Craving a bit more speed from S2

[evoboy69]

I love the way my car drives, it's the perfect hobby car. Great feel, good looks, Classic Insurance, superb handling balance and a great engine.

The more I drive it though, the more I find the chassis screams out for more power. I do appreciate the S2 is not an easy motor to tweak. I have thought of putting my car on a diet i.e remove rear seats, replace heavy seats for lighter racing buckets, loose all comforts etc. My concern is that it won't make that much difference and i'll ruin a nice original car.

I think I probably just not drive it for a few weeks so that it feels fast again.

Am I alone in always wanting more speed and would a crash diet make the difference?

 

[NorthernBloke]

Have you done anything to the engine so far?

I chipped mine, added an induction kit and a stainless Zanspeed system and it really woke the car up - well worth the money []

 

[944 man]

Itll make a substantial difference, and you can put everything back in when you want to. Remember too, that weight lost also benefits handling and braking. You can lose 80 kilos without too much work and that will be very noticable.

 

[sawood12]

Well I can say that the best mods you can make are not aimed at more power, but should be aimed at the chassis. I got an extra 40-odd bhp from my Promax L2 mod and the increase in pace was noticeable but not really that useable in real world driving. I got a night and day improvement in real world pace by the KW and Big Black upgrades. The confidence good brakes and suspension gives you in terms of attacking bends and carrying your speed round them, is sometimes a bit scarry and you have to physically restrain yourself on public roads. I'd highly recommend the suspension and brake upgrade route. I've hung onto the coat tails of some massively more expensive and on-paper quicker cars, and motorbikes, round the Derbyshire and Peak District country roads, machinery that can embarras me in straight line performance, and i'm no loony or a particularly good driver - in fact i'm probably a bit cautious. Just highlights to me how good these cars are.

 

[Peter Empson]

I'm with Simon, in my experience stripping weight out will bring a very big change in every area of performance and needn't cost a fortune, makes the car an awful lot more fun to drive too.

 

[evoboy69]

Thanks for the replys guys!

Looks like a diet is looming.

Anyone already stripped a car for road use? Any good ideas for seats etc?

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Anyone already stripped a car for road use? Any good ideas for seats etc?

See Peter Empson's website, possibly don't go quite so extreme if you value your hearing. [][]

A good chip and de-cat is about all you can do economically to up the power, and even that is more about driveability than power, but how fast do you need to go in the real world? As has been said, properly sorting everything else and losing weight will make the car more fun.

 

[944 man]

The biggest difference comes from removing the rear seat squab: this is why so may stripped out cars retain it. My car was little noisier with a polycarbonate hatch and stripped trim (gutted doors too) than my newer car is fully trimmed, with its whining transaxle...

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty

See Peter Empson's website, possibly don't go quite so extreme if you value your hearing. [][]

Pardon?

A few minutes work will be enough to remove the spare tyre, tools, jack, boot carpet, rear upper seat back.

A few pounds will get you a set of light seats (I like my Cobra Imola's but there's a huge range to choose from). A few more will get you a lightweight rear screen.

A few hours should be enough to remove the sound deadening from under the carpets (this might be a bit much work for some as it'll be a hassle to return it to standard).

Even if you only do the first suggestion it will make a nice difference, try it and see what you think.

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: 944 man
You can lose 80 kilos without too much work and that will be very noticable.

That much?

Where from? Is that just removing stuff, or swapping heavy seats for light ones and whatnot?

I do know that adding an extra person and some luggage really takes the edge off my S2. If removing 80 kilos was easy I'd be very keen to give it a go.


Oli.

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: 944 man

The biggest difference comes from removing the rear seat squab: this is why so may stripped out cars retain it.

This is presumably noise difference rather than weight difference - non? The rear seat squab can't weight more than a couple of kilos ...


Oli.

 

[Suffolk944]

Am currently homing in on sorting out suspension/brakes and maybe losing a bit of weight (the car not me...then again). Am sure its the way to go for everyday road driving rathe than going for any more power (for now at least!)

As an aside, NorthernBloke that Escort of yours looks fan-bloody-tastic. [8D]

 

[Peter Empson]

Seats are in the region of 20-30kg each (minus their replacements of course), spare wheel circa 20kg, so it quickly adds up.

Lower rear seat section weighs very little and does make a big difference to noise, also be sure to plug the seat belt holes under it if you remove the securing bolts as they are a major source of noise from the transmission.

 

[xenon]

Spare wheel 20Kg? The diddly space-saver? Surely not?

 

[944 man]

...and the rear seat back weighs ten kilos. A further ten kilos can be saved by fitting an Odyssey battery too. Then youll be looking at your rear three boint inertia seat belts which are now redundant. Before you know it youre wondering how necessary an electric tailgaite release motor is: and remembering me telling you that door cards, handles and bins weighed five kilogrammes.

At this point youve started to agree that a GRP bonnet painted to match and polished, will look perfectly accaptable with a pair of recessed bonnet pins (another ten kilos, or there abouts, btw).....

 

[944 man]

ORIGINAL: xenon

Spare wheel 20Kg? The diddly space-saver? Surely not?

About 16-17 kilogrammes if I rember rightly. When you add the jack (and the tool roll if you have one); then 20kilos is a fair estimate for a conversation using round figures.

Simon

 

[xenon]

Wow. I never would have thought the wheel weighed as much. I'm not disputing you understand - I've never weighed it, but it seemed a lot.