New UK owner in the making!
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Joined: Jan 2014
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From: Billericay, Essex, UK
New UK owner in the making!
Hi all,
I am less than a week from collecting my first Honda S2000, a monte carlo blue 2002 GT with 89,000miles, formerly owned by a fellow s2ki member for 8 years. He sold it to the garage I am buying from, and to my delight left full service history documents and reciepts in the car along with 2 spare hamp oil filters!
Test drive last Saturday convinced me I was buying a good one. i had been through this forum looking for any info on what to check, as well as consulting some current and former s2000 owners at my work (tct rattle on hot restart, worn front wishbone bushes, hood tears etc). No knocks and rattles from the suspension, engine revved cleanly to 9000rpm, sounding as it should, transmission was tight, and no expensive sounding noises from the rear axle! Also decent paintwork, fresh looking interior, refurbed silver alloys and the absence of any visible rust all ticked the right boxes. Bonuses were the Spoon Oil Filler Cap and Rad Cap with Mugen reservoir covers, as i might have been tempted to buy them myself!
The only major issues I found were the Bridgestone S02s and flat paint from a not great respray on the left side rear bumper.
Though the tyres had tonnes of tread, the fronts were perished and the rubber starting to tear at the top of the sidewalls, I guess from having been sat in a garage most of the year without being rotated and only driven sparingly during the summer. Car had done 1000miles between annual inspections in the last year, and not much more in previous years so i think this theory holds out. Also the idle dips to 500rpm after blipping the throttle, then returns to a steady 1000ish, though my old honda civic mc2 vti b18c4 did this, and i think a clean out of the idle valve assembly should go some way towards sorting the issue.
I own three Euro hatchbacks that are all project cars (two modded tastefully and one complete standard restoration of a Peugeot 205 gti) so Im going to keep the s2000 standard and enjoy driving it as Honda intended, rather than burdening myself with yet another project!
First tasks are a complete fluid drain and refresh with the correct fluids and filters, cam clearance, compression and leak down checks, fresh plugs and a good wash, clean and detailing whilst it is in storage for the rest of the winter. I'll drive it a bit but dont want to expose it to salty roads and insane Essex commuters who tailgate and speed in freezing and foggy conditions!
Needless to say, Im massively looking forward to owning, driving and detailing my first s2000! Think I'll take some time to get used to how it drives and gently explore its limits before i start trying to drive it fast, as i've already seen a few posts about massive oversteer accidents due to unfamiliar drivers in their first proper rwd sports car!
Hope I can contribute in some way to the forum, I'm an Automotive Engineer working in Engine Performace Development for Ford in the UK, as well as a seasoned car enthusiast and DIY project man, so I'll carefully consider my posts and try to spout as little nonsense as possible!
All the best,
Malcolm
I am less than a week from collecting my first Honda S2000, a monte carlo blue 2002 GT with 89,000miles, formerly owned by a fellow s2ki member for 8 years. He sold it to the garage I am buying from, and to my delight left full service history documents and reciepts in the car along with 2 spare hamp oil filters!
Test drive last Saturday convinced me I was buying a good one. i had been through this forum looking for any info on what to check, as well as consulting some current and former s2000 owners at my work (tct rattle on hot restart, worn front wishbone bushes, hood tears etc). No knocks and rattles from the suspension, engine revved cleanly to 9000rpm, sounding as it should, transmission was tight, and no expensive sounding noises from the rear axle! Also decent paintwork, fresh looking interior, refurbed silver alloys and the absence of any visible rust all ticked the right boxes. Bonuses were the Spoon Oil Filler Cap and Rad Cap with Mugen reservoir covers, as i might have been tempted to buy them myself!
The only major issues I found were the Bridgestone S02s and flat paint from a not great respray on the left side rear bumper.
Though the tyres had tonnes of tread, the fronts were perished and the rubber starting to tear at the top of the sidewalls, I guess from having been sat in a garage most of the year without being rotated and only driven sparingly during the summer. Car had done 1000miles between annual inspections in the last year, and not much more in previous years so i think this theory holds out. Also the idle dips to 500rpm after blipping the throttle, then returns to a steady 1000ish, though my old honda civic mc2 vti b18c4 did this, and i think a clean out of the idle valve assembly should go some way towards sorting the issue.
I own three Euro hatchbacks that are all project cars (two modded tastefully and one complete standard restoration of a Peugeot 205 gti) so Im going to keep the s2000 standard and enjoy driving it as Honda intended, rather than burdening myself with yet another project!
First tasks are a complete fluid drain and refresh with the correct fluids and filters, cam clearance, compression and leak down checks, fresh plugs and a good wash, clean and detailing whilst it is in storage for the rest of the winter. I'll drive it a bit but dont want to expose it to salty roads and insane Essex commuters who tailgate and speed in freezing and foggy conditions!
Needless to say, Im massively looking forward to owning, driving and detailing my first s2000! Think I'll take some time to get used to how it drives and gently explore its limits before i start trying to drive it fast, as i've already seen a few posts about massive oversteer accidents due to unfamiliar drivers in their first proper rwd sports car!
Hope I can contribute in some way to the forum, I'm an Automotive Engineer working in Engine Performace Development for Ford in the UK, as well as a seasoned car enthusiast and DIY project man, so I'll carefully consider my posts and try to spout as little nonsense as possible!
All the best,
Malcolm
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Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Tulsa, Oklahoma USA
Welcome, Malcolm! 
S-02s were discontinued several years ago so those are probably well past their shelf life and are likely dry rotted. I'd add replacing those to your list of first tasks and refrain from pushing the car until you do. The RPM dips could be heat soak or just the ECU adjusting to atmospheric changes.
S-02s were discontinued several years ago so those are probably well past their shelf life and are likely dry rotted. I'd add replacing those to your list of first tasks and refrain from pushing the car until you do. The RPM dips could be heat soak or just the ECU adjusting to atmospheric changes.
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 5
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From: Billericay, Essex, UK
Cheers for the welcome!
I spent a couple of hours going through the main, and UK tyre threads on s2ki, and looks like there are only a few decent options in the right sizes. Got some quotes for Bridgestone RE002s in the UK and prices are surprisingly decent, £286 ($474) for all 4 corners sounds like good value to me!
Im not totally convinced its heat soak as it happened from cold start, solid cold start idle then blipped it to ~2000rpm after a few minutes and it dipped. Was better for the first few idles whilst out on test drive though, then did it again after sitting a few minutes idling afterwards. Wondering how fast the manifold and AIS take to heat soak to the point this becomes an issue, could ~5mins on a 45degF day from cold be enough?
Does anyone use an OBD bluetooth key on their s2k? Can you monitor intake manifold temps? Ie T-MAP sensor on the intake manifold or just on the intake duct pre-throttlebody? Think i'll start trawling through the tech discussions.....
I spent a couple of hours going through the main, and UK tyre threads on s2ki, and looks like there are only a few decent options in the right sizes. Got some quotes for Bridgestone RE002s in the UK and prices are surprisingly decent, £286 ($474) for all 4 corners sounds like good value to me!
Im not totally convinced its heat soak as it happened from cold start, solid cold start idle then blipped it to ~2000rpm after a few minutes and it dipped. Was better for the first few idles whilst out on test drive though, then did it again after sitting a few minutes idling afterwards. Wondering how fast the manifold and AIS take to heat soak to the point this becomes an issue, could ~5mins on a 45degF day from cold be enough?
Does anyone use an OBD bluetooth key on their s2k? Can you monitor intake manifold temps? Ie T-MAP sensor on the intake manifold or just on the intake duct pre-throttlebody? Think i'll start trawling through the tech discussions.....
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