vishaalidoiswin's Silverstone AP1 [Timeline]
 

Sup everyone, welcome to my build page/timeline

I picked up this AP1 a few months back in July. I always had my eyes on these, but I was waiting for the right time and the right one. I still remember the morning I got it, almost immediately after buying, a group of us drove down to a friend's farm + a beach in Salinas, CA. Easily one of the best days of my life. Anyways, I love everything about these cars in terms of driving characteristics, engineering, and history. I even "went back in time" by pulling up some old brochures of these cars from when they first came out (shout-out to s2000.club) to see what it was like when Honda was selling these. I really don't see myself owning any other fun car. I'd even rather put a new/rebuilt block if it dies and keep going with it.

The point of this thread for the most part is for me to scroll back through one day when I'm super old and feeling nostalgic about the transformation of this car over time. I do also intend to do plenty of thorough reviews along the way as well, so hopefully that helps some of you out. I already made quite a few small mods to this, just to get the little things out of the way that were bothering me. I'll do in depths reviews for the more interesting ones that I've already done.

Current build as of Feb 21, 2019:

Interior
Infinity REF-6502ix 2-Way Reference-X Series Coaxial Speakers (only aftermarket part on my car when I got it)
Skunk2 weighted shift knob
OEM Wind Deflector
JVC KD-X350BTS Head Unit
Spoon Convex Mirrors

Suspension
Ohlins Road & Track DFV Coilovers
EVS Tuning Offset Camber Joints
FPSpëc Ohlins DFV Remote Damper Adjusters

Drivetrain
EVS Tuning Half Shaft Spacers

Wheels/Tires
WedsSport TC105N 17×9+49
Hankook V12 evo2 245/40/17

Misc
Covercraft Weathershield HP Car Cover

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...a6a9cde5b0.jpg
Day zero.

Ohlin's Road & Track

So far, I've taken care of quite a few little things, and I've been having a ton of fun driving this thing around mountain roads, both solo and with friends. When I picked it up, the shocks were nearing the end of their life and needed replacement. Since I knew I was going to track it, I went ahead and purchased Ohlin's Road & Track Coilovers. The DFV technology in these coilovers is super interesting, there's a great writeup on how that works on Ohlin's website here. This is truly a game changer on backroads as it makes a huge difference in terms of how planted the car feels. I get great feedback in terms of how the wheels are almost being pushed into the ground over bumps. I can't wait for when I get the chance to autocross and track this thing.

The car sits about a quarter inch lower than stock ride height. I plan on lowering the car just a bit more along with half shaft spacers and front roll center adjusters installed. This will likely happen before the autocrossing/tracking. It's really interesting learning about suspension geometry. SK8215 on YouTube has informative videos about the topic, check that out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbReL...ERMaPG_2M2AT3M

On a side note, I'm working on an app that I think you all will enjoy using (I'm a software engineer when I'm not driving). It's not another car ownership/car mod tracking app, but I will keep the idea a secret until the MVP release. Stay tuned and drive safe!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...ae2ab64696.jpg
The Original Gold
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...4819ea20d2.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...ac307bcb12.jpg

Also a good friend of mine has a Canon 80D and got some beautiful shots of my s2k and another friend's evo X

These were taken after the rain cleared up the recent NorCal wildfires. I was itching to drop the top for a while, but the smoke and then the rain afterwards were stopping me. Top-down driving felt so refreshing after the rain stopped. Also this was the first rain for me with this thing, so I had some fun kicking the rear end loose. Thank god for that limited slip diff ;)

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...21b38dff2d.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...c6fd0b0820.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...18e15f34ed.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...12e7d96a6e.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...a910139b11.jpg

More parts!

EVS Tuning Offset Camber Joints and EVS Tuning Half Shaft Spacers. Should be everything I need to lower the car just a little bit more. I'll be getting the car corner balanced as well, perfect timing too since I needed to wait a few hundred miles for my Coilovers to settle/break in.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...de334367c5.jpg
Offset Camber Joints/RCAs
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...09f8e224fa.jpg
Half Shaft Spacers
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...4783766454.jpg
Portrait mode :P

Steady progress with that app, no idea when it'll be ready, but stay tuned, and drive safe!

Love the priorities....getting into the good stuff that makes the most difference right away! Can't wait to get my Ohlins come spring. The camber joints and spacers are a necessity for lowering 1/2-1"? Is that strictly for track purposes? I'll be lowering my car a bit on the Ohlins (probably 3/4") and if these are necessary I'll definitely pick them up. Excuse the ignorance. Beautiful car and nice find; seems really well cared for before you snagged it.

