Oh great...more pictures i have to save to my computer... *rolls eyes*

sofaking good

 

fvck me those pictures are amazing

 

Loving everything about your thread....the car, the come-back story, the quality parts and the photography.

Thanks for the taking the time to share your story with us. Like you, I'd like to get to know more of the 100% stock limits of the car before going on swapping parts. Also, interesting to hear your take on the GT4 experience as it is similar to other's in terms of smiles-per-dollar.

Keep enjoying her!

 

Definitely more smiles per dollar in the S2K over the GT4 when it comes to pure driving experience. If one is the type that like to have a fancy car to show off, then yea the GT4 will make someone more happy. It's such a cool car that's so capable out of the box. Looks/sounds amazing and aside from the slightly tall gearing (and maybe a bit underpowered for the price), it's practically perfect. But it's so perfect that it almost doesn't have any drama or interesting quirks you can fall in love with. If I'm sitting at a stoplight and want to overtake a car to get on another road up ahead, I'd pick the GT4 over the S2K. If I'm going to cars and coffee (I don't really go to those), the GT4 will turn more heads. I'll be faster than most of the cars at the track in the GT4. But when it comes to that gut feeling when driving on track or on your favorite back road with lots of corners, I feel more alive in my S2K and it puts just as big of a smile if not more on my face driving it. But this is comparing my modded S2K to a stock GT4. I think having an N/A track S2K and a supercharged street S2K would be far cheaper and way more enjoyable than owning a GT4. That's the only thing I miss really about the GT4. Having more power on the street. That and how comfortable it is to drive longer distances in the GT4 compared to the S2K. Oh and maybe that beautiful interior.

One interesting thing this past week is I've been driving my car with stock intake/header/cats/tune for a few weeks to pass smog. The car felt sluggish and not that exciting to accelerate in. After smog I put my aftermarket intake/test pipe/headers back in and the exhaust drone went away which was nice, but it wasn't until I flashed the car back with my dyno-tuned map did I fall completely in love with the car again. Throttle response is so much better and lowering VTEC just makes it so much more enjoyable.

 

@radiantm3, I've been looking into the Mugen AP2 exhaust. Any thoughts that you'd be able to share?

I'm on stock exhaust (other than a 60mm test pipe, CT-E intake) and I've been hesitant on aftermarket exhausts mainly because I don't want to blow sound at Laguna Seca. I've read that the Mugen exhaust gives a nicer sound but without raising the noise level too much. Your take?

 

Amazing pictures. If I may ask, how are you setting up your studio? I'd love to put something like this together but I don't think a 2-car garage leaves enough room...

 

The Mugen exhaust changes the note, but it's as quiet or maybe even slightly quieter than stock (at least that's what the marketing states). I honestly love it. It does pass 90db at Laguna, hardly drones, looks great, and is lighter than stock. If I could get a single tip exhaust without the drone or extreme loudness, I'd do it for the weight savings. But I'm pretty sensitive to drone and most S2K exhausts are just unbearable to me. So the Mugen is perfect for me.

That's not my photo studio. It's a real photo studio built for cars in a warehouse that a friend built at his company.

 

Lots have happened in the past few months and unfortunately most of it hasn't revolved around driving the S2K. A week before I was moving to Texas, my dad accidentally drove a Uhaul truck across the driver's side corner of my car. So yea that brand new Voltex bumper is gone.





Thanks to some very helpful friends I was able to quickly get the car back together before I moved with an OEM bumper and CR lip.



I think I've bought the most new front fenders and headlight housings ever in such a short period of time. My car was delivered safely to Texas and I have my first track "event" this coming Saturday. I put it in quotes because I'm taking a beginner 1 day school so I can gain access to a local private track. About 45 minutes away from me is a private 2 mile track that is in meticulous shape with some great corners and some elevation change. When you do their 1 day school (beginner and advanced course for $500 each), you become "alumni" and can go during the weekday, pay $25 for a 20 minute track session and get some convenient track time during lunch.

About an hour away from me is another 2 mile private track where you can pay a monthly membership and can run the track any time you want 5 days a week. Then about 50 minutes away is COTA (which is expensive at $500 a day). Gotta say I'm pretty blessed to be within an hour of 3 race tracks and that count doubles when I increase the driving radius to 2-3 hours away. I'm loving it here so far.

 

Other than COTA, your nearby track options seem to be quite affordable and more accessible than the northern California tracks. I would love to pay a monthly membership to rip around a local track. I'm interested to see how you take advantage of the 25$ sessions and how they compare to Thunderhill & Laguna.

unrelated, what on earth is that inside the trailer below your car?

 

It looked like a Tron light cycle. The driver said it was a bike from a movie.

Here's what the long version of the track I'm going to looks like:


They have 3 lengths of the track and this is the longest (2 mile) config. Driving between all the trees looks awesome.