yo whats good? i just got my s2k and my buddy told me i gotta be carefu with it as far as drifting and launching due to s2000's having a weak rear end....any one know if this is true??

 

Yes.

 

drifting no prob, launching it hard it will.

 

A lot of people are putting down good numbers, launching hard on the diff while you have traction. Drifting is not the best thing for the diff but you cant properly drift the S2000.

 

why can you not properly drift a s2000??

 

well sliding it is fairly easy, but to keep control while accelerating sideways is kinda hard. thats only with my limited driving experience though

 

rip on that E-Brake.

 

because of the 52/48 weight balance, you wont get angles any thing like a 240 or hold them as long. Look at D1 there have only been two S2000s and they didn't last long at all.

 

i thought the weight balance was 51/49?

 

I remember RSR had to do some mad custom fabbing to shift some of the weight around for the car to keep sliding when accelerating.

 

you sir are correct.

 

WTF? no.



Yes...but just like everything else, the weakness gets blown out of proportion. It makes me uneasy to launch my car...but I have launched it several times on sticky tires. I'm sure it's not a good idea, however. The S2000's diff is weak...no way around it.

If you launch it and abuse the driveline (drifting is VERY abusive on the driveline), you'll have a higher chance of breaking the diff. It's that simple.

The diff is expensive. So expensive that you could almost justify buying a beater *** S13 to fulfill your drifting fantasies while keeping your S2000's diff safe. So there's an idea.

Saying you can't properly drift a S2000 is a wrong statement. You can. It's just more difficult.

The S2000 was meant to grip. They engineered it to grip. It's got a very peaky powerband, little torque, and very high levels of grip. The LSD is also OPEN on decel. It's only a one way diff.

This means:

You initate a drift and you have to rev the f#$k out of it. You have to keep it screaming in the revs to keep it sideways and controllable. The chassis wants to either do a donut because of the rear suspension dynamics or violently snap back into line since the diff is open on decel. So the car is fighting you. While the car is fighting you, you have to remember to keep revving it. Modulating the throttle is a lot easier with torque. Once you lift off to correct a line and try to stomp it back down, the S2000 probably won't have enough torque to re-spin the wheels to kick the rear back out...so you'll have to kick the clutch or something...which causes it to want to do a donut again.

Drifting a S2000 isn't really that much fun and you can't rip off nice, long, smooth drifts.

I used to have a S13 with a SR and LSD and a lot of other stuff. I used to slide that thing around every opportunity I got.

I don't really bother with the S2000 unless I'm in a wide *** open parking lot or something. It's spooky and not really that much fun trying to force the car to slide. I slid my friend's 350Z around and it's SO easy and SO smooth that it feels like the car is just asking for it.

BTW, whoever was saying it's because of the weight distribution....It's not. S13s have about a 51/48 distribution stock. With a SR swap, I'm willing to bet its 50/50.

I've seen the RS*R S2000 in action in person. It makes a ton of power. It broke an axle while sliding around at RT.66. If you turbo'd an S2000 and had some good low and mid range with a 2 way clutching diff, you could probably drift it very easily with everything else being stock.

 

For what it's worth, my AP1 weighed in was 49.5%F/50.5%R on the scales, and that was with no spare or driver. With a driver, it went to 48.4%F/51.6%R. I don't know how you can get 52%F on an S2000.

 

Honda says 52% 48%

 

I didn't realize that. I've always heard 50:50, but Honda's 2009 site lists 49:51

I've weighed my car a few times on Longacre race scales. I'm lighter in the back end than off the showroom floor (less gas, no spare), which accounts for me being a bit closer to 50:50 than the stock rear bias. I've found that 75% of the weight in the seats goes to the rear axle, so any driver and/or passenger will only increase the rear bias.

http://automobiles.honda.com/s2000/specifications.aspx

It's a moot point though: plenty of cars with front or rear weight bias can drift if set up to do so. Pontiac GTO (55/45), Dodge Charger, etc. Ability to drift is really with the driver. The 240SX is just easier than most.