jimrankin

Nice roll bar set up. I don't plan to enter my S2k in competition events, partly because I didn't think the lack of side bars and cage would fly and partly because I'm getting a bit less competetive after passing 60 a couple of years back. Will the setup shown in the photo meet the "full cage" requirement? Looks like it will meet side impact. I talked with the Wheeldude store in Fremont to make sure someone would be there this afternoon before I went by. Guy I talked to had no idea what a kit car or lotus 7 clone was and pretty much said nothing in one type of wheel that would match the size/bolt/offset I was looking for. Custom drilling is possible out of the Phillipines factory but a minimum of five sets of wheels with cost and lead time issues. Four unshod cars out there? LOL. Went by WheelWorks instead and they can fit it with a custom order but the sets they can do it with start at $3600.00. My wife loves me and puts up with the cars I already have but a Mastercard bill with over five grand for wheels and tires might be a bit over the top after just adding the 7. I may have to look to England after all. Possible to fit 5 X 114 hubs to the standard Subie rear end in the stock S2K? Starting to look like I won't see T-hill till spring.

Hi RNR, Was gone all weekend, other toys to play with but just got back and saw your reply, thanks again!! I'll check their site and see just where they are in Fremont. My office is just off Automall Parkway and Fremont just isn't all that big so should be able to see them within minutes of work. Really getting stoked to take the 7 out to T-hill or where ever HOD or some other club event I can get onto is happening. Lotus Club has an AX coming up in Santa Clara that would probabaly be fun, and a great learning curve since I don't know squat about how the 7 handles, but I'm a confirmed speed freak so miles of track is always going to top a parking lot. If I get to see the wheels up close and personal before you do I'll post my impressions ASAP.

I've got problems with my left wrist, left knee, right collar bone (still won't set after almost 30 years) and right rotator, all from being young and (at least in my own mind) invinceable. Two wheels are for the young and flexible or the slightly older and REALLY talented. You might notice I'm shopping for FOUR wheels. LOL. With the deteriorating condition of the highways, and even worse, the lack of skill levels of the drivers out there it's just not inviting to ride a street bike at my age. Your safer at your limit on the track than you are just taking a quick ride on the street. Hey RNR. If your reading this thanks for the Rota link. Only a couple of wheels that will work but looks like I can go with a 17" X 8" front but have to jump to an 18" rear wheel to get the offsets that work in a set and have 5X100 available. Have a great weekend eveyone.

The Rota's look pretty good, nice straight forward wheel. Wish it didn't have the double drill, 10 holes is a bit much. Any idea of the weights? Any one who has a link to 17" X 9"to10" wheels (even 18") with a 5 X 100 pattern or knows of a brand that does make that please add to the thread. Thanks for the Rota link, gonna go see what their site is like. Hey Mondo, didn't that late brake with the sport bike tend to keep the bike wanting to stand up on you? I used it to get the forks to stay settled down from braking to the turn G's coming on but it made the bike hard to lay over. Two wheels are for the young and flexible or for the slightly older and VERY talented. You may notice I'm looking for FOUR wheels. LOL

Thanks for the reply West Texas. It seems that there is no middle ground on the Falken R615's, either people love them or hate them. It might be a question of the car being so lite that anything with a 200 tread wear is going to get hard before it's used up. Mondo should be a good test bench because he has some tire working roads near his home and it's HOT out there in the valley, probably just like West Texas but without T-storms. I don't think that I'd get a set of Falkens street tires warmed up enough to really heat cycle them with the cool SF Bay Area tempatures and the lack of twisty roads that aren't just too crowded and patroled for any real fun. Thanks for the info, time to start looking at wheels even if I'm still not sure what to skin them with yet. You working on your 7 for the past year or moving on to another car type?

Don't want to vote or run for office (did 4 years on a non-profit board, my hats off to any and all who can give up the time it takes to do it right) but would like to pay my way as this board has been areal help to me already. couldn't find it on the home page links but then again my wife says I can't find anything. Jim R.

It was Mondo who said his fit perfectly, and the pictures seems to show just that. I'd still like to know what your running for comparison.

Thanks for the info. What are you running on your S2K? you mentioned that they fit perfectly so would like to see how it compares with Mondo. Also, what tires size and type do you run. I went through quite a bit of trial and error with previous cars and tires and really have never driven anything as lite as the S2K to compare them with. Gotta go up on the home page and find out how to become a paid member. This is one h**l of a great site for such a relatively minor number of these cars being out there. Wish there had been an internet when I was racing MGA's back in the '69 -73 years. Sure would have saved me from making all the learning curve mistakes I went through then.

