My NotAMiata dual purpose build - Honda S2000

BoxheadTim said:

Aaand...

The S2k managed to aggravate my clutch foot problems. Yay, another case of deja vue all over again.

Wait a year (and replace the top) before you decide to sell.  I might be dumb enough to buy it then...

So maybe you should just get a ZL1 with an auto...

BoxheadTim said:

Aaand...

The S2k managed to aggravate my clutch foot problems. Yay, another case of deja vue all over again.

honestly it sounds like you need something with flappy paddles or a 911 with pdk.

secretariata said:

BoxheadTim said:

Aaand...

The S2k managed to aggravate my clutch foot problems. Yay, another case of deja vue all over again.

Wait a year (and replace the top) before you decide to sell.  I might be dumb enough to buy it then...

I'm trying to not sell it before I have a replacement for it, but my wife also decreed that I'm not supposed to randomly park vehicles on the property. Which means I'll probably have to sell it before I get to buy the next vehicle.

So maybe you should just get a ZL1 with an auto...

I hear C8s have dual clutch transmissions, but they're about 4x the budget.

MrChaos said:

BoxheadTim said:

Aaand...

The S2k managed to aggravate my clutch foot problems. Yay, another case of deja vue all over again.

honestly it sounds like you need something with flappy paddles or a 911 with pdk.

It does, doesn't it? Or at least floor mounted pedals (hence the other thread) as pushing down on the clutch pedal is a lot easier for me than pushing on one that moved in an upward arc.

Main issue with Porsches with PDK is that they're not going fit the budget, which is basically whatever I can sell this car for.

BoxheadTim said:

MrChaos said:

BoxheadTim said:

Aaand...

The S2k managed to aggravate my clutch foot problems. Yay, another case of deja vue all over again.

honestly it sounds like you need something with flappy paddles or a 911 with pdk.

It does, doesn't it? Or at least floor mounted pedals (hence the other thread) as pushing down on the clutch pedal is a lot easier for me than pushing on one that moved in an upward arc.

Main issue with Porsches with PDK is that they're not going fit the budget, which is basically whatever I can sell this car for.

boxters are.

Also my nd was killer on my hip after i hurt it, hence me getting the Veloster N.... But my hip was really bothering me on the way home today, so I might be looking for something as well.  I know the pain especially since i wont come out ahead on the N if i get rid of it so soon.

In reply to MrChaos :

Sorry to hear that.

BoxheadTim said:

In reply to MrChaos :

Sorry to hear that.

meh, I am indifferent on auto vs manual(as long as i can select the gears in the auto).  Though it might end up with me dailying the rallycross cvpi for a little while. once i get the rallycross cvpi.

plus i was considering getting rid of the car payment all together in the summer anyway.

Finally started editing the hours of video I took while doing the brake refurb and the other work. Still working on that video, but I decided to break out a section that shows how to replace the ignition coil connectors on the engine harness. Common problem on K- and F-series engine as the plastic parts get brittle over time from the heat.

E46 M3 with the SMG

Was going through a hard drive and found these pictures. I know you were looking at getting Spoon calipers at one point. I have since sold mine's, but never had a problem while using them with Project Mu floating rotors. I changed the rotors after cracking a bunch of the factory ones, these were expensive but held up much better.

I never liked the factory blue color of the calipers so I painted them with some paint I bought from the Tire Rack, crappy job but the blue was gone.

Well, given that it looks like I'll have this car for a bit longer - mainly because I'm not willing to deal with car sales in the current situation, and I still have some hope that I can get to like this car better and hopefully work around the issues with the clutch foot - it was time to at least order some more parts for it.

After the last (and only) day at the track it sounded like one of the rear brake calipers was dragging so I ended up ordering a bunch of caliper seal kits. I also finally got the braided brake lines for the front that I ordered sometime in February. Those were supposed to be dropped shipped from the manufacturer, never showed up and the shipping label was mysteriously canceled but still showing as 'shipped' on the Summit website. Once I got someone from Summit's customer support on the case the lines magically showed up a week later. Funny that, and top marks for Summit Racing to sorting this out with a minimum of fuss.

I also just dropped a bunch of money on something that may make the car a little more "broomstick worthy" if we/I ever get back on the track. One could say I got myself a "real mail-order Bride" - yeah, I know the joke's getting old. Is it OK to be unreasonably excited over the purchase of a seat?

