Basic How To Build an S2000 Racecar
 

I've done a basic how-to about building an S2000 racecar based on my experience over the last few months. It's designed to give a big picture look at what's involved in getting an SCCA and/or NASA vehicle logbook. I'm always open to corrections and additions.

http://robrobinette.com/S2000RaceCar.htm

Very cool/informative post!

nicely done indeed!

thank you

nice write up. one minor thing (at least out here) you don't have to have the fuel sample hose under the hood. They'll just about always allow you to go retrieve it post race if they want a sample. They'll just require that the car stay in impound.

not that it hurts either to have it there, just sayin :)

been checking this out for the pics, one guy I'm talking to about do some structural reinforcements appreciated them.

Krazik, I'll add that option to the page.

wow... really complete. i learned a lot! thanks man.

I've been following your site for a while. Great stuff :)

I have used your site as a reference. Very nice job. I did notice that you took off your DIY Catch Can. I did build one, and have not driven my car since I installed. Did you drill out the valve that screws into the valve cover? Do you still use this Catch Can or have you moved on?

I'm still using the mini-catch can described on the site but it's not working for me. When the oil level is about mid-dipstick I get a big puff of blue ingestion smoke in Turn 9 at Summit Point (long, high speed right hand sweeper). The oil is either going through the large vent line that runs from the front of the valve cover to the intake (before the throttle butterfly) or it's simply running right through the small water separator I'm using. I suspect the separator is too small so I'm going to try a large one. Matt has the same setup but uses a larger separator and he collects oil after every track session. He unscrews the glass collector and pours the oil back into the engine. I did upgrade the lines from the too flexible clear lines shown in the pics to more ridged fuel lines.

I was hoping for some gratuitous sawzall action shots, or at least some grinder action. :p Nice work! :thumbup:

Thanks for the write up! I plan to do this next winter for either HC or PT with NASA Great Lakes. Some great info and pics there that will be super helpful during my TT-to-racecar conversion!

Good write up! I thought that the rear uprights for the cage were not supposed to go further rearward than the rear most suspension point though? Also, for mounting the harness on the outer edge, did you simply use the stock point? Or did you do something different. I ask because my harness is currently is the stock location on the outside but the angle isn't right as a I'm short 5' 6" with shorter legs, normal torso and sit fairly close. The Schroth Hybrid ii that I use gets snug but will not get TIGHT on the lap belt.

rob, i noticed on your recommended parts list, you put aftermarket wheels in the middle. i was thinking of doing this as my first mod to my AP1 wiht some 17x9 +63 all around with RS-3 or Star Spec tires. what do you think?

Rob, thanks for making your website! I've used it a lot over the last few months and plan on referring to it a lot in the future. I just saw the harness install instructions you have posted, which will save me a lot of trouble!

thx for the effort !!!

Nice write-up Rob. I've learned a lot preparing my car for road racing as well, especially when it comes to adding a fuel cell and what happens when you eliminate the instrument cluster and factory ECU.

Re: catch cans, I've had a good experience with the Stealth model from 42 Draft Designs. Installation was a bit of a pain because the ports on the catch can are WAAAY bigger than the ports on the head. I had to buy 2 reducer/adapters to make it work.

But it does collect about ~1qt of oil every 160mi of on track driving. I empty it every other session.

Cracknut, do you have your catch can attached to the pcv valve line or the large line at the front of the valve cover? I have seen both.

There's no problem with going with larger wheels & tires early. I'm running 17x9 +63 255 with Nitto NT01s all around so I like that size and I've heard great things about the Star Specs.

I don't know of any limitation on the rear roll bar attachments, I think the further to the rear they are the safer the cage. The rear supports are welded to the X-Brace frame beams.

I am using the outer stock seat belt mounting hole.

Very informative & detailed; thanks for the great write up! Will definitely use for reference.

rob, do you think i can run 255 square on stock suspension without rolling the fender?

It depends on how low you are and your camber setting.

thanks for the info and really enjoy ur website

Large line at the front. When I get home I'll take a couple pics. I thought about putting it on the PCV also but ran out of initiative.

As always, another awesome write up, Rob. Thanks. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Wow, my memory's worse than I thought. How surprising.

Turns I plumbed into the PCV line:
http://cracknut.smugmug.com/photos/1...44_onKmS-L.jpg

Thanks for the pic and confirmation on the plumbing. I'm pretty sure my tank is just too tiny to actually remove the stream of oil moving at high speed. For me I get the smoke puff after a long right hand sweeper then close the throttle to up-shift (creating lots of vacuum in the intake manifold) and the oil is sucked through the PCV valve line and into the intake manifold.

It will be an easy upgrade to a larger Home Depot air/water separator.

Weird I could have swore I read that somewhere but I just browsed through the NASA and SCCA rule books and didn't see any mention of it. Oh well :thumbup:

Rob, a tip on your catch tank/pcv issue: vent the catch tank to atmosphere, or said another way, eliminate the return line from the catch tank to the intake manifold. Some could argue that this is not the most ideal solution as we lose some of the desirable functions of that vaccum, but I found that the vaccum created by running that line back to the intake manifold "pulls" an excessive amount of oil through the PCV and into the catch tank. I once had my lines routed exactly as yours are and I was filling up a .5qt catch tank in 5 laps around VIR! I remidied this by placing a breather filter on the return fitting of the catch tank and capping the fitting on the intake manifold. Problem solved! Now, my catch tank will have only about an ounce of oil in it after a full weekend.