See your running Falkens on them. I had good luck with them for track tires on my MINI since I was running all four the same size and rotated after each track event. The MINI would eat a set every season so I didn't have much of a problem with them getting hard. Do you track them or just street them and most important, do you like them on your S2K?

Well, picking through the tire information here and on the testing sites has been very confusing, this should be easier. LOL! Seems like it's probably going to be two sets of wheels and tires, one street, one track. I've got the Wilwood 12" brakes at all four corners and the standard outboard shock, outboard brake suspension. I'd like to hear from some other S2K owners about just how big they run for tire and wheel sizes and what off-set they used to keep it all a fit on the fenders etc. Going to probably run 17" street as I don't want to bottom out on driveways or ramps (The scars and broken rivet I found on the skid plate under the motor are a pretty good indicator that this happens quite often) and I live in California, home of the rounded curb driveway where even my MINI and 3 Series only clear by microns. Track wheel is probably going to be determined by what works well over the brakes without getting too low to the ground. Any XC/Track racers have advice? Thanks in advance for any Wheel help and still taking any info from experience on street tires that you might have.

See the previous thread here in parts for sale but I finally got down to the storage so here's more info on the tires and wheels Wheels are 5 X 100MM pattern Tires are 205 X 50-R16 87V. Star emblem on tires. Been researching tires and I see why Chad bought these for the "7". Researched several sites and these were best grip of anything tested at inital low operating temp and stayed in the top three through track temperatures. Were great on wet also. Since a "7" will probably never heat up a set of tires on the street these were a great choice. Now, if he had only gone to a wheel and tire combo of 225 front and 275 for the back I'd be loving it. These would probably be great for a lower HP car but I don't think that they are big enough rears for an S2K with the 2.2L Honda S2000 motor.

I was looking at some of the "ratings" that different tires were being given on a couple of tire retailers sites. Seems most of them just have the customers log on and give a review so it's kind of hit or miss for what the tires have been put on and how they are used, leaving the ratings kind of useless. Thought I had found the perfect tire when I saw that Hankook Ventus R-S3's were rated a perfect 5 of 5 for dry grip and handling. Then saw that only one user had rated them, guess he liked them a LOT. LOL. Looks like at least one site is from actual testing, not just feedback but they have a limited number of tires to choose from. Still hope to hear from more 7 owners about their experience with different tires and hopefully someone who has had some real experience with Hoosiers. Would be great to find a street tire that was close to them. Thanks for any input you may have. JR

I was told by the CHP officers who added the VIN plates to my car that if I used the 2006 motor year that with all the smog equipment I still had on the car a referee station could give me a "pass" if the tailpipe reading met the '06 standards. Don't know if they were correct or not since the DMV, after all my asking to change from '08 kit year to the '06 motor year ended up making mine a 2009 year title, thus making me have to meet the latest smog standards. On the tire note; Already figured that Hoosiers are better than just about anything that is street rated as I think tread wear has to be 200 to get a street DOT (that's just from hearsay so don't quote me on it) and that means you have to give up quite a bit of stick. I'm probably going to do some research on wheel weights and size/offsets available and wait to hear a little more on who has had good luck with the different street tires. I'll probably give whatever street setup I do buy a track day or two and see if they seem up to it and if not just spend the money on the Hoosiers for track only. Problem with that is you have to wear them out before they get hard (both the street and the Hoosiers) and although I'd love to spend every week at the track other things like work, other toys and life in general keep me rather busy. Thanks you everyone for your replys and hope to hear more as people open the thread.

Santa Clara autocross, you must be a local to the Bay Area also. I'm in San Mateo but have the car warehoused in Milpitas as I didn't have much luck trying to register it so it's been a paperweight for the trailer since I got it. What are you doing for the DMV, SB100? The Falkens were pretty decent on the MINI but it's not light for a small car and front wheel drive to boot. Was mostly a question of getting a lot of rubber on the road and the big contact patches on the Falkens did that pretty well. I also down sized to 16" (Just cleared the Wilwoods) and went really light and max width on the wheels when I went to the Falkens so that may have been part of the improvement over the two previous track sets. Thanks for the input and lets get together and drool over our cars. LOL

