SHG_Mike

Lighter and prettier. I haven't driven it yet. We just had temps above 60 this week so we've had a slow warm up to spring. There is still dirt sand and gravel all over the road here. I hope to get the car rolling by next weekend

Thanks man. Yea I am aiming to get to the froyo event. and the C&C event in June i think. I probably wont have the hood/ducting/spoiler finished but I want to make it out.

tkokay

For sure. I dont think my wheels will be in by Froyo but i would expect them in by June opener. Either way ill be in attendance.

King Tut

Love the Sabelt Taurus. Sent you a PM about it.

SHG_Mike

ohhhhhhhhkay, so after an absolutely horrible winter and 5-6 Feet of snow in a month and a half I am getting to updating this thread.

I dont know where to begin but the general theme of this winters updates were to refine all aspects of the car. Keep it mostly the same but polish the edges and make the car more enjoyable both on and off track.

I started with the Ohlins which will ride nicer on the street and should control body movements better on track. I went with the common 700lb Hyperco springs in the front with the factory 580lb front spring in the rear.




I Added the interior carpet which will make the interior softer, quieter, and cooler shielding occupants from the heat of the trans and cat/exhaust.


I dont have any pictures but I also re-installed the alpine HU, and kenwood component speakers in the car. The day to day cruise as well as the long hauls to NJMP will be more enjoyable.

Being a small sports car visibility is very limited, and is made worse with the HR seats, roll bar, and hardtop. I took a page out of endurance race cars' book and pieced together a rear view camera system.

150* wide angle bullet camera


Paired to a 5" 16:9 LCD screen.



I mounted this to the modifry dash bracket.




The camera is 23" from the doors in the picture to get an idea of how wide of a view this camera has.


As seen in previous posts I also have been working on a custom vented CF hood. With proper venting this will ensure that I will never have any cooling issues as well as reducing a large amount of front lift over the long hood the S2000 has.

I started mocking up the vent duct with cardboard...


...Which got more refined with test fitting and trimming etc etc to this...





With the help from my buddy Joe we transferred this template to sheet aluminum...


I still have to cut and add this final piece...


The fit and finish of the duct is nice and tight...


To hold this new hood in place I found this company that makes a unique hood pin/fastener called quik-latch. They are all machined and anodized aluminum and the latch/unlatch mechanism is the best in the industry IMO. Has a great aerospace quality to them.




Penny the cat approves...



In search of a bit more pep, and better ratios for my local track TSMP I bought the ATS/ACROSS final mission gear. This has the affect of running a 4.45 final drive in an AP1, without having to crack the diff and go though that whole setup. This should provide better corner exit RPM in most places and should boost acceleration slightly.


The machining is top quality and looks far better than the factory AP1 gear...


With the AP1 transmission it is also required that you swap to a AP2 output shaft which can be seen hear compared to the AP1 unit.




And to top off the driveline upgrades I am swaping to a OEM AP2 clutch disc in hopes of eliminating the nasty clutch buzz.

//steve\\

Absolutely love the hood. Can't wait to see this thing come back together.

The shortened gearing should be a nice change too. Always thought stock AP1 gearing was wayyy too long.

arsenal

What brand is the hood, and any particular reason you chose to do this with a carbon hood instead of the lighter, OEM hood?

SHG_Mike

I believe it was VIS. I got the hood for $100. It already had the cutout with correct shape where I wanted it. The OEM hood would have needed to have the skeleton hood cut, the skin shaped and modified to have a similar shape. It would be a whole hell of a lot of work for 5Lbs. My arm scale says they are the same weight, and the reduced lift will far out weigh any minute weight penalty this hood adds.

black_EM1

That hood duct is genius. Very similar to the NSX-R piece, though aren't you going to have issues fitting any form of intake?

andrewhake

I would be surprised if that hood is actually heavier than the OEM hood, especially since it doesn't have a skeleton like the OEM where the venting is. And that vent ducting is looking great! Are you building it so that it just lines up nicely with the hood when closed? Also curious to what you will be doing for your air box as well. That cat is going to sleep in your engine bay now I have a feeling.

I wonder if there might be any benefit to doing small louvres in the ducting to allow some of the air that gets underneath the car and behind the duct to escape? I am definitely interested to seeing how the car feels once the hood is all done. I was pretty surprised with the difference my hood provided.

SHG_Mike

Nope I have a clever solution I will be fabrication. Parts should be here this week.


Yea I don't think there is a difference greater than 5lbs either way hood to hood. Yes the duct should meet nice and tight to the hood. The duct will have high pressure relative to the engine bay so louvers wouldn't function in that way. Things should move relatively quickly and I hope to have the car back on the road in 2 weeks, so there should be more updates from here on out.