Introduction

I was browsing on Craigslist in June and stumbled across an ad for an 2001 S2000. Pictures were iffy, could see a crack in the bumper, had about 123,000 miles. Not a lot of details in the ad but I figured I'd reach out. No answer for the next few days so I assumed the seller wasn't interested or it had already sold. Then I got a message in regards to some of the questions I had asked about the car. We went back and forth then no response. I again assumed that was it. But then I got another message and we set a time. It was about an hour and a half away but I thought it was worth a look.

The car was under a car cover outside. Paint was okay. Interior was crusty with a torn seat, worn bolsters, and the carpet had a gash in it. Trunk was dirty. Not exactly a good first impression. Admirably, the car had a compression test done (good in all four cylinders) and a recent check up with a local mechanic. The seller appeared honest and was open about the condition of the car. He handed me the key (he only had one without a fob) and told me to take my time. The weather was great so I kept the top down and drove around wine country.

I was hooked.

The car wasn't the most practical. It wasn't the newest. It wasn't all that fast either. But it drove like it owned the road and it convinced me to make my biggest purchase so far. After about 30 minutes on a road, I went back and bought the car.


The first photo after purchase. Could not stop staring at it.

The drive back was freezing but the heater worked like a champ and it was an enjoyable ride back. I probably put almost 200 miles on the first few days of owning the car.

Owning as S2000

When I finally got the car home, I took my time to do a deep inspection. Interior was dirty and well worn. Dings and dents were scattered around, the ones that bothered me the most was the driver's fender which had a good sized shallow dent and a small one on the passenger's door that was distracting obviously next to the body line. Headlights were hazy. The front bumper cracked with plenty of chips. The engine by was kept but dusty. Someone drilled a hold near the shifter for an alarm LED (which didn't work) and the shiny coating was already peeling. This was definitely going to be a long term project.


In the garage

The front

The metallic coating is impossible to take off

Vintage Alpine. Great build quality and it came with a jack for an iPhone. The original iPhone....

Crusty. Hopefully not rusty.

Certainly dusty.

The interior was struggling hard.

I went to work with both maintenance and cosmetic related issues.

 

Levitating the car

Remarkably clean

Not bad

Brakes were squeaky, still had Honda rotors. The screws are one the worst things I experienced with this car. Tried an impact screw driver, heat, cold, then finally spent hours drilling ALL 8 OF THEM out. Painful.

New rotors, new pads, new grease (copper and silicone). Afterwards, did a complete brake flush via the popular gravity method. Nice strong brakes now.

The interior was filthy. I took down the seats, carpeting, center console and went to town with the shop vac.

Surprisingly, no rust. Lost of dirt for some reason though.

Luckily I met a nice guy who was selling a complete tan colored interior. I like the chocolate peanut butter look instead of the drab all back.

All buttoned up.

Seats are in. Since then I switched the passenger and driver seat cushions to hide the smushed bolsters.

 

This is how the driver's carpeting looked. The seat bolster was also flat and both seats had a few cosmetic issues. At least it looked like someone spent a lot of time driving the car...

New to me interior.

The ad said that maintenance was done by the prior owner's father but I wanted to give it a once over during my ownership. Spark plugs replaced with the NGK ones. Old ones didn't look too bad.

Spent about 2 days taking my time on basic engine care. Replaced the spark plug gaskets and the valve cover gasket with OEM ones. The old ones also looked reassuringly decent. The valves themselves were inspected for cracks, adjusted, then torqued to spec. I don't plan on tracking the car or driving it particularly hard so I did not replace the retainers with AP2 ones. Oil was changed with full synthetic. Filter was replaced with the OEM one. I also went ahead and replaced the cabin air filter and intake air filter. Clutch fluid, differential oil, and transmission oil was also replaced at this time. The fluids looked great, no sparking or obvious metal shards.

 

Inspected the stock TCT. Surprisingly my engine did not have any chatter after obsessively listening to it for multiple days. I figured I should go with the best and installed a Billman TCT for peace of mind.

Annoying dent one. Recently hired a PDR guy to pull it out. It's now barely noticeable.



Much better and barely noticeable.





I was driving behind a Civic hatch that had these license plate frames and just had to get a pair for my S2000.


I tried the offset license plate installation and kept it for about a week. Ended up taking it off for a cleaner look. Then I promptly got a ticket for not having front plates. It went back on after that. Since I didn't have the original bracket, I went with a $6 options from Autozone. Worked great.

Since most of the maintenance issues were addressed, I decided to do a makeover. I think the spoiler was a great buy, color matched and makes the rear more interesting. I also went ahead with aftermarket tail lights that look like AP2 clones since one of mine had a crack. The wiring was off but I was able to reverse wire the plugs and now all the LED lights work great.


Installed.

 

Went on a road trip. Windows down in a tunnel hitting VTEC was an experience.


Turned out I'm not a fan of the 16 inch wheels that came with the car. There was just too much gap. So I went on the hunt for AP2 v2 wheels which I think are the best looking for the S2000. Met a nice guy who sold me a well used set.


I enjoy the wheels, curb rash and all.

Spent a a day or two washing, compounding, polishing, and waxing the car. Headlights are refurbished.

Next is alignment. Having issues with the shop not being able to spec the driver's side. Not sure what's going on with that.

 

Awesome!

 

Nice work. All it needed was a little TLC.

 

I always enjoy seeing restoration projects done in the home garage. They help to give people an example of what can be done and a push toward being a do-it-yourselfer.
Nice work and I like that rear spoiler.

 

Nice job, where in the heck did you get the replacement seats? Are you going to find matching door covers?