o_O S2000 | Mk I — Stage II

[andrewhake]

02-04-2015

Mugen intake installed



Got the Mugen intake installed last night. After having it since November 2013 it is pretty damn satisfying to finally install it. There is tons of clearance with the Amuse hood. Was pretty straight forward but it took me for ever because I was trying to remove the radiator air guide without removing the bumper. Once I removed the bumper it was very straight forward.

I fitted the ASM radiator plate do see what adjustments I might need to make, and it looks like I will need to make some small adjustments to get it fitting properly with the hood. The nuts that hold the metal “U” latch to the hood crash into plate. I will have to see how much I can adjust the latch side to side to see if it will fit. I also still need to trim the OEM airguide as well. I think I am going to run it even if I run the ASM radiator plate because it looks like it does a great job forcing air directly through the radiator. It doesn’t allow any weird pockets to build up anywhere. Hopefully I will be able to run the ASM plate with no issues with just some adjustments to the latch. But I might have to modify the plate slightly. I think I can make it work. If not I might go for the CF version as I can probably trim it a bit easier.

I always assumed the little cross brace at the front of the car had to be removed to run this intake, but that isn’t the case at all. Plenty of space for it. Mounting the main bracket to the crossbeam was very easily luckily. Just drilled small pilot holes and used self tapping screws to secure it down. It isn’t going anywhere. I got some black socket cap bolts for mounting the intake at the front part of the car since I didn’t like the little hex head bolts that came with it. They also use the same hex size as the filter clamp so makes it easy to take apart. The clamp is kind of a bitch to fit, but I might just have been tired.

Thanks to Hanzel for getting me the info from the install instructions on how to mount the main bracket on the cross beam! :thumbup:

I will get some better photos and post them up when I have some time. This really makes the car sound great with the Amuse hood. It brought some more bass and growl into the engine sound. It sounds glorious ripping through the gears now, where with just the hood and stock airbox where the inductions noise actually started to get drowned out by the mechanical noise of the engine. This is a very good balance.

I trimmed the radiator air guide to fit with the Mugen intake and got it reinstalled. Was pretty straightforward with the Dremel. I just used the basic lines that already exist on the argued as a template for how to cut it. I cut it in a way that allows me to keep the small AC access panel. I am undecided on whether or not I will use the ASM radiator plate. I really like how it looks but getting it fitted will be quite a pain. There will be minimal improvement in cooling with the ASM plate I would guess, with an increase in annoyance when taking stuff apart. We’ll see ASM radiator plate, we’ll see.



I also removed the small bracket at the left of the engine bay that is used to mount the OEM airbox.



The gold heat tape on the bottom of the intake does some amazing things with light in the engine pay from the right angles.

I love my parking spot. So much space to dick around.



I decided to park my car underground at work today since it was rainy and windy and ended up next to a nice older 911 and a few S2000s nearby.



Mugen intake sound check:



The Mugen intake adds some low end punch back into the sound, with the stock intake and Amuse hood the mechanical engine noise was starting to drown out the induction noise. If you aren't listening on some decent headphones or speakers with some low end don't bother, you might not hear any difference. Again I am surprised at how much the intake changed the sound. It's not really louder it just sounds better. With the OEM intake and hood there was more valve noise so when up close to walls the sound could be a bit weird. Now it has got that low end roar back and better than I ever would have hoped.

I have driven cars with stock exhaust, hood, and K&N intake, the VTEC change over was more of a clear punch in terms of sound than it is with the Mugen, although I do have my VTEC changeover smoothed out from the FlashPro tune, it is definitely a different frequency that the Mugen intake brings out compared to the K&N.

I know people are always clamoring to find a Ver. 1 Mugen intake with the snorkel that goes down in front of the radiator, but I greatly prefer the Ver. 2. Particularly today driving to work in pouring rain. I also think Ver. 2 just looks better in the engine bay. When my bumper was off I actually got some ideas of ways direct more incoming fresh air up through the top of the mouth of the bumper without adding an ugly intake duct on the front. No hurry to mess around with that though.

[andrewhake]

02-25-2015

100,000 miles!



Finally broken in, no turning back now. Looking forward to the next 100,000!

Took it into my friend's shop tonight for engine and transmission oil change, and also finished up my rear bumper tab relocation. I was able to reuse the OEM mounting screw by just drilling a pilot hole that was a little smaller than the screw width, and then hammered up the regular mounting tab up out of the way once the screw was mounted further back. Hopefully I will be a little less busy in the coming months so I can get some tires mounted on the Weds and make sure everything will fit ok.

