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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
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:
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!
The Original Gold
Last edited by vishaalidoiswin; 12-06-2018 at 07:29 PM.
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
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.
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.
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!
Last edited by vishaalidoiswin; 12-06-2018 at 07:31 PM.
There we go: lowered, corner balanced, and RCA + half shaft spacers installed
Oh and very heavily tested in the mountains
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 along with seats and a steering wheel.
I'm so happy Honda made this car.
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.
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
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.
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!
WedsSport TC105N 17×9+49 Hankook V12 evo2 245/40/17
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!
Last edited by vishaalidoiswin; 02-26-2019 at 02:46 PM.
11-04-2018, 09:02 PM
vishaalidoiswin's Silverstone AP1 [Timeline]
along with seats and a steering wheel. 
