HONDA S2000 Build Part 1

**The Art of Suspension Modifying**

One of the most popular modifications for Honda S2000 owners is to upgrade their suspension system. While the car's original setup handles amazingly well, some enthusiasts want to add an extra layer of performance and style to their ride. In this episode of Mighty Car Mods, we'll explore the process of modifying our S2000's suspension with aftermarket springs.

We've chosen to go with springs as our suspension upgrade, rather than coilovers. While coilovers offer adjustability in terms of height and damping, they can be costly, with a decent set running upwards of $2,000. Springs, on the other hand, are a more affordable option, with prices starting at around $500. This drop will provide us with a noticeable reduction in ride height, while also maintaining good drivability and minimizing noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH).

To begin, we'll need to remove our factory struts and replace them with the aftermarket springs. We've chosen a three-centimeter drop, which should give us a decent amount of lowering without compromising too much on ride quality. Once we have the new springs installed, we can test fit them to ensure they sit properly on our suspension geometry.

**Test Fitting the Springs**

Our first step is to test fit the spring to make sure it sits correctly and doesn't interfere with any other components on our suspension setup. We're careful to position the spring in a way that ensures proper alignment with the control arm, while also making sure it's securely attached to the shock absorber.

As we work, Benny and I are having a bit of fun at each other's expense. He's not impressed with my string-changing technique, but he's happy to let me take the lead on this part of the job. We've learned through experience that aftermarket fiberglass body parts often require a bit more persuasion to fit properly, so we're making sure everything is secure and in place.

**Rear Suspension Modifying**

Moving on to the rear suspension, things are a bit trickier due to the location of the fuel filler neck. Benny is right – it's a bit of a pain in the ass! We've managed to access the shock absorber by removing some extra parts, but I'm not sure how common that setup is on other cars.

As we work our way around the suspension, we're careful not to damage any surrounding components or interfere with the fuel lines. It's a delicate process, but one that's essential for getting everything working smoothly and safely. We've learned through experience that proper modification techniques are key to avoiding common pitfalls like damaged body panels or compromised safety features.

**Reassembling the Rear Suspension**

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, we're ready to reassemble the rear suspension with our new springs. It's a bit of a challenge due to the tight spaces and limited access, but we've managed to get everything fitted together without any major issues.

With the springs installed and secured, we can now put the fuel filler neck back in place and test fit the wheels to ensure they're all lined up properly. This is the final step before we can consider our suspension modification complete – and judging by what I'm seeing so far, it's going to be a real beauty.

**The Finished Product**

As we put the finishing touches on our suspension modification, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and satisfaction. It's been a long day, but the end result is well worth it. The car looks and handles better than ever before, with a noticeable reduction in ride height that's sure to turn heads.

Of course, this is just the beginning – there are still plenty of other mods to tackle and upgrades to consider. But for now, we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. We've learned a lot through this process, from the importance of proper testing and fitting to the value of taking your time when working with complex suspension systems.