In reply to Slippery (Forum Supporter) :

That's a very nice setup. I actually just passed on a set of brand new Spoon calipers as I don't appear to have any wheels they fit under right now. Well, at least not wheels that wouldn't require modifications to the front fenders. I'm bit bummed about this TBH.

This thing is coming along nicely.

After some distractions like issues walking and standing (again) and unmessing some aftermarket wiring on my GoldWing, I couldn't ignore the big box in the garage any longer. As is did turn out to be a nice afternoon - and me not wanting to scrub the shop to clean up the bird poop first - I decamped to the driveway and replaced the seat:

Fortunately it is actually lower despite me ordering the "wrong" Bride rail. I didn't realise they have two different rails for the Stradias and of course muggins here bought the one that wasn't the low rail. As it's the low cushion version, I still sit lower than the stock seat, but I may eventually order the other rail.

I also got lucky that I didn't have to move the seat further back as the adjusters are hitting the rear firewall already. Seemed reasonably comfortable though and the seat holds me well. I probably still should lose a few more pounds though.

While I was working on my sunburn I decided to add the other interior improvement that I had sitting in the corner of my shop for months. One thing that always bugged me about this car was that the interior was one big black hole, so I decided to add a splash of colour to it:

Yeah - not the best photos. The red floor mats are actually OEM Honda Access floor mats and as such fit very nicely indeed. Plus they brighten up the interior rather well, too.

I also pulled off the "soul patch" on the front bumper (see picture on the first page of it in all its glory). It does make it look better, although I could've done without some of the paint coming off with the stick-on fake carbon fibre. Ah well, S2000 bumpers are notorious for stone chip issues and the like anyway, and if the car hangs around for longer I'll probably get the bumper repainted or stick a Spoon front bumper on it.

Took it to the local carwash to get some of the bird droppings off as they've been getting very good at hitting the parts of the car that are not normally covered. Most of it came off but I suspect the rest will need some additional persuasion that'll require claying and polishing. At least I got to drive a bit with the roof down. 

Seat looks great. I loved my Bride Stradias. Drove the car to California and back from Florida with my wife and she never complained. I also drove it to the dragon twice, very comfortable. Only while pregnant would my wife complain lol. 

Regarding the Japanese floor mats, they are the best. Much better quality than the US ones. I regret selling mines'.

Thank you. So far I really like the seat, although I've mainly been sitting in it making brm brm noises.

As I'm booked for another HPDE in two weeks' time I figured it was about time to look at the "dragging brake caliper" noise I had noticed after driving back home from Summit Point. So I put the S2000 on the QuickJack and pulled the wheels off to further investigate. The fact that I couldn't turn one of the rear wheels by hand - at least not without major force - suggested which of the four corners the offending noise came from. And yes, I checked that I had taken off the handbrake and that the gear box was in neutral. Twice.

But let's start at the front:

Well, E36 M3. I didn't realise you were supposed to be able to see where the vanes on a vented rotor are from the outside. I guess they got a tad warm when slowing down from 100+ mph at the end of the straight on Summit Point's main track. Looks like the fronts may want new rotors, and it very definitely looks like they need more cooling.

Ah well, onto the back brakes, specifically the driver's side - you know, the one that I could barely turn with both hands. First signs of, err, warmth:

Don't think I've seen the paint burnt off rear pads like that before. Keep in mind that they're still at almost full thickness.

Rotor doesn't look too, err, hot either. BTW, that oily looking substance on the brake caliper's piston? That's paint from the pad's backing plate that's melted onto the the piston.

I guess we can safely say that my initial attempt at freeing up the brake calipers wasn't a 100% successful. I have parts store rebuild kits for all four calipers so I'm guessing I'll give those a shot and see where that gets me.

This is one of the moments where I'm getting a tad annoyed at myself for not following my usual advice of having backup vehicles for everything - nevermind that I have enough problems as is to keep the existing fleet running. Unless I'll actually manage to rebuild the calipers over the next few days and that fixes the issues, I can probably kiss the HPDE weekend goodbye as I don't have another car I can take out there. Of course that's not a new situation for me, but it's still rather annoying. But not as annoying as getting intimate with tirewalls, so there is that.........

Managed to pull the uncooperative rear caliper off. Unfortunately don't have enough brake hose clamps to pull both rear ones off, but that should be rectified by Tuesday.

