Life starts at 6000rpm

Lower car <=> improved aero dynamics. Time to step up the game.

2024-06-30T22:36:00.049+01:00

So, the car has been lowered and it's on it's way to get a full racing engine.

This means it's time to consider the aerodynamics.

By lowering the car, you'll accelerate the air passing under the car and that means suction to the road. Good stuff.

It also means an increase in turbulence and in this case, the lowering seems to have accentuated the rear a bit more than the front.

I will be correcting this in the future with coilover adjustable, but until then, I need to increase front grip at speed, meaning that the air must be rushed-in and then allowed to exit before mid-car.

First step: Lip-spoiler with a wing profile to accelerate air.

Splitter lip must allow air to run under and over it, but smoother under the car.

So this is step 1, and it's completed :)

Step 2 will be a front end from the PowerHouse Amuse GT1 concept.

These front fenders and guild-type fins on the side skirts, are guaranteed to allow air to flow and make the front grip.

Obviously it implied changing the wheels and although I log these ADVAN/ VOLKs and the 18" idea, I also love my genuine 5zigens... Still, one needs winter and summer tires, so I may just have an excuse there!

Stay tuned! More to come.

9000rpm? why stop there?

2024-06-29T23:26:00.226+01:00

The S2000 is the production car with highers MPS (mean piston speed). With 125BHP/liter, it was for years the highest specific power output car in the market (dethroned by the ferrari italia with 128bhp/liter).

And although the F20C was a development platform for Honda's glorious K-series engines, the fact that it went into the S2000 (a celebration car), allowed him a better designed valve train, FRM cylinder sleeves and a closer to F1 piston ans skirt design than any other production engine; making it what many consider to be the best 4cylinder engine ever built.

All of this is fantastic and i know several engines running strong after turboed to twice the power, and over 200.000km on the clock, truth be told that there beauties Rev very high, get abused quite a lot, and even with all the Honda iron-clad manufacturing quality, truth is that you should check your bearings and journals every 100.000km.

I mean, it's not a self destructing mechanism like the BMW high power gas engines, but it does deserve some caring, particularly if you race the car.

As such, approaching 140.000km, even with Castrol's "titanium fluid" oils (claims to increase viscosity under pressure), my car is about to see it's bottom-end opened for maintenance purposes, and since we're touching it, why not replace the bearings and journals with some KING 3 metal ones!?

And since it's going to be all tight and new, and it's already lightened at the flywheel (and consequently in desperate need for a remap to adjust the idle), why not also UP the revs!?

It's one of those things most people don't really understand until they hit the track: you can have 600 NM on your diesel, but since you only have 4000 rpms to use before it disintegrates, you keep shifting! If you increase gear ratio you'll have a grip-to-drift uncontrollable thing on your hands.

However, if you have a linear engine with low torque but very high power due to a very high rev, you can accelerate taking full potential of the engine and not need to shift gears between corners, and this is an advantage that most miss, until they see a comparison between the Honda Civic ep3 type-r and the S2000 on a twisting track... the simple 1000 rpm difference, allows for the s2000 to be faster than it's better balanced, i-vtec, evolution.

So... Can I get more our of the s2000?

Well ... so-so!

The MeanPistonSpeed is a bit over 25Mts/second right on the sustained limits, but it's known that peaks of 27mts/s are possible with forged internals... Well the s2000 has forged internals form factory. As long as you don't make a living out of running the engine at 27mts/s MPS, it can handle it.

The problem is the head. I mean it flows beautifully from factory, but valve floating will surely mean a catastrophic failure.

There's something else, the engine cams design drops power after 8500 rpm.

However, aftermarket has a solution and a bit of research has made me a buying list of goodies, and they've started to arrive.

So Without further delay, where comes the list:

1st - FERREA 6000 racing hollow valves. Much lighter! Less inertia = less mass to control valve float and less energy loss. It includes valve guides.

2nd - Brian Crower Dual valves with higher grade and steel retainers and seats.

3rd - Now that we can push the valves further and for longer timings, time for Skunk2 Stage 2 cams. These immediately up the powerband by 700RPM.

4rth - The car does not have I-vtec, but you can unlock 10 to 15 bhp out of this engine if you tune it to supper high revs with advance... fully adjustable cam gears:

5th - Adding to shit the head is going to be ported and golf-ball style bumps to provide perfect racing-level flow. We'll also be shimming the head to increase compression (like the JDM)

6th - Toda timing chain and Toda chain tensioner (already installed).

7th - Yet to be brought - LINK G4X ecu:

8th - Yet to be brought - ID4Motion s2000 digital cluster... more RPMS need a new cluster:

9th- I'm very happy with the AEMV2 CAI and the mid-range it provides, but nothing makes engine response and mid-range like ITB's! Guess what just landed? OBX ITB's:

10th - yet to be brought- Cometic gasket and ARP head bolts

11th - yet to be brought - King tri-metal bearing s and journal set + ARP rod bolts

12th - yet to be brought - J's racing exhaust header and a 70mm exhaust (yet to be chosen).

