TDSAutoMag

It has been a rocky couple of months for Justin’s S2000; we last let off with Justin putting in some work to the car’s appearance in an effort to add his personal touch. In doing so it was a race with the clock which ended with him barely finishing in time to debut the new look at the Honda Craze meet.

Satisfied with the new look, Justin could now sit back and start to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Or so he thought, this was short lived as he was involved in an accident after the throttle stuck putting him in an unavoidable situation. Fortunately he suffered no injures but the car wasn’t as lucky. Today, we’ll take a look at the damage done to the car along with the process involved to getting it back on the road in its pristine state.

For those who may want to view this build from the start I’ve provided the link below:

Justin’s AP1 Build… Introduction

After the damaged panels were removed Justin snapped a few photos. Luckily the car received no suspension or chassis rail damage but the radiator support and left side under fender would require some repairs…

Saddened by this but still eager to have the car back together, Justin assessed the damage and promptly got the ball rolling to have it repaired…

A look at the repairs to the front as they were in progress. Justin was able to source a headlight and fender locally which made the entire process somewhat easier…

On top of the fender and light that needed to be replaced, the hood was also damaged beyond repair. After some searching locally, Justin was able to get a slightly damaged carbon hood which worked out quite well…

In the process of fitting up the bumper to test the fitment on the panels…

This was a success and the fitment was just where Justin wanted and it was time to move forward with the next stage…

Not sold on the idea of having a fresh front end which may not blend well with the remainder of the car. Justin decided to strip the car down and have the entire thing painted…

A look at the car fully sanded and prepped for the paint stage…

Blown! A shot taken in the booth of the S2K where it was left to bake after a fresh coat of white was applied…

Unfortunately, as a result of the collision, the radiator suffered serious damage and would require a replacement…

The Koyo unit was working exceptionally well for the period of time Justin had the car, wanting to maintain the same level of cooling he replaced it with a new one…

Between the accident and the bodywork stage the wheels received some curb rash. Being a very meticulous guy, Justin wanted to return to the streets better than he left, and had them resprayed going a step further by applying some Traklite decals…

With the car fresh out of the booth, Justin brought it home and tore it apart to begin cleaning the underbody and suspension components…

Justin was completely blown away because up until this point he had no clue the level of upgrades which were made to the suspension setup. Thus making the packaged deal he got all the more worth it, especially with the track focused plans he has in mind for the car. With all this work already complete, Justin can focus his attention on racking up some seat time…

The car came on a set of Ohlins Road and Track DFV coilovers which are said to be an exceptional balance between performance and comfort. Going along with these is a Megan Racing upgraded rear sway bar and upper control arms with camber adjustment…

Still not finished with the rear end, a set of EVS Tuning spherical toe arms were added for further adjustability. Not pictured are a host of Cusco braces used to improve rigidity and steering response…

Much like the rear, the front end received a treatment of Megan racing upper control camber arms along with an upgraded sway bar. A set of extended Buddy Club Racing lower ball joints were also added to the mix of things…

With the wheels removed you get a better look at the 4 pot Stop-Tech big brake kit with slotted rotors. The wheel studs have also been swapped out for a set of ARP extended units…

A look at the freshly painted wheels fitted to the front end…

In the process of adding some detailed touches, Justin went at the Mishimoto oil cooler an applied the signature logo with a coat white paint…

A view with the front end fitted back together where you can see a glimpse of the oil cooler tucked behind the front bumper…

Under the hood, a few changes were made to the intake setup by extending the pipe and moving location the filter. A duct was ran from the front bumper within the wheel well up to engine bay providing a cold air feed to aid with lowering intake air temperatures…

As for the interior, Justin made a few track day focused upgrades…

The most notable change was the addition of race harnesses, that will keep both Justin and passenger firmly planted in there seats while making some hot laps…

An extended carbon shift knob was added to the OEM shifter…

With the extended knob, it would align the shifter with the Personal wheel making it easily accessible when going full tilt…

The final note worthy addition was an AEM oil pressure gauge for him to safely keep and eye on whats going on…

With everything currently checked off the to do list, Justin snapped a few exterior shots as the car was now ready to hit the streets after a few months hiatus…

Along with getting the car back on the streets, Bushy Park announced they were hosting the first track-day event after the Covid-19 pandemic. Fortunate enough for Justin the car was back and in fine working condition to hit the track…

A few shots taken in the pits upon arrival at the Bushy Park Racing Circuit…

Justin as he makes a few adjustments to the racing harness in preparation to hit the track for the first time since owning the car…

A few shots captured by Michael Alleyne as Justin put in some laps…

To recap on the days activities, it was a good first outing for the car giving Justin an opportunity to get a full feel for the car around the circuit. Justin was absolutely blown away by the handling characteristics of the S2K chassis taking part in a few track battles. He was finally able to put the Ohlins suspension and Stop-Tech brakes to the test and the results were exceptional.The intake setup he went with proved to be efficient and worked well with minimal heat soak. The KoyoRad was amazing and the car saw zero signs of overheating and maintained temps within the recommended range.

The entire experience allowed him to have more accurate knowledge of where the limits are in terms of traction before oversteer. This allowed Justin to build a level of confidence that he could never gain by simply street driving the car. With that said, Justin believes he left a few seconds on the track due to lack of grip. Going in he knew the Westlake RS tyres wouldn’t be up to the task of delivering fast lap times, especially given the stretched fitment in place. This restricted him throughout a few sectors on the circuit causing his lap times to suffer. Using the Race Chrono app, Justin was able to gauge a ballpark figure as to where he stood in terms of lap times. Through the app there was a clear indication that under some adequate footing the lap times will drop. The sole purpose of the track day was to shakedown the car so he can identify both strengths and weaknesses. With this knowledge gained Justin can accurately gauge what would be necessary moving forward with this build.

Along with the good also came some bad, the car made it through the event unscathed taking the grind like a champ. However, the following day Justin noticed a loud noise coming from the rear and upon inspection realized it was the CV joint. Prior to coming into the track day, Justin knew this could be a possibility as it’s rather common to occur under heavy track abuse. Rather than replace with another OEM spec CV joint, the plan moving forward is to place an order for some upgraded axles.

That brings us to the end of this post, thanks for taking a look. Stay tuned for the next post when we get into the necessary upgrades to satisfy Justin’s thirst for performance.