I was also able to finally do some things that have been bugging me like trimming a small bracket for the side strakes that normally hold the lower plastic section on which I removed. I also replaced 2 of the lower bumper mounting bolts with new ones since they were a bit worn. One nice thing about the R1 bumper is that it really only needs 4 lower mounting bolts compared to the 7 or whatever the OEM bumper uses.

[andrewhake]

03-12-2015

Dropped the car off today to have the new clutch and flywheel installed. Should have it back tomorrow afternoon or Saturday.

I also took delivery of some parts I have been waiting on for quite awhile.

Spoon calipers:





Glad to finally receive these. It took awhile because I was looking into having them anodized a different color (dark grey gunmetal) but in the end I decided against it due to a steel fitting that would have to be removed that we weren't able to get the tolerances of to be able to perfectly reinstall them. I opted to just still with the blue anodized color as I like it as well and should be a very strong finish. That is also the reason you might spot some orange assembly paint on the bolts since they were fully disassembled. My friend Anish who supplies most of my parts has a lot of good engineering connections as that is what he mainly does for a living, and in the end we didn't want to risk having issues just to change the color. He did had some very nice photos taken of the calipers disassembled, I will post up some higher res versions once I get them.





While my brake setup isn't the most cost effective, I was looking to get the lightest setup I could that should still fully cover my uses. I have been very happy with the Girodisc rotors but the OEM calipers have always leaved plenty to be desired in terms of consistency. The biggest annoyance with the OEM calipers is the piston/pad knock back. Exiting a twisty section on not being sure if the piston is reseated against the pad or not has always annoyed me. This hopefully should be less of an issue just due to the nature of how a 4 piston caliper works. I am also hoping there are some minor cooling improvements as well. The OEM sliding calipers just create a lot of heat and also keep the heat in the pad. There is a lot more open area around the outer edges of the pads with the Spoon calipers. One thing I love about the Spoon/Nissin caliper is how much it resembles a larger version of their motorcycle calipers. I love how compact it is, I love that it is a monoblock caliper and I love how simple it is to swap pads. I am hoping they meet my expectations, as it should make for a very light and effective brake setup.

Really though, I just like the idea of my brake rotors being Spooned by my calipers.

Tomioka Racing ramps



I also got some of these bad boys. I think I can improve my brake pad swap time at my home garage by using the center jack points but needed a little more clearance to get my jack into those points. These will also give me the clearance I will like need if I ever lower the car more, as my jack has a little less than a centimeter to spare at the moment.

For those interested the Spoon caliper weight is 7.2lbs each according to my scale. Including the mounting brackets and all hardware. I will be curious to weigh the OEM calipers.



I can't wait to get the car back with the new clutch, AP1 flywheel, and Spoon pressure plate installed. It finally got to the point where the lack of bite in the clutch was noticeable during normal driving. Particularly in the streets of San Francisco. Which reminds me!



My dad came to visit awhile back and I finally went down Lombard street.

[andrewhake]

03-12-2015

Amuse sticker on Amuse hood



Put the sticker that came with my exhaust on the inside of my hood. Come at me Amuse nerds that wanted me to put it on my trunk lid.

[andrewhake]

03-14-2015

New clutch, Spoon pressure plate, and AP1 flywheel installed

Got the car back today with the new AP2 clutch disk, throwout bearing, AP1 flywheel, and Spoon pressure plate installed. Definitely taken my surprise at how much lighter the clutch pedal is with a brand new pressure plate. I was expecting it to require a bit more effort than my OEM pressure plate, but it is noticeably lighter. I was told this was normal and the pedal will likely get a bit stiffer as it is run in more. Interestingly though, even though the pedal is much lighter, the feel of what the clutch is actually doing is greatly improved. It definitely has taken some getting used to but after doing quite a bit of driving I am liking it a lot. I actually did enough calm and smooth driving in one night to have the new clutch disk pretty much good to go I think. Initially I thought I might need to bleed the clutch line since the pedal was so much lighter, but everything engages much more crisp and smoothly than before. My old clutch disk was getting to the point where it was engaging much higher up in the pedal range, so it is nice to be back to a quick and crisp engagement.

I really think the pressure plate has been designed to increase the clamping force with effectively zero effect on pedal effort. Personally I hope the pedal gets slightly heavier over time, but there is definitely something nice about having a pedal that isn't overly heavy as it let's you better feel how the clutch is actually engaging through the pedal. Similar to adding a ton of caster, you add more weight to the steering, but don't necessarily increase the steering feel. There is definitely something to be said about having a reasonably light clutch pedal with a pressure plate that clamps down well.

