SlowTeg

New Turbo setup:

PFab ELT top mount manifold
Garrett G25-660 .92a/r exh housing
3" downpipe to HKS 70mm single exhaust
ID1050x's and Walbro 255 HP converted to return setup
SOS v-mount setup- radiator and condenser
Setrab 25 row oil cooler- mounted under passenger headlight
ACT HD PP and stock disc



Old NA setup:

Engine
Custom 3.5" Intake
Ebay 63mm Test Pipe
Hondata Flash Pro
Moroso Catch Can with modified valve cover baffles (per Rainh8r's guide)
Canton Oil Pan
Mr Sideways dual pass radiator
Mishimoto oil cooler kit with 200F thermostat

Drivetrain
Megan Racing engine and tranny mounts
Megan Racing diff mounts
Clutch Delay Valve Removed
F1 Racing 11lb flywheel

Suspension/Chassis
Megan Racing RCA's w/ offset balljoints for more camber- front
KWV3 coilovers w/ 11k/9k Springs
TSW Interlagos 17x9 + 63mm offset with 3mm spacers in front
255/40/17 Zunlop Z2's
'00 S2000 FSB
OEM replica rear lip wing

Brakes
Stoptech 328mm BBK- Front
Urge Flow Rear Rotors
Stoptech Stainless Steel Braided Lines
PFC pads- 08 front/ 97 rear
ATE Fluid
WASP brake ducting- front

Interior
Harddog Roll Bar
Harddog Bulkhead replacement bar
Recaro ABE black w/ Buddy Club rails
Heated seats installed for OEM seats
Upgraded stereo with Polk component speakers and 2 channel amp
Modifry shift beeper
Modifry seat belt lock
PLX multigauge for oil press, oil temp, water temp
Moddiction anvil shift knob
Custom alarm

So I've debated starting one of these because I'm a somewhat private person, but what the hell. Hopefully this helps someone else by sharing my experiences. It's also a nice place to store my thoughts like a diary. I'm starting this build thread almost 6 years after buying the S, so I'll try my best to recall my experiences/stories. It will take me some time to recall things from memory and try to dig up pictures, but I'll try to keep things in chronological order. It will take me some time to get to the present day, but I'll get there eventually..

Like many other S2000 owners, I've been a Honda fan since before I got my driver's license. I had a Civic and an Integra 12+ years ago. I never much cared for turns and instead focused on trying to go fast in a straight line as most people back then were into drag racing. I always wanted to visit a road course, but never did it years ago, and instead focused on doing stupid things on backroads and the street like most young people. As I finished college and I got a "real job," my loud, obnoxious, bumpy, unreliable integra just wasn't as much fun as it used to be so I sold it. I drove old hondas that were reliable and cheap and did the "adult" thing for a while, saved money, etc. I stayed away for a while and in '09 I started to get a hankering for a different car. My 1992 prelude was my daily beater that I bought for dirt cheap.

Here's a cpl pictures of my old integra back in '05 (it was a lot of fun):



I actually didn't want an S at first.. I wanted a sport sedan for practical reasons. I wanted an IS but found the rear seats didn't fold down (couldn't fit my snowboard in the car) so I test drove a used '06 330 sedan sport. While the 330 was nice, I was woefully unimpressed with the overall driving feel. People complain about the delay with the DBW in the S, but the 330's was terrible. I crossed it off the list and went back to the drawing board. After thinking some more I said what the hell, I've wanted an S for a long time (couldn't afford one when they first came out) so why not get what I really want. The plus side was a used S was cheaper than a used bimmer, so it was an easy decision. I had a civic I could use in bad weather and if I wanted to haul things. So the decision was made!

I looked around for a while and had a few I missed out on. I was specifically looking for a pre-'06 model as I didn't like the slight delay w/ the throttle response, but ultimately stumbled on one in Pennsylvania only a couple hours away that had 15k miles on it and was reasonably priced. The downside was it was Rio Yellow. At the time I didn't like the color at all, but it's grown on me and it's possibly my favorite today. It was owned by an older guy and it was a garage queen, so I knew it was in excellent shape. I bought it I think for $18900 w/ a brand new set of Sumitomo Z3's.