(got a little carried away but there is a real question in this post) I'm going to be tracking my recently purchased WCM S2K and the tires and wheels on it are more for street use (see them in the parts for sale listing) being a bit on the narrow side. I've been tracking an '04 MINI Cooper S since I bought it new and have been through several sets of track tires, the last two sets being the Falken's that really worked well until it gets to over a 100 at ThunderHill (happens quite often there). I have run against other MINI's with Hoosiers and didn't seem to be giving up much, very little in fact, for a half the price tire. Being asemetric you can't swap sides to use the complete tire but I haven't had a lot of uneven wear on the Falkens so it wasn't an issue. Since I don't like the look of the tire/wheel set up on the car now I know I'll be changing the "Street" set for something a good bit more agressive. I guess my question is this: Has anyone with a 7, especially an S2K, had a chance to really see if the Hoosiers are enough of an improvement to make it worth the investment of having them for track days only. Seems from what I've been reading on this site that tire wear on the track isn't as big an issue as it is on heavier rides so sharing track/street duty is a real option. Keep in mind that the street tires I will purchase and the street wheels will be bought with grip and weight in mind more than just looks. I don't motocross or drift, just like twisty tracks with some room to get up some serious speed too. Anybody have some info?

The wheels (Motegi 16" X 6.5" 5 bolt 42 offset) and the tires (Dunlop Direzza "Star Spec" Z1) are perfect and look like they just got driven home from the tire store and parked. I'll have to visit the car where I store it and the trailer to get the exact tire size and bolt circle size but thought I'd see if there was any interest or if I'm just goint to store these in hopes of a CA plate next year. Reason for sale and just plain venting follows. Well, looks like I'm going to have a little trouble getting the WCM S2K I just bought in WA on the road in California so it's going to be a "track day" car for the near future. The wheels and tires on the car can be seen on this site at the "cars for sale" page 2 under WCM in Seattle for sale. They haven't seen the street or track since I trailered it down from WA. so they are as flawless as they look in the photos. I'm going to use the sale of these to offset some Hoosiers and different rims since I don't want to burn these up in a few sessions at ThunderHill. Once I get it registered (hopefully this January for fun next summer) I'll probably put on something like them (but bigger in the back next time). DMV CAUTION!! Telling them what the CHP said for me to do and re-checking them doesn't do any good, even when your told it's what they are doing. Short of jumping across the counter and filling out the forms I couldn't have been any plainer. I didn't have a VIN stamped on the body from WA State so Calif DMV had me go to the CHP with all my records of sale Etc. They issued it a special "kit car VIN#, put in two plates, were really nice and loved the car. When I went back to the DMV with all of the paperwork I told them, as instructed by the CHP, to use the motor year (06), not the WCM title year (08) so I wouldn't have any smog problems. Got a handfull more papers (after an hour and several trips to her supervisor) and off to the Air Resources Board (smog guys) I and my trailer go. Roll it out, do a walk around and drive it up on the Dyno. Really helpful and nice guys until he pointed out that in the last run through the DMV when my new VIN# was recorded my title year was changed not from '08 to '06 as asked, but to '09. His comment was "you would fly by as '06 but this motor won't make '09 no matter what you do". "Try for a "kit car" exemption on the first day the DMV is open in 2010, and be in line before dawn if you want to get one of the 500 allowed each year". Good Luck and maybe we'll see ya next year!

Hi all, I purchased Chads S2K after the original bidder fell out. Great Karma as I was trying to bid on it and EBay wouldn't recognise me at the last minute. My first specialty car built by someone else. I've done cars, motorcycles and boats of all kinds myself but was really impressed with Chads work that I viewed online. I'll be taking the S2K to the SF Bay Area as soon as I get the time to pick it up. You should be seeing it at Thunderhill and other central and southern CA tracks in the near future. Just a note to anyone on the lookout for a Seven. There is a WCM XR7 for sale in New Jersey that is factory built and like new for sale by the owner. Not up on the boards but if you have any interest or know someone who is check out shotgunslade on this site. Would have bought it myself if Chads hadn't come back on the market. The XR7 is kind of the hot rod brother of the S2K. Happy Motoring to everybody! Great site by the way. Jim R.

Any more information about the car would be nice. I'm close enough to look at it what you posted is all you have on it. Email me a number if you would. Thanks.

Interested in the WCM. Although it's a little more dressed up than I was looking for your at least on the same coast (seems like everything interesting is somewhere east of the rockies). If your reserve isn't met I'd like to talk to you about it. Was looking for something a little more powerful than my MINI Cooper S for track days and have found a couple of "track only" specialty cars that fit the bill but this may be a better idea.