Eibach ProKit

One thing I did want to improve over stock was the general stance. The stock suspension was more than capable but I wanted just a small 1" drop while keeping the OEM ride/feel. I felt the best way to accomplish this would be to get the Eibach ProKit. It had just the right drop and a nice small bump in spring rate. However, it works best with the AP1 shocks which luckily I had from Bumblestook. JDV mated up the 27K miles AP1 shocks from Bumblestook with the Eibach prokit and the results were very pleasing and the ride just perfect.

Eibach ProKit on AP1 shocks - 2/8/2014

Helping to install the shocks - 2/8/2014

Lupa and Bumblestook meet for the first time - 2/8/2014

The previous owner also decided to debadge the car. While I like the clean look, it was important to put the badge back on to bring her back to OEM spec.

S2000 Badge back on the fender - 2/8/2014

One major maintenance task to ensure proper operation of the S2000 is to torque the rear axle nuts to the correct spec (over 220ft/lbs). The owner also removed the front license plate holder and put the license plate holder plug on but living in NY, it would be risky to drive around with both plates on so we simply mounted the plate in the bumper using the tabs I had on Bumblestook. Works great and it's easy enough to remove if desired. I also put back amber side markers. The clear ones look good too but it's not the correct factory color for this car.

All done for the day - 2/8/2014

Taking care of little details

First order of business was to get her to breath right again. The K&N filter was looking a bit tired and dirty so I got a K&N recharge kit to freshen it up again. You spray the cleaner on the filter and wash it thoroughly then let it completely dry. Once dry, spray on a new layer of filter oil evenly on the entire filter. This also restores the dark red color the filter had when it was new.

Filter fresh again - 2/6/2014

Next up was to help me breath better. The air cabin filter is probably one the most forgotten about maintenance item. Not surprisingly, when I took the old filter out it looked like it had never been replaced. A fresh one was quickly put in.

Old filter (left) vs New filter (right ) - 2/7/2014

Next up was the much needed Modifry glove box organizer to make more effective use of the glove box along with a Modifry windscreen GoPro mount so I can take video of all the future adventures. After having a hardtop on Bumblestook for as long as I've had her, I decided this time around, I'd enjoy more top down adventures and Lupa would stay as a convertible only so the Top Always Down decal was an appropriate bit of windscreen decoration.

Modifry Glovebox organizer - 2/7/2014

Modifry Windscreen GoPro camera mount - 2/7/2014

In the beginnnig...

After taking Bumblestook out of street use to be a dedicated race car, I soon found myself yearning to be able to drive a S2000 on the street again. This time though I would leave it as close to stock as possible and where possible only have OEM Honda parts. I was specifically looking for another yellow, white or black AP2 V1 (2004-2005 S2000) that was in good mechanical condition but not a perfect. Not perfect was important because I wanted to be able to drive it and not feel like it should be kept in bubble wrap tucked away safely in a garage. After searching the forums, I eventually started considering silver cars too provided they had the two-tone black/red interior. This would allow me to stay under the radar but still have a touch of color. I found a 2005 Silverstone S2000 with a reasonable 55K miles on the clock in DC for a good price and on a surprisingly warm day in the middle of winter, I flew down to DC to pick her up and was able to even drive home with the top down most of the way.

Landing at Regan airport - 2/1/2014

Freshly purchased - Washington, DC - 2/1/2014

Freshly purchased - Washington, DC - 2/1/2014

She was mostly stock, just a K&N intake and upgraded head unit and speakers. There was a small tear on the soft top but was overall in good shape. She definitely needed some TLC though and I was prepared to do that. That was part of the fun! The previous owner was kind enough to let me drive her home with his plates/registration and after the incredible 5 hour drive back home, promptly shipped it back to him. I remembered right away how incredible S2000s feel on the road even in stock form. All my cars have names and I would eventually dub her "Lupa", latin for Wolf for her gray/silver color. It would be the start of new adventures.