My first thoughts driving it home were damn I can't see out of this thing, and man the stereo sucks! I also removed the CDV within a month or two of owning the car. Here's an old post of mine: I disassembled the original slave cylinder and removed the valve. There's a small snap ring/circlip you remove to remove it and just bleed the clutch line.

The car came with dark tint (~20% I'd guess), and having dealt with tickets for tint in the past, I made the quick decision to remove it and be proactive. Here is the car shortly after I bought it (Sorry the pics suck, old cell phone cameras were no bueno):



I promptly removed the tint w/ a clothes steamer (found the tip online), but left the tint on the rear window. Here's a nice picture of the car after I removed the tint. You can see my old prelude in the back:



All regular maintenance was done at first as well, but one thing unique to the S was the soft top. After owning it a month I noticed some wear marks in the rear and found the TSB. If you get an S, the first thing to check is the soft top. The rear was starting to wear the top but I caught it before any serious damage was done. I also installed some patches on the inside at wear points. I used Sunbrella black fabric and fabric glue on the inside and they're still there today. You don't even notice them unless you're carefully looking at the top on the inside.



Mods- New stereo- Alpine headunit, Polk components, and 2channel amp

In May 2010 I couldn't stand the stereo any longer and decided to upgrade it. I've had half decent stereos in all my previous cars, and the S's stereo had terrible distortion (especially when turning it up on the highway), so it had to go. I installed an alpine head unit, Polk components, and a 2 channel amp (installed under the driver's seat). I originally planned to install a sub at some point, so I put a 4 gauge distribution block behind the passenger seat panels. I took the time to fish new cables through the oem wire loom (giant pita, but oem wires are what 18 gauge?) to keep things clean and make sure the speakers got enough power.

[attachment=89792:stereo1.jpg]
[attachment=89793:stereo2.jpg]

The stereo is still in the car as it was installed, with the exception of me disconnecting the rear headrest speakers. They are complete garbage and also screw up the sound stage. It has decent bass and decent SQ now. At some point I also installed some dynamat in the doors to stop any vibrations with the music turned up. Nothing worse than the car sounding like a shitbox w/ rattles. I eventually yanked the stock rollhoops for a rollbar, but that's down the road. I got a moddiction weighted shift knob that helped smooth out shifts and made it feel less notchy. I'm still rocking that one today. It has a very OEMish look with the shift pattern engraved in the top.

Here are some nics shots w/ a dslr from Oct '10 after getting washed:



I don't think I did much else with the car for a while but just drove it as my daily, and it stayed (mostly) stock for a while.

Mods 2011- Flashpro and test pipe

I installed a flashpro and test pipe in '11. I used the "Toda" tune and adjusted the fuel and timing myself (the '06+ oem wideband is fairly accurate). VTEC is set for 4100 (mainly cuz I don't want it coming putzing on the highway) and it feels strong. In '11 I bought my first house (bank owned) and that became my 2nd full time job doing renovations for a while. If you got any questions about renovations or house projects shoot me a pm. I gutted and redid a few bathrooms myself, did a lot of electrical, plumbing, etc. I learned a lot and saved a lot DIYing most stuff.

SlowTeg

In 2012 a friend mentioned going auto-xing and I thought what the hell. He had a nice M5 and said it was fun. I went to my first auto-x in the Spring of 2012. Looking back this was a terrible 1st experience. The auto-x was in Frederick MD on a small lot run by CDC. It took me I think 3 or so times through the course before I didn't get an OC (off course). In my defense the thing doubles back on itself multiple times. I spent the whole day there and I think I got maybe 8 or so ~1min runs. I believe this is where the seeds were sewn for my disdain of auto-x. I came to learn auto-x involved a lot of wang holding, and you usually don't get out of 2nd gear. For the auto-xers don't take this the wrong way, there's certainly a lot of skill in auto-xing, I just think for someone who wants to have fun, there simply isn't enough seat time.

