Greetings Everyone!
Hope everyone is doing well and healthy during these times, and if you are on the east coast like me, hope all are stay warm & safe. (We just got 2 feet of snow) My name is Alp and I am from New Jersey and this is my story, thank you for reading! (PS: Long Post Ahead)

Going to Post in chronological parts

 

 

The Story of Purist: Before buying her, the current owner was a hardworking man with beautiful family and a new one on the way, hence the reason for selling. He was an electrical engineer from GE who got his degree while he was on duty in the Navy. He had bought the car from a dealership, but it wasn’t any usual place. When he agreed on the price, the dealership asked him to return the next day for a final appointment. He was bewildered but agreed to the dealerships terms. Upon his return the next day, he was introduced to the previous owner’s widow. A small, fragile grandma with curly white hair but full of life, she wanted to meet the new owner of the S2K because her husband had truly loved the car, he had owned it for 8.5 years until he passed. Since the widow didn’t know how to sell such an item, a family friend at the local dealership took the car to sell, but from what I was told, no commission was requested. The transition was done on good faith and in will of the previous owner. Mr.Navy bought the car with great hesitation, NOW that he knew the vehicle’s past. He had all different plans on changing things on it, hard top ideas, supercharger ideas, he had an incredible vision however, he said every time he got the courage to change something the meeting with the widow kept he from changing anything. As time went on, he enjoyed the car completely stock and eventually gave it to his young daughter for her last year of highschool. (We found all her CDs under the seat) Now, with the new one on the way, his wife finally got him to sell the car to us! After bringing the baby home, weekend drive after weekend drive the S2K was blowing my expectations away. I keep telling people this when they ask me how I like it “She’s a kind of car that punches well above her weight class, better yet, she upper cuts the competition.” For the next few months we absolutely loved what she could do, how she drove, how that F22 screamed to 8,250RPM. I wanted to make additions however the story in which I was told from the previous owner really stayed with me. Neither the previous owner nor I were permitted or restricted by any means. I am sure Mr.Navy felt the same, this car must be left stock. There is a man’s soul in there for Christ sake!!

 

The Story of Rinzler: Making the final decision to leave “Purist” stock left some void in my life. Watching the Donut series, they had so much fun (and fails) modifying their cars. Seeing how the mods changed the cars and compared them was just so fascinating and that was the void I was missing. So, a lightbulb popped in my head! Let’s get a 2nd S2K! Most people would have thought I was nuts (my mechanic did) my family loved Purist so much I got the green light! We immediately began looking once again, but then I thought, we have to think different. If we are going to change most of the car, there isn’t much need for the car to be in mint condition. I already had tons of plans, exhaust, test pipe, intake, etc etc. So we began looking for a decent beater or project car. We didn’t have any expectations but we did want an AP2, primarily 04 or 05. We found one about 10hrs away in NC, 2005 Silverstone, black/red seats with a few additional goodies for a decent price. Contacted owners, got more information, analyzed Carfax, negotiated on price and pulled the trigger. Flew down Thursday, stayed the night, met with them Friday morning at a Honda dealership, car passed the 100 or 90 point inspection. There were some issues, Brakes: 0, Tires: 0, Soft top: NEED replacement, but for the most part it was something we could work with. Made the deal, shook the hand (more like bumped fists #covid), and we were on our way back. The first 3-4hrs were alright, top down, sunny NC, and we were flying. She was a bit creeky, she was a bit more rough, she definitely had a lot more issues but she was going strong. About 6hrs into the trip she began to act up. Wheel was shaking, creeks got louder, she felt like she was falling apart. Decided to take a piss on the side of the road real quick, and I’m glad I did. Took off, and immediately smoke, burning rubber, wheel light. We had just gotten a flat, luckily I had pulled over to piss because that tire didn’t have ANYMORE life left in it. (Life Lesson, never go anywhere on 0 tires) We were just lucky we didn’t have a massive blow out on the highway at 100mph! After a long exhausting time at the dealership who took 3hrs to put on 2tires, we were back on the road. Called my mechanic up in the late night, surprised he picked up, told him what was going on “did I hear you right? ANOTHER S2000? From NC? Yea bro, bring it in asap!” 10hr trip took 15hrs, it was a rough one but we ALL made it in one piece, even though this S2000 felt like it was in two pieces for the last 3hrs of the trip. Nerve-racking to say the least!! For the next 4 months my mechanic began tearing her down and checking everything out. We brainstormed different ideas, different mods, ones that were necessary others, not so much. Regardless, our first Tuner Car Build was underway!

