New '07 S2K Owner in Balto/Wash Area
03-05-2015, 08:47 PM
#1
Thread Starter
New '07 S2K Owner in Balto/Wash Area
Hello Mid-Atlantic. I'm going to cross post here since I just found this listing, want to be inclusive!
Greetings to the S2000 Mid-Atlantic Gang,
I'm on the Mid-Atlantic Facebook Page and also have posted here under Introductions, etc. Hope to see y'all at the Gettysburg Spring Cruise and Rock the Dragon as well as at the HDPE on the Jefferson Course at Summit Point in May and October. They are listed now and I already signed up for both, two-day, events so hoping some other S2K's will be there and hoping I don't spin off a corner due to V-Tech and/simultaneous Turbo frenzy!
First of all, I want to thank you and then thank you all again for a great forum, tremendous information and some funny threads that are laugh out loud funny (dots/dimples on keys, etc.). I'd always intended to buy a 911 or NSX or 308 when I got to my mid-life crisis but the 308 got very old, the NSX just didn't cut it (though I do have Ben Shaffer, the US expert on NSX locally here) and 911's are legend for maintenance cost and pretty darn pretentious as well! I started looking at S2000's and found a number of friends had them and generally found that everyone who had one loved them, they were reliable, very safe, and very much a race-bred car. Perhaps the best recommendation is that the chassis can take whatever power and mods you put on it. I created a huge list of available cars and got very familiar with issues, values, etc. I narrowed my search and then went to CA for a few week's vacation to evaluate a bunch of them. Considered many cars but narrowed to several in Suzuka Blue, some with Nürburgring interiors plus a few Rio Yellow and a few others. Decided I wanted low miles, AP2, later the better and totally box stock only. I have had a Google search and used Daily Lister for months to keep up with CraigsList and other sources nationwide along with S2Ki. It is great how many nice cars there are to choose from. I have a list of about 130 that were for sale recently.
I was watching a very modified '07 in Ft. Worth, Texas knowing I was headed there in early January for a sales meeting but it was too crazy and too expensive. I ultimately connected up with the dealership and found out they were selling it for an estate and also was able to see who and how all the work was done. I researched JoTech in Garland, Texas and further explored the history of this car. It was "done" back in late 2009 by a guy who supposedly owns more than a dozen S2000's. Another guy bought it and he passed away. Long story short, we have a very well sorted out 2007, intercooled big turbo, coilovers, big brake kit with a really exceptional (to the tune of $4500) '07 Mercedes Red paint job, so really is one-of-a-kind. I flew into Dallas a day early and went straight to see the car. Roads were damp and cold but I took it for a ride, could easily have been a "spin" with all the horsepower as it broke loose in any gear. Very clean car inside and out and the mods/engine are so well sorted and professionally done. Negotiated with the dealer during my multi-day sales meeting striking a deal and setting up the money wire on Tuesday.
I finished my 4 day meeting in Richardson (Dallas) on Wednesday at 12:30pm, checked out and drove to Fort Worth. The money got there before me as the dealer did a Mobil One oil change as agreed as I arrived. I'd gone back and forth whether to truck it home or drive it and ultimately with clear weather and me having the time I decided always go for the adventure. One really nice thing is that I was able to stop into JoTech Motorsports in Garland on my way out of Dallas and meet Kenny Tran and Tony Cheung who were able to fill me in on a lot of details, look over all the paperwork since their work in '09. These guys have been doing these stage 1-5 kits for a variety of cars for a long time and really seem to know their stuff. I got some advice and history and headed out late at rush hour and drove to Memphis.
Thursday I drove to Roanoke where I called on some clients on Friday and finally arrived home, after 1500 miles, at 10pm. Averaged 70 mph for the trip! Great adventure and yes, this car with a recent Dyno of 380 hp/ 280 ft lb and suspension, wheels, tires set up for high speed motoring is just an insanely fun car. More on all of this later.
So, thank you all for the confidence I needed to break the cardinal rule of "never buy a modded car" and I am so far just massively tickled and thrilled. The long trip has helped me tremendously in learning and understanding the car and being able now to feel and feed the inputs the right way but the rush from 70-80'ish in 6th to whenever you chicken out is by far the quickest car I've ever been in. I mean it is nearly instantly into triple digits and just keeps pulling with a long way to go on the rev counter when I backed out each time. Running right around 100 mph for over an hour nearly continuously east of Memphis was awesome and the car is totally set up to get better and better the faster you go.
The car has basically been parked in the garage since I got back (a painful 6 weeks).
Looking forward to springtime and putting the top down for the summer and perhaps I'll keep shopping for another one, with a roll bar already in place, for time up at Summit Point and VIR. Would love to take to COTA too. Probably not going to put a roll bar on this one, it is really a street rod and might be a real handful on a road course, but then again, nobody would beat me to the next corner! Looking forward to some S2000 events and perhaps may take this to some car shows, it is quite a wicked looking baby both under the hood and understated outside. Was debaged after the new paint but then they were put back on with Turbo logos so will have to see about whether to leave them on or take off to accentuate the beautiful ($4500) paint job.