Here's a vid from that day
[attachment=89803:IMG_0103.MOV]

After my first auto-x I was very disappointed with the way the car felt overall. It felt like I was practically lifting a wheel on hard turns and the suspension had way too much roll for my liking. Coming from modified cars in the past I like a more planted feel. I left the car stock for the year but I was looking into mods.

Being the hardcore track guy at this time, I naturally was looking for something to go along with the stereo and saw some DIYs on heated seats.
Early spring '12 I finally installed some seat heaters in the car. If there's one thing missing from the S it's heated seats. For a convertible they're awesome. I followed this DIY and mounted the switches in the same exact spot for the driver and passenger: https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/450...-seat-install/

Here's my post from then: https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/943...t__p__21594520
The thought crossed my mind about visiting the track, but my thought of going to the track was full blown race cars, open passing, and just seemed a bit daunting to me. I had no idea what HPDE's were like, so for the rest of 2012 I did a few more auto-x's but my disdain didn't fade, in fact it got worse..

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Mods- KWV3's, '00 FSB, '03 RSB

At this point I started to seriously think about modifying the car, and unlike many folks, I don't swap cars. I keep them for a very long time. I try to think through my plans thoroughly beforehand to not have headaches down the road. I planned to keep the S for a long time, and now I personally don't see me ever selling it.

So 2013 rolled around and I debated for a while which coilovers to get and ultimately decided on some KWV3's. I thought about some cheaper options like GC coilovers on Koni single adjustables (a setup I ran on my previous cars) and while it was cheap and effective, I knew it wasn't ideal. I wanted a quality setup that would last so I opted for the KWV3's.



I also wanted to try and change the sway bars a bit to stiffen things up more and opted for a '00 FSB and '02 RSB.

I installed the KWV3's in early spring of '13 with the sway bars. Here's a picture of them installed and the ride height I think roughly 1" lower.




After installing the coilovers and swaybars the car's handling was much crisper with much less body roll and much less waiting for the suspension to compress. It also was a little more neutral. I actually was planning on trying an auto-x, but after talking to some folks on s2ki, I said what the hell, let's give the track a shot and signed up for the Trackdaze May event at Summit Point- Shenandoah track. It fell on my birthday so I figured what better way than to goto the track.

Naturally I wanted to try and prepare myself and car for the track so I read a lot of things on the interwebs. To be safe I changed the fluid and installed some HP+ pads all around. I also got it aligned by Dave (yeaitsahonda) to near stock specs and I was all set. I had some Sumitomo Z3's on the car and didn't consider installing new tires for my track day. Too many people focus on parts when you really just need to get out there and get seat time. Looking back are they great tires? No, but you don't need great tires for your first (several) times to the track.

First day at the track:

The night before most days at the track I don't sleep well like a kid in anticipation. This was no different. Ultimately though adrenaline kicks in and you're just fine. One event I was sick as a dog, but once I got on track, I was right as rain.

I was very lucky to have an awesome first instructor. Bob Hammond is an older guy that had a turbo miata. I let him take my car out for the very first session for a few laps while I sat shotgun. The first time on track is incredibly overwhelming for many reasons. Not in the sense that you can't handle it, but in the sense that there's so much to think about and process that's completely new to you. Bob was really nice to take me out several times in his Miata to give me an idea of the line I should take and just get a feel for the track. It was quite entertaining as well as he passed many cars and the rear danced around nicely with some slip angle (think he was running NT01's). If there's anything I'd recommend for newbs, it's do some ride alongs because they help tremendously.

With each session I felt more and more comfortable, and at the end of day 1 I felt pretty good. Car was still in one piece, and the track/HPDE was MUCH more organized and safe than I ever thought. After day 1 I always sleep like a baby being thoroughly worn out for the day. On day 2 he solo'd me for the last 3 sessions which is nice because I find someone talking in my ear distracting. How did the car feel? It felt great with the mods. Fairly neutral, but I wasn't pushing it hard. I also didn't even try heel toeing at all, and didn't work up the courage to try it till future events. I do rev matching and double clutching quite a bit on the street, but I never did much heel toeing. It's something I needed to work on. The focus for this event was just getting comfortable, learning the track, driving a good line, hitting apexes, staying aware, and keeping my eyes up/ahead. Also learning the balance of the car via lifting or applying throttle through turns. I didn't mess with trail braking. Shenandoah is a fairly technical track with a lot of turns, but it's perfect for the S. A lot of higher power cars don't turn much faster times here because of the tight track.

