Hey guys, my name is Nick. I work on base doing IT stuff, and live in the heights. I just bought a new project for the summer, a 2002 Silverstone. Needs a lot of work but I'm already in love with the car. I was at the RSW Jemez cruise so you may have seen the car if you went out.

So: I need a lot of help and advice. This isn't just my first S2000, but my first Honda as well. I am a BMW guy, I had a e36 M3 and an e46 330ci. Bought a built motor big turbo SRT-4 last year and got arrested pretty quick with a reckless. FWD cars are stupid, I'll never ever buy one again. Finally sold the damn thing and got this s2k. Feels slow but so much more fun to drive.

The S wasn't properly built or maintained, and I'm finding tons of little things to do. Luckily the tune seems pretty good, the engine seems healthy, the exterior is free of major damage, just paint flaws,and the interior is pretty nice. Just in my little walk around I noticed that the exhaust was leaking in 3 places from missing gaskets, the valve cover was leaking like crazy, the rear sway bar is just dangling from the brackets, it needs rear tires, the wideband and boost gauge are not working, the PCV system is all wonky and I believe it has a vacuum leak, I can hear it whistling somewhere.

 

First thing I did was check the oil. It took almost 2 full quarts to get it to the top of the hash marks. Thank god I didn't romp on the car right away, kept it under 5k rpms. It is black and nasty. Needs to be changed asap.

Also, couldn't romp on the car without knowing how much boost I am running and if I'm about to blow something up. So I needed to fix the gauges. I ripped out about 20ft of wonky ass wiring with taps into taps into splices into crimp caps. Just a mess. Rewired them and surprisingly both work. A greddy boost/vacuum gauge that reads in bar and mm-hg. I am planning on replacing with one that reads in psi and in-hg since uh, this is America and I don't want that stupid JDM math messing me up. So anyways I'm pushing .7 bar and pulling right around 500mm-hg at idle. There is no boost control, I am running wastegate spring pressure.

Also got the AEM wideband O2 working, the sensor was in the bung and everything, again was just wired wrong. So got that fixed up and my AFRs look pretty good. Nice and lean for cruising so it doesn't pop too much and richens up perfectly under WOT. Will need more testing when I turn the boost up a little.

Got some new Honda end links, haven't installed them yet. Handles kinda weird with no sway in the back but not bad. Will probably tighten things up a little and keep the rear patch straight. I don't run a rear bar at all on the Miata. I have a big front bar on it so will probably do the same to the S2k, they actually feel pretty similar handling wise.

 

Welcome.

I hope you got a good deal on the car. Sounds like you got your work cut out for yah.

I am one of the blasted cops on base. Ammon has a car that looks a lot like mine, You may have seen him around. He is N/A.
I think I saw you again the other day in my Civic, your Uego gauge wiring looked like it was hanging low, if you have not secured it you may wanna check it out.



Again, welcome to the community.

 

Welcome to the site hope you get a chance to make it out to some meets. Looks like you have some plans for that beast. You can put some serious power down on a turbo S that will out run just about anything, I would not consider the s2000 a slow car.

 

One Big Difference His Runs!

Welcome to the board, Nick. Hope to see you around at some future meets. Oh, Great color

 

The joys of owning a boosted car.

 

The joys of owning a boosted car.
[/quote]
Lol this is great, another difference is mine still looks good too

 

Thanks for the welcome guys. I went ahead and re-secured that wideband wiring, I saw it hanging down too.

I was getting a lot of valvetrain noise, a ticking noise only after it was warmed up. So I read up a little and attempted my first valve adjustment thursday! Was pretty straightforward, and I replaced the valve cover gasket and the spark plug tube seals which were completely torn. So hopefully not leaking oil anymore (well, I think the oil pressure sender is still leaking, will re-teflon it). Cylinders 2-3 were pretty tight, way out of spec, 1-4 only exhaust side was tight. I am still getting some ticking noise, but I think about 90% of it is the injectors clicking. The car feels like it has a little more power and revs a little smoother. The idle smoothed out a TON as well.

THANK GOD I did my spark plugs by the way. 2 of the plugs weren't even screwed into the engine! They were literally just sitting on top, held in by the coils. the coils were pretty loose in there too. the electrodes were fine and all, but the plugs had soot all up the threads from not being secured. I am surprised the car was even running at all. I used champion platinums for now since ngks weren't in stock, gapped them to .025. I am NOT planning on running iridiums, I know they are the OEM plugs but in a turbo car I like to do plugs every oil change like 3-5k miles and the NGK coppers are cheap and reliable. $15 a plug is ridiculous when the coppers are $1.99. AFAIK the spark is the same, its just the electrode lasts longer. Won't last long once I set up the 2-step anyway.

I got my Valentine One in, to replace the bel 940 I sold with the SRT-4. Seems to work ok so far, but the cord is too short so I ordered the hardwire kit and the rear view mirror mount.

I also ordered tires, Nitto NT555 in 245/40/18. I have used these on a few quick cars and really like them. Sticky, and cheap enough to replace all the time when you burn them off. Only did the rear 2, my fronts are falken 512s with about 6/32 so I got a little bit to go. They feel ok still.

 

oh I totally see why people talk about VTEC all the time. Sounds cool. I can't really feel mine kick since I'm already boosting hard by then, but you can hear it crack and it SCREAMS.

I really want to redo the exhaust system. Right now its a invidia test pipe into a 2.5" Megan single. It sounds good but leaks, rattles, and drones. And I love the look of dual exhaust on a roadster. I wanted to do a dual mufflers but its hard to find one with piping big enough for a turbo. All the 3" turbo exhausts are singles pretty much, except for some $$$ stuff. So I am really thinking of killing my dream of duals and getting a Berk single 3" header back, and a bumper cap. they are cheap, light, and don't leak since they use vband. Need to investigate the downpipe situation when I get under the car this week.

 

Replaced the ebay knockoff BOV with a genuine Greddy type-S. A TSC member hooked it up for free! sounds better but still a little too much whistle for my tastes.