Mike Loving, Paulie Simonds, and I get together at Mike's house yesterday to do some long overdue work on our cars -- mostly mine.

First, we replaced my JRZ coilovers with Tein Flex. The JRZs have given me nothing but trouble since they were installed over two years ago. The left rear has failed twice and, frankly, I got fed up with them. IMHO they are a perfect example of the kind over-rated, over-priced products that populate the performace enhancement market.

In comparison to the JRZs, the Tein are a far better designed product. Installation and adjustment is far easier and the recommended settings for the S2000 produced almost spot-on lowering from stock. The improvement in road manners and handling of my car was apparent the minute I backed out of Mike's driveway. First, all the rattles and thumps produced by the failed left rear JRZs had disappeared. The suspension was tighter, rebound more controlled, and body lean almost totally gone. This was not just the consequence of replacing the failed left rear JRZ -- every corner of the suspension was quite noticeably improved. In fact, the experience was like driving a new car. So if you're thinking about investing in coilovers, I highly recommend the Tein Flex.

As for the short shifter, Paulie installed them on all three of our cars in the space of about 45-60 minutes. Mike's car is without valve cover at the moment (his is off for chrome plating), so he could not drive his car. But Paulie and I were astounded at the improvement the short shifter makes to an already great-shifting car. The mechanism is a bit stiffer (which I love) and each shift crisper and more certain -- it feels like you're "locking in" to each shift. With our Voodoo knobs and the short shifter, the shift knob sits about 2 1/2 inches above the plane of the stop of the console, producing a great and very natural feel. Photos below. The smooth black Voodoo knob is in Paulie's car, the titanium Voodoo in mine (with engraved S badge logo not yet aligned).





Installation of our 6-Pus Rick's header was largely done by Mike (I held the light and handed him tools when he needed them). who had put one on his own car a few months ago. I had the header ceramic coated at JetHot to lower the under-hood heat, and the finish is a beautiful silver-chrome. I was so fixed on the improved shifting and handling that I did not pay much attention to any differences the header might have made other than cosmetic, but the sound seemed exactly the same as with the stock header (altough Paulie felt the sound had become a bit more pronounced). I'll leave judgment about that for another day.

All in all, we had a great day. I'm loving driving my car again (you can't imagine what a downer it is to drive with messed up suspension, as mine was with the failed left-rear JRZ), and some other mods are the works. As part of my continuing experiments with rotors for this car, ceramic-coated brake rotors will arrive soon. More about that when the rotors are installed, hopefully in about a month.

 

Rick,do you have the S.S."Buzz"on your AP-1???

 

Yes, we have the buzz, but we installed them knowing the molded rubber piece that will fix the problem will be on the way to us (and everyone else who has bought the short shifter) in about two weeks. Frankly, given the improvement in shifting, I could live with the buzz even if there weren't a fix on the way shortly.

With the buzz eliminated by the soon-to-arrive fix, shfting will be a dream

 

I must be one of the only few,who don't get the "Buzz"or I'm going deaf,but I don't notice it on mine.
Anyway,send me the rubber piece just the same.

 

Nice write-up, thanks. What are the spring rates on the Tein Flex relative to a stock AP2? I think the AP2, stock, has softer springs in the rear than front.

 

Just curious... where or how do you get the "S" engraved on the shift knob?

 

Rick, got my shift nob and i couldnt be happier. This is a vast improvement, i see what all the fuss is about now. I also used teflon tape on the threads and the shift pattern lined up perfect instead of using the locktite.

Thanks

Bill

 

Two MORE weeks? I thought it was delayed to THIS week.

 

We used to sell them this way until Honda came down on us with a claim of IP infringement. Not wanting the expense of a lawsuit (our attorneys thought we had a good shot of winning -- for legal expenses well into 6 digits) we relented. Although we had applied to Honda for a license to use their IP, we did not even get a confirmation that the application had been received. Honda might be a great car maker, but it is also a bureaucracy that rivals the IRS in its intrasigence.

 

I don't know what stock is, but the Teins are 10/559 front and 12/671 rear.