Here is the GT Motoring / Challenge Time Attack S2000
I am gonna try and document this as well as I can being that so much happened during the 2 weeks this car was put together. I will probably forget to mention a bunch of stuff, but here goes:
We picked this car up last Fall with a blown motor. It suffered from the common problem where the spark plug breaks and drops into the motor. Perfect candidate for a race car.
We trailered the car back to the shop and it sat for about a month. Then the top was removed and given to a customer with a ripped top.
Then we decided it was time to get the motor out and strip the car of everything we weren’t going to need anymore.
The car had just over 100k on it so while the car was on the lift for the motor removal we swapped lower mileage AP2 front and rear sub frames along with all the control arms, knuckles and bushings. An AP2 rear differential with a GT Motoring 4.44 Final Drive and J’s Racing Magnetic Drain Plug we also installed along with AP2 Axles.
The car was then put in the corner of the shop and set on jack stands. It sat like this untouched until about 3 weeks ago when we decided it was time to get it ready for Round 3 of the Redline Time Attack at Autobahn CC.
An AP2 long block was sourced online and we had it shipped to the shop. When it arrived it was stripped of everything we were not going to need. The AC pump, secondary air injection parts, OEM clutch and flywheel were all removed. The coolant lines were also rerouted at this time because the car was not going to have heat. One of the pulleys and coolant lines on the front of the motor was also bent from the accident the donor car was in so that was replaced as well.
The interior of the car was prepped and painted battleship gray. List of things removed from the interior:
- Blower motor
- Heater core
- Cruise control attachment on gas pedal
- Soft top
- Roll hoops
- SRS module and all related wiring
- All unnecessary wiring
- All unnecessary brackets relating to roll hoops
- Carpet
- Rear plastics
- Airbags
- Audio and all related wiring
- Rear trunk interior
- Sound deadening
- Glove box
The engine bay was prepped for a new motor to be put in. List of things removed in engine bay:
- Coolant lines for heater core
- Cruise Control box
- Battery Tray
- AC Lines
- AC Fan
- Secondary Air Pump and vacuum lines
- Header heat shield
- Windshield washer tank
A list of parts was made that were going to be necessary to complete the car. Here is that list:
- Brake Master Cylinder
- Clutch Master Cylinder
- Clutch Slave Cylinder
- Brake Line X
- Front Outer Tie Rods
- Valve Cover Gasket Set
- Front Brake Rotors
- Rear Brake Rotors
- Cobalt Front Brake Pads
- Cobalt Rear Brake Pads
- Willans 6 Point Harness’
- OMP Hans Device
- ACT Stage 2 Clutch
- ACT Lightweight Flywheel
- Throw Out Bearing
- Pilot Bearing
- ATE Superblue Brake Fluid
- Berk High Flow Cat
- (4) Volk CE28 White Time Attack 17″x9″ +35
- (4) Bridgestone RE-11 255/40/17
- Hard Dog Roll Bar
- Braille Lightweight Battery
- Honda Oil Filter
- 5W30 Mobil One Oil
- Redline Trans Fluid
- Redline Differential Fluid
- Honda Coolant
- Samco Radiator Hoses
- K&N FIPK Intake
- Spark Plugs
- Spoon AC Delete Belt
Parts that we had from the old AP2 Time Attack car and other parts that were laying around were also gathered to be installed:
- Amuse R1 Front Bumper
- Amuse Header
- Amuse Exhaust
- Challenge Secondary Air Pump Delete Kit
- Challenge Aluminum Full Coilovers w/ 12k rates all around
- GT Motoring Front Tow Hook
- GT Motoring CF Single Exhaust Cap
- GT Motoring FRP Trunk Spoiler
- Spoon Steering Wheel w/ NSX Horn Button
- Splash Steering Hub
- Zoom CF Rear View Mirror
- M Racing CF Side Mirrors
- Mishimoto Aluminum Radiator
- Racing Gear Stainless Steel Brake Lines
- Custom Black AP2 Valve Cover
- Greg’s Favorite Shift Knob
- J’s Racing Baffled Oil Pan
- J’s Racing Front Roll Center Adjusters
- AP1 Front Sway Bar
- AP1 Steering Rack
- AP1 ECU
- OEM Hardtop
- Endura Tech CF Hood Dampers
- (2) Recaro Pole Position Seats
After the interior was painted the Challenge coilovers were installed and we used Mike’s RPF1’s from his RSX to roll the car over to the lift. Before the car was put on the lift the dash and anything else needed in the interior was installed minus the harness’, roll bar, door panels and seats.
The car was then put on the lift and the front sub frame was removed and placed onto 6 jack stands waiting for the motor to be put on.
Before the motor could be put in the car I installed the new clutch and flywheel and mated the AP1 transmission to the AP2 long block. The AP2 propeller shaft hub was also put on the AP1 trans so we could use an AP2 propeller shaft with no problem. I also installed some of the other new parts from Honda that would be easier to do with the motor out. Like the new master cylinders and such.
The motor was then lifted onto the sub frame and bolted down.
