Superformance S1 #35 found a new home

[Driven]

The girlfriend recently blew the engine in her 350z -- again. So she started aggressively shopping for cars. Her initial goal was for an Exige, but finding one in a good condition and in her budget was difficult. Instead, I found the S1 while browsing wire wheel's site and passed it onto her. She liked it, but wasn't sold on it until she drove a friend's Exocet at a PCA track event. A few emails later, the S1 was shipped.

 

Thankfully, the pedals move as she's 5' 5", so she has a hard time reaching them. May have to add some blocks on the pedals to extend them further, but otherwise, she loves it. She wants to paint it eventually.

 

http://thekam.com/images/cars/s1/s1Garage.JPG

 

 

The Zetec is a bit anemic, already started looking into either S2000 drivetrain or K20 with S2000 gearbox. That'll be a few years down the road though.

 

 

Questions:

1. Does anyone know about the Alpha ecu and associated software? I found the DE9/DE15 plug dangling from the passenger side...would love to datalog stuff, if possible.

2. Brake booster. Anyone ever add one? I know the car is light and technically doesn't NEED one, the brake effort is significant compared to the other cars. Would want the effort to be relatively consistent.

[NVP66S]

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the club. If you are looking to lower the brake pedal force, something less boosted than a vacuum servo may be worth looking into. Going to smaller bore on the master cylinders may be a big enough difference. My car has no brake booster and, yes, it's harder to push than my other cars, but certainly less than a factor of two.

Dan

[Mondo]

Couldn't afford a Noble and bought an S2K... hopefully next car

[Ferdl]

Questions:

1. Does anyone know about the Alpha ecu and associated software? I found the DE9/DE15 plug dangling from the passenger side...would love to datalog stuff, if possible.

2. Brake booster. Anyone ever add one? I know the car is light and technically doesn't NEED one, the brake effort is significant compared to the other cars. Would want the effort to be relatively consistent.

 

Webcon (the ECU manufacturer) does not support this ECU anymore and there is no software available for the end user.

The ECU is well built and reliable but not made for DIY.

[speedwagon]

I like the color. The brakes on some S1s are a bit hard, the fix is to get one size smaller master cyl for the front and move the present front to the back. Have not done mine yet as it has been getting a heart transplant for two years now. But also to consider would be a different brake pad compound from Wilwood as even a soft pad won't ever wear out. Also on mine the balance bar was out of adjustment. john

[Driven]

Thanks for the replies. Disappointing about the ECU, but I guess it is what it is. Another reason to move to a Honda drivetrain

 

Brakes -- will research into the smaller MC. I haven't had a chance to check the balance, since we have only put maybe 1.5miles on it so far.

 

You wouldn't happen to know what caliper model and what rotors the S1 uses, would you? Figured best to start ordering some pads/rotors to have on hand.

 

 

Couldn't afford a Noble and bought an S2K... hopefully next car

I read this as S2K, as in the Honda S2000 (I'm a former S2000 owner), which made me think "Who is cross-shopping a Noble and a S2000?" lol. Least the Ultralite and the Noble share similar power-to-weight

 

[retrorider]

If you are used to power brakes the pedal of the S1 feels a bit hard. After driving some it feels normal and the brakes are quite good.

[Dan3030]

Had the same issue on my Westfield and went with EBC Yellow Stuff. Seemed to give me a lot more stopping power vs pedal pressure required. Good luck!

[Driven]

Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure what pads are currently installed, so will have to pull wheels and check everything to ensure nothing is going to fall off next weekend.

 

the girlfriend seems excited.... although the 300treadwear tires aren't going to help her any.