In the Balance Motorworks workshop today, a nice example of Honda’s legendary S2000 Sports Car. These have arguably the finest 4 cylinder production engine ever made. Producing a whopping 237 Horsepower from just 2 litres, without forced induction, it remains a marvel 20 years on from its launch. The VTEC system which makes this all possible, essentially enables the engine to be two engines in one. A tractable, and fairly economical engine at lower revs, once the secondary VTEC lobes are activated at 6000rpm it turns into a full bore race engine. You’d need to spend about £15000 to make any other makers engine deliver this kind of power, and it wouldn’t be nearly as reliable.
One of the key maintenance jobs to keep this engine in peak condition, is to reset the valve clearances. At Balance Motor Works we like to set all Inlet & Exhaust clearances to the same spec. This optimises torque, makes the engine smoother and just feels like the right way to do it. Some others may just check and if “inspec” not adjust. This method would inevitably lead to slightly different clearances across the cylinders.
Book in today if you need your Honda valve clearances adjusted – all VTEC engines need this adjustment periodically.
