Well, I was going to get a replica spoon intake so I could draw cold air from both directions... However, my co-driver just bought a K&N FIPK. I'm going to try and rig that up with the same dryer vent. Should work. Might have to make a "left side" to the K&N Heat box out of Lexan or something... I'll post pics when I do it.

 

I don't think you can do a scoop in the front because you have to remove that plastic cover in front of the "radiator support bar" I could be wrong but that was my understanding.

 

Yeah, you are correct. It would have to be modified to go in front of the shroud. Kind-of like what people do with the mugen intake.

 

I made a change like this last year at the Wendover Pro... I let my co-driver talk me into softening the Gendron sway bar from full stiff to full soft so that the car would "turn in better" for the sweeper at the end of the course. At the time I had 900lb front and 780 rear spring rates. What was the result?

Oh, it turned in the sweeper. However, the transitions were terrible. The steering response was so much slower I started pelting cones left and right. Bottom line, switched the sway bar back to full stiff for the second day of competition and I got faster... by 1.2 seconds a side (not counting the cone penalties). Sure, now I had to downshift to 1st in the sweeper to get it to turn... but because it was a pro, the entire rest of the course was offsets and slaloms.

That being said, I might soften my bar 1 slot... just because it does feel "stiffer" now with the spherical bearing mounts.
[/quote]

Every notch stiffer I went on my setup cut time from the clock. Softest felt best and was slowest. I ran out of notches and have been meaning to upgrade to the solid bar. With that said, we had to soften compression in Houston because we were overloading the tires on the dusty/smooth surface so there definitely IS a limit.
[/quote]

It's this discussion right here that makes me wonder why more people are not trying softer front springs with a stiffer sway bar setting, with a stiffer rear spring and softer bar, or no bar.

 

I made a change like this last year at the Wendover Pro... I let my co-driver talk me into softening the Gendron sway bar from full stiff to full soft so that the car would "turn in better" for the sweeper at the end of the course. At the time I had 900lb front and 780 rear spring rates. What was the result?

Oh, it turned in the sweeper. However, the transitions were terrible. The steering response was so much slower I started pelting cones left and right. Bottom line, switched the sway bar back to full stiff for the second day of competition and I got faster... by 1.2 seconds a side (not counting the cone penalties). Sure, now I had to downshift to 1st in the sweeper to get it to turn... but because it was a pro, the entire rest of the course was offsets and slaloms.

That being said, I might soften my bar 1 slot... just because it does feel "stiffer" now with the spherical bearing mounts.
[/quote]

Every notch stiffer I went on my setup cut time from the clock. Softest felt best and was slowest. I ran out of notches and have been meaning to upgrade to the solid bar. With that said, we had to soften compression in Houston because we were overloading the tires on the dusty/smooth surface so there definitely IS a limit.
[/quote]

It's this discussion right here that makes me wonder why more people are not trying softer front springs with a stiffer sway bar setting, with a stiffer rear spring and softer bar, or no bar.
[/quote]


Thats exactly what I have. 650 front 750 rear saner on 2nd or 3rd hole depending on course and no rear bar

 

^
I'm going to be running something similar. I'm going to go with ~600lb springs all the way around, no rear bar, and play with the front bar stiffness.

 

I made a change like this last year at the Wendover Pro... I let my co-driver talk me into softening the Gendron sway bar from full stiff to full soft so that the car would "turn in better" for the sweeper at the end of the course. At the time I had 900lb front and 780 rear spring rates. What was the result?

Oh, it turned in the sweeper. However, the transitions were terrible. The steering response was so much slower I started pelting cones left and right. Bottom line, switched the sway bar back to full stiff for the second day of competition and I got faster... by 1.2 seconds a side (not counting the cone penalties). Sure, now I had to downshift to 1st in the sweeper to get it to turn... but because it was a pro, the entire rest of the course was offsets and slaloms.

That being said, I might soften my bar 1 slot... just because it does feel "stiffer" now with the spherical bearing mounts.
[/quote]

Every notch stiffer I went on my setup cut time from the clock. Softest felt best and was slowest. I ran out of notches and have been meaning to upgrade to the solid bar. With that said, we had to soften compression in Houston because we were overloading the tires on the dusty/smooth surface so there definitely IS a limit.
[/quote]

It's this discussion right here that makes me wonder why more people are not trying softer front springs with a stiffer sway bar setting, with a stiffer rear spring and softer bar, or no bar.
[/quote]


Thats exactly what I have. 650 front 750 rear saner on 2nd or 3rd hole depending on course and no rear bar
[/quote]

Have you tried other setups too? I'd be interested in hearing what else you've tried that you like your current setup better than.

 

I made a change like this last year at the Wendover Pro... I let my co-driver talk me into softening the Gendron sway bar from full stiff to full soft so that the car would "turn in better" for the sweeper at the end of the course. At the time I had 900lb front and 780 rear spring rates. What was the result?