Awesome website, BTW!

-Aaron

Cuonice,

Sounds like a good idea, I'll give it a try before I try a larger catch tank.

This is what I ended up doing for the catch can:
http://robrobinette.com/images/S2000...catch_can4.jpg

I eliminated the PCV valve by capping both ends. I put a catch can with a breather filter on the large vacuum line from the front of the valve cover.

this has always been a go-to guide for me as well, thanks rob!

An update on the catch can shown in the pic above. I ran an open practice with the pcv valve capped and the Greddy oil catch can attached to the large front vent hose. I had zero issues with blue oil smoke and my oil level didn't change at all after an hour and five minutes on track. The catch can had very little oil in it. It is the pcv valve line that is causing the blue smoke and drop in oil level on our cars.

^Thanks for the info. I still need to get a catch can on my car.

hi, are there any negatives to capping the pcv like that?

Other than making your car emissions illegal I can't think of any negatives.

Big fan of the site. Came across it whenever I was first interested in buying an S about 5 months ago. Very helpful information!

I tried a variation on this setup at Infineon yesterday and it caused the dipstick to blow out and oiled my engine bay. Ugh.

Instead of capping the PCV, I capped the large vent hose at the front of the block and instead routed a line from the PCV to the catch can and added a breather filter to the catch can.

I'm not sure but I think that the reason this did not work is because the PCV is a valve that opens with the vacume form intake. If you run it to the catch can there will be no vacume therefore the PVC will not open and so you have a closed valve cover with no ventilation. If you take the PCV out and then connect the line to the catch can it should work but would then be like using Robs solution connecting the front line only.

I'm wondering abut the "Krank Vents" http://www.et-performance.com/normal.html.

Has anyone tried these as a solution?

The manufacturer says:
These solve the problem and still maintain crank case ventilation. Small Krank Vent goes in the small hose between the OEM PCV and and the intake. The large one goes in the other larger hose. They say you can use a catch can on the hose from the large port at the front of the valve cover if you want. This system creates negative pressure/vacume in the crank case so no more oil getting sucked out and no need for catch can.

Sorry to hear about that cracknut. Scot Burner used to tie down his dipstick for the same reason. I haven't had a problem (yet). A good size catch can in the PCV valve line will keep the vacuum in the valve cover & crankcase and catch the oil, but you'll catch so much you will have to empty it back into the engine after very session or two.

I have heard of people drilling holes in the valve cover baffle that sits under the PCV valve to allow the oil to drain away from the PCV valve while in long right-hand corners. Next time I pull my valve cover I plan to do this.

nice write-up and thx for sharing Rob! :thumbup:

Rob, I just ordered the parts to do a 2.5" brake duct system. Hope to do it during my two week summer brake in June, if not earlier. Grad school sucks when you got to do 72 credits in 6 quarters, plus a thesis. I don't know how my sister got her law degree.

It took me 4 years part-time to get my graduate degree so I know what you're talking about.

I would like to know if anyone has input and/or experience with the Krank Vents I posted about in post#41 above.

Rob, do you have any input on these?

Thanks guys

I looked at their website but couldn't really figure out the theory of the vent's operation. So far my capped PCV line & vent in the large valve cover hose is working great so I don't need anything else.

Did anyone try out those crank vents? Marksh2? I want to do this DIY soon and am looking for info...

Not true. The PCV valve is simply a one-way check-valve. You can blow through it one way but not the other. It is not vacuum operated.

I used them for two seasons. The second season I must have picked up enough grip/speed to overwhelm them. I was puffing a monster cloud at WGI after the uphill esses (3-6) when I would shift for the back straight. Skip it and go the catch can route.

There is some good info on catch can setups here. We should try and add this to a catch can FAQ of some sort. I'm thinking of just running two catch cans since there is a part throttle vent and a WOT vent.

I don't know how many times I've read that doc (at least 6 times!) but I love the read.
How much do you think all the work and parts set you back? I'm considering saving up for 6-9 months, buying a bit of a beat up s2k and working on it myself. I'd love to learn how to do body work, spray, repairs and so forth, while leaving the welding and fitting to the people who know what they're doing.

I really don't know but it's probably more than you'd think. I made the mistake of running a Quicken "track" expense report one year and was totally freaked out by how much I had spent. I haven't made that mistake again. ;)

I started tearing into the CR last night. Rob, I look at your website often and it's been great motivation to feel like this is something I can at least partially do myself. It can be pretty intimidating jumping over that point of no return. Wanted to say thanks for taking the time to write up and maintain your page.

A very down to earth guide for people like us. Thanks rob

you have done your homework my good man, nice writeup.

I'm glad people are still using the web page. You guys are very welcome.

Rob

robrob, i read your site before i tackle any mod.

regarding your brake duct howto, is there any reason you chose to put the flanges on the outside of the dust shield as opposed to the inside?

I did it for clearance to the brake disk. Once you add the thickness of the flange and the rivet/bolt I was afraid it'd rub.

hah well i'll let you know if they rub as i installed the flanges on the other side in hopes of better air flow.

The dust shields are easy to bend so you should be able to adjust them if you need to.

is this what was used to mount lap belts to the s2k... or is it a different item

http://www.hmsmotorsport.com/store/s...brackets/#2837