I'm new here so forgive my bravery, but I am in the process of possibly purchasing a friend's '00 S2 and turning it into a DE car. Below are the items and things that I am planning to do to the car over the next 12 months. I am wondering if any of you are interested in weighing in on these mods and possibly even coming up with an overall guide for track mods that would list, by priority, what mods to do and a recommendation as to what products to use (highest performing for the $) to achieve the ultimate DE car. Here is my list; rip it, praise it, just don't ignore it!

Phase I: for Fall Fling in October at VIR
-Hawk HP+ pads f/r
-Motul RBF600 fluid
-RA-1s on OEM rims
-SCCA 4 or 5 pt roll bar
-Crow cam-lock harnesses (OEM seats for now)

Phase II: over winter
-slotted rotors
-baffled oil pan
-bump-steer kit
-4.57 gear set
-MOMO Cup seats
-braided brake lines
(car already has X brace)
-gut trunk, audio system, remove brake dust shields
-Tein RA coilovers

on the fence about:
17" Volk CE28N wheels with Kumho V700s (225/45 & 255/40)
Comptech adj. front sway bar
Comptech lower rear sus brace
Comptech front strut bar

wish list:
Ti exhaust (save weight)
remove convertible top and motor
remove A/C
remove side windows and motors
remove carpet, glove box and seat belts
remove inner fender linings
flywheel, test pipe, plug and play ECU, header
-but I just justify the cost of these mods for the expected performance increase

what do you think? what have I missed?

a little about me-I drive an 04 Acura TL 6 speed with Kumhos and HP+ pads/Motul fluid. I did my first ever track event September of last year Summit Point WV. Have since been to VIR (full course) twice and achieved a 2:29.9 and 2:29.3, which in my sled I was pretty happy with! Thanks in advance for the remarks.

Trev

 

Phase 0: Take the S out to a couple of track days before screwing with it at all.

(OK, so depending on your previous track experience and your concern about rollover risk, "Phase 1" might be fine. But if you only have three track days in your history, and all on a FWD sedan, I think Phase 0 is still a better idea than slapping RA1s on the car before your first track day with it.)

 

Here is the ultimate track-day setup:
- JRZ/Moton/Penske coilovers
- CE28Ns (17x9 all around, 275 tires all around)
- HPM wing
- springs and swaybars tuned so that car has neutral static balance
- gears (4.44 for F22C, or 4.57 for F20C)
- Intake/header/single exhaust
- hardtop (remove soft top)
- weight-stripped
- proper brake pads and fluid
- roll bar or cage (very important!!)
- videocam mount
- GPS-based datalogger
and (most important if you haven't done it already):
- certificate from a 3-day race school (Skip Barber, etc.)

 

Thanks for the input so far. My past experience tells me phase 1 is imperative. My Kumho SPTs began to chunk very badly and go away on the third day of my last event and my stock Brembo pads caught on fire at my second event. Granted my Acura is much heavier than the S2, but on the open track, especially one with two straights over 3000 ft, I like to know my brakes will be there every time I need them to be. And VIR requires all convertible cars to have a roll bar, OEM roll over hoops are not permitted.

 

First response is--don't replace something if you haven't had an issue with it yet. Lots of guys put R compounds on without ever hitting the limits of street tires, for instance. Modding the car for the track should be an iterative process. Go out, push the car, identify the weakest link (understeer, oversteer, shock fade, brake fade, driver, etc) and then fix that issue. Return to track and repeat the process.

Though lots of guys show up to the track with pukka cars, not all are pukka drivers. Upgrade the car as your skills increase--it'll save you a lot of money and you can reward yourself with decreased lap times by buying new go fast shit.

With that said:

Gut everything now--that's free.
Keep inner fender linings unless you want rock chips and dents coming from inside the fender well.
Get real race pads
Go with the GFL SCCA bar, a 6 pt. harness and a real race seat (stock seat + harness is dangerous unless you are really tall and have broad shoulders.
Ti Exhaust is light but insanely loud, T1-R exhaust is only maybe 8-10lbs heavier but a lot quieter.

 

Thanks. went to Lovefab site, didn't see anything about a roll bar listed? How do you remove stock roll-hoops?

