One more thing that I remembered. If you can, order a set of the premium Japanese floor mats. Honda only offered those in Japan and they are amazing, they also cover that bar/hump in front of the seat.
I just did a quick search and found them here:
One more thing that I remembered. If you can, order a set of the premium Japanese floor mats. Honda only offered those in Japan and they are amazing, they also cover that bar/hump in front of the seat.
I just did a quick search and found them here:
Ooh. I’ll have to order myself a set of those.
Made it to Roanoke, VA last night. I ended up skipping the side trip to Raleigh and went from Lumberton via Greensboro and 421 to Boone. Hardly any traffic out that way, which was nice. Picked up the BRP near Boone, just as the heavens opened up again, yay.
Fortunately, the sun came back out a bit later and about halfway between Boone and Roanoke, the roof had dried enough for me to put it down for the first time. It clearly hadn't been opened for a while, but once it remembered that it was actually supposed to open, it went down without a hitch.
Blue Ridge Parkway was very nice, although I could've done without the douche in a lifted Jeep deciding that I was going too slow across a section of the road that had just had bitumen and gravel dumped on it, sorry, resurfaced. He had to pass well past the speed limit and pelt my car with loose gravel because he was, well, more important and in a berkeleying hurry. Got some nice marks on the windshield as a reminder of this, right in the line of sight. At least nothing big enough that would require repair.
Once I got closer to Roanoke, the weather caught up with me again and I had fun trying to drive and prevent the windows from steaming up at the same time. The humidity was something else.
In other good news, I managed to get the bluetooth adapter in the car working so I didn't have to buy CDs. It does take a while to pick up a stream, but overall it works and didn't need a PIN to connect to like the PO thought it did. Now if I could only get the sound in the car reasonably balanced - after fixing the usual issue with the PO cranking up both treble and bass to make things "sound better", the sound is completely devoid of lower bass. I suspect that someone turned on the non-existing subwoofer on the headunit and that turned on a high pass filter that cut out all the lower frequencies. Either that or it needs new speakers, stat.
Currently trying to figure out if I just continue on the BRP and then through Shenandoah NP, or if I head over towards the New River Gorge bridge and pick up some WV back roads. Gonna chew over that during breakfast.
My experience with the S2000 and sound systems is that they are extremely weak from the factory and hard to improve.
Once you get on the highway is just not comparable to other convertibles, it plain sucks.
Mine came with the roll hoop speakers as its an ‘06, they help but not a lot.
This the radio mine came with:
Below is what I swapped into it. I got all harnesses from Modifry as mentioned earlier so all the buttons work and its reversible as no wires have to be cut.
That made a huge improvement, but its still not wow.
I had to make a couple of MDF spacers for the speakers as they would hit the window I believe and a couple of brackets for the tweeters. The crossovers are double side taped between the door panel and vapor barrier, I believe.
I believe you had or have an ND, how does the S2000 compare?
Yeah, the original head unit in mine is long gone, but I don't know what else they changed. The speakers sound depressingly stock, which may be part of the issue. And as you pointed out, once you're past town speeds it just doesn't work very well even with the roof up. Roof down, forget it.
I'm going to remove one of the door cards and see what I find, might have to order some decent speakers and possibly a small amp, too. The good news is that I have a very good head unit to start with.
The ND1 has a lot more low end grunt but obviously can't match the top end. Gearbox in the ND is better, but for interior space and comfort the S2000 wins. Handling wise the ND might have a slight edge, but keep in mind this car now has 66k on the clock and I think is still on the original suspension, whereas I owned my ND from new. That said, the S2000 seems to corner a lot flatter out of the box. I also suspect the ND has a slightly bigger trunk.
So far I think the S2000 just fits me better, although as usual I could do with a slightly lower seat. But I still have enough room to get into the car with a helmet and not hit the roof. I think, at least - didn't bring a helmet.
In reply to BoxheadTim :
Nice car. Do you plan on putting a roll bar in it?
In reply to Woody :
Thanks. Not planning to put a roll bar in right now, no. It does have factory rollover protection and if I read the SCCA TT rules for the entry level class right, that should be sufficient.
I did make it home in one piece last night, although I got a few reminders that I was distinctly undercaffeinated. But boy, does WV have some nice driving roads - I ended up following Google's directions to Mill Creek/Elkins WV from Roanoke, then home via Romney, WV, only to arrive in another thunderstorm. Of course.
Overall, the car behaved well during the 1400 mile trip. I'm more comfortable in it than in an NA Miata and the clutch doesn't aggravate my foot like the ND clutch did. It also felt like the car was loosening up a bit during the last two days of the trip. My guess is that it was mostly used for short journeys and I managed to blow out some of the cobwebs and other assorted crap. Oh, and as I suspected, the non-existing subwoofer had been turned on on the head unit. Turning it off resulted in a usable sounding radio. Still needs better speakers.
It does need a little more work than I expected, but isn't that always the case. Here's the list so far:
Overall I'd say it's a decent car that can be a good car with a bit of elbow grease.
BoxheadTim said:In reply to Woody :
Thanks. Not planning to put a roll bar in right now, no. It does have factory rollover protection and if I read the SCCA TT rules for the entry level class right, that should be sufficient.
No broomstick test? Had I known that, I might have kept my Z3.
Yes, S2000 is Ok as is.
I would not put a roll bar as you need to cut up to much of the factory plastics. If I were to get anything it would be the Mugen one.
Woody said:BoxheadTim said:In reply to Woody :
Thanks. Not planning to put a roll bar in right now, no. It does have factory rollover protection and if I read the SCCA TT rules for the entry level class right, that should be sufficient.
No broomstick test? Had I known that, I might have kept my Z3.
All one needs is a suitably bent broomstick 
. I should be OK, but for track use I'll look for a lower seat anyway. There are a couple of ways to lower the seat, just need to figure out which one works best.
In reply to Slippery :
I'm really trying to avoid cutting up the interior and drilling holes in the car. Plus my other issue is that most rollbars in two seaters tend to restrict seat movement somewhat. That bit me in the posterior with the Miatas and I don't want to repeat the issue with the S2000.
If I had to I'd probably get the Mugen rollbar you suggest, and a second set of plastics to cut up. But I'd rather not and put a lower seat in. Hmmm, Bride...
That is why I suggested the Mugen. You do not need to cut anything ;) and it will not restrict seat movement. I had it back when my car was full of Mugen stuff.
I’ll try to find a pic.
In reply to Slippery :
Ah, that's a major bonus. Do you still had to drill holes into the car to mount the rollbar?
Awesome car! Is it also miniature?
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