13th - yet to be brought - Injectors... Factory will not fit the OBX fuel rail almost certainly

14th - J's carbon air box and a custom made trumpet to airbox adapter.

As you can guess, the car will easily handle 9600rpm (short of 27mts/s MPS) and limit on 10.000rpm (at 28mts/s).

I'll be adding to this post as stuff arrives, and as the mechanic starts to work and send some pictures, I'll add to this article.

Stay Tuned!

The s2000 handles beautifull as it comes from factory, no need to upgrade springs.... or do you?

2024-06-29T23:21:00.006+01:00

I've never really understood why people lowered their S2k.

As standard, the car is just a joy to drive and has a predictable behavior, corners fast, and is very controllable.

So naturally I've never really understand the need to change the ride firmness and weight unless you do track and change the wheel profiles.

That, of course, changed back in 2008, when I brought the 5Ziggens, and fitted some R888's to it. It' changed the offset of the car, widening it and dry grip increase was upped by a lot!

All the sudden, the car's limits got really high and there was an inherent pre-limit under-steer then I've never experienced before. It was easy to counteract with a steering blow, but it was a strange behavior I wasn't expecting.

So... if those guy's altering the suspension on their S2k's had changed the offsets, that might just be the justification.

So, evidently, I've recently fit a set of eibach Pro-kit lowering springs.These are stiffer and lower by 25mm.

The result? Well the underlying on-limit under-steer is still there, but the limit's got all squeezed higher.

The car corners faster, more stable, but it also brakes-off more violently. However the regaining of grip is also much faster.

In the end, the fast responses where just tuned higher.

It is a more frenetic car now and although I understand why Honda left this different as standard (and even so got a bunch of newbie drivers injured in phenomenal crashes), It makes more sense to have the car like this.

And I'll probably be pursuing coil-overs in the future to totally eliminate the under-steer approaching the limit.

After all, people lowering their S2k where... absolutely right.

Old Horse, new brakes

2023-11-08T16:55:00.007+00:00

If you follow this story, then you know my car has been running bigger, gripier tyres on bigger offset wheels.

It's also been running EBC Red stuff front and EBC green stuff rear.

As expected factory rotors started to show signs of the abuse under brakeing as you can depict by the colorful shades on the picture bellow.

yeah it's not been easy for the standard 300mm

SO...

...i'm now working on the new stopping upgrade.

Floating disks 330mm front and Floating disks 315mm rear

Rear retains the standard caliper but for the front ones i've just got hold of these:

some 9200's 4 piston (asymetrical area) ready to bite.

They where yellow.. or red originaly, something I didn't want on my car, so Diogo Silva made this impecable paint job. If you are looking for a proper paintjob (with decalcs) Diogo is your man. You can reach him here: diogo2306silva@gmail.com

+351933590153

I'm now waiting on the reyland full floating grooved disks 315mm BBK for the rear end:

... and on my new reyland full floating grooved disks 330mm BBK for the front end:

The kit displayed here will not include the R calipers as, for 330 mm disks, the CP9200 are at capacity, but are lighter then the PRO R that can handle bigger diammeters.

... and some serious all round friction from EBC ( yellow stuff pads):

Kits includes mesh metal brake lines, so if the car used to stop on a dimme, it's gonna tear the road now :)

and it's Xmas .. the parts arrived. installing them soon.

Still to be continued... next year ;)

And continued :)

car got to the shop today and everything was installed:

and then front:

Brilliant job by Carmonauto lda, but the Reyland kit was a master-piece of a thing.

Everything fitted at first attempt, everything within dimentions and limits.

Evidently, the rear shield had to be partially cut and the front one removed for good.

Driving Impressions:

Everything is still breaking in, so I didn't ready punish the thing. Having stated that, the car is much more balanced under braking. The tendency to dive the nose under braking, is reduced tremendously.

Everything seems more balanced and poised.

There is a lot less movement happening and that delays que rear comming out under braking.

As you progress que car seems to grip more and more, and finally start five the nose... the front calipers would obviously end up beating the rear ones and in dives the nose really late into braking line. But that gets linearly perceptible and only heavy braking.

Special thanks to:

Christian Lisboa - connections

Diogo Silva - Calipper painting and supply.

Engine vibrations... are... good!

2023-04-19T23:12:00.002+01:00

Having a full racing clutch installed on your car, will get you into some charicat circumstances where you will need to either spin wheel, stall the car, or make a fool out of yourself by entering the harmonic stall-go-stall-go hickup mode.