 

I would not go with slotted rotors.... stock rotors will stop the car just fine with the right brake pads.

Why do you need a bump steer kit? I never needed that even when racing my S2000.

If you remove the dust shields on your brakes, what are you going to hold the brake ducting to? (assuming you will be running brake ducting?)

do these actually do anything on the track? [Comptech lower rear sus brace and Comptech front strut bar] ? My car had a 6 point cage in it and didn't seem like it needed these. I would think they just add weight (and bling) and not any performance....

Like someone else said, the fender liners will keep all of the rocks from giving you the dinged up fenders.

Why a 4.57 vs 4.77? Just curious.

 

Re. changing the final drive ratio -- there is no particular benefit to any given gearing (4.57, 4.11, 4.77, whatever) without analyzing exactly what you are trying to optimize.

If you are trying to set the car up for a particular top speed, it is fairly obvious (but wrong) that you don't need any gearing above that top speed. In fact, you should have gearing just a little bit faster than you expect to be able to go -- just in case you have a tailwind or a draft that lets you go faster than your normal drag-limited speed.

But if you aren't going to get above 135 on a particular track, for instance, then gearing that goes up to 155 would be a waste. Probably 140 would be fine.

But another track might have a higher speed straight, and then your 140 gearing will actually be slowing you down rather than speeding you up. A third track might be slower and you only need 125 in top speed. So ideally we would have race car gearboxes which we would rebuild for every track with custom gearing.

But most of us don't do that. So next best would be to just pick the top speed of all the tracks you go to and select the gearing for that.

Or you could just leave the gearing as you find it and spend your money elsewhere.

 

On second thought, I should probably just be quiet. Sorry.

 

Here's my list. It's a bit different than some due to the fact the car needs to drive to and from each event. I'll modify your list:

Phase I: for Fall Fling in October at VIR
-Hawk HP+ pads f/r - These are not track pads. Go with at least Blues or stick with stock. If your really pushing it I would go with Cobalts or Hawk HT10's. GFL can supply these.
-Motul RBF600 fluid - A must...
-RA-1s on OEM rims, A must... (I know some say stay with stock, etc.. but this is the biggest step to speed)
-SCCA 4 or 5 pt roll bar - If you do this, you will either need to look at the ELDA bar, or go with a custom built one. Probably involves a hardtop...
-Crow cam-lock harnesses (OEM seats for now) - A must

Phase II: over winter
-slotted rotors - complete waste
-baffled oil pan - Not needed unless your running banked tracks or are on slicks
-bump-steer kit - Helped me - YRMV
-4.57 gear set - Didn't see a big improvement (Yes I have one with Kaaz)
-MOMO Cup seats - Whatever fits best
-braided brake lines - I don't run them- never saw any problems
(car already has X brace)
-gut trunk, audio system, remove brake dust shields
-Tein RA coilovers - Look at KW Variant 3's

on the fence about:
17" Volk CE28N wheels with Kumho V700s (225/45 & 255/40)- Go bigger - 245 front and 275 rear at least... More rubber = faster
Comptech adj. front sway bar = Unnecessary - Remove rear bar (really)
Comptech lower rear sus brace (waste)
Comptech front strut bar (waste)

wish list:
Ti exhaust (save weight) (helps very little, but a bit)
remove convertible top and motor (good weight savings)
remove A/C (ditto)
remove side windows and motors (Hey, I like windows...)
remove carpet, glove box and seat belts (not much weight here)
remove inner fender linings (no)
flywheel, test pipe, plug and play ECU, header (very little here)



This is what I would suggest:

1. Rollbar
2. Harness
3. Seat
4. Brake pads - full race
5. Tires - 17x9 and 17x10 or 18" same with 245/275 tires (worth seconds...)
6. Front camber kit (also worth seconds)
7. Coilovers - Kw's, Tein, or big $$$$$ stuff
8. Hardtop
9. Wing

Not necessary but will make you faster

1. Anything to reduce weight
2. Exhaust and intake - will add a lot of noise...
3. Data...
4. Gears, LSD


Good race brake pads - need to change at the track