tsukasa36

Hi, I recently bought a 2005 NFR S2000 with 9800 miles on it. The car is in an immaculate condition so I just had to pull the trigger. I am super stoked not only to have this car but to also be part of this forum.

I almost feel bad driving this thing but man it just feels like a go-cart. It does really makes me sad that Honda discontinued it.

rpg51

Nice car. You'll get over feeling bad. My 02 had 8.5K on it last June when I bought it. Right now its up to almost 24K miles. I can't stop driving it. I live in a gorgeous area for winding back roads. My commute is incredible.

If it has original tires and plugs I would recommend some new tires and new plugs. Also new fluids. Also, if it were me, I would adjust the valves asap.

What a car!

tsukasa36

Hey rpg51, thanks for the recommendations. If you don't mind me asking, why did you say that valve adjustment is required asap? I thought the standard interval was around 30k miles? Luckily the previous owner had the timing belt and some rubber components changed due to cracking along with all fluids, which was one of the reasons I jumped on the car.

rpg51

My reading in the pages of this forum over the last year has made it pretty apparent to me that a certain percentage of s2k's (mostly 06 and later) end up with tight valves and it is pretty obvious that this sometimes leads to burned valves which can be a major headache. If you keep them set correctly, and its not a big deal to do, you won't have problems and the car will run and run well. Unless you know that an experienced and competent s2k enthusiast or mechanic did the valves, and you know for sure what they are set at, I would want to do it myself (or have a mechanic I have complete confidence in do it) and make sure they are where they need to be based on Billman's advice (see threads in this forum and read Billman's posts carefully) for your model year. In my mind the valve settings are just too important, and its easy to do, so it is a no brainer. Yours may well be set correctly, but how do you verify that?

Also, on the fluids, I would want to know what exactly is in there. What type of coolant, what kind of engine oil, what trans fluid, what dif fluid? Maybe I'm a little obsessive. That is possible! Don't assume that if a dealer took care of the car it has the right fluids. That would be a big mistake because many dealers don't have anyone on staff any longer who really understands these motors
BTW- the new plugs I put in mine after I bought it, combined with a valve adjustment (my valves actually turned out to be within spec and I set them at the setting recommended by Billman for ap1s) made a significant improvement in the performance of my engine. It was good to start with, now it is amazing.

One other thing - make a habit of checking the oil level every fill up for a while until you have a feel for how much oil the engine uses. Mine is an ap1, and now that I am driving it a little harder (higher revs between shifts than in the beginning of my ownership) it does use a little, not much, oil between changes. My read is that this is normal and to be expected with the ap1. Its not a problem, but it could be a problem, like any car, if you let it run too low.

One more thing --- good tires and a good alignment can make a big difference in the way your car handles. My car had just 8500 miles on it but the alignment was out of spec by a lot. New tires and a $75 alignment made a huge positive difference in the handling of my car.

Basically, over the first year of ownership, I looked at everything in my car and I adjusted or replaced everything that needed it. Now I have a baseline and I have some comfort in knowing that this 15 years old car of mine is in tip top shape.

apextc

congrats! I live in Chicago. I think I can get rid of my gym membership, chiropractor sessions and not give a damn about anything once hit that start button.