If you're considering modifying your own car's suspension system, be sure to check out our detailed videos on changing speakers, installing head units, installing lowered springs, and installing coilovers. These mods are all relatively straightforward and can make a big difference in the way your car handles and performs on the road.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enin this episode of Marty kaan mods we're starting work on the Honda welcome to another episode of mighty car mods proudly supported by US car insurance now the time has come to do a bit more work on the Honda and all of you have been waiting but working on the Honda's like BTech it takes a very long time until anything actually happens and we were the same so we're just embodying that technology now as I said when I first bought the car there are a lot of things about the car that are very awesome and a lot of people that buy them just leave them stock because they're fast they low they handle well they're like they're really really good cars are a lot of people the purists anyway they like don't want to change things but I have had the car long enough now that I do want to change some things plus we've got some very very exciting plans for the car something very special that we'll be announcing soon that we're doing in conjunction with just our insurance but for today I'm down here there's no money here of course no surprises he's off with his mx-5 mates again they're having a picnic somewhere but I do have a couple of special guests that are coming to help me with the car we got lots of stuff to do so come with me on this magical journey of discovery because it's going to be an amazing day for the last year of owning this car it has been awesome but now it's time to start the mods starting with some of the basics like a stereo that actually worked would be nice so one of the things we say to anyone who's modifying their car and they're like I want to do things and make it better as we say check out some handling some suspension and make the stereo awesome start something that you'll actually look forward to driving now the stereo and this has been absolutely rubbish the install as you can see been absolutely rubbish but we have miles from the Mighty Car Mods forum who has generously donated his time Ally mate Hado mate I'm good and we don't know an install today yes now before we have a look at the cool stuff that we've got over there I just wanted to get your opinion on because you've been stalled on Ferraris and Lamborghinis none also - like supercars and Mauthausen and you've done this professionally what do you think of the quality of this and then this particular this particular install here I mean look at this this is just held on with it looks like chewing gum and in the tweet I mean I've never seen that kind of a Twitter install before there's Oh oops Oh oh I mean do you ever see that professionally that kind of quality no do you even see the homemade MCM is doing it such in a rubbish fashion like that no no no so what's the plan what are we gonna do we'll fix that for one fix that microphone probably change the head unit yeah and the speakers will check the wiring there's already an amp in the boot so we're gonna check the warrant see if that's okay if not we'll tear it out put some new stuff in I do believe that you and Marty went to super cheap and got some mad stuff we did we did time to get some parts and in this case yes it will fit is Honda so stereo bits yeah wiring yes so it picked a few things off the board that we think will work splits a head unit one that we can hopefully do our steering wheel remote with and then gonna try and look at a sub but we also need whirring so important key yeah yeah yeah so wiring life is wise and what we want something so we don't need any sort of adapters or anything on we're going old school there's also a few other bits and pieces that we need for a place like wiper blades and pockets having a car stereo that works n sounds good should be on the muster list for anybody that's into modifying their street car and it can be surprisingly cost-effective yes we've got some splits we've got and um oh good let me just show you what's in there currently and and the quality install continues back here with this so this here I mean this is like it's just it's not attached at all it looks like it's had some kind of double-sided tape that's not stuck to anything just velcro and again a bit of a rubbish in store and it's really an old school so we get rid of that we put in some new stuff and that's the first part of our Honda makeover so let's get to it man so when we did our battle with the mx-5 and miles helped with the odd the NOS install our the electrical side of things this was just done because we didn't have a whole lot of time before the race but obviously there's a cleaner way of doing this there's all sorts of cool stuff that we can do like you might have seen what miles did with Gramps cool controls on here different things that you could use to control this but for now this stuff's going to come off because there's a heaps cleaner way that we can do that and we just want to kind of get rid of all of these bits and pieces so that we've got a cleaner workplace to to do the stereo and then we can sort out this stuff later on the door panels are coming off so can inspect the previous owners wiring plus see why the speaker's aren't working are those wires hanging off yeah they are so that explains why that wasn't working for starters why wasn't someone just twisted this together and I'm no solder nothing no solder the speaker out ah okay well that explains why that one was working you know the other thing I was thinking is well though that because this head unit here is actually working with all the factory controls which is really cool and that could be a bit of a mission with another one so I reckon if we test it and this is working and it's fine I reckon let's not make it hard for us so let's leave that in there test the wiring and then solder a proper new speakers get rid of this fun thing and then we investigators sub in the hood that way we're just replacing the speakers yeah check the power check the wire and then we can move on sanding pad sure the amp already in the car needs to go and we need to replace the wiring but before that and exciting delivery has just arrived wheels awesome gonna be epic good look at that be loving the Honda yet dominar out pump the mx-5 last week it's good because it's going oh man come on choosing the right set of