The AP1 flywheel is a perfect example of a subtle change that goes a long way towards improving the drivability. I haven't really given the car a proper spanking yet but the difference in downshifting is very clear. I will try to make a similar video to some of my others to see if I can show the difference in the engine response. I think the AP1 flywheel is an excellent match to how the car is currently tuned.

I am going to do a little more running in on the new clutch before really putting it through it's paces. It is already feeling pretty good after about 120 miles of driving, with me actively making sure each shift and engagement was nice and smooth without riding the clutch. Looking forward to give it a proper spanking.

Old drivetrain parts!



AP2 flywheel weighs in at 21.0lbs vs. 14.2lb for the AP1 for a 6.8lbs savings.



The flywheel surface wasn't too terrible for 100,000 miles.



I weighed the bag that the AP1 flywheel came in for the sake of science. I measured it at .2lbs, the AP1 flywheel and bag at 14.4lbs, so 14.2lbs for AP1 flywheel.



As I mentioned before I also changed the guide as recommended on the Type One maintenance blog. Mine looks pretty good but it's a cheap part and seemed worthwhile from their explanation.



Same with the fork, this definitely shows some wear. My mindset in replacing these is that they are inexpensive, and may just make the clutch feel that much better with fresh parts.



And the release bearing.





From what I know about clutch disks, the wear on my seems pretty normal and seems to be right around the recommended spec for replacement. It sure is f@#king blue though isn't it? If I wasn't picky I am sure I could have driven on this for another 20,000 miles but the difference is pretty drastic with the Spoon pressure plate and AP1 flywheel. Being able to really quickly downshift is extremely important on narrow twisty roads. The AP1 flywheel makes driving this type of road easier and more fun. Instead of holding the car in gear awkwardly before braking, it is much easier to shift up and get on full power for that quick burst before braking hard, and it's just quicker to get down a gear with less effort and time required for rev matching down. When shifting up in 2nd at my 8400rpm redline with a solid quick shift the engine re-engages right at the 6000rpm sweet spot. When shifting up a little bit earlier it is still very easy to stay above the 5500rpm VTEC changeover. It is much easier to really nail an upshift now because of the extra flashes you get from the tachometer in redline. Instead of having to anticipate the 3 quick flashes you get more depending on which gear you are shifting up from. If you ever f@#k up and the engine drops into the 4,000rpm range, it growls at you in a way that shakes your very foundation and you will never let it drop below 5500rpm again. Unless you want to hear that growl again, that f@#king nasty growl.

The car is a lot more exciting to drive up hill now. You never feel like you get into any dead zones in the powerband after the FlashPro tune. The additional power is exactly where it needs to be for this type of driving. The car is so dialed right now on the 225/255 tires and alignment and I think I really have solved my clicking issue this time around. I am finally able to really push the car again. When my car is dialed and everything is working perfectly, I am a better human being.

If you have read this far, your reward is a glimpse at what it is like to drive the only S2000 with a stock exhaust that sounds like satan.

[andrewhake]

03-19-2015

Spoon Sports Aero Mirrors

New Parts. Neeeeeeew Parts.



Ordered these a long time ago and they were finally finished and arrived today. Here they are with one disassembled to show the mirror mechanism. It is held into the bottom of the mirror using two torx bolts. Very easy to remove for painting the interior of the mirror. The mirrors are pretty fresh out of the mold like most FRP parts but they look pretty much ready to go for paint so should be a breeze for the body shop to get looking lovely.

Here are some more photos showing some other details:





They weight 1.2lbs each, and according to another post the OEM mirrors weigh 2.4lbs each, so while not as light as smaller mirrors like Craftsquare, APR, or M-Racing, these are still very light. The mechanism for rotating the mirrors up out of the way in tight parking spaces is incredibly solid, and actually feels more solid than the OEM mirrors.



More importantly they are a much more aero efficient design. Wing mirrors do contribute quite a lot of drag to most cars, and the S2000 isn't the most slippery car in the world, so can never hurt to reduce drag a bit. I really like the airfoil design of the stocks. I have always found the OEM mirrors are great and sending rocks back into the cabin at high speeds and these seem to have less potential to throw rocks at me so that is good. Blue tint is always nice as well for anyone who spent a lot of time driving at night with cars following with their brights on. I think these should be a great match with the Amuse parts on the front of the car and still keep me in the I'm Not Sure If That Car Is Even Modified category. I will be having them painted body color, but I think I may have the interiors of the mirrors painted black since there is a nice overhang around the lip of the mirror.

