I've been reading as much as possible, but wanted to ask some of you local guys on your thoughts. I've been AX'ing my Z06 and love it, but am tired of the constant thrashing it's taking from gravel at the tracks. I AX with the BMW club and there's a white S2000 that puts up good times, plus I've always loved the looks of them. I don't plan to register/insure the car. I will tow it to/from the track and plan to race the snot out of it. So, I don't need a car in perfect shape looks wise, but decent mechanical shape.

I've found a 2001 S2000 that I think might make the perfect AX car for me. It's got 137k miles on it, a few tears in the top, good interior (needs a good cleaning), a few scratches and small dents on the body (also in need of a polish/wax). The transmission has been rebuilt and it has a stage 2 clutch. It's also been wrecked and repaired several years ago, no airbag deployment, but the 2 front fenders, hood and rediator were replaced. I plan to have my mechanic put it on the lift and look it over, check compression, etc. The best part about it all is I can get it for $5k. I'm not so concerned with the wreck or the overall condition - I'm getting it to race. I'm a bit concerned over the high miles and mechanical condition and don't want to overpay for it. Any thoughts, opinions, things to looks for?

 

Definitely do a leak down test to check rings. Plan on changing the valve retainers just as a precaution...over-revs are easy to do on this car and if it has been over-revved in the past it can be a time bomb waiting for retainer failure and dropped valve. The retainers can be replaced without pulling the head with the right tools.

I would also suggest replacing the a-arms, especially the lower front. The bushings go bad and really impact handling. On the AP1, you cannot buy new OEM bushings alone...they are part of the a-arm assembly. You can buy Mugen bushings however...but they are very expensive.

If you plan on running r-compound tires, and are a very aggressive braker...you will want to weld the upper a-arm mounts. They can crack if not welded.

 

I haven't heard of this yet. Would the Spoon Sports Gusset plates alleviate the problem?

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I'm not running AS, I'm running BSP, so is this a legal modification?

 

Here is more info on the issue:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=219249&st=0

http://www.pbase.com/rsrock/aarm

The Spoon gussets will solve the problem and also reduce flex of the mounts.

I do not believe they would be legal in BSP. Modification to the body or uni-body inboard of the wheel hub is illegal other than camber plates and holes required to mount camber plates.

 

Thanks for the info

 

By the same token, I've had the car for nearly 7 years, autocrossing competitively the whole time and never had a problem with the front A-arm welds cracking. That's likely because I 1) don't run a gazillion events and 2) most were on asphalt. Just inspect the area on a regular basis and watch for cracking. As a trailer car, I wouldn't spend a lot of time/money worrying about it until it happens...

 

I was about to ramble about more things breaking and wearing out on older / higher mileage cars, but for $5k, go for it!

 

Mine's not a trailer car, it's my daily driver. But yeah, it's just on my list of things to check when swapping tires now. And I have a welder, so I may just do it, just to be safe.

Anyways to OP, sorry to Hijack your thread.

 

Want to win AS? Get a C4 corvette. The S2000 is not as dominant in AS as it was in BS, a well prepared and driven AS Corvette is faster IMHO.


On the other hand if you actually want to enjoy driving the car around get the S2000.



$5k would be a bargin if the main mechanicals are functioning. Getting a track beater is a good idea, having an S2000 track beater is really cool.

 

Since it was wrecked, you might want a body shop with a frame rack to check out the frame dimensions to make sure nothing is bent, or at least get it up on an alignment rack to see if you can get reasonable specs.