Feel like I went full-idiot when I started this build and I've been paying the price since. I have no idea what I was thinking doing this to my daily lol... Chalk it up to being young, ambitious, and shortsighted I guess. Currently have my car up for sale but I'm not sure how long it will take to get the price I'm after, so I'm still somewhat weighing my options.

I'm curious to hear from anyone on these boards that drive a turbo S on a regular basis, or stack on a decent amount of miles. I'm sure anyone here that does actually installed a proper kit rather than just hodge-podging crap together like I did as well though. Not sure if my build will ever reach the quality of something like that (or not until funds allow at least a year+ from now for a tubular mani and a retune).

This thread may be useful for people in the future as well. If you do have a reliable turbo S, post whatever kit/setup your using. Mostly looking for people that drive them often.

I may go ahead and post my build list in this thread if someone wants to weigh in on opinions on what I've pieced together. I know the bulk of the reliability boils down to how everything was installed and tuned though.

 

It can be reliable IF and only IF the car and the setup is done and tuned well with high quality parts that all fit well and work good together. But 90% of the time it is not reliable because things dont fit 100% right or the parts/materials used were sub par or countless of other reasons.

I have been turbo for the past 6 years with my 125,000 mile car and its been turboed since 80,000 miles. It started with a pos log setup making 330whp and I'm not at 620whp for the past 2 years or so. For the most part i would say its un reliable. But i do keep it running 99% of the time but this does take me wrenching on it Constantly. You really need a passion for cars to be doing something like this as well ass the disposable income and yes you must have at least 1 other car.

If you don't have another reliable car do not start a turbo build on your s2000. If you don't have the know how and don't have thousands of dollars of extra cash to throw at this turbo car you built when the motor blows or when the diff blows or when anything happens (This will happen) then don't do a turbo built on your s2000.

 

Through my experiences, can you have a reliable turbo s2000? My answer is yes and no. Ive had my car turboed with a greddy turbo kit and now a Pfab front facing manifold kit. I also know quite a few more turbo s2000 owners locally. So you want reliable? Go with something entry level, turbo or supercharger. No more then 350whp, on pump gas and youll be as reliable as stock. Now if you eventually get bored of that power range and want more thats when the problems will come, and more modifications are required. With my experience my greddy kit was extremely reliable, felt like a stock s2000 with the extra power. Now with my new pfab front facing manifold kit, its been hell. Havent been able to daily the car ever since the install of this kit. Im slowly but surely trying to get it perfect, but its all time and money. Little by little, I know at the end it'll all be worth it. Ive seen the same experience ive been through happen to other turbo guys locally , once you go with a more serious setup some problems will arise that might make the car unreliable for a daily. So I see it simple want a daily turbo s2000, like i said stick with something entry level and simple and be happy with that power. Want a more serious setup consider buying a second car for a daily. Just like Riceball stated , you have to love this and simply have a passion for this to stick with it.

 

Thought ide add this, Ive been through two turbo kits, my car has been turbo for most of its life and no major issues like a blown motor, diff, tranny or anything of that sort. I check compression, leak down, etc about once a year and everything always checks out perfect. Just like anything, take care of it and itll last.

 

Its a great car, but its too fun to drive tamely so something down the line will give. i dont daily any of my turbo cars and they have never left me stranded (fingers crossed for the dragon this year) but i have had to baby the s2k home before because a slim fan failed or a fuel pump relay took a break. I built it to enjoy it. I would daily an s2k just a soon as i would daily my evo. 4 banngers and high hp dont handle it as well as lets say a car with a v8. I wouldnt daily anything you beat up on the weekend unless you have an option when it fails to get you to work thenext day, the backup is key to happiness lol
that being said i ran my old ap2 for 3 years daily with a full race kit and a mostly stock car. It never once broke down, oil changes and rear tires and i put 30k miles in that time. Even drove it from soFlo to san francisco so it can happen. i just wouldn't leave it as my only option.

 

I wonder if the mild SOS TS Max kit would work for a Daily ... that seems like a safe 380-400 whp turbo setup.

 

I feel like a supercharger kit would be a safer bet to go with in terms of reliability/longevity for almost any FI car build, especially if you're shooting for slightly lower power.

For one thing, there's less heat soak and vibration to worry about which is a huge problem with turbos. Supercharger kits are also generally a bit more straightforward to install, so the likelihood of something going wrong in that process is a bit lower. Linear powerbands also tend to be more forgiving on the drivetrain components.

 

If you have to ask, the answer is no.

 

Simplicity is best!! I don't daily mine nor do i drive it in the winter, but when i do drive it, i beat the crap out of it at lapping days with the occasional street driving.

I can personally say that with any turbo kit, the SOS V-mount will make your car a lot more reliable. With the extra cooling from the v-mount as well as the Dual pass radiator.

If it's your daily, i probably wouldn't turbo it. You will need at least one other car for when your turbo S2k does break.

 

What are the opinions on torque dampers? I know they help a lot with vibration and keep the engine smooth for N/a guys, that may help guard against cracks and bolts backing out on log manifolds theoretically.

I already have one sitting in my garage but I'd need to modify the bracket to make it fit. Worth the time/cash?