Oh, it turned in the sweeper. However, the transitions were terrible. The steering response was so much slower I started pelting cones left and right. Bottom line, switched the sway bar back to full stiff for the second day of competition and I got faster... by 1.2 seconds a side (not counting the cone penalties). Sure, now I had to downshift to 1st in the sweeper to get it to turn... but because it was a pro, the entire rest of the course was offsets and slaloms.

That being said, I might soften my bar 1 slot... just because it does feel "stiffer" now with the spherical bearing mounts.
[/quote]

Every notch stiffer I went on my setup cut time from the clock. Softest felt best and was slowest. I ran out of notches and have been meaning to upgrade to the solid bar. With that said, we had to soften compression in Houston because we were overloading the tires on the dusty/smooth surface so there definitely IS a limit.
[/quote]

It's this discussion right here that makes me wonder why more people are not trying softer front springs with a stiffer sway bar setting, with a stiffer rear spring and softer bar, or no bar.
[/quote]


Thats exactly what I have. 650 front 750 rear saner on 2nd or 3rd hole depending on course and no rear bar
[/quote]

Well, I did try softer in the front. I tried 780 front but ended up maxing out my compression to compensate... So, I came to the conclusion that 780 was too soft for me. Should I have gone all the way to 900lbs? Maybe not... I still have some different springs to try.

I don't know about ya'll... but it sure seems like the S2000's STR setups vary significantly vs the MX5 STR setups. El Toro for example. Not one car was setup even remotely similar... from what I could eyeball. You had Bob Endicott with loads of negative camber, stock sway, and really low... to Jim Reyenga with no rear sway, 2.4 negative front, and a SUPER low front end...

I'm loosing my damn mind. Sick of "guessing and checking..."

**EDIT** Also, when I had the 780lb springs in the front is when I bent the lip of my front right fender.

 

I'm in the low camp (12.25 F - 12.5 R hub center to metal fender edge) and in order to get there you need higher spring rates. There are three things associated with ride height that help my current handling. Rake (in the process of thinking through a way to quantify), having the rear suspension low enough on an AP1 so that you get toe in on turn in as opposed to toe out, and keeping the tire tread mostly on the pavement. I find that if the suspension moves too much the inside tires end up just barely touching on the inside edge when in high g turns. This can be seen in many photos.

Current setup for context

949 wheels
255 RS-3s
Penske 8100s running fairly high rebound in the rear

FRONT

12.25" hub center to metal fender edge
850 lb springs
~900 lb/in FSB (Comptech on full stiff)
Camber -2.7
Toe 0

REAR

Rear ride height is 12.5"
750 lb/in springs
MX-5 sway bar (~125 lb/in)
Camber -2.5
Toe -1/8" total

This setup pulled over 1G in a couple of turns last Sunday according to my iPhone. See image below. The big sweeper where the sustained 1G happened has about a 75 ft radius. Any one else have lateral acceleration data? I will be doing a test and tune where I'll collect more lateral G data in May.

 

I made a change like this last year at the Wendover Pro... I let my co-driver talk me into softening the Gendron sway bar from full stiff to full soft so that the car would "turn in better" for the sweeper at the end of the course. At the time I had 900lb front and 780 rear spring rates. What was the result?

Oh, it turned in the sweeper. However, the transitions were terrible. The steering response was so much slower I started pelting cones left and right. Bottom line, switched the sway bar back to full stiff for the second day of competition and I got faster... by 1.2 seconds a side (not counting the cone penalties). Sure, now I had to downshift to 1st in the sweeper to get it to turn... but because it was a pro, the entire rest of the course was offsets and slaloms.

That being said, I might soften my bar 1 slot... just because it does feel "stiffer" now with the spherical bearing mounts.
[/quote]

Every notch stiffer I went on my setup cut time from the clock. Softest felt best and was slowest. I ran out of notches and have been meaning to upgrade to the solid bar. With that said, we had to soften compression in Houston because we were overloading the tires on the dusty/smooth surface so there definitely IS a limit.
[/quote]

It's this discussion right here that makes me wonder why more people are not trying softer front springs with a stiffer sway bar setting, with a stiffer rear spring and softer bar, or no bar.
[/quote]


Thats exactly what I have. 650 front 750 rear saner on 2nd or 3rd hole depending on course and no rear bar
[/quote]

Have you tried other setups too? I'd be interested in hearing what else you've tried that you like your current setup better than.
[/quote]
Well, I started on the stock KW spring rate of 515 square and the saner bar with stock rear bar. getting to much roll so I went to a higher spring rate of 650 square. didnt like the twitchyness of the car with the rear bar and couldnt adgust any of it out with the front bar cause of the lack of settings so I discontected the rear bar. car felt better but now had a push. went up to 750 rear springs and have been happy since. Im consistantly paxing in top 10-15 with the many national champions that are in the SFR chapter of SCCA. there are still other things that I want to try including a custom front bar and better shocks, but that'll come with money, and money i dont have a lot of. my buddy mike maier, (that mike maier) is gonna help me make a custom blade bar for the car, and sooner or later, were gonna put jri double adjustable shocks on the car.