wheels for your car is like choosing the right set of shoes for your feet and then everyone on the internet can argue about whether they like them or not but I think these are going to be perfect so excited right now nodding in approval nods of approval Benny nods of approval my favorite everyone that needs them don't know do you say do you say they're your favorite where are you taking him dude don't put it on your staff here come on man Jenny Scottie who helped me with my nitrous install also has the same wheels on a Subaru drag car so they must be good okay we've got the wheels and now it's time to go and get them wrapped in some rubber and balanced up at the tire shop which is just around the corner then it's back to Ichiban to finish off the speakers in wiring because we've got more deliveries that are due at evenings while we working on the wiring we've got a 3d printer that's building a test piece for some custom parts that we'll be using later in the build the existing head unit is working perfectly with all of the cars factory controls so we've decided to leave that in which is gonna save us some time and now we finish the speakers and tweeters so the door trims can go back on next it's time to remove the final stripe and take the car back to a clean skin which reveals my secret weapon they're hidden chopped fingers a must for any car that's going to the drag meanwhile our test faces finished on the printer successfully and with that it's time they get on the hoist and remove the wheels and we've just had another delivery time to get down we're lifting up the car so we can swap out the springs if this is anything like an mx-5 is it going to be a pain in the ass to get these yeah that's not going to be fun why is that Ben because it's a double-a arm suspension you've got to sort of manipulate the strut it out and more often or not because the springs are pretty large they're gonna get caught on the top arm or sway bar links and all sorts of stuffs just gonna get caught up is this your first time working on a Honda yes and last and we've had another delivery now when it comes to lowering your car obviously you've got a couple of options and that is either lowered Springs or lowering springs as they call them in some countries or coilovers now we've done both but most of the time we've done coil overs because we want some adjustability in terms of the height and the damping and things like that but in terms of cost-effectiveness the Honda s2000 anyone who owns one or anyone who knows they already handle awesomely you know like I've said they've got good power straight out of the box they're great cars and a lot of people don't modify them for that reason and the people who do modify them absolutely go to town now it already feels great and we're not trying to fix anything with the suspension but we just want a bit more of an aggressive look so we've chosen to go with Springs now also the other thing that's worth mentioning is when you're getting coilovers a decent set can cost a couple of thousand dollars and then there's a set up and whatever as the springs you can get these for a few hundred dollars and it'll give us a drop plus will remain some good drivability without too much noise vibration harshness all that other stuff that a lot of people complain about when they do swap the coil overs so it's just a matter now of taking the springs of the factory struts and we should get around a three centimeter drop approximately but obviously we'll see once they're on there so let's get to it we're test fitting the spring to make sure it sits properly and we're all gone so I'm gonna do the other side while mal starts test fitting our aftermarket bar the Bennie's is laughing at my string changing technique and his actual line is you're not a mechanic you'll be fine and the funny thing is is that's entirely accurate when you're working with aftermarket fiberglass body parts they often need a bit of persuasion to fit and our front bar is no exception if you want to just bolt parts on and have a perfect fit usually genuine factory parts are the way to go but they can cost up to 20 times as much as aftermarket fiberglass so it all depends on the look you're going for and of course your budget Fontbonne needs a little bit of extra met sizing which miles is messing with an angry blind idea how we looking yeah are we getting a close up so we need to be well when we get these Grand Canyon of the gaps out of D we close up at the moment no we finish the suspension on the front and now we're moving to the rear this side was easy just two bolts up top one down the bottom and out it came on this side though there's a whole lot of fuel lines and stuff above it so it is um it is a pain in the ass but I just checked a Honda forum and learn what to do so go forums go internet something like that how you going off how's our awesome pickling on a front bar factory Pittman with a with an angle grinder excellent to access the struck on the other side I've got to remove some extra stuff and Benny is not happy about it so Benny we need to pull this whole fuel filler off just to get to the stroke have you seen that on any car ever before no is that how does it make you feel in all honesty it's just seems like design laziness really afterthought it's like I will put all those struts in then ah hang on we got to put fuel in somewhere let's just smash it in there that won't ever get in the way well certainly not like that on the are Subarus is it Benny no it's not like that on listens I don't have you decided this is what we can't have nice things changing this rear spring took longer than the other three corners combined but finally it's almost done all right so the springs are in which means we can put the fuel filler neck back on then we're gonna drop it down and test fit the wheels and that's about all we've got time for today and I'll hopefully next time around here Marty might come and visit us with some of his mx-5 mates never know we're lucky and like the Honda miles doesn't mind it he's growing less fond of it by the day oh really yeah and then finally mechanical stick has had enough Honda falls down that is God he literally did not come back so miles and I finished off the springs and then threw on the new rims to check the fit me if you want more information on how to do any of the mods in this episode we've done detailed videos on changing speakers installing head units installing lowered springs and installing coil overs which you can check out on our channel the moment of truth the car is coming down