In other news the clutch feels fantastic after a around 200 miles now. The pedal has definitely stiffened up but doesn't feel any stiffer than stock so far, but the pressure plate is clearly providing more clamping force as engagements are wonderfully crisp. If anyone else gets this pressure plate don't worry if the pedal feels very light initially after it is installed, it will stiffen up as it is run in. I love the lighter flywheel, definitely makes heel toe quicker and easier, particularly those quick low rpm blips in traffic, and at high rpm everything feels that much more responsive. I didn't bother doing anything with the CDV, because it has honestly never bothered me. I have always found it to be a nice indicator of when you downshift poorly without putting any shock into the car. If you nail a downshift (or even upshift) it is essentially invisible.

[andrewhake]

03-20-2015

I also picked up this little beauty to add to my arsenal of inexpensive but effective Craftsman C3 cordless tools. The impact wrench and air pump have served me very well with no complaints really. This isn't going to have the power of an air ratchet but is great for removing long bolts that take some time to remove with a normal ratchet. While I like to work on my car I enjoy driving it more, so anything I can do to speed up that process is well worth it for me.

[andrewhake]

03-24-2015

Brake ducting concept

Here's the basic idea for my chassis mounted brake duct flange combo. The idea here would be to have the duct mount up with brackets to the support underneath the headlights, and a button bracket just to the bottom of the fender liner itself since it should be strong enough. The duct obviously would like up with the bumper inlets (ideally be a little bit larger). The rear flange section would mount up to the fender liner and connect up to the hose, which would then connect to the rotor backing plates.



The only thing here that is to scale is the flange, everything else would have to be measured of course, but just wanted to see if I could come up with a rough idea that might work.

[andrewhake]

03-27-2015

Right near the beach, again.

[andrewhake]

04-03-2015

Amuse Euro Single exhaust installed



Finally had some time to bring the exhaust into BlackTrax to have it installed. I wanted to bring it into the shop because I was told by Amuse and the distributors that there would be a good chance that the exhaust would hang very close to part of the 06+ passenger side tunnel. Initially the first section of the exhaust before the first resonator set very close to the lower 06+ exhaust tunnel, the little perpendicular resonator that sticks out the side was very close as well as the piping directly after it. I had Aki at BlackTrax modify my J's test pipe to give better clearance in that section. The rest of the exhaust had no issues fitting on an 06, with plenty of space in and around the subframe and lower tie bar. The modification to the J's test pipe worked very well initially (and the welds looked as nice as the original J's welds, thanks Aki). It was essentially just slightly changing the angle on the rear flange so when everything was tightened up the first section of the exhaust would hang low enough to not be so close to the exhaust tunnel. We took the car out for a test drive and everything seemed to be fine with no rattles even though part of the exhaust was still pretty close to the exhaust tunnel as you can see in the next photo.



I took the car out and put it under heavier load and around some corners and all still seemed to be fine with no noticeable contact of the exhaust and the exhaust tunnel so all seemed to be well. I went down to my car a few hours later in the garage and fire it up and I noticed a very slight rattle that was obviously coming right below and to the left of the passenger seat where that piping sits close. So as was initially mentioned by Amuse and distributors I think the best course of action is to apply some heat to that little corner and give it a few good wacks to give the exhaust the small amount of additional clearance it needs. It is pretty clear that on the 06 the exhaust tunnel on the passenger side is just simply lower than on the earlier models. Likely to make room for the seat weight sensors, and hey, it can't hurt to have your passenger slightly lower in the car I guess. I think we could also slightly modify the hangar on the exhaust that is close to that section and we may look into that first as it may be an option. If that doesn't work I will be giving that part of the car a good wack with a hammer. Obviously not ideal but was exactly as expected. I don't really mind doing it because I just don't treat this car as a museum piece and I don't really see any downsides. I don't like the idea of making the exhaust hang lower to sacrifice ground clearance. We might just be able to play with the hangers on that section so it sits a little more to the right but we'll see how it goes.

But enough of that, let's get into some other details.



The stock AP2 exhaust weighed in at 56.5lbs on my scale. That is 40.5lbs saved total with the 15.8lb Amuse Euro-S. (Rounded up to 16lbs to account for rubber hangers not on it when I weighed it).



The stock AP2 cat (with no heat shields) weighs 9lbs. The cat heat shields are attached to my J's test pipe. The test pipe weighs 3.7lbs (rounded up to 3.8 to account for the bolts I didn't weigh with the test pipe.) So a savings of 5.2 lbs there and 45.7lbs saved total with the exhaust and test pipe. This is definitely noticeable while driving the car. It is subtle but definitely noticeable when really moving the rear end of the car around. I haven't measured yet but visually the rear of the car definitely looks to be riding slightly higher now, so I will probably be adjusting it down a bit. Removing this weight from the rear, should provide just the slightest amount of additional rear damper travel as well technically since there is less weight hanging over the rear end of the car. As usual I'm splitting hairs but some one has to.