Thank you for all the great posts, see you soon,
Stuart in Columbia, Maryland.
Greetings to the S2000 Mid-Atlantic Gang,
I'm on the Mid-Atlantic Facebook Page and also have posted here under Introductions, etc. Hope to see y'all at the Gettysburg Spring Cruise and Rock the Dragon as well as at the HDPE on the Jefferson Course at Summit Point in May and October. They are listed now and I already signed up for both, two-day, events so hoping some other S2K's will be there and hoping I don't spin off a corner due to V-Tech and/simultaneous Turbo frenzy!
First of all, I want to thank you and then thank you all again for a great forum, tremendous information and some funny threads that are laugh out loud funny (dots/dimples on keys, etc.). I'd always intended to buy a 911 or NSX or 308 when I got to my mid-life crisis but the 308 got very old, the NSX just didn't cut it (though I do have Ben Shaffer, the US expert on NSX locally here) and 911's are legend for maintenance cost and pretty darn pretentious as well! I started looking at S2000's and found a number of friends had them and generally found that everyone who had one loved them, they were reliable, very safe, and very much a race-bred car. Perhaps the best recommendation is that the chassis can take whatever power and mods you put on it. I created a huge list of available cars and got very familiar with issues, values, etc. I narrowed my search and then went to CA for a few week's vacation to evaluate a bunch of them. Considered many cars but narrowed to several in Suzuka Blue, some with Nürburgring interiors plus a few Rio Yellow and a few others. Decided I wanted low miles, AP2, later the better and totally box stock only. I have had a Google search and used Daily Lister for months to keep up with CraigsList and other sources nationwide along with S2Ki. It is great how many nice cars there are to choose from. I have a list of about 130 that were for sale recently.
I was watching a very modified '07 in Ft. Worth, Texas knowing I was headed there in early January for a sales meeting but it was too crazy and too expensive. I ultimately connected up with the dealership and found out they were selling it for an estate and also was able to see who and how all the work was done. I researched JoTech in Garland, Texas and further explored the history of this car. It was "done" back in late 2009 by a guy who supposedly owns more than a dozen S2000's. Another guy bought it and he passed away. Long story short, we have a very well sorted out 2007, intercooled big turbo, coilovers, big brake kit with a really exceptional (to the tune of $4500) '07 Mercedes Red paint job, so really is one-of-a-kind. I flew into Dallas a day early and went straight to see the car. Roads were damp and cold but I took it for a ride, could easily have been a "spin" with all the horsepower as it broke loose in any gear. Very clean car inside and out and the mods/engine are so well sorted and professionally done. Negotiated with the dealer during my multi-day sales meeting striking a deal and setting up the money wire on Tuesday.
I finished my 4 day meeting in Richardson (Dallas) on Wednesday at 12:30pm, checked out and drove to Fort Worth. The money got there before me as the dealer did a Mobil One oil change as agreed as I arrived. I'd gone back and forth whether to truck it home or drive it and ultimately with clear weather and me having the time I decided always go for the adventure. One really nice thing is that I was able to stop into JoTech Motorsports in Garland on my way out of Dallas and meet Kenny Tran and Tony Cheung who were able to fill me in on a lot of details, look over all the paperwork since their work in '09. These guys have been doing these stage 1-5 kits for a variety of cars for a long time and really seem to know their stuff. I got some advice and history and headed out late at rush hour and drove to Memphis.
Thursday I drove to Roanoke where I called on some clients on Friday and finally arrived home, after 1500 miles, at 10pm. Averaged 70 mph for the trip! Great adventure and yes, this car with a recent Dyno of 380 hp/ 280 ft lb and suspension, wheels, tires set up for high speed motoring is just an insanely fun car. More on all of this later.
So, thank you all for the confidence I needed to break the cardinal rule of "never buy a modded car" and I am so far just massively tickled and thrilled. The long trip has helped me tremendously in learning and understanding the car and being able now to feel and feed the inputs the right way but the rush from 70-80'ish in 6th to whenever you chicken out is by far the quickest car I've ever been in. I mean it is nearly instantly into triple digits and just keeps pulling with a long way to go on the rev counter when I backed out each time. Running right around 100 mph for over an hour nearly continuously east of Memphis was awesome and the car is totally set up to get better and better the faster you go.
The car has basically been parked in the garage since I got back (a painful 6 weeks).
Looking forward to springtime and putting the top down for the summer and perhaps I'll keep shopping for another one, with a roll bar already in place, for time up at Summit Point and VIR. Would love to take to COTA too. Probably not going to put a roll bar on this one, it is really a street rod and might be a real handful on a road course, but then again, nobody would beat me to the next corner! Looking forward to some S2000 events and perhaps may take this to some car shows, it is quite a wicked looking baby both under the hood and understated outside. Was debaged after the new paint but then they were put back on with Turbo logos so will have to see about whether to leave them on or take off to accentuate the beautiful ($4500) paint job.