the springs will settle over the next few days and drop even further but it's already looking awesome we got so much stuff done today but there's so much more to do next time on Mighty Car Modsin this episode of Marty kaan mods we're starting work on the Honda welcome to another episode of mighty car mods proudly supported by US car insurance now the time has come to do a bit more work on the Honda and all of you have been waiting but working on the Honda's like BTech it takes a very long time until anything actually happens and we were the same so we're just embodying that technology now as I said when I first bought the car there are a lot of things about the car that are very awesome and a lot of people that buy them just leave them stock because they're fast they low they handle well they're like they're really really good cars are a lot of people the purists anyway they like don't want to change things but I have had the car long enough now that I do want to change some things plus we've got some very very exciting plans for the car something very special that we'll be announcing soon that we're doing in conjunction with just our insurance but for today I'm down here there's no money here of course no surprises he's off with his mx-5 mates again they're having a picnic somewhere but I do have a couple of special guests that are coming to help me with the car we got lots of stuff to do so come with me on this magical journey of discovery because it's going to be an amazing day for the last year of owning this car it has been awesome but now it's time to start the mods starting with some of the basics like a stereo that actually worked would be nice so one of the things we say to anyone who's modifying their car and they're like I want to do things and make it better as we say check out some handling some suspension and make the stereo awesome start something that you'll actually look forward to driving now the stereo and this has been absolutely rubbish the install as you can see been absolutely rubbish but we have miles from the Mighty Car Mods forum who has generously donated his time Ally mate Hado mate I'm good and we don't know an install today yes now before we have a look at the cool stuff that we've got over there I just wanted to get your opinion on because you've been stalled on Ferraris and Lamborghinis none also - like supercars and Mauthausen and you've done this professionally what do you think of the quality of this and then this particular this particular install here I mean look at this this is just held on with it looks like chewing gum and in the tweet I mean I've never seen that kind of a Twitter install before there's Oh oops Oh oh I mean do you ever see that professionally that kind of quality no do you even see the homemade MCM is doing it such in a rubbish fashion like that no no no so what's the plan what are we gonna do we'll fix that for one fix that microphone probably change the head unit yeah and the speakers will check the wiring there's already an amp in the boot so we're gonna check the warrant see if that's okay if not we'll tear it out put some new stuff in I do believe that you and Marty went to super cheap and got some mad stuff we did we did time to get some parts and in this case yes it will fit is Honda so stereo bits yeah wiring yes so it picked a few things off the board that we think will work splits a head unit one that we can hopefully do our steering wheel remote with and then gonna try and look at a sub but we also need whirring so important key yeah yeah yeah so wiring life is wise and what we want something so we don't need any sort of adapters or anything on we're going old school there's also a few other bits and pieces that we need for a place like wiper blades and pockets having a car stereo that works n sounds good should be on the muster list for anybody that's into modifying their street car and it can be surprisingly cost-effective yes we've got some splits we've got and um oh good let me just show you what's in there currently and and the quality install continues back here with this so this here I mean this is like it's just it's not attached at all it looks like it's had some kind of double-sided tape that's not stuck to anything just velcro and again a bit of a rubbish in store and it's really an old school so we get rid of that we put in some new stuff and that's the first part of our Honda makeover so let's get to it man so when we did our battle with the mx-5 and miles helped with the odd the NOS install our the electrical side of things this was just done because we didn't have a whole lot of time before the race but obviously there's a cleaner way of doing this there's all sorts of cool stuff that we can do like you might have seen what miles did with Gramps cool controls on here different things that you could use to control this but for now this stuff's going to come off because there's a heaps cleaner way that we can do that and we just want to kind of get rid of all of these bits and pieces so that we've got a cleaner workplace to to do the stereo and then we can sort out this stuff later on the door panels are coming off so can inspect the previous owners wiring plus see why the speaker's aren't working are those wires hanging off yeah they are so that explains why that wasn't working for starters why wasn't someone just twisted this together and I'm no solder nothing no solder the speaker out ah okay well that explains why that one was working you know the other thing I was thinking is well though that because this head unit here is actually working with all the factory controls which is really cool and that could be a bit of a mission with another one so I reckon if we test it and this is working and it's fine I reckon let's not make it hard for us so let's leave that in there test the wiring and then solder a proper new speakers get rid of this fun thing and then we investigators sub in the hood that way we're just replacing the speakers yeah check the power check the wire and then we can move on sanding pad sure the amp already in the car needs to go and we need to replace the wiring but before that and exciting delivery has just arrived wheels awesome gonna be epic good look at that be loving the Honda yet dominar out pump the mx-5 last week it's good because it's going oh man come on choosing the right set of wheels for your car is like choosing the right set of shoes for your feet and then everyone on the internet can argue about whether they like them or not but I think these are going to be perfect so