Here's how the exhaust sits in the AP2 rear bumper. Quite perfect really I have to say. It sticks out just the right amount and is dead center. It should look very nice with the future rear bumper I have planned. Definitely not the biggest fan of the AP2 rear bumper with a single exhaust so I'm looking forward to getting the new one all sorted out.







Exaggerated probably from this angle, but rear definitely seems to bet sitting a little higher right?





As I mentioned I took the car for a slightly spirited drive and here are some photos I snapped while taking a break to admire the car.









I am beginning to sort of enjoy my car's new appetite for the fine leaves of California.















While out testing I also discovered a cool feature of my GoPro that I didn't know about. It can actually be setup to snap photos while you are recording video and have them saved to the card without a hitch. It is a very cool way to get some higher quality shots than it is capable in video mode. Some of which really did turn out great no matter what camera you are comparing them to. But for people uploading stuff to YouTube these make for some great high quality thumbnails for your video.









Looking at those images I bet you thought I also made a video right? I DID make a video. This one is rated PG-13F safe for children and even safe for any and all hypocritical forum viewers! :p

Unless you are watching on good speakers I wouldn't bother watching because you won't hear how it sounds at all. Laptop and phone speakers need not apply. Get some good headphones or speakers and give it a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8-STS8xOFI&hd=1

This exhaust sounds fantastic to my ears. If you are watching that video on laptop speakers, you aren't hearing how it actually sounds, with some good speakers the sound is quite accurate. It really sounds no different than stock from 0-4000rpm, and from there it does a nice smooth transition from engine noise to smooth crisp exhaust noise, and is definitely louder than stock but not by a large amount. Just more a change in tone. This thing really is completely without drone on the freeway at any cruising speed in 6th gear or any gear. Cruising at 70mph or so in 6th and giving it full throttle produces zero boomy bass, to the point of it actually being quieter than the stock exhaust while cruising. The sounds this makes when getting off throttle on the overrun is just pure Titanium space fighter sounds. With lifting off the throttle at high rpm driving near a wall, you get this amazing "zzzzeeeeeooouuuu!" A bit hard to describe but it can be heard well at various points in the video. I feel like there is just the right amount of low end sound. There is a tiny bit of extra low end around idle and the 2000 rpm range but everything above that is just pure crisp clean engine and exhaust sound. And the low end is much less dramatic than other exhausts. The bass you hear in the video when I start the car is a little more dramatic than it is in person, but everything else in the video is quite accurate and was recorded with a pretty decent sound setup. Hopefully as the exhaust breaks in it retains these same characteristics. Absolutely love how this thing sounds. I am not sure how much it matters, but I do have the cat heat shields mounted on my test pipe so that might have some effect on the sound.

I will be posting up a similar soundcheck video as I made before with the stock exhaust once we get the remaining fitment issue resolved (hopefully we will get this taken care of tomorrow). And maybe I will even post few unrated videos

[andrewhake]

04-04-2015

As of 11pm my exhaust piping was silver. Here is what it looks like at 3am:



Oh my yes.

Thanks to my friend Colin (KCMachine) for the acetone tip with the exhaust after installing. Thoroughly wiping it down after it was installed makes for a perfect non finger printed look once it is run in.

[andrewhake]

04-08-2015

Amuse Euro-S sound check



As usual listen on some high quality speakers with some volume for a good reference of how it sounds.

Yeah we get it Amuse Euro-S. You are made of titanium...



Yes officer that is the stock exhaust. Hey what are you doing don't look at the piping.

[andrewhake]

04-09-2015

AP2 vs AP1 flywheel:



Very unscientific comparison, just comparing similar I video I have shot before and after the change.

[andrewhake]

04-10-2015

Here's an actual render of the chassis mounted brake duct with flange I have been working on:



Ignore the graininess. That is the .gif not my render man.

[andrewhake]

04-11-2015

I usually do a nice write up for everything, but I will just let these photos do the talking for now. Check back later and I will add something to read.

Spoon monoblock calipers + WedsSports TC105N 17x9+49 installed!









































Oh my gawd.

I know some people have been waiting quite awhile for this one. Here is the OEM caliper weight!





A cool 9.6lbs per caliper + 0.2lbs for the mounting bolts for a total of 9.8lbs each and 19.6lbs total.



The Spoon calipers weigh in at 14.4lbs total with the mounting bolts so that is another 5.2lbs of unsprung weight gone from the car. Oh wait did I say gone from the car? I meant that will be gone from the car once I install them?..