 

The Prelude (Forum Kept restricting posts)
2020 has seemingly changed our world almost overnight, while I can write a book about all the negatives of the era of Covid, for others it has given us time to slow down and reconnect with old parts of ourselves.
As my handle indicates (International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness) I am a retired (at the moment) Pro athlete, and with the additional time during 2020 I have literally dived back into my love/interest/hate for cars.
The late night Netflix, Hulu, COD, Youtube binges began to dwindle (there is only so much fitness videos out there before they are all the same)
Then I came across it, "Donut Media" within one episode of Hi/low and I was hooked like a drug addict. I've always loved cars (IS300, Audi TT 2.0T, Cayman S) but I was never at the point where I needed to be to really enjoy them AND enjoy working ON them. Partially cause I was immature (still am), partially cause I was a broke youngin, and partially cause I didn't know anything. Watching the Donut Crew get inside and tear apart these two Nissan Z's really inspired me to get back into cars and seeing all their joy. I must have watched every episode 50 times, even fell asleep to it. I guess during that slumber something happened because one day I woke up and began looking at different tuner cars. After much debate (not really, S2K was a shoe-in) my family and I went up to CT to look at a Silverstone 2005 S2000 with 101k miles. Great guy, and very touching story behind the car that clearly held true because the 15 year old car was in absolute MINT condition. Drove it home with the biggest smile on my face, for all of the 3hr drive I might add.

 

Conclusion: So now we have TWO Honda S2000, both in Silverstone, both 2005, both with Red & Black interior! We have dubbed our Stock S2K, “Purist”, she is refined, proper, convertible top and absolutely perfect in every S2K way. Our modded S2K, well, I’ll list the mods at the end. She’s loud, angry, hard top, a true bat outta hell! We decided to name her after the Rogue program from Tron “Rinzler.” ( We are huge dorks over here.) So, we have two S2K’s and honestly we have been eye-balling a 3rd depending on how things go.

 

The Prelude:2020 has seemingly changed our world almost overnight, while I can write a book about all the negatives of the era of Covid, for others it has given us time to slow down and reconnect with old parts of ourselves.
As my handle indicates (International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness) I am a retired (at the moment) Pro athlete, and with the additional time during 2020 I have literally dived back into my love/interest/hate for cars.
The late night Netflix, Hulu, COD, Youtube binges began to dwindle (there is only so much fitness videos out there before they are all the same)
Then I came across it, "Donut Media" within one episode of Hi/low and I was hooked like a drug addict. I've always loved cars (IS300, Audi TT 2.0T, Cayman S) but I was never at the point where I needed to be to really enjoy them AND enjoy working ON them. Partially cause I was immature (still am), partially cause I was a broke youngin, and partially cause I didn't know anything. Watching the Donut Crew get inside and tear apart these two Nissan Z's really inspired me to get back into cars and seeing all their joy. I must have watched every episode 50 times, even fell asleep to it. I guess during that slumber something happened because one day I woke up and began looking at different tuner cars. After much debate (not really, S2K was a shoe-in) my family and I went up to CT to look at a Silverstone 2005 S2000 with 101k miles. Great guy, and very touching story behind the car that clearly held true because the 15 year old car was in absolute MINT condition. Drove it home with the biggest smile on my face, for all of the 3hr drive I might add.

 

Need some pics! What part of NJ?? Fellow NJ-er here

 

Agreed! Still figuring out the forum, they are coming asap!
I am located in North NJ, but drive all throughout NJ/NYC. I commonly frequent Newbrunswick Sunoco for that delicious 100 octane Cam2 260 GT fuel!!Rinzler’s Mods:

Wilwood 6 Piston BBK

KW V3 Coilovers

18” x 9.5” Matte Black SSR (Square Setup)

K&N Cold Air Intake

SOS 70mm Throttle Body

Invidia 70mm Test Pipe

HKS 75mm Single Ti-Exhaust

Authentic Mugen Hard Top

CR Front Bumper

CR Front Lip

CR Trunk Deck

CR Rear Wing Spoiler

Cut Out Rear Bumper for Single Exhaust

Chasing J’s TI Dress-up Kit

Authentic Carbon Fiber Mugen Shift Knob



On hand: Waiting for Install

Inline Pro Fuel Rail

Skunk2 Ultra Manifold



On the way:

Amuse R1 Titan Hood

Magical Racing Carbon Fiber Mirror Style #4

Skunk2 Alpha Headers



Next action: Full Berlina Black paint job

End Goal: SOS Stage 2+ S/C Kit ~ 400-450whp desired

 

Welcome...you did a superlative job on your intro...looking forward to your pics.
Levi