I am looking for opinions on setting up the S2000 for Autox. I am coming from racing a Miata, to this car. Right now, the car is a daily driver. I am looking at doing a mix of racing/daily driver alignment and Kumho racetires.

Any suggestions on the settings of:
-race tire pressure (a starting point)
-alignment (camber, caster, etc.)
-any other suggestions?

Everything is stock on the car. I am thinking about a front sway bar and shocks. I used a Racebeat swaybar and AGX 8-way adjustable shocks on the Miata. What is the hot setup for the S2K?

Chip

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by iispms
[B]I am looking for opinions on setting up the S2000 for Autox.

 

The Gendron bar looks to be a middle of the road bar. Is that true?

So when I put my 225/245 Kumho's with the stock setup, I should expect to see a lot of oversteer?

Anyone ever use adjustable shocks?

 

I wouldn't say the Gendron bar is the middle of the road. It's a 3pc Nascar style kit and most of us use a 1 1/4" solid bar. A couple cars at Nationals had this set-up and full stiff was too stiff for Topeka's south course. The 3rd place stook ran a Gendron bar.

The 225/245 combo with a stock bar will make you want to push this car off a cliff. You can kinda pull it off if you go 225/265. Without a big bar there is just way too much oversteer, not to mention the inside wheel spin issue. Have you read about that one? That is a big struggle.

You can always benefit from adjustable shocks. Koni is supposed to be bringing a cost effective single adjustable unit soon, but a lot of people I talk to say they may not have the volume of the stockers. The stock rears have an external reservior for cryin out loud!
The top cars at Nats all had some form of doubles with external reserviors. This seems to be the way to go, albeit the expensive way to go. JRZ, Penske and Koni are widely used but don't rule out Moton.

Hope I have helped. You can also search for posts from Jason Saini, they are very insightful.

 

Solo,
Thanks for the input. This is the first I have heard of using the 265's on the back. Will they fit on the stock rims? Also, between the Gendron and the Mugen, which is the better bar? I realize that you can adjust the Gendron (which is new to me) and it seems the Mugen is not. For $100 more, it seems like the Gendron is the way to go.

How easy is it to adjust the sway bars?

Chip

 

I heard of another owner running 265's on the rear. I know camaro drivers have put 275's on a stock 8" rim and I have seen 225's on a 5"CRX rim so anything is possible.

The deciding factor for what sway bar to choose is what surfaces you plan to run on. The Mugen, Comptech (non-adj) and the old prototype Comptech non-adj (only 5 made) work really well on asphalt. With grippier concrete they just don't keep the rear planted as well as we need to get the power down.

The Gendron bar consists of a 1.25" solid or hollow torsion bar and custom bent steel arms with drilled holes for adjustment. To adjust it you have to either pull the wheel off or get under the car, unbolt the endlink and move them to another hole. Repeat for other side. If you're good you can do it between runs at Nationals if you're a single driver car.

To add one more to the mix. The car that won AS in 2000 has a blade type adjustable bar made by Tri-Point. They have been less than willing to duplicate it now that they have a Speedvision WC team. HRP (advertising in GRM) will make one for $1150 - $1300. So if you want ultra trick and easily adjustable that is it.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SoloVR6
[B]...
The top cars at Nats all had some form of doubles with external reserviors.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by j2k
[B]

The Koni's that I and Joe Goeke have (and formerly Gary Thomason) are the 28 series and do not have external reserviors, nor do they need them.

 

FWIW, Koni is wholly opposed to using an external reservoir for technical reasons.

Somebody mentioned not to discount Moton, after you price them you will see that they are far from discounted, they make everything else look cheaply priced by comparison.

 

On my Miata, I used AGX 8-way adjustable shocks. They were about $80 each and worked really well. It weighted about 2100 lbs, so being that the S2000 weighs about 500 or so pounds more, wouldn't they work just as well? Do they exist for the S2000????