o_O S2000 | Mk I — Stage II
11-01-2012, 04:38 AM
#72
Thread Starter
Finally I can stop spending money on the car for awhile now! Finished up all the maintenance at Joey's shop tonight. I had all the fluids changed, engine oil, transmission fluid, differential fluid, brake flush/bleed, clutch flush/bleed, coolant flush, axle nut retorque, and brake pads installed. Joey and his team are fantastic, always happy to explain things and answer any questions and there is a good crew to hangout with while you wait.
First things first, I decided that I would do a quick adjustment to my recent alignment. Since I really hate the whole "stance" movement I decided to start a new one, for your consideration, Helladroop:
Up on the lift ready for it's transfusion. Coolant was drained first as it takes some time to drain.
Because I am a nice guy, I decided to wash the car in sunny San Jose and drove it to rainy San Francisco, there was a pretty nice layer of brake dust removed though so all good.
Joey and Ben started with the brake pad swap all around, because the Project µ HC+800 are a street/track pad and the rotors are in good condition I decided they didn't need to be replaced or resurfaced at this time. The front pads were at around 50% so I decided to box them up and keep them for later..
The rear pads were getting pretty low. (It seems it is pretty easy to use up the rear pads in the S2000, do other people notice that they go through rear pads faster than the fronts?)
On go the nice Suzuka green Project µ's!
Always nice to be able to check out the car from underneath while it is being worked on.
And on go the rear pads.
100%!
The axle nuts were re-torqued to Billman spec. (yes they were re-staked)
And time to start the fluids.
Draining the engine oil and transmission fluid. Oil was still pretty fresh as it was recently changed (Honda Syn. 5w30) and transmission fluid was most likely OEM fluid from the factory. And next was the differential using AMSOIL Severe Gear 75w110.
Car was lowered back down to start brake and clutch fluid flush/bleed using ATE Type 200 amber fluid.
Putting in new oil (Castrol Edge Synthetic Titanium 10w30) and coolant (OEM Honda). Notice the nice radiator cap-funnel that makes it very easy to flush the cooling system.
And back home after a great evening at Joey's! As we were waiting for the coolant to make it's way through the cooling system, Joey gave the car walk around to see if any problems jumped out, but everything checked out, I mentioned I had a slight top squeak coming from the left mounting point, so he took a look and tightened up the latch mounting bolts a bit and judging from the drive home through the rain the squeak seems to be gone! Joey, he's the man. Definitely recommend him and his team in the evening's if you are in the bay area.
Since I was driving home pretty late, after leaving the shop I did a little circuit for a couple of blocks to make sure the new pads were going to work ok on the rotors and do some basic bedding in on the empty roads. The HC+800 have an operating temp range of 0-1472 Degrees Fahrenheit (0-800 Degrees Celsius, a better range than the Carbotech XP8) so they work just fine even before they get up to the optimal temperature. I obviously haven't got a chance to test them thoroughly at higher operating temps, but after some basic bedding-in on the street they seem to have a much more consistent initial bite than OEM AP2 pads even in the rain. I will definitely do a more thorough review after this weekend, and then again after the Thunderhill track day on the 18th. So far so good.
For the brake/clutch fluid I used ATE Type 200 (amber ATE blue), Joey and Ben did a great job bleeding the brakes and clutch, definitely a noticeable improvement in pedal feel of both. It is easier to determine the bite point of the clutch (my clutch fluid was looking a bit tired) and the brake pedal is nice and firm like it should be. I likely cooked up the OEM brake fluid nicely a few times as the pedal was getting a bit softer after about a month of heavy use on the weekends and occasional weekday evening. For the transmission (which was likely still using the original factory fluid and was looking past it's prime) I stuck to Honda MTF 2. Definite notice improvement in shifting feel! Any slight notchyness that existed before is now gone, and each gear change is much more positive. The new clutch and tranny fluid should definitely let me shift very quickly without worrying about a mis-shift, it is always a subtle difference but anyone who drives a lot beyond commute speeds and does a lot of rowing through the gears it always feels like night and day. Any basic maintenance like this is always worth the cost or time even if it just boosts driver confidence in the car a small amount, it all adds up and removes from your thought process any concerns about the mechanics, and let you just focus on driving. Even little things like squeaks and rattles, anything that annoys or takes your mind of the driving is worth fixing!
I have created a simple Numbers spreadsheet to keep track of maintenance of the car as an easy way to keep track of how long parts have been installed and how many miles they have traveled. I plan on doing the same for tuning and setup and keeping track of modifications in the future.
First things first, I decided that I would do a quick adjustment to my recent alignment. Since I really hate the whole "stance" movement I decided to start a new one, for your consideration, Helladroop:
Up on the lift ready for it's transfusion. Coolant was drained first as it takes some time to drain.
Because I am a nice guy, I decided to wash the car in sunny San Jose and drove it to rainy San Francisco, there was a pretty nice layer of brake dust removed though so all good.
Joey and Ben started with the brake pad swap all around, because the Project µ HC+800 are a street/track pad and the rotors are in good condition I decided they didn't need to be replaced or resurfaced at this time. The front pads were at around 50% so I decided to box them up and keep them for later..
