Irish TuneR

Interesting to see how much extra NVH all that adds, would definitely like to do the subframe collars.

alexrobinson202

Daytona-Dave

I have fitted the Vibra engine mounts and it has a significant effect on an older car, anything that is worn or slightly loose will vibrate even down to the fan surround mounts,
the ridged collars will do diddly squat

alexrobinson202

So, I'm now about 600 miles in with the new clutch, mounts etc - wanted to wait for everything to bed in before making a judgement. So, some thoughts on the various parts:

• New OEM clutch - exactly as you might expect, performs fine, much lighter pedal, no problems. My advice would be stick with OEM unless you are running big power - expensive, but worth it (Honda have put the price up recently). Thankfully flywheel was fine so nothing needed to happen there.
• Vibratechnic engine mounts / Hardrace gearbox mounts - initially the vibration was pretty severe, uncomfortably so! Thankfully they have calmed down a lot, but it took a good 500 miles to do so. There is of course still some extra vibration compared to stock, most noticeable on cold idle (pretty smooth when warm) and at low revs. Once on the move you don't really notice it. A couple of new rattles around the car but I've sorted all but one of these pretty easily. Note that I've already been through the car with soundproofing / foam insulation to remove any rattles, if your car is like mine was before I did this work then the mounts may be quite annoying! Happy to report the performance of the mounts is excellent - much reduced engine movement which really improves response and gearshifts. Of course most noticeable when driving hard, but even pottering around town you no longer have the drivetrain 'slop' from before. So, overall, recommended if you think you can put up with a bit of extra vibration. If I was starting again I would probably go for the Spoon ones to be honest, but only just, given that they are about £150 more!
• Differential collars - work well, before you could always feel the diff moving before transmitting drive to the wheels, but this is now gone. I don't feel any extra vibrations etc, so no downsides as far as I can tell. If your mounts are in good condition like mine were then these seem like a good option to remove the slop, so recommended! If your mounts have seen better days then probably replacement mounts are a better plan.
• Spoon subframe / steering rack collars - initially I couldn't really tell the difference on these as they were swamped by the engine vibrations, but now things have calmed down the ride over rough surfaces does feel improved, the car seems to be less 'put off' by rough surfaces. Maybe a little tighter steering feel too. Of course they've hardly turned it in to a Rolls Royce, a pothole is still a pothole! They also took longer (and so cost more) to fit than I expected, so on balance, not brilliant value - I would say that if you plan on keeping four S2000 long-term they are a good thing to do at an appropriate time (like a clutch change), but otherwise, you could probably spend your money better. For example the Cusco lower brace I have made a similar difference for around have the price (and I got it second hand so even better!).
• New 'hardtop' striker plates - unrelated to the other bits, but I fitted some new striker plates the other week. I had tried the various tips to stop the old ones rattling, washers under the plates, silicone hose on the catch, etc etc, but still wasn't that happy. I wasn't sure how much difference these new plates would make, but for £60 I thought it was worth a go. Well, thankfully, they made a world of difference! Any hint of rattle is now gone, no need for the silicone tube etc. Seem very tight when first latching the roof but after a few cycles they are fine. If you haven't done these already then do them now, best £60 I've spent on the car!
• New MAP sensor - again unrelated, but after 11 years I thought it would be a good time to replace this. I think it has removed a bit of hesitation at low revs, for the sake of £40 or so it seems like a good maintenance item to me given the common issues with them.

Next plans are to (finally) get it mapped, I was putting this off until after the clutch change, and a probably a front splitter and Zunsport grille. That's about it for now! Hope this is useful for someone!

alexrobinson202

Quite a productive couple of weeks so time for an update!

First off, I got a bit sick of the VibraTechnics engine mounts so decided to go back to stock. They were great for spirited driving and just about worth it for my normal commute to work, but I did a few longer drives with them and on the motorway they are a bit much. So a trip to TGM to get them swapped back to standard. I've kept the diff collars which I would definitely still recommend. With the stock mounts you do get a noticeable amount more engine movement, noticeable during shifting and also slow-speed - but of course also quite a bit less vibration! May add an torque damper at some point but I'll see how it goes.

