I have lots of knowledge about bikes, I have road raced/ridden 1K's, 600's, 250gp, 125gp, motards, dirtbikes.......etc. Superbike spec built motors, V2's, two-strokes.... so I have a pretty good idea on works and what doesnt. When it comes to cars, I have no clue. Nada, zip.

So here is my question. What is an ideal setup on a S2? Sleeper look prefered, and no bling. All for performance. I understand that once you upgrade one part, next in line starts showing its weakness..

I will drive my car for about a year as a daily driver, and after that will build up all needed parts to do it all at once. But I want to do it right.

Suggestions?


- supercharger
- wheel size / brand
- exhaust (is that even needed)
- stock brakes?
- stock diff, or upgrade
- etc.....

Whats the best combination?

 

Are you dead set on a supercharger or would you consider a turbo? The only superchargers available for the car right now are centrifugal setups - I'm sure you know the ups and downs of that type of blower on a low displacement engine.

You will definitely need a new clutch either way, and the brakes are plenty unless you will be doing heavy tracking and want a bbk. The diff - it depends on what you want the car to be used for. There are members here pulling low 12 second drag passes with a bolt on inline turbo kit and stock differential. The diff is the weakest point, but they seem to hold up alright up to about 400 hp with street tires. Anything with 300+ and drag slicks and you're going to want a reinforced Honda diff (with reinforced bearing caps) or Nissan diff conversion. You will benefit the most with a single exhaust setup instead of a dual. 3 inch seems to be the concensus for what's best on forced induction unless you're boosting an insane amount and want to go bigger.

Wheels - it really depends on what you want out of the car. IMO 17s present the best balance of performance - can be lightweight, more available in widths and offsets (we have very high offsets) than 16s, and the rotating mass isn't too far from the hub. 18s generally will be too heavy and look silly oftentimes. I think most people are rocking 17s - mine happen to be 9 inch wide rears on 255 tires (might go 265 for next set) and 8 inch wide fronts on 225 tires.

I hope this helps

 

Everyone's ideal setup is different. What do you want to do with it and how fast do you want to go?

 

I dont know much about the supercharges vs turbo difefrences, but overall I think supercharger is cheaper, right? Smoother power increase?

I want a track car + weekend mountain car + 2 or 3 times a week drive to work car. It doesnt have to be a daily driver. Crisp throttle response without a lag or hit is preffered.

Maybe I should ask what components work well together on FI engine, vs what is a waste of money.

 

If you're interested in a reliable track car that can still be driven a few days a week, here are my suggestions on where to start:

Comptech Supercharger with Aftercooler
Very little hassle to install and set up.
Good reliability.
Power delivery characteristics more similar to stock than aftermarket turbo alternative.
270-290rwhp out of the box.

Volk CE28N wheels 17x7.5f, 17x9r
These wheels are light and strong, favorites of the guys over at "S2000 Racing and Competition". Depending on your level of experience and willingness to change wheels at the track, go with either a great street tire (Advan Neova) or a race tire (RA-1, A048, V710, R6, etc.).

Exhaust
Depends on your tolerance of noise levels, but choose something lighter than stock (not too difficult a task).

Stock brakes hold up very well on the track, but you need to change pads and fluid (DOT 5).
Go with race pads (Porterfield R4 or the like) for the track and swap back to oem pads for the street, as race pads squeal, dust, and eat up rotors.

Suspension
OEM is pretty damn good, arguably better than many low end coilover kits.
KW v3 are tried and tested as strong performing track coilovers at the sub-$2,000 price range.
If you want to spend $4,000+, Moton, JRZ, Penske all make high end shocks that can work well on the S2000 given proper set up.

 

Thanks, good starting ideas.

 

If you go down the supercharger route, I suggest getting a lower (4.44 or 4.57) final drive and possibly comptech's diff upgrade for added peace of mind. The added low down 'torque' complements the s/c's power curve well.

 

I agree, car seems to be way over geared. Which isnta good thing on a small displacement engine.

 

Depends on the track. My home track of Pacific Raceways in Seattle actually favors AP1 gearing over the shorter AP2 gearing. With the shorter gearing I need to shift into 6th on the front straight, with 5th running out in the mid-120's. The taller gearing allowed me to hold onto 5th and hit 135+. The challenge to using 6th is having to downshift 3 gears instead of 2 within the heavy braking zone for the sweeper at the end of the front straight.

If I further shortened the gearing on my AP2 with 4.44 or 4.57 final drive, I think I would run into the rev limiter on the front straight even in 6th.

 

Tracks near me are:

- Babrber - short gearing
- Little talladega - short
- Road Atlanta - very tall
- Roebling Road - tall
- VIR (not sure, tall I guess)

It feels like AP1 gearing will only be fully tapped out in 6th at Road Atlanta, but for everything else be very tall. But gearing is something I can always play with, on my bikes its a different gearing for every track.