Unfortunately I'm still waiting on the rollcage arriving but in the mean time have got a few other jobs done. I know the OEM intake is regarded as being pretty good but I thought it could be improved to get more cold air in, so I bought a kit of parts to make an intake:



From testing I seen on here it looked like long and large diameter was the way to go, so although a bit tricky to get in place that's what I went with. It's a tight fit with the brake ducts too but squeeze's in:









Before the bumper went back on I added a tow strap since the oem eyebolt isn't the best for quickly attaching a tow strap to on track and of course it adds racecar points. An oem style splitter was also fitted - involving a good bit of swearing as the fitment is pretty crap! Once on it lowers the front a little though which looks better to me:



Next I bonded in the rear screen to the hardtop... I'm pretty sure this is how the pros do it:



It came with top section of the oem seal but not the lower part so I've stuck on a universal trim which looks ok;



Before getting the car back on track I wanted to get another dyno run done, mainly to check the fuelling was ok as I'd read they can run lean with just the exhaust and intake, obviously I also wanted to see if the diy intake would add any power!

So the car was loaded on the trailer since a drive with no seatbelt/harness wasn't very appealing!



I headed to MB Garage services for the dyno run as Matty there has a good reputation and experience with Link ecu's....which looks a good option for the S2K in the future.

The car was strapped down then quickly spinning up the rollers -





Video -

I was a bit disappointed with the figures until Matty jumped out and told me it was WHP figures being shown... 219whp to be specific, which works out as 258bhp:



I wasn't expecting that much power and even Matty was impressed - looks like the intake works! The fuelling is a little on the lean side but not dangerous, however it does mean there's more power to find with a remap which is good news but that's for the future, next up I'm really hoping the cage turns up soon as I have a trackday booked at the end of the month!

 

My first track day of the year was booked for the end of March, unfortunately the roll cage didn't turn up in time for fitting before this but my new tyres did - Nankang AR1's in 245/40/17, a bit chunkier than the OEM sized 205/55 NS2R's I had on the front:



Before fitting them I also wanted to lower the car a touch more, however only got another 5mm on the rears before the Ohlins are as low as they can go, some pass through rear cups will go on the list for later to get it a bit lower. With the Advans back on the car looks so much better, the fitment is really good with the AR1's too.




I was still not sure the tyres would clear the wings though so attempted to roll them... I was concerned the rear had a bit of filler in them but the roller found more than a little and they cracked immediately




At least it should have enough clearance now... and even if the rears rub the filler won't do much harm to the tyres!

Next with the cage not arriving in time I had to refit the rear bulkhead, seat belts and roll hoops.I made some simple mounts for a corbeau clubsport for the passenger side:





Some other fussy small things were done, new blue honda badges, clear side repeaters, covers for the headlight washer holes and a new towing eye cover had to be purchased after I could not find the original anywhere! These are actually reasonable even including shipping from Japan through Amayama - cheaper than used on ebay!




With that done it was back on the trailer ready for Knockhill and finally looking a bit more like a track car.


Unfortunately the weather was typically Knockhill for the track day, wet to start with then just as it almost dried out it bucketed down, even turning to hail, so much that the trackday was red flagged for half an hour, it then just about dried out again right at the end of the day but due to the weather and doing some passenger runs I only got 3 sessions on my own. The video below is the end of the first session as it was drying out, my final lap there was a 60.71 without being able to have full confidence over the kerbs, then on the next session I got straight down to a 60.40 on the first clear lap then had traffic for the rest of that one, before it rained again. There's definitely a 59 second lap in the car though, it's pulling a little harder now and is much more stable under braking, I just need to get it up on it's toes.
















I had been thinking if I got under 60 seconds I would enter the first round of the SLS but obviously I didn't manage that - which my bank account is relieved about! The roll cage has turned up so next is getting that fitted...

 

As per my last post the next modification for the S2000 was to get a cage in it, I went for a simple rear 4 point cage from MRC in Ireland, not wanting to fully strip the car at the moment this is a good option for a bit of added safety and somewhere to mount a harness to. I purchased it during black friday... I think like many others as it took 4 months to arrive. It looks like a well fabricated cage though.



Although it's a "bolt in" cage you first need to weld in spreader plates, these are sized to be compliant with MSUK regs which is good. There's also no silly slots needing cut in the chassis to mount it like some other cages.

