I just picked up a 01 spa, love the car, its a dream car to drive.
I have one question, how much can these cars really take, doe you guys drive your s2's hard with no worrie?
I was driving mine today and i was vtecing quite a bit, but then i felt as if i did damage., should i worry.?
Or can these cars take a tough drive well?
any comments would be great...
If there are any other threads similiar that i can be referred to it would be great aswell.
thanks..

 

Well, one thing to keep in mind is that operating the car in the VTEC area of the RPM band does put a lot more stress on all engine components. Everything is moving VERY quickly, and the output of the engine (which is at its highest here) puts strain on the parts involved with taking power from the combustion process and transferring it to the drive wheels.

With that said, Honda did develop the engine with high RPM operation in mind. They kept parts light and balanced, they chose tolerances carefully, etc. Bottom line, YES, you lose a little engine life from extended periods of hard driving. There's a reason why race teams have to rebuild engines as often as they do.

The best thing to do IMO to combat the effects of spirited driving is to keep up on vehicle maintenance. Make sure vital fluids are in tip top shape, plugs get changed on time, etc... Just realize that if you do a lot of hard driving, you will need to perform maintenance maybe even before the SEVERE maintenance interval(s).

 

20 views 1 responce, common folks i cant sleep, your comments are needed here...

 

Don't worry about it. I've got 75k on mine including a significant number of miles on race tracks where the engine runs in VTEC for 30 minutes at a time, and it still runs as good as the day I bought it in October '99. Certainly running the engine at high revs puts more stress on engine components but I believe Honda did a good job of designing an engine capable of handling the extra stress.

 

I think this car and its engine can take a fair bit of exuberant "use" but NOT "abuse". In your zeal to "vtec quite a bit", are you checking routine stuff like oil levels and other fluid levels? Are you keeping track of tire pressures? Failing to do these things regularly (and frequently if you vtec a lot) constitutes "abuse" and no machine will last for long if abused.

 

I, too, worry like you do, but then again, I don't vtec "quite a bit". I only do it once in a while. Just have fun driving, but don't abuse it all the times. It'll be bound to break something.

 

By the way, here's a link to my previous post concerning what you're talking about:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...threadid=109400

 

also, s2k owners need to keep in mind that our engine is very short stroked. so although we can rev our engines to 9000rpm, the rate of piston distance travel at 9000rpm is comprable to an "average" stroked engine running at 6500 rpm. yes, our engine will experience more stress from excess combustion cycles at 9000rpm, but in terms of excess friction compared to a lower revving engine, i wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

dont worry about it ! if it damages the engine then honda wouldnt put a 9000rpm redline!

 

I endorse those whom posted. It also depends what kind of driving you are doing pre-VTEC.

I personally like my rev's around 4000 even 5000RPM at times during 1st, 2nd gear city driving everyday.

I simply like hearing the "hornets' nest" buzzing. However, with that in mind, I religiously check oil and filter and psi etc etc.

sj2000