I am a old-school member but very infrequent poster these days. I have been considering converting my MY2004 S2k to a CR. The car is my weekend car and so I have been seriously thinking about tinkering with it. I have been torn between buying all the CR parts and installing them (yes as well as doing a soft top removal) plus getting a CF Hood/Trunk/Mirrors. What I am wondering is if for around the same money can I get equal or better performance by buying aftermarket parts (i.e. suspension parts, lightweight exhaust, lightweight wheels, brake kit, etc.). I have done a quick search of the site and I have not found anything that seems to answer this question. Is there anyone out there that has knowledge in this area that can assist me or is there a site where I can go that might have some raw data for me to analyze?

 

well, if you look at the june 2008 sport compact car, they do a compare of a stock AP1/2 vs CR as well as relatively stock s2k's with various coilovers (spoon, kw v3, tein, buddy club, works/ohlins, jic, j's racing, moton ) They ran them on buttonwillow raceway, and while there are significant problems with the methodology coilover comparison, the AP1/2 vs CR is quite telling. On the track, the CR's best lap was an amazing 6 sec. faster than the ap1/2. (ap2 - 2:12.461, CR - 2:06.585) To put that into perspective, of all the cars equipped with the coilovers, and in varying levels of tune, only three clocked better lap times than the CR. (there was something wrong with the s2k equipped with MOTON, otherwise that one should have also turned in a good time, also one of the cars broke the rules by being fully built for track. ) The point being that the CR is extremely well tuned for track use, and probably livable for street. I would guess that, if you can swing it, sell your 2004, and buy a CR brand new. a 2004 goes for about 20K, I think you can pick up a CR for about 30ish. Just imagine what it would cost to build up the 2004 up to CR specs.

 

That price would be closer to the 40k mark...plus if you get the parts from www.hardtopguy.com, it sounds like it would be cheaper to build a clone than to buy a new CR.

 

My only concern would be with the ride height of the CR coilovers. Some people have said that the front is higher than expected and the back lower after the conversion. Perhaps this has to do with the car needing time to settle.

 

yah..go pick up the new sport compact car magazine. it really depends on what you want. my car was used as the stock baseline and it yielded 2:12 around the track. the s2000 CR did a 2:06. the Spoon car..(which is another member here on s2ki) yielded a 2:02...at the sacrifice of being a hardcore track car

-a

 

Overpriced S2K FTW! :wohoo: I paid MSRP and came out with 41k after taxes

...you can probably get below msrp now probably though.

 

who owns the spoon car? if they're here i just wanna say that its a really clean sexy car! i was routing for it the whole time i was reading the article >.< i waaaas kinda bummed how everyone ragged on it saying the spoon car cheated and such and such... but yeah. props for a clean car

and the moton s2000 looked like it had body work done. i remember the article stating that there was overspray in the undercarriage and the hard top wouldnt fit flush. plus i believe it pulled to the right and this pulling was not due to an underinflated tire.

 

I'd just get a CR, not convert an AP2 to rough CR spec. Expensive aftermarket I/H/E can give you a bit more power than CR's, but you probably won't match the CR's stiffness improvements, steering rack change, and so on without spending enough money to buy one.

Yes it probably costs more to get a CR than to do a rough pick-your-parts conversion, but you'll probably get half the difference back when you sell it, as if you upconvert then sell 5 years later, all you've got is a MY04 with some nice parts and no soft-top. The CR will also get you a new warranty, TCS, TPMS, free tires, etc etc.

But if you just want better lap times or performance, you could get tires, coilovers, and a supercharger and be done with it.

 

oh yeah, one more thing.

"...plus getting a CF Hood/Trunk/Mirrors."

very few CF parts actually weigh less than the stock hood/trunk of the s2000. They are aluminum from the factory. The only CF parts that actually are lighter are ones that are dry carbon autoclaved. I would guess that puts you in mugen territory.

Seibon and all the others like them are actually fiberglass, with a CF top layer mostly for look. The only reason I mention this is that you sounded serious about speed and good CF parts are uber expensive...if you just want the JDM look, ( and there's nothing wrong with that), then seibon hoods are just fine, but they won't make you any faster.

 

yah..there was a lot of disputes that day at the track...as the requirements were to have an s2000 that still streetable in near stock trim. all the other vendors were raising a huge stink about the spoon s2000. the owner is "alexs2200" here in the so*cal section

-a