aeonracer

I just wanted to create a single place to document my S2000 from purchase to current build, and all the steps along the way. I wish I had done this earlier, but at least I can write all down now, and share with you all.

The focus of my "build" was to stay as OEM as possible, and keep the car in a "off the showroom floor" type spec. The stock S2000 is already such a great car. My goal was to only slightly supplement the foundation that the engineers and designers laid out for the car. So here goes....

May 2008
I just graduated college got a good job and wanted to get myself a "present". Well I cross shopped a bunch of cars, but being a motorcycle rider I really wanted a car that reflected that overall feel. It didn't take long to settle on the S2000. I bought a 2004 Silver Stone Metallic with a black interior, mostly stock with about 30k miles on the clock. The only modification to the car were Comptech adjustable springs and an OEM front lip. I picked the car up and couldn't be any happier. I stayed mostly stock for the first year or so, the only upgrade I did was I immediately put in some better speakers, a new head unit, and a subwoofer into the trunk with a customer designed enclosure.



Fall 2008
For the first year of ownership, I mostly just enjoyed the car. Arizona provided some awesome roads and an awesome group of people. I went to meets, went on some of the drives, and mostly just kept it low key. I was getting into the grove of working full time and just enjoying life and the car. I really didn’t take too many pictures during this time frame, which is surprising to me…



Spring 2009
I got a pretty incredible offer to work on the east coast, and I took it. I was moving to Virginia, so a far cry from the mild “seasons” seen in Arizona. I got worried about the snow, and at the time the S2000 was my only vehicle. I decided to pick up some new rims and Continental DWS tires to go along with them. Packed up the things I could, and so began my cross country journey. It took 3 days and about 2500 miles, but I made it to Virginia, found a place to live, and could get back to enjoying the car.



My first fall outside of Arizona was breath taking. My mind simply didn’t comprehend that there were colors for plants other than green and brown. I had to take the opportunity to snap some photos, so I found some back roads and started snapping away.





2011
A little bit of time went by, got more settled into the new job, got married, and started getting a hang of this adult life thing. The car stayed mostly the same for a while, but then I started to get the itch. When I bought the car, I saw picture of the red black interior and I absolutely LOVED it. I had little luck finding a car with the right interior and in the right condition, so I “settled” on getting the all black interior. Well time went by, I kept a look out for someone selling their red black, and just continually hoped for the best. After years of looking, basically since the day I bought the car, I started to lose hope. Until one day, jackpot… Found a guy converting his S2000 in a track car, and he didn’t need his interior anymore. I somehow lucked out and he was willing to do a straight trade for my black seats and interior panels. Wowza! Needless to say I jumped all over it, did all the work at his place swapping everything over, and then had a huge smile on my face for the next few months. My dream S2000 was slowly coming together… At the same time I grew tired of the OEM lip, it didn’t quite flow right with the front of the car in my mind, so I picked up an APR lip and had it painted.



2012
As previously mentioned, I got married in 2011. Well we hit our first year anniversary after a wonderful year together. I had left for a weekend right around the 1 year mark, and came home to this. My wife is awesome, and most of my S2000 upgrades are sponsored by her. Definitely counting my blessings.



As an anniversary gift, my wife bought me the Forbidden OEM replica hard top. Basically best wife ever, but more on that later… Anyway at the same time I picked up an OEM AP1 trunk spoiler and loved the way it went with the hardtop and overall look of the car.







2013
After some more good fortune, I was able to retire the S2000 from DD duty, and could begin doing some more “performance” forcused modifications to the car. She was now spending most of her time in the garage, so I got rid of the rims and the DWS tires, and wanted to pick up some OEM AP2 V2’s. I had loved the new look going around with the V2’s, so I was happy with anything. I sold the old rims and picked up these V2’s. I didn’t love that they were painted dark silver but I had other plans



Now that the car was becoming a garage queen, I had a few more items planned, including some minor interior upgrades. My OEM wheel was starting to look a little ragged, so I bought a wrap and some thread, pulled off the old leather and installed a two tone wrap with a perforated section.



Since I had started that process, I went ahead and used some of the extra thread and did red stitching highlights for my shift boot and the seats. I also picked up a modifry GPS bracket, and installed a navigation system.







I also started doing some more powertrain modification. After helping a friend install an FIPK, and then hearing that growl in VTEC, I had to have one. So I got one… At the same time, I picked up some hood dampers and plastidip’d the front and rear Honda emblems and got a Q300 from a friend that ended up hating it. I loved it, so it was an easy trade for me to do for my OEM exhaust.





I also decided to pimp out the car key chain, so I got an HPDE wrist lanyard. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but I love it. It really helps with holding and grabbing the keys quickly.



Not happy with my GPS setup, I decided to go for something a little more permanent. Picked up a Nexus 7 for cheap, a JDM bezel, and hacked away at my dash until I ended up with this.



