Author Archives: bowtie6

Upstate S2000 Meet & Eat

Turns out there is quite an awesome community of fellow S2000 enthusiasts here in the Upstate of South Carolina.

Last night was Meet & Eat at a local restaurant and I joined in. What a great group of folks! There was plenty of really good S2K talk. Made a few new friends and I hope to be able to attend future meetings. Six S2K’s were present, that is mine on the extreme left. Andy even had a really cool Lotus but his better half was not exactly thrilled with it – she said it was much to harsh!

At any rate, I had a really nice time and sure look forward to the next meeting. Thank you all!!

How Much Does a Honda S2000 Weigh?

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So really, how much does a Honda S2000 weight? Since we still had the scales available, I thought I’d find out. First though, I went to the service station and topped off the tank. I wanted to see how much it would weigh in with a full tank of fuel. Take a look…

Before we get started, for those of you that have never seen scales like these before, let me explain how to read the data. Four scales are placed on an even floor. The car is then lifted with a jack, each scale is placed under each tire and the car is lowered back on the scales with the total weight of the car resting on all four scales. The control panel shown below has push-buttons (the gray LF, RF, LR, RR ones) with green LED’s next to them. This way you can toggle each scale on/off.

Starting off with rear and then front (see the green LED’s? )…

Ah, but here is the real surprise (note all four green LED’s are “on”):

So there. How ‘but them apples? I’ve read the S2K weighs in at 2800 lbs, but 2765 lbs is even better!! And remember this is a bone stock AP1 2003 S2000 with a full tank of gas. Of course my fat ass wasn’t in the car when we put it on the scales, but still… This is pretty cool for a modern production automobile…

Update:

This is one of the most popular pages on this blog. This information is not exactly readily available to the general public on the web and that is why I decided to take these pictures and write about the total weight distribution of my totally stock, low-mileage 2003 S2000.

For the naysayers of the data posted here, I have the following comments:

The numbers listed in these pictures are accurate and obtained with the S2K resting on all four tires on all four Longacre scales. That means, one scale under each tire. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Many folks doubt the validity of these numbers. I suppose one could take the easy way out and simply go with the attitude of “Go by the manufacturer’s weight as given on the side of the driver’s door”. Fair enough, but what’s the point? I wanted to know how much my car weighs, I have the tools to weigh it, and so I did.
Finally, and most important: I have my own strong opinions about the things I write about (otherwise, what’s the point?) but in no way do I post inaccurate or misleading facts.

It is up to you – the reader – to make up your own mind about these numbers. Want to believe the door sticker? Fine – limit yourself and drink the CoolAid. However, for me the scales show the true weight of my car.

How Much Does a TR6 Weigh?

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I’ll ask again, how much does a TR6 weigh?

This has been a question in my mind ever since we fitted the new frame and engine to bowtie6. Well today I finally was able to find out. The result was a great surprise.

Along with a full tank of fuel and the hard top in place we took our first set of numbers. The following pictures show front and rear total weights.

Here is the total:

Not too bad – 2,222 lbs and a 48.2% front / 51.7% rear bias.

We were curious about the weight of the factory hard top. Well I can conclusively state the Triumph factory hard top weighs in at about 65 lbs. Granted mine has had a few changes done. I have added a layer of Dynamat Extreme inside however, I removed all the chrome trim. So at the end of the day, I guess this would be about equal.

Here is the total without the hard top in place:

With the hard top removed, total weight is 2,158 lbs and a 49.3% front / 50.6% rear.

Next thing I need to do is put bowtie6 on a dyno and measure just how much horsepower we are putting down on the pavement. In stock form, the 2.4 Ecotec in a Solstice/Sky produces 177 hp. That is using the restrictive factory exhaust and the factory tune which is optimized for economy. In bowtie6‘s case, we have tuned the PCM to produce power at the expense of economy (duh!), so we are far above from the stock value. How much? That we need to find out.

Regardless, this is all quite impressive. It would have been nice to be closer to 2000lbs but 2,158 is not shabby at all. I guess I should not have used all that Dynamat! 🙂

Oh and I found a prior post I had made regarding how much my cousin Jim’s TR4 weighs – to read that post CLICK HERE.

Maintenance on the S2000

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My S2000 was made in 2003 and checking the maintenance records at the dealership showed there has never been any maintenance done on this car. It still has all the original fluids and this is not good. So this weekend I finally had the time to get the whole thing done.

So I got started gathering all the pieces parts. First was a visit to the local Honda dealership where I purchased an OEM oil filter. After reading numerous threads on the various S2000 forums, the consensus is to run the Honda sourced oil filter. The filter is of good quality and reasonably priced. While I was there, I picked up a collection of crush washers which must be replaced on all drain bolts.

I’ve never owned a Honda before so there are a few things to learn! I was told by a good friend (who has owned Hondas) that it is crucial to replace these crush washers used on all bolts. There is one in the motor oil drain bolt, two in the differential bolts and two in the transmission bolts. Two on each of the last because one is for the drain and one is for the fill bolt.

While at the Honda dealership, I picked up a couple of quarts of manual transmission fluid. The consensus at the forums is to use the original Honda brand stuff – so there again I followed suit. For the engine oil, I used Mobil1 5w-30 and likewise Mobil1 75-90 synthetic differential gear oil.

Next was lifting the car up and putting jack stands under it – no problem there. There is a special pad on the front where one can use a jack to lift the car and on the rear you pick it up by placing the jack under the differential. With four jack stands underneath it, it is easy to find the drain bolts.

Changing all fluids is not rocket science however I did find something interesting about the crush washers. They are made of soft aluminium and tend to take shape when one tightens its matching bolt to the correct torque. This is all to ensure a tight seal and prevent any leaks. It was interesting though, when one first starts to take the bolt out one has to apply a bit of force to “break” it. It follows with a loud “pop” and then comes out very easily. Now I see why re-using the crush washers is not such a good idea.

There are two other things still left to do: I need to drain and replace the engine coolant and also need to replace the brake fluid. Didn’t get that far this weekend, but hopefully that will all be replaced shortly.

The S2000 – An Awesome Ride!!

the bowtie6 blog

For this Triumph TR6, the road goes on forever and the party never ends…