Thank you for all the great posts, see you soon,
Stuart in Columbia, Maryland.
03-06-2015, 03:16 AM
#2
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Nice S2000 and welcome to the forums!I'm sure that thing will be a beast on track if you can keep it cool. These cars take A LOT of work to run reliably on track when boosted. I'm sure you've read up in the forced induction section, but there is a lot of good info in there. For starters you may want to move the fuse box into the fender. I know there are other things that get moved but I'm not sure what they are. Something to do with the electric steering rack maybe?
Anywho, I'm sure you'll love it. These really are amazing cars. See ya at the track!
03-06-2015, 03:58 AM
#3
Nice car. Cant wait to see it in Gettysburg!
03-06-2015, 06:28 AM
#5
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this at Gettysburg. It's a cool looking build. And like yeaitsahonda said, you should definitely make the FI section your online home. They have so much knowledge on boosted setups over there.
03-06-2015, 01:26 PM
#6
Welcome man!
Just some friendly advice before visiting the track. You might want to look into heat management. As Dave mentioned, people have a heck of a time keeping boosted s2k's running cool on track. A few things I'd look into if it were my car:
1. Needs an oil cooler
2. If it's only an oil cooled turbo, you might have problems keeping the oil cooled even w/ an oil cooler. The "solution" is a water cooled turbo.
3. Need water/oil temp gauges.
4. If it was my car I'd use header wrap on that turbo manifold and downpipe. It'll help cut down on engine bay heat and prevent from melting something. A turbo "blanket" to cover the hot side of the turbo is a good idea as well.
5. Keep a close eye on water/oil temps on track. Specifically water temps because that'll cook a motor quick. FI s2k's w/ big FMIC's block airflow to the radiator. A lot of people have overheating problems w/ FMIC's. If you want to have a more reliable/foolproof FI track s2k, you might want to look into the SOS V mount setup.
6. EGT gauge is nice for a FI car. Not necessary but a good idea.
7. Take a look at the tune and make sure it's a bit on the conservative side.
8. I'd run some higher octane gas (available at summit) in my tank. Not cheap but better safe than sorry to avoid detonation.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. You might have some of these already, but I don't know your setup. See you out there at Shenandoah in May.
Just some friendly advice before visiting the track. You might want to look into heat management. As Dave mentioned, people have a heck of a time keeping boosted s2k's running cool on track. A few things I'd look into if it were my car:
1. Needs an oil cooler
2. If it's only an oil cooled turbo, you might have problems keeping the oil cooled even w/ an oil cooler. The "solution" is a water cooled turbo.
3. Need water/oil temp gauges.
4. If it was my car I'd use header wrap on that turbo manifold and downpipe. It'll help cut down on engine bay heat and prevent from melting something. A turbo "blanket" to cover the hot side of the turbo is a good idea as well.
5. Keep a close eye on water/oil temps on track. Specifically water temps because that'll cook a motor quick. FI s2k's w/ big FMIC's block airflow to the radiator. A lot of people have overheating problems w/ FMIC's. If you want to have a more reliable/foolproof FI track s2k, you might want to look into the SOS V mount setup.
6. EGT gauge is nice for a FI car. Not necessary but a good idea.
7. Take a look at the tune and make sure it's a bit on the conservative side.
8. I'd run some higher octane gas (available at summit) in my tank. Not cheap but better safe than sorry to avoid detonation.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. You might have some of these already, but I don't know your setup. See you out there at Shenandoah in May.
03-06-2015, 03:14 PM
#7
Welcome to the forum. Like others have said, the car will need to be well sorted to withstand track abuse without presenting issues.
I previously had a turbo s2000 that I took to the track a handful of times without issue. But it took a lot of planning to do so. Share some more information on your car and we can help you prevent learning the hard way by missing track time because you can't keep temps in check.
That red looks really close to NFR, sure it didn't get into an accident to prompt the expensive paint job?
I previously had a turbo s2000 that I took to the track a handful of times without issue. But it took a lot of planning to do so. Share some more information on your car and we can help you prevent learning the hard way by missing track time because you can't keep temps in check.
That red looks really close to NFR, sure it didn't get into an accident to prompt the expensive paint job?
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04-19-2015, 11:28 AM
#8
mm i missed this. welcome to the forums. If you see an 04 WRB STi with roof racks driving around with a white husky in the back... feel free to wave 
you won't see my S out for another year or so.
i live in baltimore but my brother is in Hanover area so i'm out in columnia/hanover a bunch.
also from a fellow roadie. if you see a kid on a green/silver lemond with a Johns Hopkins jersey... wave to him too haha
you won't see my S out for another year or so.i live in baltimore but my brother is in Hanover area so i'm out in columnia/hanover a bunch.
also
from a fellow roadie. if you see a kid on a green/silver lemond with a Johns Hopkins jersey... wave to him too haha
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