Dark Regent

I've been a long-time lurker, wanted an S2000 for 7 years or so now. I had decided that I wanted an early AP2 (04-05) to take advantage of the changes, and I wanted to avoid the later DBW AP2s. I have always thought that I'd like to go the Hondata>Hayward>Hytech route, so I didn't want a DBW throttle. I also wanted an OEM Hardtop, must have for me as I will rarely ride with the top down. When the following car was posted, I just had to jump on it.

2004 S2000 For Sale

So, in May I picked up the car and brought it home. I figured I should post up the car, introduce myself and talk about my plans for the car so I can get some feedback from people with more experience. The car was in good condition except for a couple little things, the 12v socket was loose, the radio doesn't play CDs and there are a few dings and scratches here and there. Otherwise it's great. Here are some shots of the car the day I picked it up.




After bringing the car home, I changed all the fluids to establish a baseline. The brakes were also original to the car and they were shot. So, the fun began.



I of course ran into the dreaded Honda brake rotor screws. After researching the common methods for removing them, I found a mixture of two methods worked best for me, a combination of drilling and using a chisel to remove them.





Luckily I was able to drill into the screws, create a notch in the screw head and then by angling the chisel downward, I was able to spin the screws free and remove them intact.




After that the job was easy, I swapped all the pads and rotors and bedded in the pads.




The car also came with a non-OEM oil cap on the engine. After reading the forums, I saw that many times the oil caps were left off and ended up on top of the transmission behind the engine so I went looking. Sure enough, there it was. Now it's back in it's rightful place.



So, that's all of my modifications so far. I've got the pre-painted eBay OEM style spoiler for the car but that's going to be a Christmas present so I have to wait to put it on.

My plans so far for the car will probably start with new wheels and tires. I was contemplating going with 17x9+63 (AME TM-02s) all the way around with staggered tires, but now I'm kinda leaning towards just getting a set of Advan RSIIs (17x8+54F & 17x9+63R). One of my goals is to make sure I can return the car back stock if I desire so I am trying to avoid modifying fenders, etc.

As far as engine mods go, I've always thought that I'd like to go the ITB route with Hondata KPro, Hayward ITBs and Hytech cams, header and HFC. It'd also be nice to go for some Endyn head work at some point. However, I know that ITBs are a big commitment and need to be done right. Unfortunately, there are no shops nearby that I would trust to do the work, I think I'd have to take the car back to Dallas or Phoenix to get it done right, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I would also like to get an airbox for the ITBs and potentially do some kind of a filtered ram air setup to feed air to them. I know there are clearance issues for the airbox so I've been looking around at different designs. I wonder if any of the Reverie airboxes would fit under the hood of the S. I haven't decided on an exhaust yet. My father also owns an S2000. He wanted a tame exhaust and ended up picking up the Invidia Q300. It's not quite aggressive enough for me so I've been thinking about possibly getting the GReddy SE Dual. I know most exhausts have the common 3-4k rpm drone so I figure I may just have to add a quarter wave resonator to whatever I buy because I find that annoying.

For cosmetic mods, I like the ASM front bumper so I'll probably end up going for the Shine replica. Also, I really like the CR tonneau cover, so I may remove the soft top, store it and replace it with that. It would get the weight out of the car and I figure the soft top doesn't need to sit in the sun when I park the car outside since I won't really use it anyway.

Other than that, I'll probably address the suspension at some point down the road as the car already has 73,000+ miles on it. It will probably be some Ohlins DFVs or KW Clubsports. I'm not 100% on that yet as I'm still researching that also. The car will not be seeing many track days. For the most part it will be a weekend warrior on some mountain roads and maybe see a couple HPDE events a year.

I plan to do the mods as I accrue more cash so it will take a while. I want to try and make sure that I do it right the first time through. I look forward to getting more involved on the forum since I now actually own an S2000.

Greg

RedCelica

I actually ended up using a 3 lb sledge and an philips impact driver to get my rotor screws out, beating a new head into them. Nice job there

bendang2005

Congrats! I wish I had found one close enough with an oem hardtop....very unique color too!

AngryTurtle

If youve already got the drill out you might as well drill it until the head falls off.

s2000maniac

That oil cap looks OEM to me. It also says "10w30" on it.

doddg

1. Waited 7 yrs. AND got a hardtop with it: impressive!
2. The inquiring minds wanted to know how much you paid, especially w/hardtop.
3. This summer I saw 04s going from $14k to $16k, some asking more, but don't know what they brought, with similar mileage, from fair to great condition, but since a hardtop can be worth $3k, you might have had to pay a premium.
4. If you don't like to talk about $$, sorry!

Themikewoo

Congrats!

Have you seen the link in my signature?

Dark Regent

Actually, I think it was quicker the way I did it after I figured out a good method on the first screw. The other 7 screws all came out in a couple minutes each, and they came out intact so I didn't have to deal the left over fused nub. The drill really slowed down after about the first minute of drilling (maybe 3/16" down) so I think the chisel part may have actually sped up the process.

Yep, I found it on top of the transmission. I was just showing it back where it should be (hence it being a little dirty), might be something used S2000 buyers want to look for if by chance they're missing the proper oil cap like I was.

I paid the asking price of $17,500. I really didn't want to try haggling too much as it was frankly worth that, if not a little more, not to mention there were other interested parties, but I got in there first over the phone before she could even look at the PMs on S2KI. I haven't regretted it so far. I thought the facts that it was a one owner car, unmodified, and maintained by Honda from the start were also plus points. The previous owner babied the car and she only took it out in nice weather and such. I really doubt it even got into Vtec very often, although she apparently let her husband drive it on occasion. I watched a 2005 Silverstone S2000 with an OEM hardtop in the Dallas area sell for about $900 more (on Craigslist) just before buying mine, and within a couple days it reappeared at a California dealer, listed on Autotrader for about $21,000.

Yes, I've read through your helpful thread previously. I've addressed most of the issues in that thread except for a couple like axle nuts and spark plugs. I know with the age and mileage there will be a few things that will need to be done to it in the near future. Luckily, it looks like it has been well maintained since new. I haven't done too much with the car so far and will continue to work on it.

mD5

How come no-one uses an impact driver for the brakes? Welcome to the community!

AngryTurtle

A. Most people have no idea what it is or that it exists.
B. People dont want to spend the money.
C. Even with one I was able to strip one of the screws.