So I was at my parents house today talking to them about getting a S2000 and maybe fixing it up in the future with a tune up or turbo charge kit and what not, and my brother blurts out that I'm stupid for doing something like this when I can just buy a v8 camaro and save a lot more money and yet be a lot faster. Is this true? I've read some thing about a guy that had a turbo kit in his s2000 yet was keeping him with a GTR. I like going fast and yet I love the way the s2000 looks. So can I have some opinions please?

 

he has a point, it will be a lot cheaper to buy a 400hp car but faster is debatable. A properly built turbo s2000 would cost north of $10k to upgrade and that is just to get the kit on the car, then you have to worry about replacing rear ends, transmissions and engines when they blow. A S2000 can keep up with a GTR but it won't be cheap. In the same regard I am sure you could pick up a used Z06 and some simple bolt ons will get you pretty fast cheap

 

Agreed, if you are looking for 400+ whp I think a C5 Z06 would be more budget friendly than an S2000.

But..it is not going to be more fun (imo). I think I'd rather have an NA S2000 (mine is completely stock under the hood), and with the extra money you'd have spent on the supercharger or turbo kit, you could easily buy a motorcycle.


If you do go with forced induction, do your research and know what you are getting into.

Going back to the title..are V8s cheaper to modify?

--Perhaps if your goal is big power. But does it mean that $10,000 is better spent modifying a corvette than an S2000?
To me, no.. I think $10,000 spent on tastefully modifying an S2000 could do a lot for the better, just as it can for the corvette.

 

One counter point is that there are not too many cars out there that will give you the feeling a boosted S2k can especially Camaros except the new Z28

 

I'm a little disappointed no one has said combine the two and drop a V8 in an S2000.
There's kits for this and if you shop smart, costs can be close between going FI or swap or within a reasonable difference.


But if you're worried about cost, doing heavy mods no matter what route (swap or FI) may not be for you right now.

 

We had a local member recently do a V8 conversion (LSX swap), and it sounded like a heck of a lot of work.
Don't think I'd recommend doing that over going with a supercharger or turbo kit.
Unless you are gladly willing to tackle such a laborious project.

 

I considered supercharging my S2000 six years ago, going so far as to buy a supercharger. It was at that point that I had a change of heart. I sold the supercharger before installing it, and used the proceeds as part of the down payment on my first CTS-V (I now own a V wagon, my second CTS-V). I subsequently purchased a supercharger pulley, intake, and had my first V dyno tuned. I already had an exhaust. I gained nearly 100 whp for less than $1000. To go further than that requires supporting mods like bigger injectors ($600-900 depending on source and volume) headers (less than $1000 if you source right), cam, larger heat exchanger (few hundred bucks), and maybe a lower pulley (3-4 hundred bucks).

If you're looking to supercharge or turbo a S2000, along with supporting parts (clutch, better diff), install, and tune, (assuming new parts, not used), you are looking at $5-$7k bucks at the minimum, or those are the numbers I had several years ago.

It's even cheaper to buy a 3G or 4G F-body Camaro and mod it up than to supercharge a S2000, unless prices on F bodies have appreciated more than I thought. Or, just buy a C5 Corvette and mod that up, it's cheap to do so as I described above.

Bottom line, OP's brother is correct.

 

Ultimately, it depends on what you want to do with the car. If you're just talking highway pulls and rolls, yeah the v8 will be a lot cheaper. If you want a car that doesn't shit the bed when the road curves a little bit, then perhaps not. As usual, what you want from the car will dictate what direction you want to go.

 

They are so different cars. Decide what kind of car you want to drive first. S2000 is a small lightweight two seat convertible. Camaro is not.

 

No v8's are not cheaper to modify... Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Ferrari, Jaguar, etc. all make v8's and aren't very cheap. Generally v8's do produce more power with similar modifications because it's a bigger air pump four cylinders.