The piston did take an awful lot of effort to come out, so that was a clear "no wonder this dang this felt like it was seized". It also looked like it did come out a bit crooked, but that might have been my wonky eye sight. Although if you look closely behind the center pin, you can see that there are a lot of wear marks on the caliper bore in that area:

The wear marks are not exactly confidence inspiring and may well have had something to do with the piston not moving as freely as I would have hoped. The corrosion around the area where the outer seal sits wasn't confidence inspiring either but at least that one seems to mostly come off OK.

Once I get the picks that I need to pull out the inner gasket/O-ring I'll try to run the original piston down the center pin again to see if I can feel it touch or not. If it turns out that the center pin is damaged/bent/off center I might be better getting at least one new caliper even though they're $ouch each. For some reason after the saga with the reman brake calipers on my wife's Jeep I'm not willing to risk throwing a couple of parts store remans on there.

The piston is done for anyway (you can see damage in the hard chrome above my thumb, and it's enough to catch my fingernail) but even directly from Honda an OEM piston actually isn't that expensive.

I'd love a spare vehicle for everything.  However that's just not possible time, money and space wise...

In reply to docwyte :

Well, I'm almost there as long as I count the Honda GoldWing as a DD backup with two wheels instead of four. Theoretically I do have a backup track car (the Formula car) but then we're getting into not having a race license at the moment and being new to the region, not really wanting (and not signed off yet) to run in TT in this region.

Well, that was a bit of good news/bad news. Good news is that the passenger side rear caliper is in better shape and only needs a clean and reseal. The bad news is that the piston I need to replace on the driver's side rear caliper is on back order at Honda with an unknown availability date. Yay. I guess I'll see if the parts store piston from RockAuto is available, but that's not really what I had in mind .

The bad news department isn't exactly getting much better.

The parts store piston is winging - well, more creeping - its way across the country from RA. While I did order that I pinged the parts people at the place order my Honda parts from if the complete caliper is still available in case I don't like the parts store caliper piston.

Got the answer a bit earlier today - there is exactly one LHS rear caliper left in the country, and once that is sold the parts go on back order with an indeterminate delivery date. The parts person did mention that some parts for S2ks are getting hard(er) to find these days as the dealers run out of stock.

Right now I'm willing the aftermarket caliper piston across the country and hope I don't run into issues with it, or that if I do the last OEM caliper doesn't sell before then. After the Jeep caliper desaster I really don't want another parts store rebuild caliper - I think I ended up buying 8 of them (including some I returned) to get four usable ones.

What the heck was I thinking again trying to run one of these as a track car?

Your thread inspired me somewhat. Was thinking of getting it ready for the 2 tracknights I have upcoming.

 I have owned my second S2000, since 07, new.

Put my first 50 miles last weekend, in almost 3 years. Back under car cover. Uninspiring. Won't be using it for the tracknights

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

I'd still encourage you to take it to the track - mine made a lot more sense on the track than on the road while being right in VTEC-yo for at least half the lap. OTOH I now get to do another, more in depth brake refresh to maybe you are onto something. My main issue with it is that while it's a super competent car (albeit in need of some work), it's not quite grabbed me like some of the other cars I've owned.

Anyway, we actually have some good news. A few days ago I pulled out the radio to see how badly whoever put in the upgraded headunit hacked up the wiring. But first, I found myself having to remove the whole radio cover because the radio is actually bolted in. We'll gloss over the fact that I did that after waiting for a week for a set of radio removal keys that now are a tad surplus to requirements.

And for once, I was actually positively surprised. Someone had actually bothered to put a proper adapter harness together, which means that the OEM wiring is unmolested as well.

The reason this is really good news is that it means I don't have to unberk wiring before hooking up the modifry DCI unit that should allow me to use the dash controls for the headunit. I say "should" because the headunit is of 2008 vintage but it's supposed to work with steering wheel controls. Adapter with the complete plug & play harness is supposed to show up tomorrow so I should be able to test if it does indeed work.

Can't put the headunit back into the car yet because I'm also waiting for an iPod adapter cable for the headunit. It's currently got a USB Bluetooth stuck in its USB connector and it doesn't work particularly well for music. After scrolling through what felt like pages of "aftermarket" adapter cables I found someone selling a couple of genuine ones, including one that's still in its original Alpine wrapper. Admittedly I ended up having to buy his job lot so I will now have 14 adapter cables but who's counting. Well, 13 because apparently one of the fourteen is broken.

Are the adaptor wires rare?