New S2KCR Owner in Oregon

[Fighting For Air]

Just picked up my CR last Friday. Looking forward to the autocross season and some weekend drives with some of the other owners in the area.

If any of you live in Northwest Oregon or SW Washington, let me know.

Got connected with some of the other Elise owners out here a couple years ago and am now hoping to do the same with some S2K guys.

[ronlevine]

Originally Posted by Fighting For Air

Just picked up my CR last Friday. Looking forward to the autocross season and some weekend drives with some of the other owners in the area.

If any of you live in Northwest Oregon or SW Washington, let me know.

Got connected with some of the other Elise owners out here a couple years ago and am now hoping to do the same with some S2K guys.

I am in Newberg. I don't have an s2000 yet, but looking for one.

[SoMe0nE2tAlK2]

Congrats on the CR!

I just bought mine about a month ago, gonna go track it next weekend at Streets of Willow. Too bad I dont live closer to ya.

Anyways, from what I've seen the S2k crowd seems to have good heads on their shoulders. Not too many rice tuner teens if ya know what I mean.

[Fighting For Air]

Originally Posted by SoMe0nE2tAlK2

Congrats on the CR!

I just bought mine about a month ago, gonna go track it next weekend at Streets of Willow. Too bad I dont live closer to ya.

Anyways, from what I've seen the S2k crowd seems to have good heads on their shoulders. Not too many rice tuner teens if ya know what I mean.

Willow ... nice ... wish I could join ya.

And yes ... the rice tuner crowd ... I know exactly what you mean and that was part of the reason I've avoided going for the S2K for so long. The car finally won my affection with the CR edition though. Nice to have something you can drive drive every day, drive to the track, get your play time in, pop the top off, etc. Really enjoying it so far.

Thanks for the welcomes. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can find out on this forum about some after market mods and autocross set up. Nothing too radical ... would like to put the car on a bit of a diet and shave about 150 pounds off her, find some lighter/shorter/wider wheels, lighter exhaust, maybe some N/A torque gains to add a little more grunt down low, alignments, tire pressures, etc.

Enjoy your track day. I'm jealous.

[s2k 4 me]

Welcome!!!!!............and Congrats

[S2000dude]

Hey Fight, welcome aboard ! I think you'll like this site.

Who else can boast the one and only, sagacious & good looking (and top poster) JAVA JUNKY !!!

Congrats on the new CR !!!

[Java Junky]

Ummmmm-m-m-m-m . . . dude? You weren't 'post'a open that until New Years Eve pal.
Welcome aboard FFA, I know there'z a bunch'a folks waitin' for reports from you fella'z with the CRs, so we're lookin' forward to your input as you gain seat-time.
N' yeah . . . I seem to recall a feller from out your neck'a the woods. Your state at least. 'Spect he'll be along shortly to add his greetings.
In the immortal words'a Sgt.Esterhauz: "let's be careful out there."
'Safe n' Happy New Year gang.
Java

[Fighting For Air]

Preliminary CR Report - Don't know if all this is typical of S2Ks, but here's what I'm noticing so far after a bit of play time in my favorite parking lot and on a couple of my favorite twisty roads:

Slower speed and quick turn ins induce a lot of understeer so I'm thinking some negative camber up front to start with?

Good rotation with a little throttle lift and easily controllable. Much better balanced than my Elise without the tendency for snap oversteer. Very flat through corners, less body roll than I expected. After driving around town and feeling how much smoother the car was over rough pavement, I was a little concerned the stock suspension might be a little soft for my taste but I've been pleasantly surprised.

No opportunity yet to assess downforce through corners at speed and feel how planted it is through fast sweepers. Anyone know what the lateral acceleration is suppossed to be on the CR? If it's under 1.0, gonna have to fix that quick. Anything less than 1.1 will just not do. I think the Bridgestones might have to get chucked quick to accomodate more gription.

Shifter and transmission are fantastic. Huge improvement over the Elise clunkerbox. Love the position of of the pedals and height of the brake - easy heel n toe.

I was a bit concerned with steering feel and feedback with the power steering, but it feels taught and responsive. Not as good as the Elise, but again ... better than expected.

Seats are great - they fit me perfectly. Wish they came stock set up for 5 point harnesses. How can they call this a CR with no 5 point harness set up?

Tach's in a bad spot for me. I like to sit up close, so the tach is almost completely blocked from my view by the top arc of the steering wheel.

A little on the heavy side for my taste. Wish they would have gotten the CR down around 2600 lbs.

Definitely needs a bit more torque. How expensive/difficult to get these things around 200 lb/ft and 280-300 hp?

That's about all I can say so far. Will have to wait for the first spring autocross and first track day to provide a better assessment, but I'm very impressed and happy with it so far.

On the "fun to drive" scale, it certainly ranks much higher for me than many other vehicles I was considering and have gotten some seat time in (BMW Z4M, Cayman, Boxter, TT, Sky Redline, Evo, STI, etc.

