Hey,

So as most of you know or don't know I have been running a lovefab V1 set-up now on the car for a year. The car is AMAZING, super smooth, great power delivery, and incredibly reliable. It has no rattles, hick-ups, studders, start instantly and pulls C5 Z06's with no problem at only 8 psi. Having FI up here at 4,600 feet is so unfair to any naturally asperated car its not even funny. I have never run more than 8 psi even though I have a 2mm gasket installed because my goals when starting the project was not the highest HP turbo S2000 but the most reliable Turbo S2000 period.

ANYWAY, as some of you may or may not know my car is up for sale. Because of this it has caused me to reflect on my investment. While I have advertised only being into the car $11,000 or so thousand......that is actually a under estimate. If I included Labor in that charge you can jump that number to $12,100. If you included stareo labor you can jump that number to $12,400. If you include labor for other misc. parts added you can jump that number again to to somewhere over $13,000.

SO, I thought I would start this thread to talk about this a little and what better area then the FI area, being that you all are the people that know and understand this.

My car is a 2000 black with red int. with only 38k on it. That said the car books around $17,500. I am currently looking to get $23,000 for it. While I recieve tons of PM's on the car I don't believe any of them are REAL buyers. Which brings me to this question: What is the car really worth? And is it better to buy a car with the mods then start your own project?

If you take the cars price + what I am into it that is somewhere in the area of $30,500. I am guessing it would take someone to replicate the car around $28,000 - $32,000. I am looking to get $23,000 for the car which would mean I am looking to only get 1/3 of what I have put into it back. Am I asking to much for the car? Is the price to high?

This got me thinking. If I was someone that was looking to get a S2000 and knew I was going to go FI, I would buy one that was already done. The money saved is HUGE HUGE HUGE! Its basically like I am selling the lovefab set-up on the car for $2,500. You can't replicate that deal. It appears better then to buy a car already modded.

Another observation. A friend of mine while modifying his 3rd gen RX7....would buy modded RX7's to mod his own. While this made no sense at the time it now makes perfect sense. He would buy the modded RX7's, strip the parts he wanted, sell the ones he didn't. Put the car back to stock, and usually break even if not make a grand and keep all the crazy $$$$ parts for his own car. He was modifying his car for FREE.

This has got me thinking.....As much as I want the car to stay together and go to a good home, I am thinking maybe just to part out the car to someone for $$$ + there stock parts. This way someone can still save on the mods, and I can then sell the car easier as there are more people in the market for a $17,000 S2000 then there are for a $23,000 S2000 no matter what the car has done to it.

Currious what you guys see or feel is the market, value, and trent of FI S2000's?

Thanks

J. R.

PS. A link to my car and pics are in the for sale thread that is in my sig below for reference when responding to the post.

 

if you have all the parts to go back to stock, you will do better in the end going this route. The real problem is finding a buyer who wants exactly what you have into your car if you are selling it as is. I have a very modded car and it takes a bit of know how to keep up with maintenance compared to a stock car. I like having done or been part of doing a lot of the work so when something quirky happens I know where to look for problems. The other issue with modded cars is a buyer feels out in the dark as far as what he/she is getting into since there could be a lot of history to the car. Just some food for thought. Good luck selling the car and thanks for answering my PM q's.

 

IMO the car is worth what someone is willing to pay. no amount of money could ever take the feeling of building something that makes lovely power and brings me joy

 

I saw an 00 or 01 s2000 sell about 6months or so ago for just over 30g on Ebay. stock ap1 body, basically built motor and turbo thats it. There were huge amounts of bids on it.

 

part it out you will make more/ thread

 

Part by part
People will pay anything off ebay.

 

Yup, best way to get your money back is by parting it out. Also alot of people will bid on your car on e-bay..

 

thats why this is either a hobby or a sport.

Both really don't have a return in investment

 

Yah, I hear ya about parting it out.

I almost wish someone would take me up on a trade. Trade me there car plus $$$ for this one already done. That could save them even more money for install and such. Think anyone would go for that, or should I really just part off the kit?

J. R.

 

If you really want to sell the car and get the most for it then I would part it out. You will never get back close to what you put into a car when you try to sell it heavily modified (unless you are lucky enough to find somone that is willing to pay for it, which is not likely from what I have seen), but on the other hand I would never buy a heavily modified car because I don't know the car's history. I have a hard time believing that there are other guys like me out there that drop a lot of work into the car and then drive it like a grandma. So yes, you can save money, but is it worth it? I don't know, I just wouldn't want a modified car if I didn't know who did the work on it, as I try to do things the right way on my own car and even then its hard sometimes to be entirely trouble free. I'm basically just saying that not all people who modify cars are like you or me where we strive to keep things like stock, I think many people modify their cars and they turn into a POS, but that is just my opinion. Of course I am generalizing here, but I wouldn't want to take the chance.