It doesn't really have to do with track purposes. The front RCA/camber joints raise the car's roll center, causing the car to roll less while cornering. The benefit of lowering your car in the first place comes primarily from having a lower center of balance. However, if you just lower your car, you're messing with the factory suspension geometry, lowering the roll center more than lowering your center of gravity, overall making the handling worse. RCAs put that roll center back where it should be.

Similarly, the driveshaft geometry is affected when lowering our cars. This is pretty complicated tbh and hard to explain over a forum like this, and there seems to be no real consensus on this site whether these are needed. The folks at TrackSpec, a very reputable performance shop in my area, recommend I get this installed. I suggest looking into it on this site to see what they do.

Hope that helps!

There we go: lowered, corner balanced, and RCA + half shaft spacers installed
Oh and very heavily tested in the mountains

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...71c2c8fc68.jpg

I'm lucky to live near some great mountain roads with a good mix of many types of technical corners, bumpy and smooth sections, hairpins, long straights, and all the rest. In general, installing these parts, and having the car lowered and corner balanced, has added to the predictability and planted feel that the Ohlins initially provided. The car responds more sharply and immediately to steering inputs, and the body roll is minimized as much as anyone would reasonably want. I'm slowing down on driving-related mods for a while, and will focus on enjoying this new setup in the mountains, and soon at autocross events, and track days. But in case anyone's wondering, wheels/tires and brakes are likely next :D along with seats and a steering wheel.
I'm so happy Honda made this car. :heart:

Have fun, drive safe!

looks good. pick up a set of ap2 wheels and runn 225/255 tires, unless you want to get aftermarket wheels and run a 255 non stagger setup, the extra grip will amaze you coming from the 205/225 tires.

Yup definitely! I'm leaning towards AP2 wheels first, which'll be a great staggered setup upgrade. Then I wanna play around with nonstaggered and hopefully by then I have my mind set on which spec wheels I want in the long run. They'll likely be gloss black TE37's

Couple big updates from over the past weeks:

I had a chance to install these remote damper adjusters. Until recently, I wasn't really playing around with different damper settings since the rears were hard to reach behind the trunk lining. Installation on the driver side was a little tricky, and on the passenger side, I had remove my spare tire altogether. But otherwise it went smoothly.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...b2b0bff2e0.jpg


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...40084d868e.jpg

Between the Ohlins installation and putting on these adjusters, I was riding at 10 clicks, the recommended setting for street use from Ohlins. After installing, the first thing I did was loosen them to about 15 clicks since I was just driving lightly at the time. I noticed right away that each click makes a huge difference. After playing around with some settings, I found some good settings for specific mountain roads in my area, based on pavement conditions and how hard I'm going. I usually find myself between 8 clicks for harder driving and around 14 clicks for lighter driving.


​The other update is upgrading from those AP1 wheels. Initially, I wanted to slowly work my way up to larger wheels, which is why I wanted to get any variant of the AP2 wheels as a first upgrade, but it was hard to find good used ones at a good price in my area. I did come across these dark gunmetal WedsSport TC105N's, wrapped in Hankook V12 evo2's, and had to pull the trigger. They came off another S2000, with good fitment & offset: 17×9+49 245/40/17 square. Luckily, David, @mrsexys2k on instagram, was in the Bay Area this long weekend and I was able to get a hold of him to do some fender work to clear these wheels. He has worked on so many cars over the years, plenty of S2000's, and a ton of other cars like WRXs, Porshes, and so many more. The rear fender lips have only been shaved, not pulled, not rolled, keeping a very clean OEM look. The front fenders have been shaved and rolled slightly, again keeping a clean OEM look. Overall the fitment is great and I was very pleased with David's work. I'd highly reccomend him for fender rolling, pulling, or shaving!
​
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...777eb34d39.jpg
WedsSport TC105N 17×9+49 Hankook V12 evo2 245/40/17
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...1ae90f7fca.jpg

