My process to start the engine break-in was to run the engine from 2000rpm to 2500rpm running up through the gears from 2nd through 6th. Then I would double-clutch the downshifts down through all the gears back to 2nd in order to break-in the clutch. The first impression of the ACT HD pressure plate with the street disk was no impression, i.e. I didn’t even notice it was different than the Centerforce or stock clutches. I haven’t driven the stock clutch in many years, but the ACT HD pressure plate is not even remotely heavy in my opinion and I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that it was different from the Centerforce. Engagement was perfectly smooth and easy to modulate. While the engine was out, we did swap in a new OEM clutch master cylinder as they are known to fail on S2000s.
What was my other initial impression? The engine sure was smooth…. Which was actually slightly disappointing. If you recall from when I installed the Hasport engine mounts, the extra vibration added some noise and character and I could feel it in the shifter. Now, that vibration has been muted which I can only attribute to the Fluidampr.
Using the good ole ARK Design MFD2, I kept tabs on the vacuum level to make sure I was using enough load to help seat the piston rings. After running between 2000rpm to 2500rpm for a few cycles, I ramped it up to 3000rpm and then 3500rpm. Then I started going from 2500rpm to 4000rpm. Then I moved up in 500rpm increments all the way until I got to 8000rpm. I also increased the dyno load to 15% and 20% during the pulls through the gears. At the higher rpms, I started to limit the runs to 5th gear and then 4th gear as the wheel speeds were well over 100mph. With the higher rpms and higher loads, the oil temperature was starting to get toasty. As we are planning to dive into the turbo build which includes remote mounting the oil filter, we skipped on hooking up the oil cooler or using the stock oil cooler donut thing. To help the car cool down more quickly, I decreased the dyno load to 2% and cruised in 6th gear varying engine speed between 2000-2500rpm until the oil temperature came down enough to start another run through the gears and rpms.
All said and done, the car was on the dyno for about an hour and a half and we put 80 miles on the engine. The engine is running very smooth with the new Mahle pistons, Carrillo rods, King Racing bearings, and Fluidampr. No leaks with the JE Pro Seal MLS gasket, HPS silicone hoses, ARP fasteners, and Howard’s expert assembly skills. I did around a thousand clutch engagements to break in the ACT HD pressure plate to the OEM Honda disc. Now that our lower compression ratio engine is broken-in, we can get to work on fitting parts for boost. We are also taking the opportunity to adjust the manifold design to improve the clearance of the wastegate to the frame. We did pretty well for a first shot, but there’s room for improvement.
Sources
Mahle Pistons
Carillo
King Bearings
JE Pistons
Turbosmart
Garrett Turbo
Fluidampr
WPC Treatment
HPS Hoses
ARP
ACT
21 comments
Love the work you’re doing. Any idea how much the inconel manifold will cost?
I budgeted ~$4k for it. I’m planning to get it and the turbine housing coated with SwainTech White Lightning for thermal management.
Awesome write up! Now I want to build a motor.
Did you do any prep on the block with the FRM sleeves? Just a hone or no hone at all? I’ve never messed with FRM lined sleeves so I’d love to hear your thoughts/how you handled that part of the block rebuild. Thanks.
I don’t believe my block required any honing. It did only have 70k miles on it. That said, there’s a very specific procedure with specific honing stones listed in the factory service manual. I went with the Mahle pistons in the standard 87.00mm bore but they are also available in 87.25mm bore.
Excellent write up! Can’t wait to see your thoughts once it’s turbocharged.
I spy some 999MP-1217HP Nissan 3bond sealant on the 3rd page, if it’s good enough for a GT-R its good enough for just about everything else lol.
Most of us MotoIQ guys are old school Nissan guys!
Great detail in the build. I love the paths to reliability and not cutting corners approach.
One question about the manifold/hot side setup. What was the reason you opted for an external wastegate vs internal? I would have thought with the tight packaging constraints it would’ve made an internal more desirable but you obviously did it for a reason. Better boost control? Thx!
The way the internal wastegate actuator is angled off the centerline of the turbo makes it pretty wide, so it doesn’t fit. We tried during 3D modeling to see if we could make it fit, but it doesn’t unfortunately. Check out the location of the actuator can vs. the turbine inlet flange and you’ll see why it doesn’t fit.
https://motoiq.com/project-s2000-part-25-designing-a-custom-turbo-setup-with-3d-scanning-cfd-fea-and-3d-printing/3/
It would maybe be possible with a regular rotation turbo, but then you basically have to make a sharp 90 degree turn out of the cylinder head, i.e. Greddy and SOS TS-Max turbo kits. And we know how those flow on the topend. Or you have to low mount the turbo, i.e. PTuning. And they had to make a custom engine mount.
Gotcha, thx for the response Khiem. I figured there was a reason. A shame the engine bay is so tight right by the exhaust ports, but the engineers obviously never planned for a turbo.. The concern with an external wastegate is one more component and the heat on track. I’ve heard from a couple people where the diaphragms fail due to the heat. I guess no such thing as a perfect turbo setup for this car..
Tial came to market with water cooled EWGs awhile ago due to failures in track use. The first one I knew of was on the old StopTech Evo X time attack car I helped out with. As the EWG was on the backside of the engine, it got no cooling airflow. Turbosmart has water cooled EWGs now. And if you read the fine print, at least on the Turbosmart EWG that are not water-cooled, it says to make sure there’s good airflow to the EWG. In serious track use, IWG are more prone to fail due to the wastegate flapper/poppet valve breaking off. Though on the newer Garrett OEM gasoline turbos in high performance applications, they have a solid one-piece arm and valve assembly. No more poppet valve to break off. There’s still potential for the arm seizing in the bushing though.
Ya I heard about the EWG’s with coolant ports to fix the problem, but for a street/track car more for fun vs a hardcore track car probably a bit much imo. Ya “serious” track use is a term that varies based on different people. :p I was mainly thinking fun for HPDE’s and being able to run 15-20min sessions. An IWG would suffice for someone like me.
Did you do any work to the actually block or clinder walls?
Deck, Hone or bore.
Hello i have s2000 f22 with kraftwerks.
Please recomend best setup for oil engine cooler
Hello khiem, i have s2000 ap2 stock engine with kraftwerks supercharger. What oil cooler engine recommend. This kit include Intercooler front.
What position do you recommend to install the oil cooler, behind the radiator? Please give me technical recommendations to make a good assembly. I really appreciate your collaboratio
Hello khiem, i have s2000 ap2 stock engine with kraftwerks supercharger. What oil cooler engine recommend. This kit include Intercooler front.
What position do you recommend to install the oil cooler, behind the radiator? Please give me technical recommendations to make a good assembly. I really appreciate your collaboratio
You can do a setup similar to mine if you need a lot of oil cooling, so it’ll be custom. If your use case is just some occasional hard driving, you would probably do just fine with an available S2000 oil cooler kit. I would suggest doing research on your kraftwerks supercharger kit.
What is your current oil cooling setting? you already have the turbo car. What would be my best street oil option?
This is the my setup that I’ve been running for years. It sounds like your best bet is to have a shop do a custom setup for you.
https://motoiq.com/project-s2000-oil-cooling/