Not quite an S2000 owner
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Not quite an S2000 owner
But I'm just about as enthusiastic about s2000's as most owners.
My story goes like this. I needed a car for college. Bought an old beater Ford Ranger for way more than it was worth, and the engine ended up dying within a year. I didn't know crap about engines then (I still don't know too much now), so I couldn't fix it on my own. The insurance on it only covered liability; they probably would have just totaled it anyway. Paying a shop to swap the motor out would cost as much as I bought the damn thing for, so I was out of luck. It was the end of my freshman year in college and I didn't have a car. I got a job up in Michigan and worked over summer, using my grandfathers old silverado to get to work and back.
At that time, I was set on getting a miata (an s2000 was pretty much just a dream, and I didn't even know Z3s existed). I wanted something I could DD and autocross without having to put too much work and money into it. As it worked out, by the time I finished working at the end of summer I earned enough to buy a decent condition NA or an alright NB Miata. I was about the pull the trigger on one when my parents told me I couldn't because it looked too small and unsafe. They agreed to help pitch in if I got a bigger car. Well I took advantage of this and started looking around for a low priced s2000. I found 2 decent looking, and affordable, ones with rebuilt titles. I was very close to getting one of those until we got some insurance quotes back. I have a clean driving record and never made a claim on my insurance, but it was still too high. We had to get full coverage this time so that the same thing this happened to my truck wouldn't happen to this car. I had to look for something else it seemed. (I could have gotten an old EK hatch, or even a DC2 but I was very biased toward RWD. Plus those are stolen more often than S2k's, especially in south florida.)
My mom knew someone who owned a used car stealership, so I went to see what kind of cars he had on the lot. The guy was definitely into german cars. 1/2 of the lot was bmw, porsche, vw, and mercedes. Stuff like a 944, an old air cooled carrera, a few golfs, a C class, several 3-series, a Z3M roadster, and some M3's. He even had a coupe of old british roadsters, one a triumph and another what I thought was an MG. And, ironically, one of the miatas I was checking out on craigslist. There was also this black Z3 roadster that was up front. I was surprised when the price was actually within my budget. I asked if I could take it for a spin. I was hooked. I drove it off of the lot later that week. Turned out the insurance was only a little bit more than a miata too.
So here I was with a 98' Z3 with a 2.8 straight six and 5 speed manual gearbox. It may not be as fast as an S2k, but it was no slouch. What it lacked horsepower-wise in comparison to an S, it made up for with 210tq. Enough torque to make me to spin out in a turn and smack a curb. Luckily it only fared with a very slightly bent passenger side trailing arm and a nice chunk of the rear wheel scraped away. I replaced the whole rear end, but more on that later.
Well, I've got classes tomorrow so I gotta finish this up.
The rest of the story In a nutshell: I made a few friends at school with s2000's who I am jelly of. Helped work on them a few times. I now know how to re-space valve tappets on them, change the brakes out, and replace evap sensors, but thats about it. I've only driven one once for about 5 mins very slowly, but from what I can tell it handles tons better than my Z. I've also done a decent amount of work on my Z too. I installed new brake pads and rotors, a cone filter and tubing, and some friends and I finished swapping out the rear subframe and trailing arms for some toe/camber adjustable ones. I also have an M50 manifold sitting on my floor that I will put in soon. Coilovers in the near future I hope. I'm also hoping to attend my first autocross next month.
and the obligatory pictures:
First Day
Beach Cruise with some friends
Washing up afterwards
Another fun cruise
Dyno Day
(168hp, 172tq....meh, could be better, but it's more than enough for spirited driving)
My friends and I installing the rear end
poly bushings FTMFW
and what was pulled out
Oh, and I was at the last S2KI megameet, just to show my devotion for the car I wish I owned. I came a bit late a missed a lot of them though
black w/ gold LM's had to be my favorite there.
Oh and Simply Clean 3
Ok, I need sleep. I'm done now.