Whenever you find yourself in hickup node, if your engine mounts are shot, you'll notice the engine ratling arround and that's bad.

So it's time to change'em.

Now why do engine-mounta go bad and then why call the article 'engine vibration is good'?

Engine mounts, on a road car, are made from rubber. There is steel screws surrounded by rubber, that screw the engine to the car chassis, but then, as any good rubber, introduce a jellow like effect, that aborbs engine vibration and restrains it from reaching the chassis, and consequently, your chair... and your ass as a direct consequence.

It's mostly about comfort... and you know how i think: Sophas are comfortable, cars are playstation like toys for men, so zero comfort, all fun and efficiency.

Consequently, after finding out that one of the engine mounts was bad, I brought this:

Now all i have to do is install'em and run the car.

A LOT more vibration will be felt (good) but also sharper throtle response

ww:re happy now :)

Half-shaft Cv-joint vibrations, bump steer after offset changes or car lowering and MeganRacing solutions for you.

2023-03-23T22:31:00.002+00:00

Anyone having an s2k for over 100.000km has been familiar with a strange vibration under acceleration that starts to become apparent as the car gains milleage.

This is due to the rear half-shaft cv joints hurting the cv joint bucket.

This will become apparent if you run the car lower or with larger offler rimms, changing the geometry slightly... making it what!? 70% of s2k owners?! maybe more.

The solution is to change those parts... or you can just shift the buckets from left to right (you don't really worry about a small vibration while reversing... and add a cv shaft spacer like the one from megan racing.

The same goes for the bump-steer kit. Drive your s2000 lowered or with bigger offset wheels, and you'll find it very twitshy when it comes to road irregularities. Again, negan racingnhas a bump-steer fix kit that corrects the steering rack angles by adding 2 metal pieces underneath the setting rack mounts.

My car is not lowered but the 5Zigen Proracer GN+ weels are a huge offset difference that gets even more noticeable with the Toyo r888 tires.

So:

Evidently, more parts are in the mail... and soon the s2k will have even more inprovements to report.

Stay tuned.

Timing chain tensioner... no more issues... like forever.

2023-03-23T22:15:00.001+00:00

The s2000 has a known issue with the timming chain tensioner. It has little spring strength and after some heat cycles it starts to loose strength progressively, until you hear a rattle while idling.

This means that, unless you're pulling it and passing oil pressure throught it, it's not producing enought force to counter the slack that the chain gains over time.

This becomes more evident if you drive with thinner oils or on warmer climates.

The solution ia to replace the load spring with something... well stiffer. However, assempling it back is a pain in the ass as the parts need some sort of force to counter the auto adjustment screw, but, the original part, has this as a sinple retainer and that is just a no-go.

Solutions? you can evidently replace with oem, and spend your life doing it every 30 to 50000km. You can transform the part yourself, or you can just buy a track ready part from TODA Racing engineering. Guess what I chose? oem parts out, racing parts in ...the usual!

Install is easy and you can do that in 10 mnts.

The rattle is gone, but that again, a factory part would be the same for a while...it's the future that will tell.

lovely!

Time to work on that old organic clutch. Friction improvement part 2.

2022-12-05T19:31:00.001+00:00

Hi everyone

So the car is back on the road, after years stopped at the garage, and some issues arose instantly.

1- the clutch... it slips midrange.

2- wheel bearings are shot.

Evidently, I instructed the mechanic to replace the bearings with OEM parts, but not the clutch. That, I took under my care as, again, I believe that OEM is always a compromise, and an s2000 should be a no compromise car.

As such, after looking for several alternatives, ai decided to go for: Competition Clutch.

Stage 4 to be precise, and since we are to open the thing... flywheel was an easy hoock-up, so, UltraLight flywheel is ordered too.

I'll update the post with new images as I get the parts, but for now, some ebay screeshots will do.

1- ultra light competition clutches flywheel

2- stage4, ceramic 6pad spring'd competition clutch with 300% clamp force pressure plate

Stay tuned... but this mod will make the already amazing mid-range (AEM V2) extend rigth into vtec range as rotational inertia is reduced and High flow (decat) will improve high-end delivery.

Response should also improve, but i'm cooking a diferent approach for that one... depending how the PUMA ST220 itb project goes, I may create a killer recipie that doesn't bankrupt you, for s2k's

Update: WOW

The car feels a lot more rev happy. And if you lift-off (or reverse) it sounds like a grinder, but hey machanical noise is part of the fun... this is why I hate comfortable and filtered-out cars in the first place.

Under vtec is seams quicker to gain revs and evidently it's a hitch in slow traffic. The engagement is close to all or nothing and with about 8cm pedal travel...but the worse is that, unless you plant the back of your foot on the car floor and leverage, the 300% more clamping force makes you stall the car or spin the tires. So yeah, slow traffic if bad, but the s2k was not built to live on a traffic in the first place.