Finally Home - 2/1/2014

AP1 Transmission - Taller Gearing, Moar Speeeeeeed!!!

When last season ended, I had two thing on my list of TODOs for this year. The first was to swap back my old exhuast so I'd never have to deal with blowing the sound limit again and we did that before the season started. The second was to swap in an AP1 transmission. I guess technically "swap back" is the correct term since Bumblestook is actually an AP1 chassis with an AP2 drivedrain so I'm just going back one step here. I was getting destroyed all of late last season by not having enough gearing, topping off at around 63mph in 2nd gear whereas others were hitting 70mph. That's a lot of speed to leave on the table on big, fast concrete courses. I was able to source a decent mileage (60K miles) from a parts reseller on Ebay based in Florida and had it shipped directly to Steve at SJF Performance.

Getting ready for surgery
SJF Performance - 5/31/2015

AP1 transmission waiting to be installed
SJF Performance - 5/31/2015

Since this was Steve's first time swapping a transmission on a S2000, it took us a bit longer than usual but mostly because it had to be done right. Thanks in part to having a transmission next to us to look at and a pretty detailed DIY on S2ki, a few annoying bolts and a slight drop in the front subframe later the AP2 transmission was disconnected and ready to be set aside to be reused for another project soon ;)

AP2 transmission out
SJF Performance - 5/31/2015

AP1 and AP2 tranmissions bolt up the engine the same way but AP1 transmissions use slightly narrower bolts than AP2 transmissions on the driveshaft side. The correct thing to do would be to swap out the output flange of the trans to an AP2 flange so that everything bolts up nicely using the beefier AP2 bolts. The silly way to do it, thanks to the SCCA's BSP update/backdate rule, is to keep the AP1 flange and use the smaller AP1 bolts in the larger holes. You'd expect this to be a problem but it's been proven that this isn't an issue if you torque everything down and locktite it so using new AP1 bolts and washers, a generous dab of loctite red, all 6 bolts were torqued down to the AP2 spec of (36ft/lbs). We filled it with 2 quarts of Honda MTF but we'll be flushing that soon with Amsoil once I come back for an alignment in a few weeks.

AP1 Transmission installed
SJF Performance - 5/31/2015

New AP1 bolts and washers
SJF Performance - 5/31/2015

After a small snag in the connection of the clutch fork that was easily corrected, we verified that all 6 gears and reverse worked as it should but I won't be able to put her through her paces until the NNJR SCCA event next weekend. The major upside to the AP1 transmission is the taller gearing so I should easily be able to hit 70+mph in 2nd gear depending on how high I rev the F22C. This finally completes the maximum prep level I can take Bumblestook to the current rules.

The remaining issue that's been plaguing me is the nut behind the wheel. Between being limited to fewer events in the area due to the extra time I need for towing Bumblestook to and from events and not having enough time to drive in general, lack of seat time is starting to erode at the progress I've made the past 2 years as a driver. I've figured out how to address that but that's a side story that will be shared shortly.

Big thanks to Steve (and Pete) for spending a very rainy Sunday working on this little project.

SCCA ProSolo Round 4 - New Jersey

It was finally time for first big event of the year. No major changes to speak of other than slapping on the tires I ran at Nationals last year with only 6 runs on them and adding fuel to avoid the fuel starvation Hez and I ran into the week before. I arrived on site on Friday morning since I had to work the gate that afternoon. Perfect warm sunny day to start the weekend off.

NJ ProSolo - 5/8/2015

NJ ProSolo - 5/8/2015

I decided earlier in the year that I'd invite Dave Roberts from the Kentucky region to come out and codrive Bumblestook with me for this event. He's developing his own BSP S2000 (Blackie) and I thought it would be good for him to get a reference ride in a S2000 that's been in development for 2 years now. He arrived that afternoon and we were able to get our practice starts out of the way. Nothing too surprising here but we wanted to dial in our launch RPM. We both agreed that a hair under 7000rpm would give us the best launch performance while getting enough wheel spin to protect the diff.