I researched a ton on this forum whether a staggered or square setup is better, but based on how dividing that question is, I came to the conclusion that it probably just comes down to personal preference. I figured the only real way for me to find the "right" answer for myself is to try these out. The staggered to square transition is about exactly what I was expecting, but it was cool experiencing the difference. Earlier, the car tended to understeer under certain cornering conditions, specifically tie-ins. Now it just grips evenly and feels more balanced, which is much more intuitive to me. As expected, cornering capabilities saw a huge step up from when I had the AP1 wheels on. With the TC105N's, I've had some great, "perfect" runs (given my driving skill level) in the mountains. I hit a recently re-opened, very tight and narrow, but well-paved road in my area where I caught myself entering a couple corners incorrectly and correcting my input mid-corner, which is not good. These wider tires responded to these mid-corner input adjustments really well, especially the front wheels. Whenever driving in the mountains, especially on unfamiliar roads, I leave a ton of room for error, and I find myself tapping into this reserve of traction every now and again. It's interesting to think these wider wheels, and general improvement in cornering capabilities, can promote worse driving, especially from an unaware, unskilled driver. I just need to make sure I keep that in mind and always improve where I can. I guess I'm trying to say I need to watch more initial D :P

My dream setup still involves wider TE37s, maybe 9.5", and a bunch of other parts, but these wheels will more than suffice for a very long time.

Have fun with your s2ks everyone, and drive safe!

MrSexy is probably the best on the west coast...I've begged him to come east, lol. I ended up getting the Hardrace spacers and offset camber joints/roll center adjusters per your recommendation, I just need to wait until spring over here. Love the TC105Ns. If I wasn't so adamant about not modding the car to fit wheels I'd have been running those for sure.

Yeah he definitely is! He's even had to fix up work done by other popular fender rollers/pullers in my area. He'll be in Miami in about a month but that's a 20 hour drive for you :/ Hopefully you can find what you're looking for over in your area! And yeah those Hardrace spacers and front RCAs are great, looks like you're over there hoarding a bunch of parts for the winter :P Excited to see your build come together! You've got great taste and a good modding approach.

I was reluctant to fender work at first too, but since I'm planning on keeping it for a long time, I'm comfortable making that sacrifice to get it set-up the way I want. Plus, I thought about how my car has lived a long stock life, and for some reason, that made me feel better about all these mods. I kinda feel like I'm adopting this car as my own for the rest of its life. Not really sure if that makes sense haha, but its a weird thought I had the other day :P

Haha yeah I just posted on insta and he told me the same thing...I should've been more specific and told him the Northeast.....David really is the best. One of the main reasons I didn't want to do a roll is because of how delicate of a job it is on the s2k, but I also just wanted to preserve the car as much as possible, but I'm warming up to the idea of a roll up front and honestly if I thread the needle on fitment (nice one S2000Junky) and end up trashing a fender it will have all been for nothing anyway.....I might just get 2 new OEM fenders for the purpose of rolling to be absolutely safe up front. Unfortunately one of them suffered the improper jacking location crush via the previous owner, so one of them needs replacement anyway...might as well do them both and roll them at this point. I like your way of thinking on the long-term ownership....I feel the same way.

Thanks for the kind words on my build. I'm putting a lot of effort and research into it to ensure I get everything done right. Also hoarding tools because I'm going to do all the work myself. If I'm spending this much money on the car I want to be able to install the parts I paid for too. Luckily I have access to a lift! Can't wait for this cold to break...I reckon in another 2 months the roads will be clear of salt and it will be warm enough to start hitting it hard. Not looking forward to the clutch job, but I'm very confident I can knock it out.

Keep up the good work on your car man, love the mod direction you've chosen. I dunno if you've mentioned it previous, but any plans for forced induction in the future?

Aw I see, that's unfortunate news on your fender, and I hope it works out well! It's great that you're doing work yourself, I wish could do the same, but I'm lacking in a lot, from experience & confidence, to the proper equipment and space.
And nope, no FI plans for me :P I don't have anything against a FI'd s2k, but it's not what I want out of this car. I also have this weird belief that that FI on this platform almost necessarily requires widebody for a build to come together properly, which in my eyes, is like re-engineering the car altogether. It's super cool and interesting when it works out well though, I've seen some nice examples of that here.
I do plan on making the relevant mods to help the engine "breathe" better to achieve some moderate hp gains, that get that healthy F20C purr. It's astonishing how quiet this car is at idle, but I don't wanna make it loud for the sake of making more noise. I'm not one of those first-mod-exhaust folks :P

Quick update: Modifry windscreen mount + GoPro Head

Pretty straightforward & quick post, not much to say other than I'm happy with the quality of the part and the results after install! Not a huge fan of modifry-ing (hah) the extremely minimal AP1 interior, but the benefits of having a camera mounted from this angle far outweigh that. Hopefully the only other obtrusive interior mod may be a cupholder, although it's pretty fun telling having to tell my passenger they have no choice but to hold their drink when getting coffee or whatever.