At the end of the weekend I was hooked and thinking when I would go next. Here's a shot at the end of the weekend:


Here's also a video from the event (I guess I must've installed the modifry mount before this event). I'm using a Hero 3 Black:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r451NfdwO0

After that weekend I thought about what I could do to make the car more track capable. The brakes felt good, and I think the HP+ pads are a decent pad for your first couple hpdes. They have a lot of bite compared to the OEM pads, which is great on track.

SlowTeg

Oil temp gauge- June '13

One area of concern for me was oil temps, and I needed a safe way to monitor them. After reading about oil running hot on track, I knew I needed to keep an eye on them for my own piece of mind. My philosophy has always been a clean street/track car, so I didn't want a gauge in my face, so I spent some time searching the forums for somewhere to put it that wouldn't be obnoxious on the street. I didn't have too much luck and after seeing how slim the PLX display was, I thought what about the visors? The driver's side won't work as it's in your face, but maybe the passenger side. I bought a couple used visors and cut one up to test fit it. Fortunately it fits w/o puncturing the back side. I positioned it in the car and found the perfect spot where I could see it but it wouldn't be bad on track. I used a blade and cut out the foam portion:


The one concern is I didn't want the ugly cable visible so I cut the wire and resoldered the wires since the large plug couldn't fish through the visor:



The nice thing about the PLX gauge is it allows for multiple sensor inputs. This is nice because I was planning on adding oil pressure down the road and didn't want another gauge. My only big complaint w/ the plx gauge and sensors is they use really clunky/bulky "sensor modules" that are simply too damn bulky w/ big connectors. The end product turned out very nice and it's pretty much invisible w/ the visor up since it doesn't protrude out the back:


I used an oil plug drain fitting to install the 1/8" npt temp sensor in place of the oem drain plug. I bought it from 42draftdesigns. It really didn't make changing the oil much worse since I installed male/female connectors on the wires that were easy to disconnect (sorry, no pictures).

More mods- Stainless lines, Harddog Rollbar, Modifry seat belt lock, Modifry shift beeper
After my first event I was hooked and planning more mods. The obvious next mod was some stainless lines for the front and rear:



I installed a modifry seat lock just prior to installing the rollbar. It has a wireless remote to activate it. How it works is it locks the OEM seatbelt reel w/ a magnet. For a track car on stock seats, it's an absolute must imo, and was well worth the ~$80 I spent on it. The Modifry shift beeper I also installed and it's basically just an audible beeper that is completely adjustable and will give you 3 beeps (spaced either 2 or 300rpm apart) followed by a constant beep. You can set it wherever you want to. I also think this mod is invaluable as I literally never have to look down at the dash now. It was dirt cheap as well and a must imo so you can focus on driving rather than looking down and thinking when to shift.

Here on the east coast a lot of orgs prefer a rollbar so I started planning for one and wanted to get it in before the next event in September. I purchased a Harddog double diagonal w/ harness bar, and got the vinyl cover for it. People comment how it looks very OEM.
Here it is sitting on the garage before installation:


And a shot of my nice very virgin interior (I think I had maybe ~30k miles on the car at the time):


I did the install all on one day. As others have said, it's a giant pita, but ultimately doable.

Here's a shot of the slits you have to cut to install the reinforcement plate. After the install I filled the gaps with foam and sprayed a few coast of rubber undercoating to seal the area:


Here's the interior removed:


Installed with the bulkhead reinstalled:


I opted to keep the OEM bulkhead because I had no intentions of running harnesses yet, and it keeps nice mounting points for the OEM seat belt, center console, and other interior bits and pieces.

