Greasyman

I want to get a S2000 for street, autocross and track use. I found one that has some equipment that might be desirable, but I don't know enough about S2000s to judge. I don't know what of this stuff is worth while, and what isn't worth much. He wants $9800 for it.

Here's the ad: 2000 honda s2000 clean title
black with red seats and door panel
133,980 miles
exterior: replica mugen hardtop
spoon 4 points roll cage
(no softtop. SOFTTOP REMOVED)

suspension: spoon front strut brace
spoon lower member brace
front and rear
CR steering brace CR trunk
reinforcement bar
spoon rear roll center adjuster
front and rear tie rod end
axle spacer

brakes : goodridge steel briaded brake hose kit
toyo RA1 tires 205-55-16/ 225-50-16

New aluminum radiator and radiator hoses New drive belt
all fluid recently changed

What do you think? I talked to the guy, he sounded ok, it seems the car has seen a lot of track days. He sent some photos, car looks scruffy but not bad.

Xene

I would check engine by doing leak down test and compression test. Check the clutch and tranmission by driving the car. Even if the car was driven hard and everything checks out I would buy the car since it is already modded and ready to go.

If he properly serviced the car by changing engine/trans/diff oil and clutch/brake fluid frequently due to high amount of track days, the car should be fine. The only thing I may worry about which is kinda hard to test is the condition of bearings and other engine parts if the car is ran for long periods of time on the track with high oil temps if there is no oil cooler.

Greg W

Ask him if he has any used oil analysis (UOA) reports you can look at. Chances are pretty fair he had UOAs done, and if all is good he might share them. Not a strike against him if he doesn't have the reports, as not a whole lot of folks do, but always worth an ask. His VIN or license plate # should be on the reports, and you want to see the history for a best look at engine wear.

CKit

Buy this one instead:

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/100...000-track-car/

This thread is very general and we usually don't encourage "should I buy this car" threads unless it's something very, very specific to racing / competition.
However, since you're enthusiastic about wanting to use it for motorsport, we can try to help a little.

The car that you posted is more an "S2000 Talk" kind of a car.

There's really nothing on that car except the RA1s that says track.

Most of those mods are hard parking show mods instead of performance mods.

There's a general prevailing line of advice that goes:

1. You can really mess up a car's handling if you mod haphazardly.
2. If you're going to use it for motorsport, get a general sense of what kind of motorsport you'd like to do.
3. Some haphazard mods bump you out of competition classes (i.e. non-OEM mods, updating / backdating across different model years). You might find yourself having to compete against Corvettes instead of S2000s because of a cosmetic mod.
4. If you're going to get safety equipment, get safety equipment. Many tracks will not let you run a convertible without an SCCA legal or equivalent roll bar (that Spoon bar is NOT. And it's not a cage). Rockstar garage and Hard dog are two of the more popular legal roll bars.

Maybe Josh Owens can chime in. But in general it's better to get a stock-ish car. It'll be easier for people to help you improve as a driver when there aren't all these errant variables.

Greasyman

Thanks for the answers. That car posted by Ckit is very cool, and seems easily worth the money, but is way more race car than I want. I want a very stock, very streetable car with the appropriate mods to be track worthy. I must have a roll bar higher than my head, the Northern California Racing Club, who I often run with, actually do the broomstick test. A comfortable race seat(if there is such a thing)and harnesses would also be a good thing. From what I understand that's about all I'll need, along with good tires like RS-3s and some decent pads. Is the aftermarket radiator necessary, is that a common mod for the track?

CKit

You can DE with an OEM radiator. More competitive tracking might need more cooling depending on how hot it gets out there. But I wouldn't say radiator replacement is necessary for casual tracking.

berny2435

real good deal on that AP1. It's lacking suspension but it's a small list for safe DE/TT action. Too bad my tax returns are only 1/12th of the cost this year lol
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/100...000-track-car/

Greasyman

Looked at it today. Pretty much what I expected, rough around the edges but not bad. The guy seemed knowledgeable and easy enough to deal with. I won't rule it out, but there are enough things I don't like about it that I'm not going to jump at it. Mostly I don't like the missing soft top. It drove ok, but it's hard to tell what it should feel and sound like exactly, since it's the first S2000 I've driven in years.

TWF

How much you looking to spend? I may be upgrading and selling my soon.

Greasyman

Probably a lot less than that very nice looking car of yours is worth. I was hoping to find something around $10k.