Sorry for a kind of silly question but I am planning to supercharge my S this year unless some other great car strikes my fancy before that, which I doubt. Last night I was turning onto a 4 lane leaving Lowes when I noticed a newer Mustang GT with at least an exhaust upgrade was rumbling in the lane next to me. So two lanes are turning ninety degrees onto 3 lanes. When the light turns I round the corner and kind of get on it in second as the Mustang blows past me. I didn't even try to pursue as it seemed futile...lol. That thing was pretty fast. I then looked up the specs to see that they run about a mid 12s quarter mile stock. If this one had intake, headers and exhaust it would be even a bit quicker. I searched but many of the posts are old and cars get faster every year of production. So what could an SOS supercharged S with 380ish whp likely keep up with these days? A new BMW Supra? Mustang, Camaro? Challenger Scat pack? C6 base Vette? What else?

 

Stock S2000 is reputed to be a "13 second" car. A stock Mustang GT a "12 second." Barely any difference, just one (1) second -- except at 100 mph finishing speed one (1) second is about 150 feet.

Think your clutch and differential will hold up?

-- Chuck

 

I'll have to change the clutch but from what I've read the diff and transmission should be ok. I know PRWNXIS on the forum has run his at 380whp for 80k miles with no issues.

 

It is a HUGE difference when driving both cars. A car that is 1 second quicker in 1/4 mile feels a lot faster in general driving. Go stomp on the right pedal in a Mustang GT and then do the same in an S2000 and it will not feel like "barely a difference".

On the other side of this though, the S2k is not a straight line power car and was never meant to be. If that is all you want, then just buying a torquey car with more power to start with is going to be a lot easier on you down the line. The handling and overall driving experience is what makes the S2k what it is. So you could dump a bunch of money into boost and deal with less reliability down the road and still likely be wishing you had more (especially from a dead stop and not a roll).

But to more directly answer your question, there is a LOT of data on what people are running, times they can run and what other stock cars put down so you can find all that online.

For the diff, people break them on stock power often enough. Part of this is autox use in STR. When a hard launch is advantageous (Depends on course design) then to get a smooth hard launch you have to launch at high rpm on a set of good 255 tires. Launches occur around 6000 rpm and are very hard to allow the tires to spin a bit to keep rpm up. With more power, you may be able to launch a tad less aggressively (depending on power curve) but you will also be delivering more power when it hooks up. So with 380 hp if you end up racing from a stop much, you likely will blow up a diff at some point. If just caring about acceleration out of a turn or from a roll, the diff may handle it longer.

 

A 2800lb s2000 making 380ish to the tire vs a 3700lb mustang making 400ish to the tire.... guess the question is, can the extra torque of a V8 make up the weight difference?? I think im taking the s2000 on this one.

 

380whp Supercharged is a mid 12 sec car 115mph all day if you can drive. I used to keep up or beat from roll's at various speeds a lot of those cars mentioned in OP when I was just at 350whp. IE new STI, mid tier challengers/chargers. M4's etc.

 

I will forever choose my 4 cylinder Honda over a V-8/turbo 6 Ford all day everyday until I expire from this lifetime. With bolt ons(FlashPro, 70mm TP & 75mm exhaust) it's a fun car to drive & with upgraded suspension(Ohlins DFV) the way the car feels in all aspects of driving is fantastic. I'm currently shopping for a header & have pretty much made up my mind, unfortunately it is a temporary solution until I get the header I was originally after. My car has a street tune for now, once the header is installed it will be tuned by a pro & I'm curious to see how much of a difference it will make with how the motor makes power. The car will not have the straight line performance of V-8/turbo 6, I'm totally fine with that because we all know our cars were never built for driving in just a straight line. I do plan to S/C my car in the future(450hp goal) & go back to hunting/toying with those pesky V-8's again like I did in my old FA5 when it was boosted. The joy of seeing the face of the owner after their fragile ego has been shattered is priceless. I've also played with cars(tuned RS4 etc) way out of the league of the S & it was mutual respect showed when we both gave each other a thumbs up afterwards.

 

I went to the track once when my car has the SoS high-boost kit, making 396whp. I have a 3.9 gear, so it makes driving a bit more manageable for me but might hurt performance some. 12.4@115mph was my best, but did several 12.5/12.7 with consistent 115mph trap. The friend that I went to the track with has the first generation of the newest Mustang GT and his best was 12.7@112 or 113mph with an exhaust and flashed ECU. Keep in mind the newer of the Mustang GTs make 40 or 50 more HP stock than his, so a lightly modded one would probably be in the ballpark or faster than my car was.