ouch. that sucks. what was the damage and cause? i was always under the impression that f20 retainers were more 'brittle' than f22's. other than that, i thought everything else was basically the same, besides the minimal cam profile difference.

other than that though, the ap2 seems the have increased durability (trans,rear,no oil squirter issue, etc) and luxuries (VSA, step up in wheel size, bumpers/lights better looking IMO, etc).

never the less, im boosted ap1 with ap2 bumpers/lights. best of all worlds. dont really need the 9k, usually shift at 8.5 anyway. lol

 

The AP2 retainers, oil jets, differential, and transmission probably are better, but something about the AP2 head seems to be less reliable. If I remember correctly, the 4 AP2 heads I mentioned above had issues with the valves sinking into the valve seats, or something like that.

I had an '02 S2000 that was lightly modded, and I loved it. I now have an '08 S2000 that is lightly modded, and love it even more. However, I never had any problems with my '02, but am on my 2nd short block in my '08...

 

2nd shortblock? Really.. what happened? You said the heads in the ap2's are more suspect, so I can only assume you dropped a valve or something (due to a worn retainer)? Otherwise, it seems like I hear less issues about ap2's than ap1s. I'm curious to hear what problems you've had. I got about 30k miles on my '06, and haven't cracked the valve cover yet, but perhaps I will to take a peek at the retainers..

 

I just had this very same issue in my 04 @ 112k miles. Compression was 30psi low on #4 cyl, pulled the head and one valve on the exhaust side was starting to burn. It was also machined noticably lower than the other valves. What caused the failure in my case was the valve guides were worn, this allowed too much side to side movement in the valve, eventually causing it to not seat properly and allow combustion gasses to slip by, burning the valve.

I did a head rebuild replacing all except for springs, rockers, and head assembly. Everything else was replaced with OEM, the head milled .003in and an OEM spec valve job. compression is now within 15psi on all four cylinders (on a crappy parts store rental compression gauge).

 

I suspect that excessive valve clearance might have contributed to the head failures, since large clearances cause the valve to "slam shut" while tight clearances allow the valves to close softly.

 

In the case of my head the valves were properly adjusted within factory spec. I am pretty anal about that, I hate to be the guy rolling into somwhere and you hear the valve tick before you hear the car lol.

 

I keep mine tighter than OEM spec by about .001"

 

how long does a valve adjustment take and what is the usual cost associated with having it done?

 

Valve adjustment is mainly labor except for valvecover gaskets replaced. Could take 1-2hrs dependin on how fast/meticulous you are. I do my own and I take my time to get it right.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

 

It depends where you go but I believe the dealer will charge $125 or more. You better off finding a privately owned reputable shop. Last time I had mine done at a shop, he charged me $80 including changing spark plugs (I bought them). I've yet to try to do this myself. Just don't want to screw things up.