The first day of rain made me spin 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (under vtec), and fortinately I heel&toe for years now, else the first shift down would have been... bad... bad is the word for locking your reqr wheels mid highway exit.

Very good upgrade, but DO take the driveability impact into consideration if you don't have a dailly driver alternative to your s2k.

The difference in weight between the oem cluth assembly (spring, plate and flyweel) is considerable. The car will stall easier and the speed to gain or loose rpms will also be quicker.

In my case, with an AEM v2 CAI and a decat job you can clearly feel a stronger vtec kick.

S2000 HID to LED conversion ... DIY, NO KIT!

2022-05-18T20:13:00.004+01:00

The S2000 is equipped with factory xenon bulbs. It was nice back then... it was expensive back then... it is expensive still.

When your bulbs go, you're looking at a good 60Euro/each, but have some moisture enter the headlight body and the ballast will go, and those are WAY more expensive.

And trust me, they'll go out some day. There is also the matter that they are not Bi-xenon, They light pretty good ahead, but more is better, and they take their time to heat and provide the best light. LED, on the other hand, is powerful, cheap, they last longer and you can use the increased efficiency to add power to the package... equaling MORE LIGHT.

So how did I do it?

1- Remove the front bumper, and while with the wrench at hand, remove the headlight lower support (small metal bar under the headlight assembly)

2- Without surprises... proceed to remove the headlights.

3- Start to dissemble the headlight. The ballast is external on this boy, so you can just remove it and, if it works, EBAY the thing. You'll never need that again. Remove also, the lamp, coil pack and cable.

4 - Depending on the LED bulbs you've chosen, you may have to make some adjustments to the fittings, I used a step-drill and bored enough to fit an H7 1300W equivalent, vented aluminum light. If you opt for h1's you'll probably find out there's a lot less to drill. Still It's all plastic so the drilling is messy but easy.

DO NOT forget to air-blast the assembly till all the dust comes out. Else, you need to place the headlight assembly in the oven (soften the glue) and then pull the glass appart to clean...NOT an enjoyable experience.

5 - Create the Wiring for the new Lights. You'll need to plug into the ballast input plug.

You should test the connections before insulating them.

Remember: if it doesn't work, check the polarity.

6 - Use a good Insulator. I'm a fan of T-Rex... it's good, easy to work with and it can resist a nuclear attack.

Do not forget : you're fighting moisture... and THAT gets everywhere! Make sure you're sealing things nicelly.

Do not worry with dismantling as LED lasts way longer and, in this case, changing bulbs is easier with the front off and light assembly out... you can go crazy on the insulation.

7 - Test!

Presence lights:

LowBeams:

HighBeams:

The end result is better light (even during day time and with garage lighting, it's noticeable), longer life, WAY less money and it's cool :)

Friction improvements time.

2012-02-29T23:40:00.001+00:00

Hi,
I've recently improved a couple of things in my S2000.
I've installed a set of EBC Red Stuff Brake Pads in the front and a set of EBC green Stuff at the back and to make the huge braking performance increase justifiable, I've decided to re-paint my 5Zigen Proracer GN+ rims with a BMW 400 reference Gun-Metal Paint and fit a set of grips-as-nothing-else-around Toyo R888 Tires.
Here are some pictures:

Results:
I now have a new hobby called - "Overtaking on the OutSide".... it's very cool. While everyone else is on their brakes trying to stay on the inside lane of a hard bend, I just flyby on the outside with massive grip and control flooring it like a bat out of hell.
Since I'm now so fast in the bends, I normally find a lot of slower moving vehicles when exiting bends but since the brake bite a grip is so huge I immediately slow down to speed without a fuss.

It's a brilliant Setup and I RECOMMEND it over just about anything I've tested so far. I mean I've been on High performance tires before, but race tires are just a different level of grip. The same goes to EBC.. I've been on Red-Stuff before, but RedStuff on 300mm discs are very different from what I've tested before.