I got my tame welder friend to pop round and weld the plates in which he made a very tidy job of:









The cage is a good fit and with a bit of zinc spray over the spreader plates it looks quite tidy:











I also set about scraping off all the sound deadening in the footwells and boot then gave these areas a zinc spray, for those interested it was just under 2.5kg of sound deadening removed so a reasonable amount and it looks tidy once done:






With the cage in the Sparco seat was put back in with the addition of a 6 point harness, as recommended by John above I purchased the Schroth harness fittings to mount the harness with... however despite buying these in February these also haven't arrived yet, so I've managed to just fit everything using eyebolts, the one in the oem seat belt mount fits ok but attaching the other to the PCI rail leaves hardly any space:



However the seat and harness are in and all starting to look like a proper track car now:









I'll fit a passenger seat again once I have the schroth fittings but for now will go full time attack/billy no mates track spec.

I'm booked in for another outing at Knockhill next week but on a reserve list, so if a space doesn't become available for that hopefully I get one soon after and can see if the added confidence of being held in properly can get me that sub-60second lap of Knockhill!

 

Just after getting the cage in as above I did manage to get a space on another trackday, although it was a short 2 hour evening session. The weather was good for a change so I was hoping to get as much time on track as possible, unfortunately with 5 red flags and 20min sat in the pits whilst an oil spill was cleaned up (around the length of the track), I didn't get a lot of time on track, the time I did get on track was generally in traffic as well with everyone getting bunched up.



So not good conditions for fast laps and sure enough I didn't go any better than previously, just getting back down to the same lap times as before when the track session ended. Some laps with traffic and a couple of clear ones here:


The car was going well again and having a harness holding me in properly was a big improvement, however the clutch was starting to slip a little during the session so the sensible thing to do next would be to upgrade that... instead I've decided to swap the diff final drive and in doing so increase the number of gear changes I'll need to make

I'd acquired a kia 4.77 crown wheel and pinion from a chap that had it in his mx5 briefly and was really keen to see what difference it would make, as standard the S2000 just feels too long geared for track use.



I've not done any diff work previously but after reading and watching a few guides plus the Honda workshop manual I fancied giving it a go, new OEM pinion bearings, crush sleeve and seals were ordered then I got to work stripping it down:





Bearing pressed off the original pinion so I could re-use the thrust washer:



Onto swapping the bits over:




Pinion nut torque was set as per the workshop manual using a beam torque wrench to get the correct turning torque. Then the back lash was measured and set at 5 thou (slightly looser than OEM spec):



A very satisfying job and straightforward with the right tools when not rushing it.

The next job was a bit less enjoyable, whilst the exhaust was off I decided to heat wrap it, during the track time the transmission tunnel was getting very hot despite the oem heat shield still being in place, tidy once done but not fun:



With that done the diff and exhaust were put back on the car;





After filling the diff with fresh Fuchs Race Gear 90LS fluid a quick road test followed, immediately the car feels much sharper on throttle and like it actually has some torque now! I can now short shift on the road but still accelerate at a decent rate and it feels like you can get into VTEC without having to hold onto every gear. I'm sure it will make a big difference on small sprint tracks and hopefully at Knockhill, I have another track day booked in a few weeks so will find out soon.

 

Time to dump the number plates now you’re trailering, save another few grams and improve the aero at the front. Rest looks very good, true dedication.

 

Loving the thread and the attention to detail mate.. great work

 

Cheers. I did try to take the front one off but when it wanted to take the paint with it I changed my mind! For the SLS at knockhill and sprints/hill climbs I need it to be road legal as well so it will be getting an MOT next year.

Thanks, I can be fussy!

 

Some good pics from the weekend by flat out photography on Facebook.

 

Yes, some soggy looking photos! Will get an update done on that soon...

 

As above I had another trip to Knockhill and yet another wet one, this one was relentless in not drying up so I had to make the most of it! The car felt good with the lower final drive and getting through the gears much quicker but the Nankang AR1's provided no grip in the wet which is no surprise, I had to drive on my fingertips the whole day.









It was useful in getting a bit more of a chance to feel the balance of the S2K and it feels pretty neutral but still a bit snappy right at the limit, my only full spin was right at the end when trying to send it a bit too much... Lots of sketchy skids in this video:


The windscreen fogging up in the rain really didn't help either so I'm hoping the cabin filter is blocked and causing that;




Once home the wheels were covered in brake dust as usual, I use bilt hamber wheel cleaner which is very satisfying to get the dust off easily:










Clean again and soon to be back on the lift for more tweaks before one final track outing this year