I'm thinking of setting up my car for occasional track / auto x use. I'm on a tight budget.
I have an 02' S. It is my daily driver.

So I thought of this:

CR front springs
00-01 rear springs
Koni shocks- put these on the lower perch for .5" lowering. (just cause I want it )

anything I should add, or any comments or suggestions?

what sways would you guys add to this setup?

or... is there something I don't know as of why I haven't seen this or heard of it before?

any input would be appreciated.

 

I'm just looking for a setup better than stock to be taken to the track occasionally.

 

Tight budget, put your money into tires, brakes, and pads. That should keep you busy. Better than stock = better tires.

IMO, if you are going to track occasionally, then stock is going to be more than enough to keep you busy learning how to drive.

I don't think just jumping to, as far as I know, an unproven setup is the best way to spend your limited time driving at the track. You many not have enough events to sort things out and that might lead you to hate the handling of your car.

You will have the most fun if you leave things as they came and got some good tires instead, and enjoy the car

 

The first thing I figured out was to find out what you can do and stay in a stock class. For instace SCCA will allow you to change shocks but not springs and stay in A Class. Check out the rules first.

 

I agree with dsddcd, but only if you are interested in competing at your local autocross. I would also vote for better brakes and tires and just more seat time. Also, I am not 100% sure, but I think lowering your car on the Koni spring perches will change your suspension geometry to suboptimal conditions (correction of which will cost you more money than you might like), not to mention it is illegal for AS (again, if you care about autocrossing).

 

Tight budget=get yourself a cheap front swaybar, good alignment and some good brake pads. I've won our local class autocross many times in an 00 with stock 02 springs/shocks a whiteline front bar and alignment when others have had coilovers, 17X9 wheels, 255 tires, turbo/supercharger setups etc.

 

thanks alot for the input guys I'm not looking to get into SCCA events (yet). I've done a few events in the past, mainly auto x, but that was before I had the S. I already have street pads and cross drilled rotors. For tire setup I put together whatever I found for relatively cheap which turned out to be 225/50 Hankook RS2s on the front and 245/45 Toyo T1-Rs on the rear mounted on 16x7" and 16x8" rota slipstreams. The sidewalls are pretty beefy. I wanted this but I think I overdid it a bit in the front. I kinda miss the stiff sidewalls of stock SO-2s.

I think I'm going to have to get a front bar
..and UK alignment?

CosmosMpower: why did you switch the springs and shocks from an 02 into an 00? I thought the first 2 years had the most aggressive suspension specs. I'm guessing there is too much tendency to oversteer?

I think I like the balance of the car currently but I feel there is too much body roll? If I could, I think I would prefer to have the same or similar balance but a bit stiffer all around. That's where the CR front springs and 00-01 rear springs idea came from. I agree on the unknowns of this setup though, specially because I know I wouldn't get enough seat time to reallyyy dial things in. I would also like the ride height to be just a tad lower. Any ideas on how to do this? Sounds like the aftermarket shock idea is not ideal.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

 

[QUOTE=Tsuchiya,Oct 24 2008, 11:45 AM] thanks alot for the input guys

 

Thanks alot for the input. I was afraid you'd say that about the tires lol. I agree, but it was just what I found at the time. I originally wanted RS2s all around but it sounds like it wouldn't be that great.
Why do you recommend 205s in the front? I enjoy "dealing" with oversteer but I don't like understeer at all. It's just not fun lol. I would think 225s all around or at least in the front and something wider in the rear? I'm not sure it would be cheap to dismount my tires from the rims, but I could only consider different tires if I sell my current ones. If I'm able to, I will get Z1's all around.
Any comments on the aspect ratio? Is is good to have "beefy" sidewalls for anything other than ride quality? I miss the responsiveness of the stock tires and thinner sidewalls. I see alot of auto x cars with thick sidewalls.
Lastly, how would you compare the Elise as opposed to the S?

 

I don't really understand. You (inexperienced competition driver) made a post asking Experienced competition drivers for their advice on how to improve the S2000 on a tight budget.

But the advice you've been given so far you have brushed off and ignored. They've said

- Get a set of matching, proven tires
- An alignment
- A stiffer front bar

But you insist you know best w/ your mismatched tire setup and improv suspension.

I guess it proves the old adage, People only take advice that they pay for.