SC_Highlander

I have an '00 s2000 that I campaign in National SCCA autocross in class F Prepared. The car has the 2L motor that came with the car (though not the original 2L for the chassis). At some point prior to my ownership, the motor had been replaced. The motor currently does not burn a single drop of oil, makes 220+ compression on all cylinders, and has:

ap2 retainers and keepers
Hayward ITB's (50mm, I think)
Berk header and test pipe
Modified stock exhaust center-section with a turn-down where the normal exhaust splits.
Haltech ECU

The car made 198hp on a dyno dynamics, which generally read the lowest of any of the mainstream dyno's. On the same day, an STR-trim (intake, header, high-flow cat, flash-pro tune) CR made 210 on the same dyno.

I've got the car down to nearly the minimum weight for my class. It crossed the scales at 1968 lbs after day 2 competition at Nationals last week. I will continue to search for easy/cheap ways to lose that last 68 pounds and hit minimum, but my co-driver and I decided that it's time to invest some dollars into making a little more power. We are not searching for every last horsepower, and I want the thing to be reliable. So far, in 3 years of use, the motor has been dead-nuts reliable, and I want that to continue. I'm not looking to build a grenade-motor that's good for one event or even just one season.

In my class, the block and crank must be stock from any year s2000, but the rods and pistons are free, as are the valves, springs, cams. I have a set of Crower stage 2 cams in my garage that I never got around to doing anything with, and I have some 3in exhaust pipe as well. My first thought was to simply add the cams, build a new 3in exhaust and re-tune. Then, I found a low-mileage 2.2L for a great price and I'm very likely going to pick that up.

So, my questions are: will the BC cams be worth adding to the 2.2L? Before I drop the new motor in the car, what else should I consider that's relatively easy and won't break the bank? For example, I plan to put new Ti retainers and new keepers, but I will probably not pull the head off the motor to do valves or any port matching. Or, should I stick with my original plan and keep the 2L ? Or something totally different?

Gernby

I'd look into Wadzi's build. I don't know if he got all the kinks worked out yet, but he was making great power with a 2.2 liter crank, custom pistons, AP1 rods (IIRC), and BC cams (IIRC).

SC_Highlander

I have much respect for wadzii, but eating 2 motors in one year doesn't quite have me jumping on the 'do something custom' bandwagon just yet.

wadzii

I think I have this motor figured out.. mine is a test bed, I build it to see what works and what doesnt... makes the motor I build for you more reliable .. I have built probably 10 motors this year with mahle pistons with out any issues at all.


but for what you are doing i'd stick with what you have till its worn out or broken. Keep the 2 liter, the 2.2 probably wont gain you much compared to the work/cost involved.

If you put cams in it, do valve springs/retainers. even with stock cams the stock stuff has a hard time controlling the valves. You are one over-rev away from breaking everything.. with some good springs/retainers you wont hurt anything with an over-rev.

I'd do the cams and 3 inch exhaust. those together will get you a good bit of power over what you have.

SC_Highlander

Really? I was figuring on picking up about 10% more power by swapping in the 2.2L, and I'm ok with getting that for what I'd spend on the F22. Making the car go faster will come down to weight and power, and I'm already very close to minimum weight. I think I can get within 20-30 pounds of minimum next year without spending much money, so I was planning on diverting my 'offseason upgrade' budget to the motor to pickup some power. If you had, say $2 - $2.5k to spend and were interested in picking up as much reliable power as possible, would your suggestion still be to drop in the BC cams that I already have and build an exhaust?

wadzii

I wouldnt pull a perfectly good motor to put a stock one back in there..

put the cams and exhaust you have in there for now, use the other $2k to build a better motor so that when you sling the 2L apart you have something alot more kick ass than a stock 2.2 motor in the car.

762

I would keep the motor that is in the car as a backup and look to move into a 2.2L or any solution that will get you more torque. Every little bit will be even more helpful now that you have the car down to minimum weight.

SC_Highlander

Shoot me a PM with how much it will cost to have something more kick ass built. Believe me, for the first 3 years of developing the car, I've stayed away from the motor (except for the itbs, ecu, header, and replacing some cracked retainers). My dollars were better spent on the suspension and making the car lighter. Now that the off-season is approaching, and the car will be parked on my lift for a couple of months, it sure seems like a good time to think about a motor. I'd rather do it in a controlled manner during the off-season than wait for something to break and have to do it in a hurry. I do have a spare 2L engine that came out of my street car due to oil starvation. All that said, I'll see if I can find time to drop the cams in and get it re-tuned before our next national tour event in October.

I really appreciate the input.