Xviper and Koala...

I understand the sizing of your Volk CE-28s is:

Front: 17 x 7.5 +50 mm
Rear: 17 x 9 +63 mm

With a 3-piece forged wheel (Fikse or Kinesis) where offset can be whatever is optimal for the application as opposed to the stock offsets available, would you still go +50 and +63?

 

George, do you have any plans to upgrade your suspension? If not, I would stick with those offsets. You might even go +52mm in the front (I think that's closer to optimal, hopefully Dave can confirm that, as I'm not 100% sure).

 

If 52mm would be ideal, there should be no problem as it will be a custom build. I had a set of gunmetal Kinesis K58s on a previous car, and while they were awesome, I'm leaning to the Fikse FM/5 with black centres and satin outer lip. The K58s look good on some cars, but I prefer the look of a 3-piece with no exposed bolts on the S.

No immediate plans to do any suspension work, other than perhaps different diameter sway bars. As the intent will be to keep the car streetable, coilovers that are adjustable for track days would probably be the way I go eventually. Brakes will need to be upgraded at some point, but I'm thinking I can get what I need with a slight increase in rotor size and an aggressive track pad that's replaced with something tolerable for the street.

Along with wheels and tires, I need to nail down the roll bar in the next few weeks...I asked Brent Thorkelson (who has been the Solo 1 director off and on over the past few years, although he's not doing it this year in order to start karting with his son) to look at the Elda Engineering bar, and his view is that it's pretty well done and would pass tech. He did question why the harness bar is square tubing, not round with the same mounting approach as the diagonal bar. I've passed that question and a couple of others on to Wael. Elda's price on their web site is the same as the GoFast group buy price, so I'm not sure what value there would be in adding a middleman to the process. I've asked Wael if he'll ship to a Canadian address and whether Version II is available now. Anybody locally (meaning Prairie Redliner local) have the Edla bar, or been involved in an install?

 

For some reason I remember seeing a track prepped S2000 for sale recently in Alberta with a roll bar, but I can't remember if it was an Elda or just a custom job.

The reason I bring up the suspension changes of course, is the offsets seem to play a bit of a roll if you're lowering the car a significant amount (ie: rubbing can become an issue). So you can of course avoid the issue by doing a couple of things/keeping some of this in mind: proper offsets, roll the fenders, keep the drop mild...

Also the brake issue, which wont be if you're using the stock calipers, but from what I've been researching, if I do the 4-pot stoptech kit, my volk ce28n's will be fine (1 mm clearance), but my stock '04 wheels wont clear the calipers (would need a spacer). I personally get a bit nervous if a spacer needs to be used... just from a safety standpoint.

Those are some amazing wheels you're looking at doing, thats for sure. And I agree, I don't like the exposed bolts either (at least not on the S2000, maybe on a 350Z

 

I believe those offsets on that diameter of rim and that width of rim is optimal for the S2000. If you alter the width, then the offset must be changed accordingly.
Another issue that needs to be considered is the design of the spokes. If they curve in from the vertical plane in towards the rim too gradually, the wheel will not clear the caliper. (There is a name for this but I just can't recall it at the moment.)

 

Backspace?

 

That's it!

 

Hi George,

I was thinking about getting the Elda bar last year so that I could run in the Solo 1 series too. I liked that particular bar since you didn't need to hack the entire interior just to get it in. I opted to join the exotic group instead so that I could get some track time (since you don't have to have roll bar protection). I still haven't ruled out getting the bar though. It won't happen this year for me but keep me posted on how you make out. I'd like to see how it looks installed in person.

FYI: Peter Lawrence just finished ordering some Fikse wheels and was able to get a great deal. Maybe contact him to see who he went through to buy them.

Mike.

 

Mike...

I'm working through the same source as Peter on the Fikses...

I ran a couple of times with the exotics a couple of years ago and it was pretty good fun. Brent was telling me the price for Solo 1 is going up significantly this year as track rental prices are much higher...is the fee for the exotics up as well?

BTW, sold my house a few weeks ago...that Christina girl sure got me some good press. You get your glass sorted out?

 

The price for the exotic group remains at $750 for 4 Saturdays & 4 Thursday evenings (and includes the BBQ and the Gala party in January). If you are interested I can PM you Doug's contact info and the exact dates. Limited space as usual and I don't know how many seats are vacant.

Yes, I noticed that Christina sold your place, congrats! Christina always seems to know how to get her properties featured. We are going with the glass eating bar. they gave us a bit better credit on the granite so what the hell. Still looking at May for completion, now to sell my condo. Housebrand does do a nice job, it's going to look great when it's completed.