Vboy

Then:


Now:




2002 Spa Yellow

Engine & Transmission
- AP2 retainers and banjo bolts
- Canton baffled oil pan
- 4.77 final drive
- Mugen AP1 Sports exhaust

Wheels, Suspension, Brakes, and Tires
- Mugen MF10 17x7.5 +52 and 17x8.5 +59
- Hankook Ventus RS-4 225/45 and 255/40
- Ohlins DFV coilovers
- Goodridge stainless steel brake lines

Exterior
- OEM AP1 front lip
- JS2k key hole covers

Interior
- Backyard Special OEM low seatrail
- Battlecraft teardrop shift knob

Miscellaneous
- Hybrid Racing slim oil cap
- BAWSS Fab lower tie bar
- Wrinkle black valve cover

Sold Parts / No longer on car
- Advan RZ-II 17x8 +54 and 17x9 +63 (Hyper Racing Black)
- Tanabe Medallion Touring exhaust

I've been on this forum for quite a long time now and have never started a build thread. I'm on my second S2000 now and thought it would be fun to share my old 2004 New Formula Red and my current 2002 Spa Yellow Pearl build. I sold the NFR in September of 2015 and exactly a year later in 2016, I found myself in my second S2000 (apparently this happens more often than not to other S2k owners). This time I went with a clean, low-mileage AP1. Both of my S2ks were nearly bone stock when purchased and slowly modified throughout ownership.

Vboy

Before I dive into my current build I figure I'd share a little bit of my old NFR and the progress/changes I made thoughout my ownership of it.

My "first rodeo" 2004 NFR: I purchased the AP2 while I was in college and owned it another year after finishing school. Within that time of ownership, the AP2 went through two distinct "versions". The first was a more track oriented function and aesthetic with non-staggered sticky tires and some aero to boot.

Not long after I first purchased my old NFR (2011):


Ver 1.1 (aka R[a/i]ce Mode) circa 2011 to 2013
-AP2 OEM front lip
-AP1 Rear bumper
-GT Motoring Ducktail spoiler
-Voltex Type 1V Wing
-OEM Hardtop
-APR Carbon fiber mirrors
-Front splitter
-KW Ver.3 coilovers
-Cusco front strut tower bar
-Enkei PF01SS 17x9 +60 front +48 rear
-Yokohama Advan AD08 255/40/17
-Bride Vios III seat
-BuddyClub low-down seat rail
-Soft top delete with CR bulkhead plates
-K&N FIPK Intake
-HKS 75mm single exhaust
-Fiberglass single exhaust cap




Second version of the NFR AP2 was far more toned down. With more focus toward building a clean and simple street-driven S2000.

Ver 1.2 circa 2014
-OEM AP2 spoiler
-BBS LM wheels 18x8 +40 and 18x9 +40, satin gunmetal finish on the faces
-Coilovers remained
-Bride seat remained
-Intake and Exhaust remained




Then after finishing school I moved to Phoenix for work. I brought the NFR with me and further refined what in my mind was the "perfect" street S2000 in terms of aesthetics.

Ver 1.2.2 circa 2015
-Authentic Amuse R1 front bumper
-Switched back to OEM exhaust w/UK mod (HKS single grew to be too loud for me)
-Eventually swapped out the AP2 exhaust tips for AP1 pieces.

Vboy

Round Two: 2002 Spa Yellow
Then in September 2015 I sold the NFR in hopes of looking for a different car that could provide a driving experience as fun or more fun than the S2000. I spent a year researching, test driving, and pondering various modern cars. Including some rather expensive German offerings. I eventually came to two conclusions during my year sans a fun car:

1. I'm just not financially in the right place to own AND maintain a German sports car like a Porsche or BMW.
2. Many modern sports cars nowadays have too many driver aids that I personally feel take away from the driving experience. Don't get me wrong, the torque vectoring, brake vectoring, rev-matching, dual clutch transmissions, etc. are all very impressive, but strip away the purity that one can experience in an S2k.

So, as a result I went back to the S2000, but this time I opted for an AP1. In my opinion the AP1 is the S2000 that the Honda engineers originally wanted, but had to make adjustments over time to appeal to a more broad audience. I enjoyed my AP2, but I wanted to try the rawness of an AP1 and the F20C's 90000 rpm redline.