Here are some shots of the secret compartment w/ the back lower portion hacked off to accomodate the harness bar. I used duct tape to create a bottom to it and it's still very useable. Ghetto? Sure, but you literally don't see it so it's a great way to keep it functional:



I trimmed quite a few of the interior panels to get them to fit (the rear tray that the soft top sits on is a bitch), I never got around to reinstalling the rear plastics on the backside of the oem rollhoops, one day I'll get around to it. I think it came out quite nice, and it looks pretty oem (with the exception of the cut and missing piece where the OEM roll hoops were. Here it is all done:



Summit Jefferson, MBCA- Sept '13
So my next event was run by MBCA and was a little more laid back. Jefferson at Summit Point is/was known to be more of a big auto-x course than a real track because it's so short (and not the safest with trees all over and little run off). Either way, it was something different and a lot of fun. We had a good number of S's come out.



Here's a video from the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR4rnjaZlRg

A few thoughts and highlights from the day. The shift beeper and seat belt lock are awesome, a must have imo. I got a point by from a beautiful red ferrari, but he was obviously taking his time and not really pushing things. The last 5 mins of the video I was chasing a nice Cayman and was determined to get the point (and pushing the car more). It was fun and eventually got the point after the last turn onto the main straight. The car got a little loose going into the turn (a little moreso than I was expecting) but no harm no foul. At the end of the day I came to realize the Sumitomo Z3's (now with 3 track days on them) are probably not the best track tires. Oil temps were a manageable ~250F, but it was a cool day.


WASP brake cooling kit
Before the next event I was looking for ways to improve the car without necessarily modding it and installed the WASP cooling kit. The WASP cooling kit is/was a pretty decent kit, but I found the fiberglass/CF heatshields ultimately didn't fit that well and ended up braking. It's hard to quantify how much they helped but I'm sure they do.

The bumper ducts:


I used a dremel to cut out the oem backing and silicone to install the ducts:



Here's the backing plate and heat shields installed (which later on ended up breaking). Some of the overlap (the openings didn't match) between the oval duct and mounting plate bothered me so I ground them down and repainted them:


I don't have pictures of the finished product but there's not much to see imo.

Summit Point- Shenandoah Oct '13
So after doing 3 track days, I was moved to blue group (one step above complete newb). The nice thing is cars were a little faster, but you always end up with a handful of people who think they're fast and you end up waiting a while for a point by. Either that or they aren't looking in their mirrors enough. A general rule for HPDE.. If a car is behind you, you give them the point. The car didn't magically teleport there. Of course there will always be douchebags and trains are inevitable because of them. /rant

At this point I was getting a little more comfortable and pushing the car more. I tried braking later and pushing harder and it became readily apparent the Sumitomo Z3's were on their last legs. They might've been heat cycled out, I don't know, but their grip was pretty bad, and they tended to just let loose rather than being more gradual. They don't like slip angle. After halfway through a session you could feel them getting a little greasy (having less grip). Also I started timing myself with racechrono (android app). I figured the only quantifiable way for me to say I'm learning and becoming a better driver is by comparing lap times and seeing if they get faster. I used the built in GPS in my phone which is a crappy 1hz, so the accuracy wasn't the greatest. I logged the data to my android phone, and use Racerender to combine the data with the video from my gopro.

One lesson from this event was to always stay focused. Being exhausted from not sleeping much the night before my mind drifted for a few seconds and I sloppily let out the clutch after starting turn in. Of course this unsettled the rear and it came right around. Another "highlight" of this event was I got my first 4 wheel off. I was trying to incorporate heel toeing in my driving and when it went wrong (I was a little late w/ the shift as well) it unsettled the car and I couldn't keep it on track. Live and learn.

A couple pictures from the event:



Video from the event- Best time 1:47xx:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk9fKzsWCds

New tires- Dunlop Z2's

After 5 track days, the Sumitomo Z3's were done. The tread was worn down and I'm not sure if you'd call it "chunking," but they definitely didn't have much grip anymore. I opted to try a set of Z2's since people said they were still a reasonable street tire. With the tires I also got another alignment and opted for some more front and rear camber. I never wrote down the specs but if I had to guess it was -2 front -2.5 rear. I tinkered with the KWV3 shock settings over the different events to get it where I liked it as well. One thing I noticed immediately after swapping on the Z2's is that they were considerably louder on the street. I gotta say the Sumitomo's were a great overall street tire. They didn't have terrific grip, but were decent overall and cheap.

