Probably Time to Part Ways With my S2000. Endless Problems. Manifold Cracked.
 

I don't know how many people here are really familiar with my build history, but it's been one problem after another.

I made some classic noob mistakes in the beginning by trying to custom piece used parts together off of this forum rather than just buying a kit. This resulted in a lot of things not fitting correctly and having to be replaced and swapped out. While my intent was to save money, I ended up losing a lot more both in cash and time as things had to be restructured and replaced. I had "cut corners" in places that I thought would be safe and still work out, but everything still came back to bite me in the ass.

After the build was finally done, taking much more time and cash than the results warranted, the first problem I encountered was with my ventilation lines for my catch can melting and eventually causing a fire over my turbo blanket. Nylon lines vented on the exhaust side of the valve cover running directly over the turbo blanket/exhaust housing is a bad idea it turns out. During this time I also found out that my manifold bolts had been backing out, and that the flange on both the manifold and the turbo had been warped.

I had the manifold and turbo flanges resurfaced, and had my old valve cover ported on the correct side of the cover (intake) and ran new steel lines for the catch can. Everything got bolted back down into place, and I've been making a point to keep an eye on my bolts for the time being to ensure they don't get backed out while I work on a more permanent solution (nordlock washers + lock tite). All lines, fittings, and wires that were damaged from the fire were replaced, but the hood still has a nasty scorch mark. Although unrelated, around this time the plastic rear window on my soft top also ripped all the way across the back, which was unfortunate because my top was in excellent condition despite being 15 years old. I had a valve adjustment done and noticed that one of the stem seals on cylinder 4 had started leaking as well, and although that's a minor issue now I know it will have to be addressed at some point in the future.

I thought things may finally start looking up for me, but only a week after getting the car back on the road I drove about 25 miles out of town and noticed that my AFR started to lean out slightly, especially noticeable at idle and in between gears. I popped the hood and noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the exhaust side, and noticed that my manifold had gotten cracked in two locations (in between runners 3 & 4, and on the collector just before the turbo flange).

I've only put about 2500 miles on the car since last March, when all this build bullshit started. Every time I turn around this car slaps me in the face, and although most of it has been caused due to my own issues with learning curves a lot of it has really been amplified by just really shitty luck.

I'm supposed to be moving out of the state sometime this summer. I can't take an unreliable car up with me (hell, the car wouldn't even make the drive unless it was towed). Up until now I've had the good fortune of being able to borrow my late grandfather's Jeep every time my car has been down, but I will not have that option available once I move away from my hometown and my parents.

I can try to justify and rationalize this as a valuable learning experience, but I'm now stuck with a car that will certainly sell less than what I paid for it stock due to the issues that have accumulated on it, and that's not even counting the 10K+ that I've wasted away into a failed turbo build.

Lesson here: Don't do turbo builds with a limited budget and limited time. This car has stressed the hell out of me in between the time that I've spent at work and in school as well, and has seriously taken a toll on me mentally.

The shop I've been working with said that the manifold likely cracked due to a combination of possible manufacture defect and possibly from the fire a month+ ago. It's definitely possible that going from a hot state of being driven 50+ miles out of town that night to then being put out with a fire extinguisher caused damage to the metal from going to a hot/cold state so suddenly, but I don't think there would have been a delay this long for the cracks to appear.

I noticed that night my exhaust housing on the turbo was glowing red hot when I pulled into my apartments. I had been driving quite casually on the highway, and this leads me to believe that something is causing my car to run much hotter than it should be. My AFR's have looked fine (whenever there's no exhaust leaks going on) however this could possibly be an issue with the tune and ignition/detonation occurring inside the manifold. Either way, I think there's more at play here than just that single fire incident. I'm really not sure but regardless of the fire my turbo/mani does seem to run hotter than it should.

Regardless of what's happening, I can't keep chasing this car in circles. I've wasted way too much money and time on this, and it's time for me to just cut my losses and admit defeat. This entire ordeal has been a monumental kick in my pride and wallet. I don't have near enough money saved now for moving out of state, and I owe quite a bit to my father at this point.

I realize that for many reading this my problems seem like they should have been obvious, or certain things should have been done to avoid this, but as I said this was my first major build and I made the bad decision of over complicating things for myself from the beginning and have been paying the price ever since.

I'm probably going to, for the hundredth time, disassemble the turbo and the manifold and get the manifold replaced under warranty by Kings, and then sell the car.

I'm sorry to hear that bud. Sounds so much like my first s2k build. 1 problem after another once I boosted it with a pieced together turbo kit. I sold it after becoming so annoyed with everything. 3 years later I purchased my current s2k and after learning from all my mistakes on first build, I was able to build a reliable one at 500whp. If you're not doing all the work yourself it really isn't worth it. When I say reliable I mean fixing small issues myself that arise on the car every 2 weeks or so. My car would be in the shop every few weeks if I didn't build it myself and know how to fix everything myself.

Take your time and try not to freak out. Instead of thinking about getting rid of the car think of other ways to make it fun. Maybe a turbo car isn't for you, how about a SC car? You definitely can not do a high turbo car without enough money. Most people do them in stages like 300whp, save some money then go for 350whp, save some more go for 400whp, save more then 450whp until goal(s) is reached. Patience is key to victory :) It will get better

Sell the Turbo kit and go with a SOS supercharger or back to NA. Its not the cars fault.

Buy my Kraftwerks kit so i can buy the SOS Turbo Kit... :rolleyes:

Thanks. I'm really racking my brains right now trying to figure out a game plan. I really don't want to sell the car right now because if I do I'll have no choice but to putt around in a little econobox for a couple years, but that may be the safest and most practical route right now.

Now that I'm thinking about it though, the worst that could happen if I continued to drive it after getting the manifold fixed is that the next manifold would just crack too, at which point I'd just go through this same process. I may as well keep the car for another couple/few months at least and see how the next one holds up.

Just a lot to consider, but that seems to be the best option to go with right now. Also path of least resistance lol.

I know it's not the cars fault. Every issue I've had has been because of something that I did slightly improperly. It's just all been collateral damage.


Anyway, thanks for the responses guys. I definitely just needed to vent/bitch for a bit lol. If I had to do this all over again, like others are saying, I'd either do an F22 N/A or a supercharger.

I'd listen to these guys. Go back stock or sc and enjoy the car and revisit later. If you need a new top, I'll be removing mine with a glass window off my original 16k mile s2k that has been garage kept since new in 02 and never sat in the sun. The top is perfect but not off the car yet and not sure what to price it at. Just an option if you want a glass window top to replace the plastic window unit.

For the time/cash it'd take to go back to stock or SC I'd be better off just selling the car. I'll hold onto the car at least for a couple months more to see if it was just bad luck with the manifold; Nothing much to lose there since worst case scenario (theoretically) I'd just have to go through the warranty process again in the event of another failure. My tuner can also do a ride along with me and monitor things on the EMS and with the car and we can see if there's an issue there.... There may still be hope I guess lol.

I'd definitely be interested in the top depending on if I decide to keep the car and how much you want for it.

I was planning on getting a new Robbins glass top for like $650.

Another option is fixing it and then not touching it until you have a usable budget for it in case it breaks. It's cheap to go back to stock, all you would need is intake and header and street tune :) Me personally, I would fix it, then reduce the amount of boost you're currently running by 25-50% until a budget is developed or another route you want to take becomes clear.