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UK & Ireland S2000 CommunityDiscussions related to the S2000, its ownership and enthusiasm for it in the UK and Ireland. Including FAQs, and technical questions.
Ray fixed my knocking cat (for the time being). The removal of the heat shield took longer than anything with knackered bolts. Angle grinder to the rescue and it was off. A few well placed taps in the cat and the monolith was fixed in place. This is just temporary whilst I source another, as I was concerned about destroying an o2 sensor. Turns out there's two types of cats, one with a single and one with twin monoliths.
Yeah a new one on me that, clearly two types of cat both look the same with the heat shield in place but you can clearly see the difference once it's removed one has a double brick the other a single and probably different flow rates,
Today it was a long day working on my car changed all my brake calipers plus new braided brake lines. Majority of this work was made by me with Lee help but with Ray supervision that end up saving all the squirting brake fluid coming from almost everywhere possible. The fact is Ray have been a great friend and specially a great mentor. Thank you very much
sorry no pictures.
Car feels great now
Glad to hear all the brakes are good now Ric. Sounded like they were pretty bad.
With our pending hill climb in a couple of weeks, thought best to check the geo and bleed the clutch. After multiple runs, track time and drifting day the geometry had not budged at all. It serves to highlight again that these subframes are solid with no movement. It's amazing having put the car through so much abuse that the geometry stays spot on.
As always a massive thank you to Ray for allowing us on the ramps and using his tools. Really appreciate all the help and tuition.
Glad to hear all the brakes are good now Ric. Sounded like they were pretty bad.
With our pending hill climb in a couple of weeks, thought best to check the geo and bleed the clutch. After multiple runs, track time and drifting day the geometry had not budged at all. It serves to highlight again that these subframes are solid with no movement. It's amazing having put the car through so much abuse that the geometry stays spot on.
As always a massive thank you to Ray for allowing us on the ramps and using his tools. Really appreciate all the help and tuition.
remember last spring when I've told by brakes were bad they were actually worst than I was thinking
Garage blog part one included changing the diff oil on my car as it was well overdue, having some banter with Ray and the North West lads about the up and coming hillclimb at Llys-y-Fran Dam and then everyone parting ways to do their own thing for the weekend.
Part two consists of driving down south to the border of Wales to visit a friend and when 10-15 mins away my car decides to shit the bed.
Saturday night now means getting drunk at my friends and leaving my car overnight in a country lane in the middle of nowhere and calling the AA Sunday (I tell them I need a truck to transport my car and that a van wouldn't be able to fix it), yep, they send a van. Chat to the bloke for a bit whilst he arranges a proper truck to come get me and then drops me off at a pub a few mins away (food this time)
Whilst waiting for the AA I ask Ray if I can bring it to the garage (on a Sunday, the mans only day off) and he says yeah drop it off after 3 and we can have a look at it. I also let the North West lads know that my car is (mechanical term i'm sure) "totally ****ing ****ed mate" or it was as far as I knew (on a side note the camaraderie between the NW lads is second to none as they all asked if they could help in anyway).
Get to Rays and give him a call and within 5 mins he is down at the garage again (felt like it was only yesterday we were here) and he says let's get it up on the ramps and check out what's up and what you need to order.
Turns out to be a broken drive shaft.
Within 1 hour Ray has taken it off and replaced it with his own spare (if anyone has some low mileage drive shafts let me know as I want spares myself and I need to reimburse Ray also)
All in all within 1 hour of getting there I was driving myself and my car home again fixed.
Ray himself and the NW lads are just brilliant.
Roll on Llys-Y-Fran Dam oh and again if anyone has some drive shafts for sale let me know (my car has done 222,375 miles so i think a few spare components are needed now)
Glad to hear you are home well and safe G. Hats off to Ray for all the help, and getting you back on the road. Not many folk would go out of their way for someone else these days.
Yesterday popped up to good old Daytona Autos to get my Ohlins DFV's fitted and an alignment done. I've had my Ohlins sat in the garage for a few months now so I couldn't wait to get them on the car. Ray and Jamie did a cracking job getting everything in the car and doing the initial alignment, prior to heading back there on the 22nd once the suspension has settled in and for final alignment.
Cracking work by Ray and Jamie as always. Went for a little run today over my usual scenic work route. Apart from some tyre rub which is down to tyre sizing, the handling is and grip is obscene. On 10 clicks, even on bumpy roads the ride is a little firmer than OEM but much, much more compliant. Body control is superior to OEM and the grip in corners is obscene. It's going to take a bit of recalibration because it's so grippy and I can feel the limits of the car are much higher. It's also easier to drive quickly as well, which I'm sure will pay dividends on track, coupled with the Spoon Calipers/braided brake lines and other bits it feels absolutely mega, like an S2000+. This is exactly what I was aiming for with the mods I've done to the S.
Quality service and I'm looking forward to being back at Rays in a few weeks for final set-up and tweaks to the set-up.
Last Saturday at the garage was busy, Aaron was booked in to do a complete suspension swap and I went to pay close attention as I would be doing the same next week.
Well on arrival at the garage ray sticks me straight onto the ramp and tells me that my suspension was also getting done so let the work begin.
Both swaps as you would expect had their problems (my suspension had currently done 225,000 miles) the dreaded bolts were, well seized beyond belief but I had been using plus gas on them every week for 6+ months. I think the plus gas had helped and with a bit of messing and a few tricks known by others we got everything free (not everything sorry but what we needed).
I then installed low mileage shocks with swift springs that I must say are brilliant.
We also put the cars on to get their geo done and luckily for me mine wasn't bad considering with miles I had done and so it didn't take too much tweaking to get things to a good spec.
After it was all done I drove home the long way and I must admit I always thought my old suspension was good but now, the new setup is on another level.
I always read people's comments of "get your geo done and it'll transform the car" and in all honesty I always thought, it can't be that great over mine (I turn the wheel left, the car goes left, I turn it right it goes right, what more could you want?
WELL, this new setup makes the old one feel like dogshit, the turning in feels more precise, it doesn't roll as much when cornering and the ride quality is pretty much the same as oem.
Ray and his wizardry has made it feel like a different car and I look forward to testing it out in the up and coming sprint and hillclimb competitions.
06-13-2017, 01:55 PM