NJ ProSolo - 5/9/2015
Driver: Dave Roberts

Since Dave and I were the only two driver in BSP we got bumped into B2 bump class along with DSP, HS, DS and FSP on day 1. The DSP cars would be tough to compete against. Not only are they fast but PAX favored them. Dave and I put down respectable runs on day 1 and ended that day with me in 3rd and Dave in 5th. It was clear looking at our video that we weren't tackling the tight stuff of the course properly and the key to dropping times would be to minimize distance and set up properly to get behind those cones.

B2 Grid - NJ ProSolo - 5/10/2015

Day 2 came rolling in and we had a pretty good strategy to try and keep the fight going. The shocker though was that CAM class was also added to our B2 bump class and we only found out at that day. Steve Farkas of SJF performance had put down some very nice runs on day 1 in his CAM Mustang and ended up slotting into 2nd place in B2 so we all got shifted down. That didn't change our general plan for tackling the course. Unfortunately, I was having trouble executing on the plan and kept overshooting the entry to beginning of the tight section and found no additional time. Dave on the other hand was able find the right line and find time on both the left and right courses. Dave was able snag a trophy spot in 4th and I stumbled down to 7th. 

BSP S2000 vs DSP RX8
NJ ProSolo - 5/10/2015

Overall it was still a fun event. Bumblestook handled great, we just couldn't capitalize on her speed. This is going to be her last event on the AP2 tranny. The AP1 tranny arrived and we'll be swapping that in later this month so we can hit 70mph in 2nd gear. Can't wait!

Our fast runs from the NJ ProSolo - 5/9-10/2015

Getting her purdy before the Pro

With only a week left before the NJ Pro, it's important to finally scrub off the grime from last year and make her pretty again. The only problem is that Bumblestook is stored in a location where there's no running water. She's also not street legal so driving her to a car wash is impossible. To keep things simple, I started looking into alternative cleaning options and stumbled upon the Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine. A friend told me about this years ago but I never got around to trying it. You can pick up a 32oz bottle from Amazon for under $18 (good for 32 washes)!

Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine - 5-2-2015

I went over to the Rad's (Tatis Racing) home base so we could clean our race cars. Despite having access to a hose there, I decided to try this method anyway to see if I could get away with cleaning my car at events. The instructions are simple, take one ounce of the cleaner (about a cap full) and add 2 gallons of water in a bucket. In order to not keep washing the car with dirty water, take a bunch of clean microfiber cloths and dump them into the bucket. Taking one cloth at time, fold it into quarters then work on one panel at a time, drying it with a clean dry microfiber cloth as soon as you wipe off the panel. Fold the micro fiber cloth around so that you use a clean portion for each part of a panel you're "washing". Using this method, none of the dirt works it's way back into the bucket. What you're left with is a clean, streak free finish...and yes, no rinsing was required.

Before and after - 5-2-2015

It does a good job. It even got rid of most of the cone marks and bugs that got onto the car. I'd say it's about as clean as it would get if you washed the car with soap, rinsed it, dried it except it takes a lot less time and very little water. No water marks or streaks were left except for swirl marks that unfortunately have been on the black panels of the car for a while now. That will require some proper polishing to get rid off. I had a few hard cone marks that were a bit stubborn. A quick rub with polisher took care of those. I even had enough left in the bucket to wash the Touareg. Finished both vehicles in about one hour taking my sweet time. Put it this way, I got both car clean before Rad was done changing his diff fluid. I'd say it's a success and I look forward to being able to having a clean car before every big event going forward.

Bumblestook and the Egg all cleaned up - 5-2-2015

Only a few days left before the first big event of the year for us. Racing on my home turf and being able to sleep on my own bed is definitely always welcome.