SlowTeg

Summit Point- Main Nov '13

I was excited to try some very good tires out on track, and I was not disappointed. The Z2's had a ton more grip than the old Sumitomo Z3's. It was easily apparent all around. They also liked/could handle a little slip angle compared to the old Z3's. Where the Z3's would just let go, the Z2's had good grip. I was starting to understand some of the qualities that make a good tire. Grip not just falling off entirely with some slip angle is a big plus. I came across my first issue with the brakes. Although Summit Main is harder on brakes than Shenandoah, the added grip from the Z2's didn't help. Being my first time on the track, it took a few sessions before I really started pushing it. However, even relatively early on, I thought the brakes felt a little "odd" and couldn't put my finger on it. It seemed like they weren't consistent and I had to press on them harder and they weren't working too well at times.

I had a cool instructor named Oleg at this event. At first the guy was driving me nuts. It was my first time at the track, and I was just trying to learn it, but he was constantly talking in my ear and telling me to do this and that.. He was telling me how rough I was etc.. Well no shit man, you're yapping in my ear and I'm trying to focus and never been on this track.. lol Next session I had a good feel for it and he mostly sat quiet and let me drive. He took me out for a session in his Miata which helped give me a sense of his lines. You might ask, what made him a good instructor? Well, after I demonstrated that I wasn't a complete tard behind the wheel, he was one of the few instructors that really wanted me to push the car. He encouraged me to brake deeper, and get on the throttle a lot earlier and try more trail braking in certain turns due to the nature of the turns. These are the HPDE instructors you want. I can go on a mini-rant (and perhaps I will at a later time) but HPDE's are a double edged sword. They want you to become a better driver, but past a point and some instructors will call you "aggressive" and say you're "overdriving" the car. Anyway, another day.. He has a neat website I recommend for any beginners:
http://winhpde.com/

Day 2 of the event I was trying to push my braking zones on the main straight and noticed the brakes feeling very odd. I wasn't sure if I was imagining it but a couple laps later the pedal went soft for a second but immediately came back. I later came to realize I probably boiled the fluid. It was probably a combination of many things. My technique of being lazy on the brakes (not always braking very hard) and the HP+'s simply not being upto the task. On track lazily braking with your foot dragging the brakes like the street is not good, as it transfers heat to the pads and fluid. I also came to realize that what I experienced was bad brake fade. I had a few "interesting" moments where they simply got overheated and the car didn't want to stop. I always tended to let up towards the end of the main straight because I didn't have any confidence in the brakes. After this event I knew better brake pads were a must.

On turn 10 (the long right handed sweeper) I had a few people tell me I was blowing clouds of smoke as well. I had a little breather filter on the front port so I knew it was the OEM PCV. Add that to the list of things to fix.. I monitored oil temps and hit high 250's at this event so I knew an oil cooler was definitely going to be something I needed in the future. Considering temps were I think 50's ambient for the highs of the day, I knew on a hot day I'd easily see 270+.

Summit Main Nov '13:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tsNfqlXEH0

Here are some fun Track Bloopers from 2013:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYv-pRIGvf8

All in all, my first year at the track and I came a long way. I improved as a driver considerably and learned quite a bit. Still have a ways to go, but it'll just take more seat time. I had a few offs and black flags my first year, but my mindset is it's hard to find the limit until you exceed it. Also, if you go off, it's better to go off cleanly than try and make a "hero" move to stay on track that might mean you going off sideways and causing serious damage to the car. Also, after getting your first off it's like popping your cherry. You realize how much bigger the track is than you realize and at least for me it helped.