The car was then lowered down and around the motor and the sub frame was bolted to the car, along with the rear trans mount to the car.
The motor was then plugged in and hooked up. At this time I installed the J’s Racing Oil Pan because the motor was in the air and I figured it would be easier this way. The black valve cover was also installed now because I did not want to risk scratching it while installing the motor from the bottom. The header, high flow cat and exhaust were installed along with the radiator and battery. The motor was then filled with coolant and oil. It was ready to be started and it fired up first try! Only had a few codes. Some misfire codes which I think were from the previous motor since we were using the original ECU and the secondary air pump codes because I had not yet installed the electronic box that came with the challenge air pump delete kit. I cleared the codes and installed the rest of the Challenge kit and the car started up again just fine and ran with zero codes. So I bled the coolant system and shut the car down, then the top hose popped off cause I forgot to tighten the clamp when I filled the block with coolant. AHH! At least no one was hurt! Just needed to re-bleed the coolant, which sucks on the S2000, even worse when it has a heater core!
By this time it was Monday night and we realized the new Challenge CF Fenders, GT Wing and Headlight Block Offs were not going to be here in time so we needed to figure out another option for fenders and headlights. I took the fenders off of my Black S2000 and the headlights from Jae’s S2000. The fenders, GT Motoring FRP Spoiler, OEM Hardtop, Amuse R1 Front Bumper, OEM Hood were all dropped off at A&L to get painted. The whole front end was going to be done Grand Prix White, the spoiler was being done New Formula Red and the hardtop was being painted Berlina Black. We told them we needed them all painted in 24 hours, and the next night they were ready to be picked up. HUGE thanks to A&L for that!
While all of the body parts were off getting painted Greg rolled and pulled the rear fenders to accommodate the 17×9 +35 Volks and the 255/40/17 RE-11’s which are basically 265’s! I finished a lot of small things on the car that needed to be done like making sure everything was torqued to spec with the suspension and newer control arms and installed the propeller shaft. I also installed the Hard Dog Roll Bar.
Fitment before fender work:
Fitment after fender work:
That night Greg went and picked up all of the body parts and when he got back we started to fit them on the car.
The next day we finished everything that would be easier to do while the car was on the lift. While I did this Greg and Samad went to register the car so we had plates and could drive the car on the street. It is also a requirement for street class. I bolted the fenders down and installed the front bumper. Then I set the ride height for the front and rear now that we had the fenders on the car. The car was then ready to be taken off the lift. I pulled it out and drove it around the building. Drove pretty awkward because the alignment was WAY off because of all the new parts installed. The seat was not bolted down either haha!
Pulled the car back into the shop and finished up the interior while Greg and Samad got to work on the vinyl for the car. I installed the Spoon steering wheel, both 6 point harness’, and both Recaros (which I ended up just taking from my S2000 because the rails were already set up and it would save time.) The hardtop was also put on the car. I wanted the car to be ready to be driven to alignment first thing the next morning. Greg and I stayed pretty late that night. He finished up the large vinyl on both sides of the car while I finished the interior and making sure all the body panels were bolted down. I left around 4am and Greg stayed a bit later cause he was off to Indiana the next day so he would not be at the shop Thursday or Friday.
Thursday I got to the shop and finished up a couple things and took off to get an alignment. I went to a tire shop 2 minutes from GT Motoring who said they have done many spec miatas and other race cars. They would not align the car because it was ‘too low’. They had previously scratched a set of Mugen rims and they did not want to ruin the car even though I told them everything would be fine as long as we had a couple of 2×4’s. He would not change his mind. So off I went to another tire shop that was about 15 minutes away from the shop where I have had over 50 lowered customers cars aligned, so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem. I got there and their lower alignment rack was out of service so they did not want to risk putting the car on the taller rack. I ended up having to drive another 30 minutes to another alignment shop that has lower alignment racks and they were able to get me in pretty fast because I called ahead to make sure they would have no problem doing it. They were very busy but got me taken care of pretty quickly. But by this time I had already wasted away about 5 hours and still needed to drive the 45 minutes back to the shop. So off I went. The car drove AWESOME and felt great. When I got back to the shop I finished up a couple small things I noticed while driving the car and the car was good to go. I also bled the brakes once more and got a large air bubble out of one of the rear calipers. The brakes felt way better after this. The clutch was also re-bled for good measure. I put over 60 miles on it just getting an alignment, crazy! Atleast the car ran good and drove smoothly, no major problems!
The rest of the day was spent working on getting Mikes RSX ready for the Time Attack and we didn’t leave the shop that night until after 4am.
As you can see this was a pretty hectic build to get done in basically 3 weeks start to finish, which was actually more like 2 weeks when most of it was done.
Be sure to check out the GT Motoring Gallery for more pics: CLICK!
Big thanks for all the help (and understanding) during the hectic two weeks goes out to:
Samad (doing it for the kids)
Mike
Dan
Rachel
Tanya
LeeAnne
Amuse
A&L
Bridgestone
Urmil (keeps us cool!)
Ahad (brake line saver!)
Brandon
Slow Jaewoo
