S2000 (Ap1/ap2) Spoon Monoblock rear kit
Author: Kai Her - September 21st, 2024
Let me first begin by welcoming you all back to the site! I haven’t been able to post anything on here for quite some time. If you are a regular or just happened to stumble upon my site by accident, I would like to take this time to appreciate your visit. I hope you get a chance to immerse yourself in my blogs and posting before exiting.
If you “are” a regular, feel free to contact me or reach out if you ever wonder where I’ve been. Click on my social media (Instagram) on the tab and message me directly on there or utilize this platform. Either way, I will still respond.
So if you have been wondering where I’ve been, I have gone nowhere. Fatherhood really took me by surprise and if anything, I have just been taking a lot of quality time to share with my wife and newborn. I thought I would have a lot more time during my baby bonding to grab and write more content, but it has actually been the exact opposite. My eagerness to get on here to update my postings were elevated, but I just didn’t have sufficient time to actually implement that energy on here as much as I would have wanted.
The consistent diaper changes and feedings took up a lot of time and sleep deprivation was extremely evident. The wake up calls to my newborn’s cries for diaper changes or for a bottle varied AND ensuring she was well and safe have been the center of my focus, as well as my wife. During my down time, I’ll sneak into the family room for self-entertainment or scavenging through my phone gallery to update my social media accounts, but really, that’s about it. If you are a seasoned parent, you are probably an expert in this type of life style already and still making ends meet. I believe Aimee and I are getting better at it everyday and we cherish every moment of it.
So! Thank you for understanding why I was in a short hiatus. I acquired tons of new content to share on and I am committed to update you all on here on a weekly basis. The first being about the new addition to the S2000!
Some time earlier this year, I purchased the new Ballade Sport rear big brake kit. Ballade Sports advertised the kit in which it was compatible for their own fabricated big brake calipers, an OEM front caliper, and Spoon Sport monoblock, all the while still retaining the ability to use the e-brake cables. Unlike a few aftermarket rear big brake kits over the counter, they’ll have to eliminate the e-brake mechanism to the whole vehicle anatomy. The idea of utilizing Ballade’s kit to run the Spoon Sport monoblock in the rear really jumped at me and thought it would be an amazing upgrade to the S2000 both aesthetically and in performance.
You may wonder if the rear calipers will interfere with the brake system because it is no longer proportioned. I don’t have much to say about that than the fact that upon traveling in high velocity, the S2000 did have heavier brake loads in the rear and was noticeably better than how it was in stock form. I didn’t experience any “fish-tailing” nor the car jerking in anyway under low and high acceleration. In my honest opinion, I thought it was an affordable custom rear big brake kit for the S2000.
Let’s talk about wheel fitment as well. By now if you still don’t know me, I have an addiction in collecting wheels. Upon the seven sets in my garage that I regularly exchange out in between car shows, the only set I own that will work and flow well with the OEM S2000 bodylines was the set of Nardo/Army Grey Te37’s I have. Recently debuted at Wekfest San Jose 2024 earlier this year, the Te37’s still required a 5mm spacer to clear the caliper freely from the spokes of the wheel. Unfortunately, as much as I hate to say it, I was not so lucky with the rest of the wheels. Most of them required at least a 15mm or higher spacer to clear the Spoon calipers. Without a flare or a completed wide body kit, just doesn’t look right. Just not my kind of an ideal execution.
The kit was sold for $800 dollars excluding taxes and shipping expenses. What’s provided is what you’ll see exemplified above. The two 2-piece 330mm rotors, stainless steel brake lines, the custom brackets to retain the e-brake system and also hook up the Spoon monoblock calipers simultaneously.
Ballade Sports also provided new rear brake brackets, the “shaved-down” brake pads for the e-brake system alongside all the hardware to install the kit with ease.
The rotor designed came in this different but tasteful “j-hook” design. Not overly done and just about the right about of exposure to let your followers know you have put in some elbow grease into tuning your rear brake system.
For $800 dollars in everything that you see on here, I honestly thought it was a pretty great deal. I don’t recall the kit coming with instructions, however, after watching their Youtube advertisement video of the kit, any knucklehead garage mechanic like me can easily install the kit. All the provided hardware aligned up to the rear suspension perfectly and there was no further custom work done to make fit of the kit.
The stainless steel brake lines that were provided were longer than the OEM rubber ones. I test fitted both the OEM and Ballade’s lines; they both were long enough to reach the caliper with ease.
Overall, my initial thoughts about the kit was acceptable. It was well packaged from Ballade Sports. The hardware and with everything else that was included were next to new and not faulty. Furthermore, the product was high quality and worth my spending on what I wanted to achieve on the S2000.
I didn’t take any picture of the process of installation. Well, it’s because it’s not a DIY post. However, if you ever need help on installing the kit, just message me.
The Spoon caliper was an extraordinary sight to see in the rear. It is common for the community to only see it up front, so having both the monoblocks up front and the rear really completed the Spoon look! It makes me wonder if Spoon Sports will ever look into designing a full big brake kit for the older Honda chassis (NSX, ITR, CTR).
An interesting perspective about the kit was how easy it was to make it work. You’ll just need to disconnect the brake lines from the OEM caliper and move it on over to the monoblocks. Bleed out all the air bubbles in your brake system and you got yourself a pretty functional upgrade.
From this angle, you can see that the brackets were pretty well hidden from the rotor. Both calipers seemed to be floating like they’re suppose to and perform functionality to the whole brake system. What are you thoughts about that?
Looked like a bit of an overkill, but it’s really not. I just really wished it worked well with the other six sets of wheels I have in the garage (like what I mentioned earlier). The rear brake pads protrude out a few millimeters, but there was still enough bite to rotors.
One last picture of the kit for good measure. A very beautiful upgrade for the S2000, if you are a Spoon fanatic! Well, as much as I love how it looked on the S2000, the kit is already taken off earlier this week to accommodate the next set up for the upcoming show a few weekends from now.
Apparently, I totally forgot to take out the S2000 for a photo op with the rear big brake kit until it hit me off guard. As much as I would like to reinstall the kit back, I don’t think I’ll have a chance to do it unless I have a need to run it again. However, in this case, I don’t and it won’t probably meet the rear suspension of the S2000 ever again.
Therefore, I am glad I have this single picture to keep a memo of and remind myself how well it looked with the matching calipers.
I’ll conclude this blog on this note: “Don’t be afraid to execute your vision although it my conflict with the feelings and ideas of the majority.” I say that because I remember the majority were a bit nervous about the kit and was skeptical if it’ll work properly. As of now, I can only think of two other enthusiasts either than myself that is running this exact same kit. Considering how big the S2000 community is, I guess I’m glad the other two and myself included chased what we envisioned was best for us and our S2000.
This blog was a lot shorter than my other ones, but it was a good one to show you a recently new product in the market and how it worked as well as to catch up with you all. Thank you again for reading and being a part of the “Xplicit Projects” community. Building a positive car community concentrating on automotive parts and coverage is what I aim for, and I hope you are enjoying the site as much as I am writing it. See you next weekend!
