So I've had my S for 4 months now and I really love it. I'm really getting the handling characteristics down for the car and I've been working a lot on my heel-toe and rev matching. Now that I have the concepts for the car down, I've decided that I want to do some modifications to it. Keep in mind this is my daily driver with 50,000 miles on it now and I will be putting roughly 14-16 thousand miles on it per year. I figure I want to spent 1-2 thousand dollars on the car and here are the ideas I'm thinking of:

1) 4.57 gears from Rick's with Comptech reinforced differential (~$1600 installed):

Pros: Car accellerates much quicker... you all know the drill
Cons: Car will be very noisy, revs are always higher, slightly worse gas mileage.

2) AEM EMS standalone ECU (~$2000? installed and tuned)

Pros: Great access to fuel mapping, VTEC engagement, and all electronic aspects of the car
Cons: Very expensive, Dyno time needed

How much HP gain from a stock S2000 with tuned EMS?

3) Wheels (ROTA - lightweight and cheap), shocks and springs (~$2000)

Pros: Car will look much better, handle better, lose a lot of weight
Cons: Expensive, no power added

4)Bolt Ons + VAFC

Pros: Some HP added, easy installation
Cons: Not much power, Dyno time needed for VAFC

5) Nitrous (~$1000) probably 50 or 75 wet shot:

Pros: MUCH more power, I can use it when I want (probably only 2-4 times a month... VERY light usage), Inexpensive
Cons: Always a danger involved with Nitrous, illegal if you're caught using it on the street

I'm going to be doing lots of research, as I already have been, on all of these options. Right now I'm leaning towards the gears or nitrous. If I go the nitrous route I repeat, I'll only be using the system maybe once a week whenever I'm in an encounter with a car that is faster than mine. Do not assume I'm a silly ricer that will get it installed for a total of 600 dollars and go No2 happy racing civics. I will get all needed safety accessories and use it sparingly, plus I'll have money left over for some Rota wheels or test pipe or other bolt on goodies.

So, anyone have an opinion? (I know you all do )

 

i have an opinion-
if you are really into driving the car and want some added ponies, i would do the exhaust...
the sound of the blip of the downshift, the roar of the exhaust and a few more hps all are cool results of an aftermarket exhaust.

after that i would take it one step at a time- and from your list would do wheels next (combo of looks and performance on this mod).

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and tighten that throttle cable! even the new '00s throttle cables had slack. this is a free mod!!

 

Spend your money on a S/C.

 

I would start with suspension mods. At least coilovers.

 

I don't have 6 thousand dollars to spend on a SC I still owe like 8 or 9 thousand on the car, so spending such a huge chunk of money on it at my age (23) just isn't that sound of an investment.

If I go with exhaust, I would want the lightest possible, and single outlet as to actually make horsepower. I'm not into "bling" or show, just performance all around as I have been with all of my cars. The weight reduction would be great, as I'd probably go with headers and test pipe to get the best airflow/power. However, now the price is reaching the gears range!

Has anyone dyno tested the 70mm titanium exhausts? Can one be had for around 800?

Also, anyone here have experience with nitrous and have any helpful input?

Why do choices have to be so hard!?!

 

I haven't read much about people doing this. How easy would it be to do myself? Is there that much of a difference?

 

it'll take you 2mins. one to find the right size wrench and one to do it.

yes, there is a difference. but be careful and do not overtighten the cable..

 

Exhaust first: Incredible weight savings + a little more power. The big bonus is the bad-ass exhaust note. The easy/cheap way is to cut the pipe after the resonator, then pipe in your own lightweight cans. That way you keep the cat and resonator.

Second, I'd get some wheels. Most people look at the wheels first, and different wheels will definitely set your car apart from the OEMs. Just make sure you can use the OEM tires. Only race compound tires will give you better performance.

Third, I'd get an intake. Even if it just adds a couple of HP, you want your engine to breath as freely as possible, especially at 8,000/9,000 RPMS!

Next- suspension.

Get the EMS/VAFC and gears later.

Forget the nitrous.

-Pete

 

Yeah wheels definately are important for weight savings and look. I just spent SO MUCH MONEY on my last set of Volk TE37's on my 00Si only to see that the car was stolen and I didn't get the full price of them back. The 2000+ dollars I spent was a stretch at the time, and it's just really hard to spend that much on a single mod right now.

I have looked into these ROTA wheels that have just recently come out with the right staggering for our cars. They are not forged like the Volk, but are still as strong as our OEM wheels and weigh a good 3-4 pounds less per wheel.

Has anyone bought ROTAs and have pics?

 

I say gears! Rota Pics