Type R and VTEC owners

Need to make a servicing decision soon.

When I got the car I was adamant that I'd keep the Honda history as it's only had 1 owner before me and always been serviced at the same Dealer.

It's due it's 72.5k service, so plugs, valve clearances, usual oil&filter and I think transmission fluid too - £500 or thereabouts from a Dealer. The indy I've used before, who is excellent and well known for Honda is coming in at £340 for the same.

My past experiences with Honda mean I really don't trust them to do even the basics, plus with the change I'd potentially get the indy to swap over the fuel filter (which looks a complete pain in the ****) ....then again is it worth saving £150 or so to break the otherwise perfect manufacturer history? It's had the roof done under warranty etc so I wouldn't need to worry about that.

I just know that if I was looking for one, full Honda history would make a car stand out, even if I wouldn't necessarily pay much more for it
FN2? My S2000 had that service with the previous owner, was just under £700 from Honda.
 
Just joined the S2000 club after 5 years of it being my dream car, the dream came true on thursday, i have a 55 plate Red s2000, 1 female owner from new all alloys re-furbed and recent new roof with full honda main dealer service history, having come from a 1.6 honda civic sport, which has around 110bhp to this, it actually frightens me.. im taking it very steady around corners until i get used to the power and rear wheel drive :)
 
First thing i have done is clean up the exhaust, never seen one so dirty! i guess women drivers dont care much for cleaning cars!!

Before


During


After


Next up is clay the whole car, get rid of all the swirl marks, polish it, and wax it, was planning on doing it today but the weather is not looking very kind :(
 
FN2? My S2000 had that service with the previous owner, was just under £700 from Honda.

Yeah FN2 - I don't mind paying Honda for the service, it's the only one that will be anywhere near that much in the near future but I can't help but feel I'm spending more to get a poorer service from them that will ultimately do little/nothing for the resale value of the car.

Going by the standard of car that was around when I bought it there doesn't seem to be too many of them that are properly looked after - "Full history" apparently means some bloke down the road has dropped the oil & swapped the filter over to a lot of FN2 owners.
 
The reason I got them.was because the pro kit isn't too low. 25mm lower all round. I wanted to keep the ride height quite similar to stock. Obviously they are progressively wound so will be stiffer when cornering than stock but still very comfortable for day to day use. Perhaps an Eibach spring user can elaborate. Nath? Taken? SoulSurvivor?

All the research I did came up saying you just need to be careful going over large stuff. I can't tell you any more about them really as I never ended up using them.
 
Cheers. I better wait and see if my adjusting bolts are seized or not before deciding on altering suspension. I'm booked in two weeks today, I'll more than likely have them off you if the news is good. The car had a geo setup as part of a service so I'm assuming all is well.
 
The reason I got them.was because the pro kit isn't too low. 25mm lower all round. I wanted to keep the ride height quite similar to stock. Obviously they are progressively wound so will be stiffer when cornering than stock but still very comfortable for day to day use. Perhaps an Eibach spring user can elaborate. Nath? Taken? SoulSurvivor?

All the research I did came up saying you just need to be careful going over large stuff. I can't tell you any more about them really as I never ended up using them.

The Eibachs on the CRZ are very good.

Takes a week or so of daily driving for them to wear in properly as initally they can feel very hard over bumps.

Once worn in they feel the same as OEM, albeit with a slight stiffness.

Body roll is significantly reduced and the car as a whole feels tighter.

However with the S2000 being a performance car to start with I'm unsure if the difference would be a noticeable as the CRZ.

Some food for thought though.
 
Just to add my 2p to the springs vs coilovers debate...and my experience with Meister Rs.

When I bought the MX5 I have now it had Eibach lowering springs on it already, I didnt plan to do anything to the suspension but I didnt like how it handled after a while, and certainly not after driving a car with Meister Rs.

With springs and the standard Bilstein damper it still wallowed and rolled too much, despite being lower, and the rear in particular seemed pretty bouncy and easily unsettled, really confidence sapping. It wasn't much better than a standard car, maybe rolled a little less, but really to me it seemed the looks were improved but handling was not much different.

I expect the original bilstein dampers were far from optimum with the different spring rates that the eibachs had, as well as the reduced travel. The car also scraped everywhere, big speed bumps were genuinely terrible, it would scrape the middle of the car (between the wheels) as it was soft enough to squat down and touch the bump as you went over it. It would never scrape the front splitter or rear though.

I then decided to go for the Meister R coilovers, and they are much better IMO, they have spring rates that are suitable for the road, unlike some coilovers which are way too stiffly spring to be much fun, and the range of adjustment is nice to fine tune the ride, should I desire (I run slightly stiffer settings with the soft as cheese winter tyres than I do with the AD08Rs, but its not something I mess with that often).

