o_O S2000 | Mk I — Stage II

[andrewhake]

Endless ME20 re-up



Got some more ME20s in from Japan, so I am stocked up on these for awhile now.

[andrewhake]

New F22C shortblock from Honda

The opportunity arose to get a brand new F22C short block as a spare if and when I ever needed one so decided to pick it up. It will live in my friend Anish's facility until it is needed.



If you ever needed any more proof that I am in the S2000 game for the long haul, well here it is.

[MikeRT4]

What are the alleged benefits of the pullies ?

[andrewhake]

What are the alleged benefits of the pullies ?

They weigh 4.7lbs less total. And as TODA mentions:

"By reducing the overall weight (and inertia) of the 3 pulleys, and by modifying the alternator pulley ratio to take advantage of the more sporty use, the burden on the engine is reduced helping to improve acceleration performance."

Spinning up an engine from 1000rpm to 8500rpm takes less time with a lighter flywheel and other lighter rotating assemblies. A lighter flywheel will play a much larger roll, but lighter pulleys will have a similar effect just at a smaller scale. The idea is to minimize parasitic loss as much as possible.

[andrewhake]

Paintwork finished!

[MikeRT4]

And the mirrors are even on - wonders will never cease :p .

[TsukubaCody]

My body is ready.

[s1 s2]

Hurry!!

[andrewhake]

ASM GT-09 trunk + wing, ASM duckbill, and ASM 04-S rear bumper installed!

I will do a more thorough overview of everything soon along with some more photos, but for now here are some from the trip down to L.A. to pick up the car. The paintwork was completed on the 26th (last step was just installing the mirrors so all paintwork was finished the Friday before), the car was cleaned up, and then delivered to GoTuning where it would be stored. I flew to L.A. on the 28th and picked up the car and drove it back that night. I spent some time at GoTuning again and got to have a go in Tommy and Areen's cars, and they both took some very nice photos of my car as well.

Here are some photos that Tommy (@tristanhaha) took the day before I came to pick it up:











And some that Areen (@idratherbespooncollecting) took the day I picked it up:













And finally some photos that I shot of both my car and Areen's Spoon wide body AP2:





















I was so happy to have the car back and completely blown away with how it turned out. Exactly as I had imagined it. Super happy with all the decisions made on how everything was painted. I really love the look of the duckbill with carbon trailing edge, and the clear coated wing and wing stands. I will get some more info and detailed photos of the wing itself soon but just wanted to provide some nice overall shots of the car.

I am SO happy with the Spoon mirrors. They really look great with the Amuse R1 front and side strakes to me. They really change the overall look and feel of the car but do it in a way that non-S2000 people wouldn't even be aware of. Visibility is obviously very different than the much taller OEM mirrors but really once you have these adjusted in a way that works for your seating position and height they are perfectly fine, the convex shape makes it very easy to see what is in your blind spot and coming up on the car. The passenger side mirror is slightly harder to get into an ideal position but still works perfectly fine once aligned. Will all come down to your individual seating position and height. The mechanism to pivot the mirrors up and out of the way for tight parking is more solid than the OEM mirrors. The mirror lenses show a bit more vibration at speed but the housing itself always remains solid. I actually got a little more vibrations with the OEM driver side housing than I dow with these new mirrors. No vibration issues at al for me with these mirrors at idle with the Spoon engine mounts. Mine are well broken in with quite a bit of track time, so if you were to install them along with the stiffer engine mounts you would probably notice the vibration initially, but one everything settles in any additional vibration is negligible.

I have to say that overall I am glad I waited to get everything painted up at once. I got the bumper in, and slowly became aware that the GT-09 trunk and wing was a possibility so I decided to wait for everything. The GT-09 was always just sort of something I dreamed about doing but I was extremely lucky and ended up in a situation where it was a real possibility. I couldn't be happier with the work that Signature Autobody did on the car and Lawrence in particular who was extremely meticulous with everything. Sending me detailed photos and videos at my request and taking back my marked up notes on the images and discussing everything with me in great detail over the phone. We spent a ton of time going over the way I wanted the duckbill taped off and painted, and many other details.

Something I wasn't aware of with the ASM 04 rear bumper is that on an AP2 the lower mounts need to be shorted to properly fit the lower carbon piece, something the guys at Signature have done many times and as you can see in a previous post they did very well on my car.

More later! If anyone has any questions let me know, I hope these images make you as happy as they make me.

[andrewhake]

And for those wondering, Yes the Amuse Euro exhaust will be going back on the car, and YES it is going to look fucking amazing with this new bumper. I really like the Amuse exhaust and this EVS 70mm, both have very different sound characteristics but both have looks that suit my taste. Having now sampled both of the ASM/Saclam exhausts on Tommy and Areen's cars, they are extremely nice exhausts, but don't really suit my personal taste for looks and sound characteristics. With the Amuse and EVS exhausts, I have them sort of nicely dialed in and different ways to have a very good balance of engine mechanical sound and exhaust sound. The ASM/Saclam exhausts are designed to be very civilized, where I prefer a bit more snarl and growl when getting on and off throttle.

In regards to the wing and the additional rear end stability, I can't speak on that too much, but I will say I took the more scenic route up Pacific Coast Highway on my return journey and the stability entering high speed corners is quite lovely indeed. I am really looking forward to doing some more testing and see how the car behaves under higher speed situations slower to the limit. The wing and the way it is mounted makes it incredibly solid, as close to a chassis mounted motorsports wing as you get while still having the convenience of a normal trunk lid. And with everything mounted and painted the trunk springs don't launch the trunk open too dramatically. With the wing removed it is essentially a catapult but I have never really been one to want to open my trunk up without standing right behind it anyway.

[Sillyboybmxer]

Damn, damn damn.
Makes me think i am looking at a reveal photo of a new s2000.
Never before seen shit up in here.
Jealous of your purchase power and decision-making skills

[TsukubaCody]

Yeah this looks TOO good.

[andrewhake]

Rear emblem installed + initial driving impressions with new aero

Made a template using the old trunk lid to match the placement of the original emblem, and attached using 3M automotive mounting tape.







Looks perfect to me with the emblem. Also put the Honda license plate frame back on the car.

Today I took the car for a drive along the coast and stopped to get some photos. After that I took that car on a run through the Santa Cruz mountains. High, speed, mid speed, and low speed roads. The car is absolutely incredible to drive under all situations. I can enter high speed corners and braking zones with no hesitation. It is also that much easier to get back onto the throttle without hesitation mid-corner and at exit. I am sure I am not taking full advantage of the wing as that will take some more seat time, but it is clear just how more capable it is.

This doesn't have anything to do with the new rear wing or bumper, but the car is AMAZING at low speeds too. The OS Giken 1.5way LSD is truly a thing of beauty. The way the car rotates immediately with throttle inputs is incredible, especially on lower speed roads with a lot of changing camber and bumps. Bumps or camber changes that would normally make me lift a bit to make sure the car was settled are no longer a problem. Looking forward to getting to the track with all these new bits!

[Sillyboybmxer]

Its an amazing machine.

[allgood]

Car looks amazing. Love the overall subtlety; allowing the quality of each component to stand out to the discerning eye.