My story goes like this. I needed a car for college. Bought an old beater Ford Ranger for way more than it was worth, and the engine ended up dying within a year. I didn't know crap about engines then (I still don't know too much now), so I couldn't fix it on my own. The insurance on it only covered liability; they probably would have just totaled it anyway. Paying a shop to swap the motor out would cost as much as I bought the damn thing for, so I was out of luck. It was the end of my freshman year in college and I didn't have a car. I got a job up in Michigan and worked over summer, using my grandfathers old silverado to get to work and back.
At that time, I was set on getting a miata (an s2000 was pretty much just a dream, and I didn't even know Z3s existed). I wanted something I could DD and autocross without having to put too much work and money into it. As it worked out, by the time I finished working at the end of summer I earned enough to buy a decent condition NA or an alright NB Miata. I was about the pull the trigger on one when my parents told me I couldn't because it looked too small and unsafe. They agreed to help pitch in if I got a bigger car. Well I took advantage of this and started looking around for a low priced s2000. I found 2 decent looking, and affordable, ones with rebuilt titles. I was very close to getting one of those until we got some insurance quotes back. I have a clean driving record and never made a claim on my insurance, but it was still too high. We had to get full coverage this time so that the same thing this happened to my truck wouldn't happen to this car. I had to look for something else it seemed. (I could have gotten an old EK hatch, or even a DC2 but I was very biased toward RWD. Plus those are stolen more often than S2k's, especially in south florida.)
My mom knew someone who owned a used car stealership, so I went to see what kind of cars he had on the lot. The guy was definitely into german cars. 1/2 of the lot was bmw, porsche, vw, and mercedes. Stuff like a 944, an old air cooled carrera, a few golfs, a C class, several 3-series, a Z3M roadster, and some M3's. He even had a coupe of old british roadsters, one a triumph and another what I thought was an MG. And, ironically, one of the miatas I was checking out on craigslist. There was also this black Z3 roadster that was up front. I was surprised when the price was actually within my budget. I asked if I could take it for a spin. I was hooked. I drove it off of the lot later that week. Turned out the insurance was only a little bit more than a miata too.
So here I was with a 98' Z3 with a 2.8 straight six and 5 speed manual gearbox. It may not be as fast as an S2k, but it was no slouch. What it lacked horsepower-wise in comparison to an S, it made up for with 210tq. Enough torque to make me to spin out in a turn and smack a curb. Luckily it only fared with a very slightly bent passenger side trailing arm and a nice chunk of the rear wheel scraped away. I replaced the whole rear end, but more on that later.
Well, I've got classes tomorrow so I gotta finish this up.
The rest of the story In a nutshell: I made a few friends at school with s2000's who I am jelly of. Helped work on them a few times. I now know how to re-space valve tappets on them, change the brakes out, and replace evap sensors, but thats about it. I've only driven one once for about 5 mins very slowly, but from what I can tell it handles tons better than my Z. I've also done a decent amount of work on my Z too. I installed new brake pads and rotors, a cone filter and tubing, and some friends and I finished swapping out the rear subframe and trailing arms for some toe/camber adjustable ones. I also have an M50 manifold sitting on my floor that I will put in soon. Coilovers in the near future I hope. I'm also hoping to attend my first autocross next month.
and the obligatory pictures:
First Day
Beach Cruise with some friends
Washing up afterwards
Another fun cruise
Dyno Day
(168hp, 172tq....meh, could be better, but it's more than enough for spirited driving)
My friends and I installing the rear end
poly bushings FTMFW
and what was pulled out
Oh, and I was at the last S2KI megameet, just to show my devotion for the car I wish I owned. I came a bit late a missed a lot of them though
black w/ gold LM's had to be my favorite there.
Oh and Simply Clean 3
Ok, I need sleep. I'm done now.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 8
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As far as pulling girls, it doesn't work as well as you would think. Then again, an engineering school doesn't have many girls. I gotta drive by the beach more often.
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