excited right now nodding in approval nods of approval Benny nods of approval my favorite everyone that needs them don't know do you say do you say they're your favorite where are you taking him dude don't put it on your staff here come on man Jenny Scottie who helped me with my nitrous install also has the same wheels on a Subaru drag car so they must be good okay we've got the wheels and now it's time to go and get them wrapped in some rubber and balanced up at the tire shop which is just around the corner then it's back to Ichiban to finish off the speakers in wiring because we've got more deliveries that are due at evenings while we working on the wiring we've got a 3d printer that's building a test piece for some custom parts that we'll be using later in the build the existing head unit is working perfectly with all of the cars factory controls so we've decided to leave that in which is gonna save us some time and now we finish the speakers and tweeters so the door trims can go back on next it's time to remove the final stripe and take the car back to a clean skin which reveals my secret weapon they're hidden chopped fingers a must for any car that's going to the drag meanwhile our test faces finished on the printer successfully and with that it's time they get on the hoist and remove the wheels and we've just had another delivery time to get down we're lifting up the car so we can swap out the springs if this is anything like an mx-5 is it going to be a pain in the ass to get these yeah that's not going to be fun why is that Ben because it's a double-a arm suspension you've got to sort of manipulate the strut it out and more often or not because the springs are pretty large they're gonna get caught on the top arm or sway bar links and all sorts of stuffs just gonna get caught up is this your first time working on a Honda yes and last and we've had another delivery now when it comes to lowering your car obviously you've got a couple of options and that is either lowered Springs or lowering springs as they call them in some countries or coilovers now we've done both but most of the time we've done coil overs because we want some adjustability in terms of the height and the damping and things like that but in terms of cost-effectiveness the Honda s2000 anyone who owns one or anyone who knows they already handle awesomely you know like I've said they've got good power straight out of the box they're great cars and a lot of people don't modify them for that reason and the people who do modify them absolutely go to town now it already feels great and we're not trying to fix anything with the suspension but we just want a bit more of an aggressive look so we've chosen to go with Springs now also the other thing that's worth mentioning is when you're getting coilovers a decent set can cost a couple of thousand dollars and then there's a set up and whatever as the springs you can get these for a few hundred dollars and it'll give us a drop plus will remain some good drivability without too much noise vibration harshness all that other stuff that a lot of people complain about when they do swap the coil overs so it's just a matter now of taking the springs of the factory struts and we should get around a three centimeter drop approximately but obviously we'll see once they're on there so let's get to it we're test fitting the spring to make sure it sits properly and we're all gone so I'm gonna do the other side while mal starts test fitting our aftermarket bar the Bennie's is laughing at my string changing technique and his actual line is you're not a mechanic you'll be fine and the funny thing is is that's entirely accurate when you're working with aftermarket fiberglass body parts they often need a bit of persuasion to fit and our front bar is no exception if you want to just bolt parts on and have a perfect fit usually genuine factory parts are the way to go but they can cost up to 20 times as much as aftermarket fiberglass so it all depends on the look you're going for and of course your budget Fontbonne needs a little bit of extra met sizing which miles is messing with an angry blind idea how we looking yeah are we getting a close up so we need to be well when we get these Grand Canyon of the gaps out of D we close up at the moment no we finish the suspension on the front and now we're moving to the rear this side was easy just two bolts up top one down the bottom and out it came on this side though there's a whole lot of fuel lines and stuff above it so it is um it is a pain in the ass but I just checked a Honda forum and learn what to do so go forums go internet something like that how you going off how's our awesome pickling on a front bar factory Pittman with a with an angle grinder excellent to access the struck on the other side I've got to remove some extra stuff and Benny is not happy about it so Benny we need to pull this whole fuel filler off just to get to the stroke have you seen that on any car ever before no is that how does it make you feel in all honesty it's just seems like design laziness really afterthought it's like I will put all those struts in then ah hang on we got to put fuel in somewhere let's just smash it in there that won't ever get in the way well certainly not like that on the are Subarus is it Benny no it's not like that on listens I don't have you decided this is what we can't have nice things changing this rear spring took longer than the other three corners combined but finally it's almost done all right so the springs are in which means we can put the fuel filler neck back on then we're gonna drop it down and test fit the wheels and that's about all we've got time for today and I'll hopefully next time around here Marty might come and visit us with some of his mx-5 mates never know we're lucky and like the Honda miles doesn't mind it he's growing less fond of it by the day oh really yeah and then finally mechanical stick has had enough Honda falls down that is God he literally did not come back so miles and I finished off the springs and then threw on the new rims to check the fit me if you want more information on how to do any of the mods in this episode we've done detailed videos on changing speakers installing head units installing lowered springs and installing coil overs which you can check out on our channel the moment of truth the car is coming down the springs will settle over the next few days and drop even further but it's already looking awesome we got so much stuff done today but there's so much more to do next time on Mighty Car Mods\n"