I'm not ultimately sure quite how good the Meisters R damping is, compared to Bilstein, H&R, Ohlins and some of the more established/expensive brands, the perceived build quality seems good but I don't think the quality control is as consistent, certainly there has to be a trade off somewhere given the lower cost of the Meister Rs. I know a motorsport team with a damper dyno that has criticised the BC/Meister R coilovers for being somewhat variable when tested, where as Bilstein and Ohlins are a better match with less variation when measured/tested from one set of dampers to the next.

However you are likely to find the Meister R spring rates are much more suited to road use which may make them a better bet overall for a road car, despite the damping perhaps being less good than Ohlins and the like, if you measured them subjectively - I know my old Fiesta ST with H&R Monotube coilovers (costing nearly a grand) handled well on a smooth surface, but the ride was truly horrible, the spring rates were much too high to be much use on a bumpy B road and it would bounce all over the place. The dampers would measure well though I'm sure...

A well matched spring and damper is what you want, even with coilovers....go too stiff on the springs and it'll be crap on the road, even if the damping is great. I think this is why Meister Rs are so popular for road use...the damping is not quite as good if you got them measured and tested on a proper damper dyno, compared to the more expensive options from the 'big names', but the supplied spring rates are lower and thus it makes for overall a better drive on our roads.

As for usability, with the coilovers on my car actually seems to scrape less than it did with just the springs, despite being pretty low...

jNsKTCC.jpg

When you have the front wheels going over the speed bump the car seems to squat less as it drops down the other side, probably a function of the higher spring rates over the springs...so you can be just as low but it doesn't squat as it drops over ramps/speed bumps and bang the bottom of the car...
 
Cheers. I better wait and see if my adjusting bolts are seized or not before deciding on altering suspension. I'm booked in two weeks today, I'll more than likely have them off you if the news is good. The car had a geo setup as part of a service so I'm assuming all is well.

Cool. Well I'm in no rush to sell them so I'll keep them to one side for you anyway man.
 
What is a good EP3 worth?

Seen as moving house soon and will be <10miles from Oulton Park, I am selling the A3 whilst it is still worth £11k and thinking about getting something FUN next. EP3.

Only not sure how much they are worth.

Also on the subject what is the cheapest way (ie don't waste money but don't take shortcuts) of getting to 250/260hp N/A? I want to buy everything once and not have any hassle with manifolds cracking etc, but I don't want to go and spend £1500 on a "Toda" one because it is a "Toda one", ie paying for the name.
A friend of mine is an ace at mapping so that will cost me next to nothing. Also how many hp is the standard backbox good for. I don't want a loud one. I hate the noise the Spoon N1 makes, raspy bee in a can type noise. Eurgh.

I would like a facelift and I don't want leather interior (too hot in the summer). Under 70k miles, no cat-d cars etc.


Thanks
 
The reason I got them.was because the pro kit isn't too low. 25mm lower all round. I wanted to keep the ride height quite similar to stock. Obviously they are progressively wound so will be stiffer when cornering than stock but still very comfortable for day to day use. Perhaps an Eibach spring user can elaborate. Nath? Taken? SoulSurvivor?

Keep in mind that you will add some more stiffness to the ride if you go for polybushing.
 
Also on the subject what is the cheapest way (ie don't waste money but don't take shortcuts) of getting to 250/260hp N/A? I want to buy everything once and not have any hassle with manifolds cracking etc, but I don't want to go and spend £1500 on a "Toda" one because it is a "Toda one", ie paying for the name.

DC manifold, DC mid pipe, OEM backbox, AEM CAI and Kpro. That should get you 240+ bhp.
 
What is a good EP3 worth?

Seen as moving house soon and will be <10miles from Oulton Park, I am selling the A3 whilst it is still worth £11k and thinking about getting something FUN next. EP3.

Only not sure how much they are worth.

Also on the subject what is the cheapest way (ie don't waste money but don't take shortcuts) of getting to 250/260hp N/A? I want to buy everything once and not have any hassle with manifolds cracking etc, but I don't want to go and spend £1500 on a "Toda" one because it is a "Toda one", ie paying for the name.
A friend of mine is an ace at mapping so that will cost me next to nothing. Also how many hp is the standard backbox good for. I don't want a loud one. I hate the noise the Spoon N1 makes, raspy bee in a can type noise. Eurgh.

I would like a facelift and I don't want leather interior (too hot in the summer). Under 70k miles, no cat-d cars etc.


Thanks

Standard backbox is easily good for 280-300 bhp. Japspeed manifold, decat, 2.5" bpipe along with rbc inlet manifold, tegiwa or gruppe M induction kit and a remap should give you around 245ish bhp.

Ecu wise you'll either need a K100 or Kpro :)
 
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