This is what it looks like out of the box:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...d9c63f98f4.jpg
Modifry windscreen baseplate + GoPro Head

The perfectly aligned sticker was easy to remove. There is a bit of curvature, I did my best to capture that in the picture below. It's actually curved just a little bit more than necessary. I realized this when the windscreen screws were in loosely and the baseplate was resting on the glovebox in its mounting place. I noticed a small gap between the middle of the baseplate and the glovebox, while the front of the baseplate was touching the glovebox. As the windscreen screws were tightened, this gap decreased slowly and disappeared. I should have taken a picture, but hopefully that makes sense. If anything, this is for the better, as it sort of pushes the front of the baseplate down. This will have the effect of dampening vibrations, which there is much of in this AP1 interior :P

If only there was a way to mitigate that...

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...91b970a15f.jpg
Curvature of Modifry windscreen baseplate

Here's what it looks like with the GoPro mounted. It's as seamless as I could ask for. The camera angle is perfect for reviewing where my inputs can be improved. Some of these things are only noticed from a third person POV after a run. Anyway, expect some o_O inspired videos in the near future! Probably won't be nearly as fast-paced and smooth as Andrew, but it may be interesting to watch. I'm actually not too far from his roads, but my videos will likely be on other roads which I'm more familiar with.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...b752548957.jpg
GoPro Hero 5 Black

I wiped the dust off my windscreen after taking this picture, my car's usually cleaner than you see on this thread haha
It's been top-down weather on here on the West Coast too, but some rain comin in next week. Anyway, have fun out there!

Love the way your build is going! I'm also running a Silverstone AP1...but still working on my driver mod in stock trim. I still love the way the car handles in stock trim.

That mount is sweet. I'm getting that for sure.

Yeah I'm loving it! I'm looking into other camera angles as well. Pretty sure I'll get a headstrap soon too. And maybe something to get lower angle shots. Can't seem to find one for the s2k at a good price though, although I haven't searched around much. Maybe I'll put something together myself, ultimately it's just a couple screws that need to be joined together properly.

Thanks! Driver is always #1, but no reason the two can't progress in parallel :)

Ordered myself one and it's on the way. Is there any kind of padding or insulation on the bottom of the plate? I'm not too keen on it rubbing against my plastic cover if it's going to be sitting right on top of it, even if it does follow the contour proper. I might get a thin adhesive rubber/felt sheet and cut it to fit on the bottom.

Nope no padding on the bottom, it's the same material throughout. A layer of something soft between the glovebox and the mount would be a good idea, in fact, the instructions actually state to do exactly that. I was worried about this as well too, but I doubt it'll be moving at all relative to the glovebox, so it's really just the edges of the bottom of the baseplate that might be an issue. I'll take it off after a couple weeks and add padding if there's any sign of wear on the glovebox, hopefully it's not too late by then D:

Thanks for the clarification and looking forward to your results. Interested in seeing some of your footage too just for the sake of perspective. Probably gonna pick up a Hero 7 black eventually...or just hold out until they have a new one, I have a long ways to go on my build still; getting camera footage and driving videos is probably last on my list at this point. Still, I love to snatch these things up while they're still available. Love the Modifry stuff. I bought his soft top straps, DCI, cupholder bracket, and now his camera mount. The only thing I can't bring myself to do is buy his phone mount....It would probably be the greatest thing ever to have in my car in terms of utility, but I just can't bring myself to trim even that tiny amount of non-essential material from my dash, even though you'll never see it. I know, I'm weird.

Ask and you shall receive, link to test footage will be posted here as soon as YouTube is done processing it :D

I don't know all the GoPro models inside and out, but the Hero 7 Black has great image stabilization from what I've seen. There's not much of a difference between the 6 and the 5. I have a feeling the same might happen for the upcoming 8 and current 7. You could wait for the 8 to come out and get the 7 for a good deal. BNIB or slightly used off craigslist can always lead to a great deal too.

And nah I totally understand :P I'm always hesitant to do irreversible mods. You could look in to suction cup mounts or vent mounts, which might be a better solution since they're completely removable.

In case the other 3 people reading my thread didn't know what I was talking about earlier, you should check out o_O S2000 on YouTube. Anyone on this site who cares about actually driving should see these. They're put together so well, with great audio and video quality. In fact, he has separate, high quality mics just for better audio.