Also got a valve clearance check done while I was there, only 1 out of 16 needed adjusting which isn't bad! And had them strip and re-fit the VTEC solenoid and TCT as I had a slow leak. This also sounded like the perfect time to get the valve cover changed, as the paint has always been very flaky. Unfortunately couldn't find anyone who could do a refurb with exchange for a later model car, so decided to investigate a brand new part - the OEM Honda ones seem very pricey but Si at Hendy happened to have an ex-display Spoon one he was willing to let go for a reasonable price. Definitely wouldn't have gone for this at RRP, but at the price he was willing to let it go for it made sense. Quite happy with the yellow colour!


Fitted with a new gasket and I also sanded back the letters on the spark plug cover which is a good improvement. Finally an eBay VTEC solenoid cover and new black battery terminal cover tidy things up quite a bit. So, from this:


To this, much better!


Next up was the 'UK exhaust mod' - had been meaning to get this done for a while as I wanted a bit more noise, with the K&N it was all induction noise! Found a company called Long-Life Exhausts in Basingstoke which isn't too far from me, he had done quite a few before and wanted £120 which I thought sounded reasonable. I went for 34mm ID pipe. Very happy with the results - roof up the difference is relatively subtle but noticeable in the mid-range particularly. Roof down it is quite a bit louder and sounds pretty nice!


After this the car was all ready for mapping, at last (bought the FlashPro over a year ago!). I had booked a slot with Romain ages ago as he books up fast, on the day he was working at Perfect Touch in Enfield. Pretty slick operation, I was only there about an hour and a half. Car made good power, 245hp which isn't bad given the only mods are a sports cat and the K&N intake. I've only done a few hundred miles so far, most of which were in the pissing rain driving back from Enfield, but initial impressions are very good - the lower VTEC (4000-5500 depending on throttle %) helps smooth out the power band and the extra midrange is noticeable. Nice and smooth too, looking forward to some proper driving!


Next up I had wanted to freshen up the front end for a while, so finally got some jobs done. Picked up a ZunSport grille off another member, took all of 5 minutes to fit! Also an eBay self-adhesive front splitter, which is a bit of an experiment, we'll see how long it lasts. I've been looking out for a 'FlyBikesLee' splitter for a while but no luck so far, so will try this for now. Added large washers through the normal bumper bolts for good measure plus a few screws:


Final job was a headlight restoration. I went for the AutoGlym kit, pretty easy job, done in a couple of hours. No problem doing it with a cordless drill but you will need a change of batteries! Masked up and ready to start, you can see the lights weren't exactly awful but not great either:


Part way through, this is the 'what have I done!' stage, but things quickly improve!


Finished up with some sealant from Amazon. So, overall, from this (removed the holder and added the small plate since this pic of course):


To this - a nice improvement, freshened up the front end nicely!


A few more pics after a good wash, polish and wax:




That brings us up to date for now. I have a set of premium mats on order from Is at Hendy and an upcoming MOT in October - once those jobs are done then I'll be done for a while I think!
Cheers

alexrobinson202

On a side-note, if any moderator reading this fancies removing the 'mostly audio' from the thread title that would be great, haven't touched the audio for a year!

alexrobinson202

A couple of minor updates. First of all, after a few months of driving, I can report that getting the engine tuned via FlashPro was definitely worth the (not insignificant) cost - the increase in mid-range power and also smoothness / drivability is very noticeable. Well recommended! And got a new set of rear Michelin PS4's fitted which has improved wet-weather grip nicely in time for winter.

Also got round to fitting a set of premium Honda mats which tidy up the interior nicely. Like most others I ignored the instructions to cut the carpet and just screwed through it instead!


Not much planned for a while now, wheel refurb is probably the next job, in the new year some time!

BenRNBP

Looking good - love the Zunsport grille, maybe I should get one I've had mine 7 years and done most of the same jobs but you've reminded me of a few I've always been meaning to get around to... and some I haven't, so keep up the posts!

Xernox

Car’s looking great.
What size plate did you go with for the front?

alexrobinson202

It’s 520x85, so standard width but a bit shorter. Looks standard enough to not draw attention but the reduced height looks much better I think!