DaveUK

Hi. I’ve been a lurker for over a year now. Got loads of great information from here. It’s a really good forum. I never had anything to add though so I just remained a lurker. I’ve had my current s2000 since March this year. It was a bit of a dog and it had a broken gearbox, but it drove. I bought it in that condition because I had a whole car’s worth of spare parts (cat C write off), so I changed the gearbox. Then I checked to see if the alignment bolts moved. Nope. I had my friend’s CP impact gun with a pretty big compressor, but nothing. The inside front castor bolt came out but everything else was solid. We drilled them out accurately so I didn’t need new bushes. Apart from the compliance bushes which were deteriorating, so I got mugen bushes and replaced them in situ. That’s the part where I’ll probably make a thread to describe how we did it. We pressed the old bushes out and pressed the new ones in without removing the wishbones. I packed a load of copper grease in with the bolts, so hopefully if I re-grease them once a year they should be OK from now on. I also swapped the roof because it was suffering from the standard wearing that they have. I now have a blue roof (from nurburgring blue car) on a royal navy blue pearl car. I think a unique combo. I’d prefer black, but that would have meant buying a new roof. It’s funny how much of the interior you have to remove. I’ve done various other things to pretty it up. Oh yeah the rear arches were showing the very first signs of rust when I got really close up and personal so I dealt with that, loaded the rubber strip thing up with underseal and put it back on. I think removing it so it doesn’t collect muck is not the best idea because the paint will get worn away. I also undersealed behind the rear bumper and underneath the car. It was really mucky under there, it took a while to clean before I could underseal it. It was actually really good in terms of rust so I was pleased.

I had a PRM intake on it since June. That’s a really great intake. So loud in VTEC and in lower RPMs it sounds really throaty, a bit like a 360 Ferrari I think. I then ordered a J’s Racing 70RS dual, which took over 2 months for them to actually make (lazy bastards), but then once made Ihearthonda flew it over and it didn’t take long to arrive. That arrived a few weeks ago. I didn’t have space in the garage so I jacked the car up on the uneven pavement that’s at a slight gradient. Probably not the safest, but it worked. Also I think it’s illegal, but a police car drove past and didn’t seem to care. It’s also illegal to wash your car on public highways so whatever. It absolutely chucked it down, but I was underneath the car so I just took a break and stayed under there for a bit. This exhaust sounds great. All I’m interested in is sound tbh. The only problem I had was the PRM intake was louder in VTEC than the exhaust, so it had to go. I removed it yesterday, I think it’s a lot better. There’s not nearly so much change in sound when VTEC kicks in (yo), but I like the sound of the exhaust more than the intake. It served its purpose when I didn’t have the exhaust though so it was good. The only problem I have after removing the intake is throttle response is slightly worse now with the OEM intake. When blipping the throttle for down changes, I have to hold my foot on the throttle for a bit or go down further for the revs to come up. Before it was a light stab and they’d come up straight away. Is there a quiet intake with great throttle response (also it can’t cost much).

I don’t want to look like a knob who’s in love with his car, even though I am a bit of a knob, and I do love my car, but I don’t want my neighbours to know I’m ‘one of those’, so I don’t have many photos of it.

Oh yeah I changed the brake pads to EBC red stuff. I like them. I also bought new front tyres OEM mz. I kind of regret getting them. They’re good, but fairly high speed cornering the car feels really light. I think I’d prefer AD08R. Since they’re not much more I’m a bit bummed about it. I think the car can corner much faster, but these tyres don’t give me the confidence.

My engine hasn’t used any oil in 1800 miles so that’s good. When I first got the car, the throttle body was greased up and dirty. There were major idling problems at one point, so I cleaned the TB and the thing screwed to the side of the intake manifold. I also took off the MAP sensor and cleaned that tiny hole under it. I sprayed plenty of carb cleaner into the intake manifold with the engine running as well plus I used fuel additive. The car ran fine after that. When swapping the intake yesterday, I checked inside the intake manifold, and it was clean still so that’s good. There was a time when the car didn't seem to want to go much over 8500, so I drove around for about 5 mins at 5500 rpm and then floored it. I did that a few times. It's been perfect after that. Italian tuneups are good fun.
Wow I can’t believe I’ve written so much. I’m sure there’s more stuff I’ve done other than the standard fluid changes. Magnetic bolts. Replaced aircon radiator. Don’t know. Loads though.

I've got this photo from a while ago.


It's a 55 reg AP2 (lolololol just kidding). I don't have a hardtop, but I drive around with the top down all the time as long as it's not raining and the top is dry. Even on freezing cold days. I just turn up the heater. The top of my head does get cold sometimes (6'4") so I just put on a hoodie and it's great.

BenRNBP

Hi welcome along ! Best colour obviously If you're 6'4" it's worth thinking about a Back Yard Special seat rail - drops 20mm but you really notice the improvement in driving position.

Might be worth checking your vtec solenoid as it has a mesh in it that collects crud too - might be related to the problem you fixed with the Italian tune up.

minvo

:Welcome:

Nice hose and buckets

S

DaveUK

Hi. Thanks! it is a beautiful colour! When the sun hits it right and you get a hint of purple, it's awesome. Will the seat rail make it more difficult to get in and out? At the moment I do a sort of one legged squat and then fall into the car. If the seat is lower, it will be further to fall, and then getting out might be more difficult. Especially when I can't open the door much because of car parks. It would be nice to sit a bit lower. I'll have to see if I can replicate the height somehow. When I've sat in it with no seat, I've had to crawl out lol.

I saw that solenoid thing on wheeler dealers. It might actually be worth checking that. The car hadn't been used much for ~2 years and the oil was pretty thick when I got it. thanks for the heads up. A bit dumb maybe, but the oil level is way below the solenoid isn't it? So I won't get any leakage when I remove it? Cheers.

Thanks minvo

BenRNBP

You might get a small dribble of oil but not the whole sump .. and as far as I know it's not as easy to get hold of the seal for under the triangular bit as Wheeler dealers made out - so don't undo that bit, just undo the whole solenoid and valve from the head.

I don't have much of an issue getting in and out, even in car parks but I also don't get the top of my head sticking into the slipstream any more.

Yeah I love the colour effects you get from the pearl paint, especially at twilight

DaveUK

Hi Ben. After way too long searching I finally found the part number for the vtec solenoid filter: 15825-PCX-015. I actually found the gasket for the triangular bit straight away from ballade sports in US, it doesn't look like you can get those OEM though, you'd have to buy a whole new solenoid as far as I can tell. I'll order that tonight. Thanks again. Over the weekend I'll take some photos of what we used to press out/in the compliance bushes.

dai_Bill

strange that you find the prm too loud. I have the same exhaust and intake.

DaveUK

I find that once VTEC kicks in, the PRM overpowers the exhaust. I just can't hear anything over the PRM. Before VTEC I can't hear the PRM at all. I like the sound of it, but I prefer the sound of the exhaust.

Can you hear your exhaust over the intake?

SammyPT

Do you have the cat installed? It does affect the sound.

If you have the oem intake you can try shave the box, see how that goes?

Lankan

Cool story, and well done for your efforts.

The S does looks good.