Rear wheel bearing replacement

2011-10-03T00:47:00.000+01:00

Hi all.
As expected, 4000km after the first rear wheel bearing gone bad, the second followed.
This time however it happened in the middle of summer vacations.
Portugal is a difficult country for people like me. You see I work my ass off, and in return I get to buy most the stuff I want. In order to do so, I have to deliver 75% of my earnings to Taxation. Most Portuguese however live off state funding and get to spend my 75% taxes... and still argue that I drive a rich man's car ... odd at the minimum.
During this austerity times being lived all across Europe, and in particular, Portugal, while I worked across the summer, most took their vacations.
During my summer-at-work the bearing went bad. I ordered a new one from Honda Portugal, as having one sent from the states would cost the same because of stupid excessive taxation of imports. I placed the order and it took a full week to arrive. Why? Spanish truck-drivers were on strike and no parts stock is kept in Portugal for the S2000.
After getting the new bearing I arranged an in-a-day intervention like the last time. However the mechanic told-me the Lathe's craftsman was on vacation!
I finally got that scheduled to a Saturday (sacrificing my time-to-recover my sleep) a full month latter.
All that month driving the S2000 on a bad bearing is only describable as pure torture. 1st because the car is not meant to drive slow. 2nd because the S2000 has little or none acoustic shielding. You find your self being overtaken by old man at 50km/h. The worse comes after the heating up of the bearing and the squeal... constant squeal. After 1 km you tell the ATM pin to the car, speaking all by your self... and 2km into this you are ready to tell ho is you lover, how many laws you've ever broken, the drugs you've done and each and every other dark secret you may have... believe-me Opus and the Masons would want their car's allways on good bearings.
The month went by and by the end of it it stopped squealing and started popping. By that time you either stop or embrace for accident.
So everything was set and I was going to spend a full day in the garage but have the problem solved the same day. Saturday came... I got up 50% in pain for being that early and 50% in relieve as the squealing and popping was about to end.
I was 10% the way to the garage when I got a call from the mechanic saying : not today man! going for some vacation.
I was ready to start killing people.
I immediately turned around, and drive the car into my garage. I took the tool box out and the 2ton jack under the car... and hands on the job. And that's my way of doing things! If you are willing to pay for something you know how to do yourself, than you are doing it for the speed and comfort of service. If that's not happening...than screw them all and teach them a valuable lesson: vacation if good but you will not be making any money while sitting on the beach.

I also went to the business garage where me and my partner had some car's to sell and grab a Citroen C4 picasso to drive arround while this was being done (and this is a desperate measure as I hate diesels and particularly big ones).

So hands On... First part: dismantle everything:

with the car still on the ground, loosen the screw on the wheel and the centre hub.

To do the centre hub you'll need to unlock-it by tapping the deformed part of the nut border using a hammer and a screw driver.

Then you can loosen-it just enough to be able to unscrew-it with the wheel off the ground.

Then use the jack and lift the car off the ground. Remove the wheel.

Then a good set of drivers to unscrew the brake calliper.

Remember to lock the nut with another driver like shown.

Gently pull out...

Place-it somewhere where it's not in the way of anything but don't let it hanging from the brake-lines

It's then time for the brake-pads and the brake calliper bracket.

Then, gently remove the ABS sensor and place-it in a protected location (the upper triangle is perfect).

With a big screw-driver and a hammer, unscrew the rotor holder screws. They probably will be difficult to remove and failing to remove will damage the screws, SO use the hammer and hit the screw driver against the screws twice with some conviction, and you're done.

To remove the ball-joints, first unlock the nut by removing the locking pins. You'll find them in all three ball joints (upper triangle, lower arm and lower control arm).

Unscrew the nuts from the ball joint.

To remove the Ball-joints, most people use a ball-joint separator. However that is a conic assembly. I decided to drop some of the car's weight on a wood stick that set between the ground and the ball-joint screw on the rear lower arm. THEN I used a 1.5Kg sledge hammer and tapped it (gently being a 1.5kg one) twice on the hub body near the ball-joint screw. This will send a shock-wave through the metal, good enough to shake it loose, but not enough to damage.
Then the same for the rear control arm (but without the wood stick... this one comes out much more easily).

Then it's time to unscrew the hub nut.
To remove the semi-axle from the wheel centre hub, use a rubber sledge hammer and hammer it vigorously. Some people use metal ones and do it gently... I honestly recommend the rubber ones.
This will both loose the semi-axle and the ball-joint from the upper triangle.

This is the end result. Time to use a metal brush and do a little metal maintenance work on that rust while you sent the hub to the lathe's smith.

On the picture you can see the old hammer with the wodden stick I used "hurt" by the ball-joint screw, the rubber sledge hammer, the small metal hammer and the 1,5kg sledge hammer. Plus the hub assembly ready to go to the lathes shop and the break disk.

Send THIS to the lathe shop:

The Lathe shop will:
- Press the hub out of the bearing. Half of the inner race will remain attached to the hub itself. It will need cutting to be removed. Probably the hub is also bad so either a filling and machining or machining and sleeving will need to be done.
- Remove the snap ring that holds the bearing in the hub. Press bearing to remove it out.
- Press the new bearing in.
- Place the snap ring.
- Press the hub in.

The final assembly should look exactly like this. Since bearings are directional, the black ring must be visible.

Re-install everything and tighten everything according to Honda's manual torque specs. EXCEPT the big HUB nut.
Honda issued a call-back (ignored by most dealers) to change the tightening torque from 185nm to over 298nm...but never ever less than 245nm.
Failing to do that will kill the bearings sooner, and if you have after-market wheels with different offsets, it will happen even sooner.