I'm very curious to see how these things react to quick directional changes such as fast s-curves over a rise. Anyone give me some idea of how easy it is to really unsettle the car and get it into an unrecoverable spin? I imagine with it being short wheel base and slightly weight biased to the rear that a steering over correction in a slide can get you into trouble, yeah?

[RoCKet]

welcome!

[windypoint]

Originally Posted by ronlevine

I am in Newberg. I don't have an s2000 yet, but looking for one.

For what it's worth, there are three in the phoenix/tucson craig's list at the moment.

[Seattle2k]

Originally Posted by Fighting For Air

Definitely needs a bit more torque. How expensive/difficult to get these things around 200 lb/ft and 280-300 hp with bolt ons?

Well, maybe if you bolt on a turbo charger...

[cbrguy7]

welcome! I know you'll love your s2k

[cbrguy7]

I like my comptech sc and if you plan on takin it to the track it's a little better than a turbo setup

[H20]

Congrads on the new car.
It's important you understand I dont actually know or mod anything. I just read. (and drive around like a nut sometimes) That being said, from my reading since 9/28/07 when I picked up my 07, you will never get 200 pounds of torque and 300 HP without forced induction.
You have a lot of reading ahead of you but I can summarize some. I THINK.. the best mod short of super/turbo charging would be the hondata reflash and toda(ish) header and whatever gasket they talk about. Read about it here. http://www.hondata.com/reflash_s2k_toda_header.html
This mod will get you on the cams sooner and keep you there longer. I assume since your car is new and you are in break in period, you haven't seen vtec yet. Key to going fast in these cars is get in vtec and stay there,
I never hear much about understeer as you mentioned. But we have different cars I guess.
I see you are experimenting with handling. If your roads are cold and you run the bridgestone re050's like I do, watch it. My car slides around like crazy in the cold. I have fun with it though. But I suspect you have forgotten more then I will ever know on this issue though.
Good luck with it and have fun.

[Fighting For Air]

Well actually .... I'm a mechanical idiot and have only been tracking and autocrossing for about 3 years now.

Thanks all for advising me that I won't be able to make my desired power gains without going F/I. Hmmm... since I don't want to blow the powertrain warranty just yet ... guess I'll stick to shaving as much weight as possible.

I'm assuming v-tec is pretty much the same as the Toyota VVTLI in the 2zz motor. So, I know what you mean about getting on the high cam and staying there. Thus, part of the reason I wanna drop down from 17" wheels to 16s. I'd drop to 15s if I were certain they'd fit over the brakes and could find a wheel tire combo that would work.

[gomarlins3]

Welcome to the site and congrats on the new car. Enjoy the drive.

[H20]

Originally Posted by Fighting For Air

Thus, part of the reason I wanna drop down from 17" wheels to 16s. I'd drop to 15s if I were certain they'd fit over the brakes and could find a wheel tire combo that would work.

Rather then go that route think about changing the rear end gearing. That seems to be a very popular mod.
Barring that, the 16" wheels from the AP1's fit fine on any S2000 far as I know. I'm thinking you could find an AP1 guy willing to swap. Course you would be better off getting some forged lightweight$. But keep the offsets and staggered sizes proper to what honda designed. They got them set up pretty well and it's easy the change things for the worse rather then better. I would learn much much more before spending another dime if I were you.
Good luck with it..

[Scooter]

Welcome Rob and thanks for the great report. You'll do fine here!

[Fighting For Air]

Again ... thanks all for the welcomes and comments.

Rear end gearing sounds good, but I still wanna drop some unsprung mass to accomodate better acceleration. I really don't have much concern for how fast the car is or what it will do over ... say... 75-80 miles per hour. I'm much more concerned with quickness, lower speed acceleration, handling, cornering, braking, etc. It will only be very rare track days that I'll want to get over 90 miles per hour.

Gonna play with things a bit between now and the first autox of the year. I'll be sure to give everyone a report on what I decide to do and how it works out.

Before I make any changes I do intend to head out on the first dry weekend to some secret squirrel/restricted tarmac I have access to so I can push the limits and find out just what this thing will do in stock trim.

I'll start tweaking from there.

Thanks again all and take care.

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by Fighting For Air

Again ... thanks all for the welcomes and comments.

Rear end gearing sounds good, but I still wanna drop some unsprung mass to accomodate better acceleration. I really don't have much concern for how fast the car is or what it will do over ... say... 75-80 miles per hour. I'm much more concerned with quickness, lower speed acceleration, handling, cornering, braking, etc. It will only be very rare track days that I'll want to get over 90 miles per hour.

Gonna play with things a bit between now and the first autox of the year. I'll be sure to give everyone a report on what I decide to do and how it works out.

Before I make any changes I do intend to head out on the first dry weekend to some secret squirrel/restricted tarmac I have access to so I can push the limits and find out just what this thing will do in stock trim.

I'll start tweaking from there.

Thanks again all and take care.

Yep, all that you listed is built in already! Have fun and keep us posted - I'm interested. Still running stock, but interested in tweaks (engineer, can't help it...)