2014 was a hectic year because I had my first child born end of April. I'm not sure how I got away for an event mid-may but I did (yes, I'm a bad father). Before the event I did a few more mods:

More Mods- Spring 2014- Mr Sideways Radiator, F1 racing flywheel, Hawk DTC60/30 pads, Ingalls ETD
So my water temps would hit low 200's on a hot day, and I like to be proactive to try and avoid any issues so I opted for a new radiator. I'm not a huge fan of the koyo's etc that are single pass because the majority of the flow ends up going through the driver's side half of the radiator. I saw the Mr Sideways radiator and chose that. I had thoughts of building an FI track car and thought this might suit those needs as well.


Another thing that always bugged me about the car was the flywheel weight. At ~22 lbs for the AP2, it made rev matching more of an effort and the engine is less lively. I had always been itching to swap it out, but just never wanted to do the work of pulling the tranny. In the spring I mustered up the determination to do it. I opted for the F1 racing flywheel (at about 11lbs) because it got decent reviews and it was cheap at $165 shipped off of ebay. First and foremost I'm a practical/frugal guy, and couldn't justify spending more on something else. I've run different flywheels in the past and wanted something a little over 10lbs. I ran a fidanza on my civic, and I think a Toda on my integra (I got it used for cheap, can't afford that fancy JDM stuff lol). I liked the weight of the toda at over 10lbs and it was chromoly vs. Al which is better imo. Because the car is still a street car I didn't want to go too light. Having done many FWD honda clutch jobs on a garage floor w/o a lift, I figured I could do the S's as well. Honestly the job wasn't too bad (just takes time), the hardest part was removing and reinstalling the tranny. I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I believe I rolled it onto my chest and bench pressed it into position while using my feet to adjust the angle to get the input shaft on the tranny to line up with the clutch. Not easy but I got it done.




The Hawk pads I opted for the 60/30 stagger because some people recommended them. Thoughts on them later. The Ingalls ETD made a noticeable improvement in terms of engine movement. I was skeptical of it but it's a great mod for cheap if you're on stock mounts. It adds only a tiny bit more vibrations at idle. On track it's a noticeable improvement.

Summit Point- Shenandoah May '14- Best time 1:44.9X, basically 1:45 flat
Running Shenandoah this year with new tires I could clearly notice the increased grip and improved my time by 2 secs. It was a cool weekend with high's in the low 60's (perfect) so the tires never got too greasy (you could feel it a little towards the end of a session). My coolant temps didn't get over 200F with the new radiator, and oil temps hit 260's. The new flywheel made heel toeing a lot more fun. I ditched the HP+ pads and opted for DTC 60's/30's. A lot of people run Carbotechs but I didn't like how people mentioned they were very anal about having a transfer layer so I opted for Hawks. The Hawks are supposedly a little harsher on rotors, but at $30 or $40 a pop, I didn't really care.

So the one advantage of the Hawks was the brakes seemed to be much more consistent (in terms of no fade) over the old HP+'s. I imagine I was getting fade but didn't realize it. The choice to run 30's on the rear (with a staggered tire setup) was clearly a bad decision after just my 2nd session. The harsher compound up front meant the rear wasn't doing enough, and there was a fair bit of brake dive. Anyone who says to run staggered compounds on a non-square setup doesn't know what they're talking about. I was having trouble at the end of Big Bend and could feel one of the front wheels locking up. I also was having very uneven pad wear in the front. I'm still not sure what caused it to this day. The one plus side of the fronts being overloaded was it made trail braking very easy because you could take weight off the rear easily (at the expense of stopping distances). I just ran with them and figured I'd run 60's in the front and rear for the next event. All in all the car felt good (minus the brake balance) and I dropped 2 seconds.

For data acquisition, I used Racechrono with a qstarz BT receiver running at 10hz (I came to learn it actually is more accurate at 5hz). It seems to work pretty well, and much better than the 1hz of the internal gps.

Picture from the event, you can see the nice brake dust colored wheels:

King Tut

No better track car than a 2006 Rio Yellow my friend.