That's it! ;)

Rear wheel bearing gone bad

2011-06-11T19:28:00.001+01:00

Hi,
I've just returned from the shop with a brand new bearing.
The old one went bad and I researched the web to find a couple of very interesting posts about this recurring incident.
First things first FACTS:
- The S2000 rear and front bearing are equal.
- If you buy them in Portugal, get ready to pay 75€ for a bearing and 11€ for the bearing stop ring. I recommend you to go online and buy from an US site from under 30$ and just clean the stop ring and re-use.
- If you are replacing the wheel hub too (not needed, but explained later), in Portugal you will buy one for 116€... again fly them from the US and pay 68$ for the same part.
Second is the reading: I recommend this link here because I really liked the article.

Why does it go bad? 2 reasons:
- If you drive like me, it's heat and stress that will kill it.
- If you don't drive like me, than you have your car poorly serviced. Honda issued a warning about the wheel nut tightening specs long ago. The car's came poorly tightened from factory (190nm instead of 295nm) and this would prematurely kill the bearing.

Now for the juicy part:
You could buy an hydraulic press for around 100$ and do it yourself. BUT if that it the case, THEN go a buy the bearing AND hub.
On the other hand, if you go to a lathe shop, you can do better!

This article didn't include images because Rob Robinette's article if good enough.
The cherry on the top of the cake here is HOW to re-use the hub.
On Robbinette's 11th image you can clearly see the bearing broken open. This means that the rest of it is "glued" (by rust and heat effect) to the hub. Typically, If the bearing goes (has Rob clearly says), the hub is gone too. Well, not quite.
The Not buying the press for 100$ and going to a Lathe-shop for 50€ is the trick.
The hub gets really hurt by slippage, hurting the metal and eating it up. Although you can press-it, it will never be the same again and some Km's latter you'll be back where you started.
In my case, the Lathe master took the hub out, grinned the remaining bearing housing "glued" to the hub enough to allow a grip onto-it and that pressed it out. He than machined the hub to smoothness, and proceeded to machine a "sleeve". The Sleeve went into a oven, the hub to a freezer, that the hub was sleeved and inserted back into the bearing.

So either you spend 100$ once on a press, then 68$+30$ every time you kill a bearing, ooooor, you sleeve-it and never ever need to change the hub again.

Improvements - Video Cameras Instalation

2010-09-30T14:43:00.026+01:00

During the repair process that my car had about a year and a half ago, I decided it was time to make a couple of mods.
This is a series of posts from that time.

Video 1 - Passing UPT Class5 cable from the front and rear of the car to the inside passenger seat.And then turning them into USB cable extension for the cameras.
Video 2 -Transforming a standard webcam into an infrared webcam. This is soooo very easy. The CCD inside a webcam is more than capable of interpreting infrared light. So capable that the lens need a infrared filter (the red glow you can see when looking into a webcam? that's the infrared filter). All you have to do is to remove this filter and replace-it with a normal light filter.
Video 3 - Testing the normal cameras.
Video 4 - Testing the IR cameras after tweaking
Video 5 - How it looks (everything I've done) in the end.
Video 6 - Final cameras and laptop.
Video 7 - Transformation of the X5Tech camera from powerleds to IR leds

UPDATE

I've updated this with a 360 degree 4K camera setup with night guard motion alarm and night vision. you can buy there for under 200 bucks on AliExpress... it's a no brainer

Improvements - VisionGuard 8000 Alarm Instalation

2010-09-30T14:43:00.025+01:00

During the repair process that my car had about a year and a half ago, I decided it was time to make a couple of mods.
This is a series of posts from that time.

Video1 - ShockSensor instalation and location as close to the car's strongest center point as possible.
Video 2 - How it looks (everything I've done) in the end.

UPDATE

This was since removed and replaced by a custom made ALARM with Biometric lock for the ignition, and also house connection with accelerometer, ground distance, PIR and touch sensor. And that one, I'm not posting... it's made by me and not shared with others for one reason: the car is now un-stealable and an un-jackable :)

Improvements - AudioSystem / Speakers inside the rollbar

2010-09-30T14:36:00.008+01:00

During the repair process that my car had about a year and a half ago, I decided it was time to make a couple of mods.
This is a series of posts from that time.

Video 1 - Installing the SonyXplode crossover.
Video 2 - Relocating Subwoofer, amplifiers, alarm and GPS locator to the car's center of gravity.
The weight of the amplifiers + subwoofers + speakers are almost equal to the spare "bicicle" wheel and jack.
Video 3 - Speakers inside the head protection bars
Video 4 - Another layer of silicone on the speaker adaptor
Video 5 - Sculpting the adapter to a nice look and feel
Video 6 - How it looks in the end.
Video 7 - The speaker mounts

UPDATE

Everything was removed for weight reduction. This is no longer my daily driver and Weight is not something you need on a sports car.

