It’s true…and those of you in the know have been grilling me to bits about it. I don’t care though, go ahead, make fun…you’ll see.
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It all started a few weeks ago when Scott’s newly acquired 2000 Honda S2000 came in the shop. It was in for some “I just bought the car now tell me what I bought” kinda thing.
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Here it sat on the lift with sneaking suspicions of mods. Lowered, check, big rad, check, CAI, Check, …check engine light? Oh ya, CHECK. hmmmmm.
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Now, Scott, (you may remember his red civic SI in some previous posts) has loved S2k’s as long as I’ve known him. We were all quite shocked to see him pick up that FG2, but it was still sporty, a Honda and of course, their beloved vTec hidden under the valve cover. He spent a lot of time searching for an S2000 and digging up clues, secrets and dirt on previous owners and ruled out each S2K one by one till we weren’t sure if it was just his indecisive nature that kept him away, or for real, these cars in good shape are hard to come by. Well, it’s the latter.
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In 2000, 15,107 S2K’s we’re produced, and only 412 made their way through our Beaver loving Canadian Borders. The balance spread through the USA, UK & Europe, Japan and Australia leaving us in last place with 512 shipped down under. This one in particular was built at Honda’s Takanezawa plant, lived in Toronto for 10 years before Scott nervously drove it to it’s current home here in Montreal.
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Now, imagine over the last 10 years. What people have done to these little sporty coupes, modded, beaten, cherished, covered, raced, smashed…who knows how many 2000 year models are left up here.
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I as with many other auto enthusiasts, love rarity in a car and this was only the beginning for me and this Honda.
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On first inspection, under the hood, I looked at the motor and it was pretty far back with lots of room between it and the rad.
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The entire engine is mounted completely behind the front axle, I assumed that this car had a wicked front/rear ratio and after some research, I was found correct as it has a 50/50 balance tied to it. The 6 speed tranny, rear wheel drive and a healthy 2.0L inline 4 told my American Muscle mind that this wasn’t a normal Honda built with the same intents as the rest of the grocery getting staff it tows in line. A 2 seater convertible, leather, push button start and a hand brake in the Oh so perfect position made me smile and made me instantly wanna take it out and rip a few doughnuts with it. I declined that option however and instead got to work.
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With a trunk full of parts and a cleared schedule I dug in. First item in order was a valve adjustment. It’s a common issue with these and at 100k it’s due for some re-gauging. While the cover was off, I noticed high quality chains, gears, cams…etc. The Honda Sport Study Model team thought this one out. I could see however future things like…bent valves, cracked retainers things like that but generally seem common with vTec sported engines as well as with burning oil issues. This engine though, seemed fine to date despite a misfire and the check engine light (CEL) which I’ll get into later below.
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Once that was done, I outfitted the braking system with Hawk pads and Amsoil Dot-4 brake fluid. It looked a little better once I cleaned up the wheel wells.
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Took a look at the coil-over system and all seemed well with the install and the overall condition of them. However, the camber on this car was eating through tires. We’re gonna have a look and see if I can get some Caster/Camber plates on here to correct it. You So-Cal guys love camber, but personally, I hate spending a ton of money on tires for a crooked look.
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I finished the front end off with an inspection of the rest of the suspension, general under hood items and electrical check. I changed the oil to Amsoil’s OE 5w30 with a WIX filter which will help with the lubrication side of things.
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Now that the front was out of the way, I was onto a different problem. With the lowering of this AP1 Honda, the angle of the drive axles were incorrect and the interior end of the axle shaft was grinding a pretty good groove in the housing causing vibrations, naturally. With 2 new axles I yanked out the cores and with the help of Megan Racing driveshaft spacers, this is now corrected. Megan Racing made a good product here. Easily corrects the issue, inexpensive and machined to a perfect fit. As of now, I have yet to see a bad piece out of Megan Racing and from a mechanic’s point of view, I want to thank them for actually doing some R&D in this world of poorly manufactured parts.
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So now that the correction has been made to the axles, I dumped the old diff fluid in exchange for Amsoil’s Severe Gear 75w90 SVG and while I was at it, got rid of whatever was in that transmission and put some fresh Amsoil Synchro-Mesh 5w30 inside. Fluid wise, this car is extremely well protected.
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Now to address the misfire count…over 250 in 3 minutes. So, it’s not a fluke. Checked the plugs while they were out during the valve adjustment and they looked brand new so I ruled that out. The check engine light was from a vacuum issue and was cleared earlier along with the misfire code which the the ECU didn’t re-throw, so the CEL & scanner didn’t help me much. With a set of new coilpacks installed, the car now idles fine with no misfires. If it returns, I’ll look into fuel injection issues, but so far so good. Over 100k changing coil-packs is not unheard of.
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She runs good now and I can’t wait to see it on the track.
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Up to now, my job with the car is done and it is leaving to go into storage for the winter. I spent a good amount of time, over, under, and inside this car, and like a hot girlfriend, it kinda got its hooks into me. Everything was fairly simple to work on and whatever gave me a hard time was a direct result of modifications. The sporty look and dual exhaust give it a, “ya, I’m little, but let’s have a go at it” attitude and as many of you know, the colour of the car, the silver/gray is pretty darn close to the colour I would paint everything I own if I had my way. The stance, weight, power ratio (although as always with Woods Racing is slightly lacking) comfort level and general attractiveness pulls me to this car. I do love it and felt and awkward eye from the WR04 as it lost its resting place on the lift for its stay here at Woods Racing.
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I want to thank Scott for once again choosing Woods Racing for the care of his beloved AP1 S2K. I enjoyed working on this car and I’ll tell you all now, I will own one. I’ve already made it clear to Scott that if he sells it. I’m first in line, no if’s and’s or but’s about it.
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So all of who have been on my case calling me a Honda lover, Fanboy, and some other names that I won’t write up on here, it’s all in fun and love you guys, but I will confirm my roots and say that an S2K will be my 2nd sports car.
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My blood runs blue boys! Thanks again Scott!
Dec 21st by Bannon