Buying a heavily modded S2K need advice!
 

I'm interested in getting a 2003 AP1 S2000 with about 61k miles locally.

The only thing that concerns me that it is heavily modified which isn't completely a bad thing but it's got a turbo kit on it among a lot of other things
I was concerned about the daily reliability for driving this everyday to and from work, which would be what I'm purchasing this car for.

This is being sold from a dealer so I dont have the information about who tuned it and what tune it has.

The mod list is

- Precission 62/66 Turbo
- 48mm Tial BOV
- Full Blown Charge Pipes and 4" Core Intercooler
- Oil Catch Can
- 1050 ID Injectors
- 450 Walbro Fuel Pump
- AEM Fuel Pressure Gauge
- K-Tune Fuel Pressure Regulator
- 3 Bar Map
- HKS Full 3" Exhaust (De-Cat) with resonator & dump valve
- Haltech Stand Alone ECU
- NRG Hood Struts
- Carbon Hard Top
- Seibon Front Lip
- Buddy Club Tail Lights
- BC Coilovers with Stance Cups
- Full Air-Ride with 1 Gallon Tank

I don't have too much experience with S2k's so if anyone can chime in on this subject it would be greatly appreciated!

I wouldn't touch that car with a sixty mile pole.

Not because of the turbo kit, but because of this:

Those are all modifications done by people with bad taste.

This car was not treated well.

I mean just look at it, gah it is so bad. Seibon lip, when you have no aesthetic sensibility and want to advertise it as clearly as possible.

I understand what you're saying. I intend to go to coil overs instead of bags. I prefer the reliability of it. The thing I do appreciate is the hard top, I've seen way to many soft tops with holes in them.

That's most likely one of the cheap knockoff hardtops that doesn't seal. If you want that you can buy one for like $1000.

Don't buy this thing unless you're going to go through e v e r y t h i n g

I wouldn't touch it with TsukubaCody's pole. The mods indicate more importance on style than performance. So, who knows what kind of mechanical shape it's in. And I'm no fan of Precision turbo either.

C'mon now. Let's not be superficial and equate superficial mods to bad maintenance.

Such a played-out and weak line of reasoning to dissuade someone from considering a used car. Judge not, lest you be judged.

If you can't modify something well, I don't trust you to maintain it.

Just like I wouldn't buy a house from a hoarder.

Do a leakdown and compression test. Drive it fast drive it hard to see if it overheats. Those are major reasons an s2k ends up for sale

Mod taste aside, its got too many serious mods done to it to make me trust it as a DD. Its one thing if I performed all the mods myself and the car has systematically earned my trust, but this is just asking for reliability trouble. Every turbo owner knows they are under the hood after nearly every drive taking a once over, and more times then not trying to figure out where that annoying vibration or sound is coming from, what's cracked this time the manifold or the downpipe or the BOV flange etc etc. And being FI, I for damn sure would have an engine compression and leak down test done to tell you the health state of the engine as it currently is. If you aren't willing to do this as mandatory and consider the rest, then don't even consider this car as an option.

Not every car must be modified to appeal to the tastes of a single person.

Just get it professionally inspected and call it a day. Use the mods to inform negotiation tactics; not trigger a flight/fight response.

definitely not the car for that purpose

I'm still trying to figure out how it has BC coilovers and Air Ride.

I've seen a lot of those trash coilovers with air sleeves in place of springs.