LDfavoriteson

Love to see the rio's shine! : thumbup:

SlowTeg

Summit Shenandoah May '14:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqHVepQch3g

June '14:
I got a good deal on a Stoptech kit so figured I'd just order it and let it sit around. I got a couple other things as well:


Summit- Jefferson Sept '14
Jefferson had a new extension done to the track to resemble less of an auto-x course, but it wasn't a very big extension, and some of the decisions that were made are questionable.. either way, it's still good fun. I put on some DTC60's for the rear and braking balance was restored back to normal. Since it was only a one day event I spent more of the day playing with different lines and learning the track. Being a new track for everyone (instructors and myself) my initial instructor was still learning the track and told me to take some strange lines which didn't make much sense to me, but I followed his advice. My last instructor pointed out some much better lines which made more sense. Lesson being, instructors are human too and don't always know what's best. I always like having instructors when going to a new track, but sometimes you gotta figure out what works for you.

I tried installing a breather filter on the PCV port (to vent crankase pressure), and ended up with oil splooged all over my engine bay. I had to come up with a catch can solution for my next event.. The other neat thing I did was install a OBD2 reader for data logging along with Racechrono on my android phone. I tried Harry's lap timer last year and didn't like how it didn't store a session, just a ton of laps in a long list. Racechrono stores each session, and breaks down your laps within that session (a lot easier to sort through than 50+ laps from a weekend in a long list). I used an external qstarz 818xt gps at 5hz w/ an obdlink obd2 bluetooth reader. I used humbucker's template for Racerender. If only I could get brake data..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNDOVXeWF6g

More Mods- Canton oil pan, Moroso catch can, oil pressure sensor
So concerns of oil starvation I needed a solution for the oil pan. I liked the extra bungs on the canton pan and got in on the initial group buy. Having seen what I've seen would I buy it again? Probably not. I'd just modify an oem pan and have extra bungs welded on. With that said, it does seem to be working and doesn't leak. The extra oil capacity is nice, but it does result in slightly higher oil temps.



I needed a catch can because I want to make sure there's proper crankcase ventilation and I didn't want my engine ingesting the oil. I pieced together a custom setup that fit well and is easy to drain (my requirements). It uses a generic Moroso can with 2 3/8" ports. I had to cut the back mount off the oem intake box to make it fit, but it's still plenty secure. I installed an oil pressure sensor and used my existing plx gauge for me to keep an eye on periodically. It doesn't do much on track.



Summit- Shenandoah Oct '14- 1:44.08 w/ passenger
So back to Shenandoah, and could only make it for one day. I was bumped upto Yellow (Solo intermediate and passing anywhere with a point by) which is nice because it should mean less trains. Unfortunately I still had a lot of traffic and a lot of folks made me wait for several turns to get a point.. I had the car dialed in pretty well at this point to where I like it (handling wise). I've gotten pretty consistent with heel toeing at this point, but there's always room for improvement. I need to work on keeping my brake pressure consistent when blipping the throttle, sometimes I let up a little. The DTC60's have good balance, but I'm having some weird feeling at times with the brakes. I had been having some strange brake wear this whole season w/ the passenger side having more wear than the driver's side. At the end of the day, the front pads were done. So that's 4 track days w/ ducting on the front pads.

When really pushing the OEM brakes I've found them to be a little inconsistent. I'm going to guess it's a combination of several things, the single piston caliper and undersized rotors. I had a BBK sitting at home, and I wanted to do some more events with the staggered tire setup to see how quick I could go, but the brake wear with the stock brakes really sucks. Some other locals get 2-3 days on a set of carbotechs with the OEM brakes on a square setup, so I guess my wear is in line with that. Either way, I posted a good time and I would've clocked a 1:43XX without Derek's fat ass in my passenger seat. Not bad. This would be my last event on the staggered tire setup.

After going home for the day and swapping pads, I also came to find that the catch can had filled up. It had overflowed and was leaking down the underside of the car. Clearly I needed a better solution and a way to keep oil coming out of the PCV port.

King Tut

I use my personal website, but it seems the currently popular image hosting site is Flickr.

AE_Racer

I use flickr if I want to keep the pics to find later or imgur if not.

clarkster009

I use photobucket but flickr is also good. Prob could use dropbox or Onedrive or Google Drive if you set the permissions