed, I'm more than happy to do a bit!

Also any more pictures of that undertray? Look solid!

sirbikealot7

Thanks!

Love the ridge, I haven't made Pacific Raceways yet but it's on the list.

Fitment of the 10's are great, as far as I can tell, they poke out just a hair more than the RPF1's did but the tire is a tad more stretched, I don't think i'll have to make any alignment or fender modifications to fit them. Very pleased. I'm going to pull the splitter soon to make a template and paint/vinyl wrap, the mounting is simple but I'll take some more photos when I have it all apart

mattfduk

Sounds like that's my mind made up just need to make sure they will clear my BBK as I'd rather a 255/40 on a 10J than the only other option I can see that's affordable which is a 245/40 on a 9J

I'll be keeping an eye out for the splitter posts