Someone teach me how to use YouTube.. anyway, here it is now :P

The GoPro cuts clips into 4GB, just to keep things quick I picked a chunk that has the section of the road I like the most. And I cut out the beginning, which was my driving to the road. Apologies for the abrupt end. This was far from my best run, but my most recent. Also this is a road that I don't hit often, so I don't have it totally memorized like I do for my usual, closer route. I'm going to start running this road a lot more, however, since it's much more rewarding.

I had the GoPro Hero 5 Black set to 2.7k/60 fps/Linear FOV. The uploaded video shows the full frame, nothing is cropped. In the future I may crop a bit since the camera angle leads to a lot of the frame being "wasted" on the interior. Windows open a bit too, so there's a bit of wind noise too.

Very nice. I'll be ordering my GoPro sooner than later now ;P....I think the new one will be more expensive, and since the 7 is on the way out it's cheaper, no? Isn't MSRP on release $500? I wouldn't expect huge improvements anyway....Pulling the trigger now.

Couple pretty big updates from the past couple weeks. One great, one not so great.

First, the good: Spoon Subframe Rigid Collars

This video describes the problem they solve:
I was extremely impressed by the results, which are apparent over all styles of driving. A lot of the creaking sounds the car normally makes is a result of the gap described in the above video, those creaks are gone. The creaking sounds I hear now all come from much higher up, in the interior. Vibrations are dampened out a lot too, which is nice, for comfort and for performance as well, but only if you really pushing the car.

Part of the reason I went with Ohlins over other coilovers was because of how applicable the DFV technology is to touge driving. The rigid collars complement this well. When cornering close to the limit over rough road surface, the wheels wouldn't settle as quickly or smoothly as they do now with the Rigid Collars. With regards to steering and suspension feel, the rigid collars make the car feel a lot more predictable.

So this gives you better handling, the car just feels put together better, and overall lower NVH. You can't ask for more, there's literally no downside.

And update number two for the day, a collision with a deer :/ The s2k is currently in the shop. This was one of the times where I didn't have my GoPro on, too, so no footage. In case you're wondering, the deer is fine, I was was able to slow down to about 25mph at the time of impact.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...ffd478f642.jpg


The Rigid Collar install marks the first time where I don't feel like anything's really missing on the car for the way I drive it. It really feels set-up the way I want, which is great. We'll see how long that feeling lasts :P

Can't wait to get the car back before this weekend, already having withdrawals

And back

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...4980ff4c6e.jpg

Couple small updates:

First off, time came to replace my front brake pads, so I replaced them with Ferodo DS2500.
The OEM brakes are great for normal daily-ing or some light "spirited" canyon carving type driving. But for heavier stuff, like mountain driving, where you're living in VTEC and constantly braking, OEM falls short. With the DS2500, the initial bite is pretty grabby, and it's easy to modulate from there. These are perfect for my current type of driving, which is mostly mountains, and little bit of street. Brake dust isn't a huge issue with these, especially since I wipe down my wheels every several days anyway. Also there's a very faint squeal at times, definitely not a problem at all, but just something I noticed. Interestingly, they have a different smell too, a little more burn-y? Idk don't smell your brakes it's probably not good for you. I'm planning on replacing the rears with the same when that time comes, super happy with these!

Second is some baseplate updates:
Recently, I actually had no choice but to remove the baseplate. Believe it or not, my wind deflector caught a bird while I was driving with the top down.... yeah a little baby bird. Not fun. At all. I'll spare the details, but it was pretty messy. Honestly though, I was really lucky with what I was left to clean. Just the baseplate, wind deflector, and top of the glovebox. Easily could have been way way worse. Also thank god for Simple Green, definitely recommend keeping some at home, this stuff got rid of the smell effortlessly. And believe me the smell was bad.

Anyway, earlier in this thread, there's some talk of the baseplate possibly damaging to the top of the glovebox. Here's a picture of what mine looks like now:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...73d3089af6.jpg

I'm not too upset by the scratching, it's barely visible. But in hindsight, this should have been obvious, the baseplate is pretty abrasive.
Before replacing the baseplate, I layered the bottom with some e-tape to prevent further damage. I recommend doing the same.

That's it for now! Hopefully my car doesn't attract too many more animals :/

And here's a picture of some of my friends' cars from last night, just to end this post on a good note.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...f5f4f6b6ce.jpg
Left to Right: Drifter, E46 slammed on bags, M3, M3, and a lawnmower. Got a diverse group :D

Have fun out there everyone