Muz

Insanely short first gearing seems to be a common denominator in many Hondas (and other cars these days). At present first gear is lots of noise for little speed. I know the purists will contest this but could this car benefit from a taller first (and maybe second gear) or does lack of torque down low put paid to that idea?

naishou

All the gears with the possible exception of first and sixth should be shorter for Australia. If it bothers you start in second. I always did if there was a slight down slope or I wasn't in a hurry.

Muz

I'm not sure I understand why naishou Unless I've missed something elementary wouldn't higher ratios in those gears make the driver shift more frequently and work harder? Or are you referring to what would be ideal in a track situation?

Will try the second gear thing sometime

DavidM

Insanely short first gearing seems to be a common denominator in many Hondas (and other cars these days). At present first gear is lots of noise for little speed.

I'm not sure I understand why naishou Unless I've missed something elementary wouldn't higher ratios in those gears make the driver shift more frequently and work harder? Or are you referring to what would be ideal in a track situation

I think you've got your "short" and "tall" cobfused a bit Muz. S2000 has a pretty 'tall' 1st gear, not 'short'. 'Short' 1st would mean that you redline it at a low speed (ie. 50kph) while 'tall' 1st means that it will get you to a reletively high speed - like the S2000's 1st which get's you to 69kph.

Most cars' 1st gear tops out at around 60kph ... you need something like an 911 or a F360 to have the 1st gear geared to around 70kph. Even the local V8s reach 'only' about 65kph in their 1st gear (which is less than the S2000).

Anyway, if you make the 1st gear shorter (ie. to reach 60kph instead of 69kph) then the problem you get is that you'll have a big jump from 1st to 2nd. At the moment you drop your revs to 6,000rpm on the 1st-to-2nd-redline-change and if your 1st gear reached 60kph then you'd drop to 5,100rpm. So you'd need to make ALL (or at least the first 3) gears shorter to get a benefit of better acceleration in 1st gear (and get it to feel torquier) and not drop beloow 6,000rpm

Probably the best thing for this would be to drop in a different 'final drive' ratio .... maybe 10 - 15% shorter. That would mean that you'd reach 10 - 15% lower speed in each gear. Still, it would be nice to have if only your speedo reading did not go out of whack :-(

ps. The taller the 1st gear the less acceleration you will have there and tess torque it will feel.

naishou

I don't think Muz made any mistake. He's saying first doesn't get the car up to any great speed using everyday revs. Just the nature of the beast in a car that has a useable rev range of nearly 7000rpm.

I think the car needs shorter gears in 2nd to 5th. You can get very close to the legal limit on any freeway in Australia in 2nd gear and there are four more to come for heavens sake. In spirited driving or on a track you'll rarely use anything higher than third (if you value your head and your licence). The rest of the gears are a complete waste. Sixth is good for cruising and I wouldn't change it but I would shorten all the others barring first by a great deal. Remember you don't need to go through all the gears every time you accelerate. If they were all shorter ratios you could miss a gear on most changes in normal sedate driving and still have a gear for every corner on the open road or track. Fifth would also be much more flexible for 60 to 70km/h stuff around town than it is now. The gaps between gears are just too big as it is, especially between second and third.

DaveFromSydney

There was another thread recently on one of the US forums on S2KI which discussed the final drives available and it seemed plently of people were doing it AND there was a box for $100 or $200 you can get that recalibrates your speedo for it. (or for wheelsize changes)

DavidM

At present first gear is lots of noise for little speed.

I took this as a comment on the lack of 'acceleration' in the 1st gear but it's probably as you said Naishou.

Though then it does not make sence as the S2000's 1st gear is 'tall' and not 'short'?! Try and find another car that can reach 69kph in 1st gear and you'll be surprised by the shortlist. 55 - 60kph seems to be a more common speed for the 1st gear.

Anyway, if 1st is still too short then why not do what Naishou said and shift to 2nd? :-)

I think the car needs shorter gears in 2nd to 5th.

Yep, I could handle that ... shread like this would be pretty usefull:
2nd = 100kph
3rd = 130kph
4th = 165kph
5th = 215kph

dhess

What bugs me?

The small fact that I don't have an engine.

Sunder

I think the only reason the S2000 reaches 69kph in 1st is the fact that it reaches 9000rpm. If like most cars, it reved to 6000rpm but kept the same ratio, the car would redline in 1st at 46km/h. That means it should have roughly the same gear ratios (if not a bit "taller") as my Hyundai Excel, which redlines in 1st at 6000rpm and 40km/h

The only thing that bugs me about my S2000, is that finding aftermarket parts for it is so hard and expensive. That's one of the prices we pay for a relatively unique car, but sometimes I wish it wasn't so.

DC2SpecR

I dont think it is hard to find aftermarket parts for S2000, if you are willing to spend your money that is.