After a couple months of searching I was able to find a well maintained, low-mileage, 2002 AP1 in Spa Yellow with a factory hardtop and some choice initial mods. The car had only 36,000 miles when I purchased it. Considering this was a nearly 15 year old car the mileage was pretty low.

I originally did not have a specific color in mind when searching for my second S as condition, maintenance, and mileage were my primary criteria. I found the posting for this particular AP1 online and I was so-so about the color. However, once I saw it in person I knew I had to have it. I've noticed Spa Yellow rarely photographs well and you really appreciate the color and pearl in person.

I took this pic the day I flew out and purchased the car in Utah (I drove it back to Phoenix):


Although mechanically the car was very well maintained the exterior did need some TLC. There were various door dings, swirl marks, and scratches throughout. I had some paint-less dent repair work done on the entire exterior and followed with a full home detail. Along with the detail I put the car on jackstands and did a full maintenance refresh which included changing the oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, clutch fluid, differential fluid, intake filter, air cabin filter, and spark plugs. The detail and maintenance work together took three consecutive weekends, but the results spoke for themselves and I was very happy with to have such a clean canvas to start.

Ugh, crappy quality pics. Sorry.

Vboy

As mentioned I purchased the car with a few choice mods already on it, one of which were the Ohlins DFV coilovers which BLEW ME AWAY. Driving the car back to Phoenix from Utah was a breeze due to the level of compliance the suspension provided. Of course the rebound/compression/tires influence this, but overall I think the Ohlins are a far more comfortable coilover for the street than the KW V3s on my old AP2.

I then looked to swapping out the OEM wheels with something lighter, wider, and more aggressive while still leaving the fenders as stock as possible. My old NFR had rolled and slightly pulled fenders which allowed for much more fitment options, but I chose to try and leave the fenders alone this time around on the Spa. Overall I want to keep my AP1 a clean and simple "OEM Plus" build with minimal/no modifications to the original sheet metal.

This lead me to the Advan RZ-II wheels in S2k friendly sizing; 17x8 +54 in front and 17x9 +63 in the rear. Although the sizing and offsets fit the S without any fender mods, Advan still manages to give the wheels a nice concavity. Plus the Hyper Racing Black color is fantastic.

As for tires I purchased these wheels around the time I found out that I was moving from Phoenix to the Bay Area California and there was a possibility that I would need to daily drive the S. So considering the possibility of rain I opted for some summer tires that had good wet handling capabilities. Enter the Continental ExtremeContact DW (this was before the ExtremeContact Sport was available). Standard staggered sizes, 225/45 front and 255/40 rear. Overall these were decent summer tires for their intended daily use. The grip was good, noise levels were unnoticable, and as advertised it did handle wet weather very well. My main gripe was that I noticed the sidewalls were much softer than the Potenza RE-11s that were on the stock wheels. This did improve the overall comfort of the ride even though I went with a bigger diameter wheel over stock, but under hard cornering I did notice some “squishiness”.

TsukubaCody

Oh hey I follow you on IG.

I like your current car a whole bunch.

1nate7

Nice work on 2.0! Spa with bronze wheels is a killer combo, thanks for posting this update.

Vboy

Fourth post has been revised with my previous Advan wheel setup. I'm playing catch-up with my build thread (that's what I get for starting this thread so late). But once I'm caught up I'll be better with updates!

Thanks sir! Big fan of your S as well. It's so much easier to post and update stuff on IG. Figured I should put in the effort though and put together a build thread.

Thanks Nate! I honestly wasn't sure about the bronze on Spa at first, but it has definitely grown on me.

S1 S2

I love oem plus build threads! Many of us eventually get carried away haha.

JamesD89

The +60/+48 setup has the fitment I'm looking for on my street setup. Love the NFR car

Also shocked by how well bronze works with Spa Yellow. Would have never guessed, but the combo looks stunning.

Vboy

So true. It's way too easy to get carried away (my old NFR was a prime example) haha. I'm going to try and keep this build as low-key but high-quality as possible. Accentuate the original design from the factory.

So long as you're willing to roll the rear fenders the fitment was just right IMO. Plus you get the benefits of running non-staggered. I haven't seen many folks run non-staggered widths with staggered offsets.

And thanks! The anodized bronze does work surprisingly well with yellow. I was shocked myself when I threw them on.