If you just drive your car around on the street I am thinking a turbo kit would be the way to go. It is marginally more expensive than a supercharger kit, but I bet you would enjoy it a lot more. I myself love the supercharger, but sometimes I wish I got a turbo because it's a more dramatic increase in horsepower, sound, and torque (for stoplight to stoplight driving). The supercharge is awesome, but it requires higher rpm to make any power, and I think it would be much more at home on the track (and I don't track mine).

 

Get an intake, testpipe and a tune. Trust me, a daily boosted car is not something you want to do.

 

What's your budget like???

 

Daily? I'd aim toward reliability. If anything consider doing mods that focus on handling. "It's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow"

With handling work, you can take corners faster on the weekends.

If you must go FI, I'll go with the crowd favorite and go supercharger if its your daily.

 

Thanks all for your input.

Spaceman, I'm trying to make a decision not based on costs, but on how much I would enjoy it and use it. I realize the SC is going to cost anywhere between $5000 and $10000 depending on what other mods are done at the same time (clutch, exhaust, better cooling (I'm in Florida), tune, etc. I plan on keeping and daily driving the car forever so if I spread a $10000 cost over the next 50 years, its only a few dollars per week.

Jin, I've already got a header, hi flow cat, UK mod and tune (lowered VTEC, more midrange power). I don't think I would do a daily turbo, but are you also against a daily SC?

Okaydel - are you talking about any specific handling mods?

Anyone know approximately what gears cost (installed)?

 

You should check with Moddiction for the next group buy on the KW kit.

I think you could get away with a lot less then $10k for everything you need:
KW kit with FlashPro = $4800
KW install = $1000
FlashPro Tune = $500
ACT clutch and install = $1500
Total = $7800

From my experience being SC'd (8psi, 75k miles supercharged, 90k miles total), its been reliable as if I were still stock, no issues at all.

But if you're daily driving is stop light to stop light, not going over 45mph, getting 4.90 gears might be the way to go. I have no idea how much it is for gears and install, but I wouldn't expect to may more than $1k. You should still get a tune either way.

 

I'm not against a daily SC, I just don't think that's the right path for you based on your described usage. You're just not getting into the upper rev range often enough in day to day driving to get your moneys worth, i.e. not a lot of boost. I'm in Arizona, so I'm pretty acutely aware of how heat affects FI setups (I'm turbo though), so there's a bit more to deal with than other climates.

Really it comes down to, is spending ~$10k in FI setup, wheels/tires, other supporting mods worth the very marginal gains every day, and only being able to really open it up on the weekends? Or spend more on a turbo setup, and deal with that nightmare (not recommended ) Really, and I KNOW I'm going to catch flak for this (flame suit on), but have you looked into an LS swap? That will make a HUGE difference for ROUGHLY the same amount of money (probably a bit more) as a full turbo setup. That's why I said boltons and tune. It's going to be challenging to get good low end gains (daily driving) without spending a lot of money. If you're set on going SC, wait for a sale or a good used setup for a good price to save some $. Or, optionally, what I did was I bought a V6 Accord to daily, leaving the S2000 to be driven when it can REALLY be driven.

 

Hey Rat,
OK here is my story (my $.50 cents). I hope it helps you in making a decision.
I ask about budget because that is one of the biggest issues when making upgrades (short and long term). I was on the same boat in respect to using my 00' S2k as a DD. Mind you, i live in Southern California, THE WORST SMOG REGULATED STATE EVER! At first I had trouble deciding if i wanted to invest in standard bolt-ons or FI. Fortunately, in regards to bolt-ons the S2k does not need them because it already has the best parts for that engine. As a matter of fact, on some s2ks upgrading the headers will lose you HP instead of increasing it, sounds silly but its true. I then said the heck with upgrading the bolt-ons, I'd be spending thousands just for 20hp NO thanks right.
Moving forward i was still unhappy because i wanted more power (240hp is no bueno after a while), but it is extremely difficult for me and many of us out in California to increase HP like crazy because of smog checks. There are some people who say the hell with smog and go all out, but you risk getting your car impounded and destroyed (WASTE OF MONEY).
So i then looked at the Turbos and Superchargers. I've always been a fan of turbos, great power but a lot of maintenance and lag in a DD. So i decided to look into the supercharger. I was not a fan of SCs, not enough power gains blah blah blah. As i did more research and spoke to my tuner, i found out that the SC is one of the best options for the S2k when using it as a DD!
Let me explain. As a DD I usually drive on city streets and freeways. My rpms rarely go above 4500 when shifting; traffic is a big reason for that and sometimes i just want to cruise. Saves gas because you are not going into boost at low rpms with a SC. But when you want to feel the raw power of the SC, drop it into 3rd (depending on speed) and once you hit VTEC @ 4300 rpms you will fly! Since the install last year, i have finally come to love this upgrade. I can still have my DD and save gas while driving to work or to the store, but when push comes to shove i just need to wake up VTEC @4300 and the roar of the tiger comes out with an amazing boost of speed. Like i said this is my opinion based on what i have learned and gone through. I would recommend the SC if you plan to DD. I purchased my kit brand new out of the box ($5k) which is what i recommend everyone to do BECAUSE when you buy a used kit you do not know how many miles the blower has, a big concern $$$$$$$$$$$. The other upgrade i recommend is upgrading the stock TB to a 70mm TB and boring out the stock IM to 70mm to match it. RAT let me tell you, when i did this upgrade the S2K was 10000x better.
Im currently running a CT-Engineering SC @6psi (i cant go any higher than 6psi because of smog regulations), Apexi WS2 catback exhaust system, and 70mm TB + 70mm stock IM. I have 282whp with 261ft/ibs trq.
If this was not my DD i would have gone with a turbo and boost the crap out of it, but that is not the case in my life at the moment.
At the end we all have our unique taste in things. I hope this helps you in making a decision. Keep us posted RAT.
Good Luck Bro,

 

i take long trips in my sc s2k and with 14psi i make 6 psi at 5000 rpm so its alot of fun even in the lower rpms after alot of work it seems to be reliable and with the base kit and flashpro any of the sc kits will be dead reliable for smog you might go with a comptech or vortech or new ct kit and an emanage or the new fmu's that come with the newer kits if ap1 as they change vtec fuel and some timing. i know sos's does and the new ct fmu does as well my car has 84000 miles and it was bought new with the dealer installed comptech stuff. stock motor went due to the rrfpr and no wideband so make sure you get a wideband if you get no other gauges