The rear pads were getting pretty low. (It seems it is pretty easy to use up the rear pads in the S2000, do other people notice that they go through rear pads faster than the fronts?)
On go the nice Suzuka green Project µ's!
Always nice to be able to check out the car from underneath while it is being worked on.
And on go the rear pads.
100%!
The axle nuts were re-torqued to Billman spec. (yes they were re-staked)
And time to start the fluids.
Draining the engine oil and transmission fluid. Oil was still pretty fresh as it was recently changed (Honda Syn. 5w30) and transmission fluid was most likely OEM fluid from the factory. And next was the differential using AMSOIL Severe Gear 75w110.
Car was lowered back down to start brake and clutch fluid flush/bleed using ATE Type 200 amber fluid.
Putting in new oil (Castrol Edge Synthetic Titanium 10w30) and coolant (OEM Honda). Notice the nice radiator cap-funnel that makes it very easy to flush the cooling system.
And back home after a great evening at Joey's! As we were waiting for the coolant to make it's way through the cooling system, Joey gave the car walk around to see if any problems jumped out, but everything checked out, I mentioned I had a slight top squeak coming from the left mounting point, so he took a look and tightened up the latch mounting bolts a bit and judging from the drive home through the rain the squeak seems to be gone! Joey, he's the man. Definitely recommend him and his team in the evening's if you are in the bay area.
Since I was driving home pretty late, after leaving the shop I did a little circuit for a couple of blocks to make sure the new pads were going to work ok on the rotors and do some basic bedding in on the empty roads. The HC+800 have an operating temp range of 0-1472 Degrees Fahrenheit (0-800 Degrees Celsius, a better range than the Carbotech XP8) so they work just fine even before they get up to the optimal temperature. I obviously haven't got a chance to test them thoroughly at higher operating temps, but after some basic bedding-in on the street they seem to have a much more consistent initial bite than OEM AP2 pads even in the rain. I will definitely do a more thorough review after this weekend, and then again after the Thunderhill track day on the 18th. So far so good.
For the brake/clutch fluid I used ATE Type 200 (amber ATE blue), Joey and Ben did a great job bleeding the brakes and clutch, definitely a noticeable improvement in pedal feel of both. It is easier to determine the bite point of the clutch (my clutch fluid was looking a bit tired) and the brake pedal is nice and firm like it should be. I likely cooked up the OEM brake fluid nicely a few times as the pedal was getting a bit softer after about a month of heavy use on the weekends and occasional weekday evening. For the transmission (which was likely still using the original factory fluid and was looking past it's prime) I stuck to Honda MTF 2. Definite notice improvement in shifting feel! Any slight notchyness that existed before is now gone, and each gear change is much more positive. The new clutch and tranny fluid should definitely let me shift very quickly without worrying about a mis-shift, it is always a subtle difference but anyone who drives a lot beyond commute speeds and does a lot of rowing through the gears it always feels like night and day. Any basic maintenance like this is always worth the cost or time even if it just boosts driver confidence in the car a small amount, it all adds up and removes from your thought process any concerns about the mechanics, and let you just focus on driving. Even little things like squeaks and rattles, anything that annoys or takes your mind of the driving is worth fixing!
I have created a simple Numbers spreadsheet to keep track of maintenance of the car as an easy way to keep track of how long parts have been installed and how many miles they have traveled. I plan on doing the same for tuning and setup and keeping track of modifications in the future.
11-02-2012, 08:19 AM
#73
Registered User
Maybe caster is playing a roll in steering feel?
Stock sizes are more like 195-205f and 255 rear. A regular 215 is wider than the original 215 and a regular 245 is narrower than the original 245.
What made you go with .5 degrees camber in front and 1.5 in the rear? Is that just factory spec?
Stock sizes are more like 195-205f and 255 rear. A regular 215 is wider than the original 215 and a regular 245 is narrower than the original 245.
What made you go with .5 degrees camber in front and 1.5 in the rear? Is that just factory spec?
11-03-2012, 02:45 AM
#74
Thread Starter
New tires and brake pads got a proper test tonight! I am pretty sure an OEM S2000 doesn't get much better than the current state of my car. Soooooo wonderful. Will post up proper driving impressions soon.
11-16-2012, 06:01 PM
#76
Thread Starter
Headed to Thunderhill this weekend! Got my helmet today with only a few days to spare. The Arai GP-6S (large). Luckily it fits perfectly, and is super light!
Let's hope I never have to really "use" it!
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Let's hope I never have to really "use" it!
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11-18-2012, 10:35 PM
#79
Thread Starter
Just did first track day with them today. Pretty low ambient temps (55-60 degrees F), but nonetheless zero problems at all. My only real frame of reference for pads on the S2000 are the OEM AP2 pads, but I would have definitely cooked the OEM pads today, where the HC+800 were solid all day long and have better initial bit at any temperature. I am putting together a much more thorough review, but in summary I think this is a fantastic hybrid street/track pad for someone that does a lot of serious street driving and also visits the track. The only time I get any noise from the pads is an occasional squeak when braking lightly at low speeds and usually more so in wet conditions, no worse than OEM AP2 pads really, so no real comfort compromises using these pads on a daily driven car. I will definitely be buying another set when I use my current set up.