Of it went to my friends Marco's 320D Touring.

Repairing the S2000 after a aquaplaning crash

2010-09-30T11:56:00.000+01:00

Over an year ago, in one of the worse nights I've seen to date, under heavy rain and with my tires quite used, I aquaplanned.
How did that happen? The infamous IC19 in Portugal has a bad design, worse pavement and even worse drainage. So, starting a downhill, left turn with opposite relevé, the car hit a bump and landed in what is best described as a 10mts wide river crossing the pavement. Evidently, it immediately started a drift into the concrete, hitting the concrete with it's front right headlamp. Bad things can always go worse, so the airbag sensor is located exactly under the right front headlamp, so they deployed, shutting down the engine and locking the rear wheels, leading to a spin motion witch then culminated with the rear right end of the car in the concrete wall.
The entire accident happened in low speeds as it was raining heavily...causing little damage to the body panels and no damage at all to the chassis.
These videos where taken during the car's repair at AUTOCAMBOTA.
Why did I repair the car at a Renault dealer? Simple:
1- this car is hand built in japan by a group of craftsman with over 10year of fine craftsmanship at honda.
2- if I was to repair it at Honda in Portugal however, it would be repaired by the lowest cost in the business (and ultimately lowest quality in the business). The same guys that do the oil change in the Honda Jazz!
3- I have good friends at AutoCambota, and that means assurance that a qualified craftshman will repair my car... and so it happened, with video proof.

The Foto-report from post crash to full repair

Video1
Video2
Video3
Video4
Video5
Video6
Video7
Video8
Video9
Video10

That's it! ;)

Improving tear resistance and water impermeability

2010-08-12T19:41:00.001+01:00

As Promised in my other Post about how to solve tears and avoid new ones, this one is to improve water impermeability and also increase overall resistance of the soft-top.
So how?
Go to a civil-construction material warehouse near by and buy these products:

Liquid Silicone Insulator for roofs with 400% elastic property (16-to-18€)
SuperGel (3€)
A brush+tape+roll pain kit (3 to 4€)

Paying particular attention to this... it's the silicone and NOT THE LIQUID RUBBER. Ohhhh and in BLACK.

Then use the roll and pour the silicone till it looks good.
Do it : a layer a day until it is satisfactory.

And this is the end result:

That's it... This is my original Honda Soft Top... on a car built in 06/2004... and I live in Portugal with hot dry summers, and cold wet winters... oh and some STUPID ass burgers that think they can open the car by cutting the soft-top and passing steel wires to try and unlock the door.

Taken care of, the soft-top does go a long way.

A a new photo report... this time with some nudity!

2010-08-12T13:12:00.001+01:00

... nudity from the car's side, evidently!

I've just upgraded the car's onboard Computer (from an old ASUS T1000 to a new eeePC) and re-focused the onboard cameras, so I'll be posting new videos soon. Stay tunned.

My S2000

2010-07-12T03:08:00.004+01:00

I have 2 sets of wheels:

the original ones (painted in BMW dark gray) running on FALKEN's FK452
the 5Zigen GN+ Proracer running on TOYO R888's (still on the falkens when I took the picture)

I brought the 5Zigen's from Envyperformance - http://www.envyperformance.com/

Both the ToyoR888's and the Falkens FK452 where brought at CAMSKILL. The 2 set's were delivered to my door in 5 days... and cost (shipment included) about 60% of the price 1 set of R888's would cost here in portugal... I DO RECOMEND THEM VERY MUCH - http://www.camskill.co.uk/

Solving tears and avoiding them.

2010-07-12T03:01:00.001+01:00

Hi all.
My S2000 soft top got vandalized some time ago. Evidently I solved the problem using that old grandma's technique: some line and a needle.
But another problem happened. The spot where the fabric was teared was near a chronically tearing location. My patch increased the fabric tension and so another tear came up later.
SO I patched IT properly this time.

1st - Get some IRON-ON-FABRIC-with-rubber, get you grandma's ironing tool and an electronics soldering iron (the lower wattage the best).
2nd - Cut the patch on the outside and iron-it down.

3rd - Go to the interior side and using the soldering iron, fuse the other patch on the inside.

4rth - Go back to the outside and patch a reinforcement one over the already fused patch

THAT's IT!

Recommendation: to avoid stress on both the motors and the fabric, I recommend wrapping the lower with bar in plastic fiber computer cable guides, like I've done here:

Improving Perfection

2010-07-12T02:49:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone.
I've got an 2004 S2000 AP1 Rev2 F20C. Not too long ago I decided to install a CAI.
I tried to go for something that would render top end power, but without loosing torque curve immediately under VTEC engagement point.
After some consideration I decided to go the AEM V2 way. Why? Well, under 400€ is was the very best thing.
The car felt stronger, but I've always felt that I got more torque than high RPM power.
VTEC kick in got noisier, and that was coherent with the pipe inside pipe "resonance design". But that also meant that the car was struggling more to get air at that particular point. But was still an improvement.