My wife and I were now closing up on our second wedding anniversary, and need to say she’s completely awesome. My 80k mile suspension was starting to get pretty tired, so I was mentioning to her I was looking into suspensions. I wanted something that was an actual upgrade from a mostly stock setup, but provided full adjustability for a reasonable price. I did my research, and settled on the KW V3 suspension. Well I mentioned to her at some point, and low and behold these showed up one day… Best. Wife. Ever.



A couple of weekends and beer cans later, they were installed. Couldn’t be any happier. The ride is firm but comfortable, and that pretty much completely eliminated my body roll. I still love these coils to this day.



2014
Spring hit, and I was bored, so I decided to go ahead and complete my AP2 V2 project. I saw the style on S2ki and loved it, so I modified it slightly and went at it. I painted the insides gunmetal and the outside a light silver with LOTS of flake. The wheels literally glisten in the sunlight.



And so, here is how she sits today.



I also started autocrossing the car, so I picked up some TR C3’s, sprayed them a bronze color to hide the brake dust, and coupled them with a Whiteline front sway bar. Here she is in her autocross trim.



I’m sure I’ll get bored at some point, and will continue to post my progress in this thread.

Thanks all for reading!

baZurk

Great start! I absolutely love the area we live in during the Fall. Best time to drive, best time to be outside, and the shift in colors in the surroundings is beautiful.

kryptonite

Holy crap man, talk about a keeper.

The car looks great too.
How did you overcome the JDM bezel tilting the screen to the passenger seat? Just left it as is or did you try and use a spacer of some sort.

jonner

Keep up the good work....

aeonracer

Indeed! At first I was worried about it when moving from Arizona. Would I miss the perfect roads? Are there mountains in Virginia? How was winter going to be? Well it all worked out for the better to be honest. I LOVE the seasons, both spring and fall are just absolutely perfect S2000 weather. The winter is relatively mild all things considered. And it turns out, Virginia may not have mountains in the "Rockies" sense, but it certainly has some very nice big hills! Skyline Drive is truly a treat! If you haven't been on Mike's Skyline cruise yet, I HIGHLY recommend it! Great people and great roads and scenery!



Have I mentioned how much I love the fall here?





Indeed she's a keeper. I knew that from the moment I picked her up on our first date and she said "nice S2000" when we got back to my car without me saying ANYTHING about it. It doesn't hurt that she's intelligent, ambitious, and beautiful!

The bezel needed to be hand molded to the dash with a heat gun. It was a bit of a pain, and I still have some adjustment and fine tuning to do, but I've filled MOST of the gaps around the bezel, I'd say I'm probably 90% there, but I just haven't had time to fully finish it. I'm pretty happy with it so far, it works awesome. I love basically having a media server with built in GPS at my disposal. It updates the look of the interior as well, in addition allowed me to get rid of the hideous GPS setup I previously had. I also love being able to hook up an OBD 2 reader, connect it to the Nexus, and then read/clear codes, read engine data, and get real time engine RPMs, mileage, etc etc. Its a fun little gadget, and the few times I go somewhere and need to wait for someone, its great popping on a movie!



Thanks!

baZurk

I went last year and I will be going again this year

adrs2k

It is about time you made a thread!

Car looks great, damn I really miss fall foliage. Too bad we did not get a chance to really hangout in AZ. I was new to AZ about the time you were on your way out lol.

Memo6453

awesome my man! love the Fall pic with the colors and all the S2K's! in Miami we get Summer and rain summer lol no seasons

aeonracer

Look forward to seeing you there this year!


Thanks! Though I must admit everytime I see that Apex Blue CR of yours with the RSII's, you make me reconsidering whether or not I really believe Silver Stone Metallic is the best color for the S2000. The main saving grace is SSM's uncanny ability to absorb the ambient light. Your CR makes a good argument though, and the fact that its put together so perfectly only helps sell the story.

Hopefully you can make it out Virginia at some point and we can meet up!




Thanks! Fall is an incredible season, its definitely worth suffering through the winter!

And a little bit more pic whoring:

Metal flake in the wheels visible under the correct angle and sun light.



I also recently picked up a CF cooling plate, and love how it cleans up the engine bay that little bit more. Between the K&N and the cooling plate, the looks is perfect. I've actually noticed some heat bog with the cooling plate in the hot summer days, but a throttle blip and it goes away. I didn't have it before the cooling plate with just the K&N, but its a worth while trade off for the look for me. Guess that's the ricer in me winning this battle...



My wife is awesome for many reasons, up to and including enjoying some autocross with me!



Have a few more things planned in the short term, mostly minor items and clean up work, so I'll post those once I get situated in the next big upgrade for my S2000:

Ricky_Flowers_

Great start man, your wife seems pretty awesome! Keep the updates coming!