2001 Honda S2000

[Gary71]

Something new has joined the family

My son has bought it as a project, very solid (which is rare!) but superficially tatty.

Plan is to get it tidied up and driving in straight line then see where the mood takes him, either to move it on or keep it as I can’t see it losing any money!

[KS]

Great engines!

[210bhp]

A friend hillclimbs one of these in standard form. Great suspension.


Regards
Mike

[911hillclimber]

They have a great spec as standard.
See several hillclimbing down here too, one well tweeked but driven to and from the events.
Good ones are worth money, and I recon the MX5 will go first.

[Gary71]

Certainly a great candidate for hillclimb under 2.0 class as 247bhp (JDM spec ) is sweet, particularly if some of the unnecessary weight such as electric roof and lumpy seats are dumped out.

Found a bit of rust at the back, but nothing we can’t handle! It looks to have had a little knock under the left rear quarter so I’ve straightened the boot floor and the light mounts today. Unfortunately where it was folded has developed into a rust trap, so a fairly simple fab job is required.

Also noted it’s missing a front bumper beam... £35 on eBay has that sorted luckily.

Radiator looks a bit suspect so that will go.

Plenty to do, and not 100% it’s a keeper yet, but I think you maybe right Graham, once it’s insurable for less than 3k the Mazda will go.

[Gary71]

Did a bit this afternoon to repair the disaster that appeared when we removed the towing eye mount. Thought I’d do this before the corner to get my metal working eye back in.

Had to make a new flange for the boot floor as well as the big plate.



Need to get a can of weld through primer tomorrow and get it welded in.

[911hillclimber]

For these cars is there a known 'List of Weakness'' Just are there is for an early 911?

[Gary71]

For these cars is there a known 'List of Weakness'' Just are there is for an early 911?

Yes, and luckily most of them are fine on this car!

[jtparr]

Gary
Great that the spirit of restoring cars is picked up by your son....

[Gary71]

The boy has had the spanner out again... and I’ve had the saw/angle grinder out...

Rust at the back is all done, rest of the car is just cosmetic so he’s pulled the front wings off and will clean up the underside ready for coat of epoxy and the tinted raptor.





Rear suspension is nearly all off after a day of violence and noise cutting out seized alignment adjusters.




Just need to free the ball joints and the drive shafts today and then it’s ready for cleaning/paint. Having all this out the way will make it easier to clean up and paint the arches.

Might look at dropping the rear subframe out if I get really bored!

Nice to work on something different and with some lovely engineering, even if a smear of grease on those adjuster bolts could have saved a load of problems a few years later!

[911hillclimber]

Nice engineering for sure.
MIG welds on those inner front strengtheners (flitches?) a surprise as a production process.

Saw a beauty at Shelsley today, same colour. Interior was not the same as the exterior!

[Gary71]

It was made in the low volume plant with the NSX and Insight, so I guess the odd MIG weld is ok!

Rear suspension is now all off and ready for cleaning and new bushes:)




I’ve dropped the subframe enough to treat and paint around it. To much other stuff to come off to get it completely off and it’s not worth the trip!

[Gary71]

Well of course it was worth the trip and the rear end is completely stripped!

Down comes the subframe and diff:


Subframe is in really good condition, but cosmetically challenged. I’m going to take it be blasted tomorrow as it’s too complex for manual methods.


I set up a meth lab in the garage, which handily doubles as a spray booth.



All the rear suspension (less one arm I accidentally cut a slot in whilst cutting the bolts out...) caliper carriers etc are now ground back, treated and sprayed in 2K black.




Many of these arms will be getting new rubber bushes, but these are still on the slow boat from Japan, no overnighting parts in this show...




I’ve also completed the back end of the shell and painted it up. Still loads to do underneath and then some coloured Raptor will go on the lower half of this, but done for now.




I’ve found some rot in the back of the LH sill. Nothing major so once all this paint has dried I’ll get on with a bit of cutting and take out that whole area, not just where the hole is.

Not sure what I’ll find underneath, but I’ll tackle that when I find it!

[Gary71]

Subframe now off for powder coating and onto the front...

The boy stripped it down this afternoon after work and he found a number of unicorns whilst he was at it...

Front suspension caster adjusters that were not seized!

This is the Honda S2000 equivalent of kidney bowls that aren’t crunchy or heat exchangers where all the bolts come off first time

You can see they are corroded, but not stuck

So what could have been a three day strip down he did in 2 hours

[Gary71]

I’m now entering more familiar territory, rusty sills.

What looked like absolutely nothing with no visible holes or crunchy bits turns out to be a bit Swiss cheese once you push a wire wheel over it.



Did some cutting:


Then realised that it goes a bit further than that and is really thin behind the grommet hole...

Luckily all the structure is in really good condition other than that very lower panel.

However I’m going to extend the repair yet further into the end of this panel and where it overlaps the next as that looks a bit crispy for my liking.



The fabrication is really simple, but there is some upside down welding to come which I just love.