Having a degree in Technology of Mechanical Engineering, and a "thirst" for knowledge on every thing that is both mechanical and efficient, I invested some time thinking on a way to improve the car.

Studying all the intake improvements for the s2000, I realized that the you could divide them into 3 groups.
1 - Torque oriented - Like the standard CAI from AEM and so many others. Basically it's a long thin pipe that stretches from the throttle body assembly, all the way down to the front bumper just under the front right headlight.
2 - Power oriented - J's racing carbon unit and a couple of items from other manufacturer's. It's a carbon elbow from the air filter box to the throttle body assembly curving in an enlarged section tube.
3 - Middle term - It's the Full spoon assembly and the AEM V2 - It's a combination of an enlarged pipe to increase Peak Hp with an extension of the intake system providing better torque curve. The AEM V2 is very similar to the standard CAI but has 2 tubes (on inside the other) and works the sound wave to force air to swirl differently depending on the rpm and emulating both a large short tube (loud intake and power at high rpm) and the thin long tube (lower intake sound and torque at low rpm).

Not too happy with this result, I decided to do a small test. I cut the dummy hole in the bumper, directly in front of the AEM V2 air filter. I thought that, if fluid mechanics didn't abandon-me, the high pressure air forced by the car's body into that hole would create an increase of pressure in that compartment under the headlight. This would help the VTEC transition and should be noticeable but the less loud "powaaaaaa". Did it work? No! Too many respiration and water purging holes, so very little pressure was created. I had to do something more radical.
I was thinking about protecting that entire section and make it impermeable when I found the 4th type of S2000 Intake!

As you can see in this photo, from my friend Nuno Santos shop Autopamplona, this intake system provides a huge potential for high rpm power, but also has an extension, trying to preserve torque.

But this is far from the catch to this intake...

It also has a HUGE catcher that enables it to channel high pressure air from the front of the car into the intake system. and that's exactly what I was trying to do. Only their approach was... rather radical, and ultimately better.

So I started my own project to change my AEM V2 into something like this. And this time, IT WORKED!

1st - Grab your laptop, check the S2000 maintenance manual and then disassemble the front bumper. Easy 5mnt procedure as the manual shows.

You can see clearly look at the AEM V2 AirFilter in this next picture.

2nd - Since you're disassembling the car's intake, clean the air filter, dry it, and spray new airfilter oil.

3rd - The fabrication begins. Get the materials. The best way to do this is to buy fiberglass, paper tape, silicone and sheet of metal grid. The metal grid will allow you to:

- Mold the forms you want.
- Hold that forms during fiberglass coating
- Gain a few scars

4th - Mold the chamber in a balloon shape around what was the air filter space. Read a couple of book about aerodynamics first so you can come up with a design that helps to squeeze air into the filter.

REMEMBER TO place the bumper to test for clearance, and the good thing about the steel grid is that it deforms to the bumper to you can check the areas to workout next.

...and you should come up with something like this.

5th - Use the paper tape to cover everything and make smooth surfaces.

6th - Time to wrap-it-up in fiberglass!

... and you should come up with this. I made a section cutting to remove the steel grid and to allow space to mount the air filter on the CAI. The small part on the floor is the cover I've cut.

7th - Give-it some color and install-it.

This is where the silicone comes in. It will seal the fiberglass box to the CAI and will also smooth the box's interior, removing any imperfection the fiberglass on paper might have left.

REMEMBER to allow space to install the air filter. And after the silicone is dry, install the air filter.

8th - Close the Box, with the cover cut out earlier, and seal everything with either silicone or some polyester filler.

The filter is visible at the end of the air box, and so is the silicone smoothing partially done.

9th - Spray some black ink, and mount the front bumper.

10th - Take it out and rev-it-up.

Did it work? YEAH! My VTEC entry is so smooth that you no longer ear-it, you just feel-it. It gets very clear that the faster you go, the better throttle response you get. The car feels stronger and a small uphill that I used to end at around 180Km/h to 185Km/h, now comes in at over 190Km/h as THIS VIDEO SHOWS...and it's UP-hill, so both torque and high rpm are very important features.

Here is a new video on a different (longer) uphill.

Another UP-HILL 100-to-200 video, why always up-hill? Cause I'm trying to archive Hi-end power AND torque.

Hope you liked it.

NEXT on to-do list :
  - 3 step aerodynamic improvement
  - Brake cooling improvement
  - Better Intake
  - Ultimate exhaust system

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