SilverFog,

I've been contemplating entering my 2 cents into this, at times, meandering thread. After reading your post, however, I see you've already summed up my thoughts on the matter quite concisely. Well done...

 

SilverFog, good post heh (I don't necessarily agree to the whole thing tho). BTW, I am afraid to ask for your opinion in the future.

 

[QUOTE]So there, I put my money where my big mouth was, and left my opinion hanging out here like a pi

 

charlie,

You bring the chocolate then, Greg has the fishing poles, and I'll come to fish with yall Nick can bring his boat and Beig can be the life guard so nobody gets hurt. Everyone is happy.

I hope the fish is Happy???

What kind of chocolate does the fish like??

 

Regarding modifications, were I looking for an original condition car, I would care that it had US spec parts replaced with parts designed for model of country of origin since the VIN would be North America. Afterall, it is what the manufacturer designed for the market; compromises may have been made as well to the origin country model as well.

A European model S2000 I would not want to have been modified to get rid of the headlight washers since from the showroom it came with such.

Regarding senior Honda's son, have there been writeups detailing the intents and attitudes between father and son? The scenario presented by SilverFog may not be the only one plausible. That does not make me like the body kits by Mugen, however.

Isn't it fairly well known that equal length headers help any engine breathe better? I postulate that given the attempt to hold S2000 cost at what it is, that the oem exhaust manifod is a compromise; also the weight of the oem is necessary in keeping with long term service life. I like the lighter stainless steel equal length headers of the Mugen.

These are some of my thoughts and I try to make my arguments with respect for other's views and appreciate SilverFog's presentation.

I have "modified" my S2000 by myself in my garage and may be glad to switch back to oem US spec showroom years from now. I have already replaced the top brackets and hooks to get them back to unscratched condition; such is the way with me.

 

Some pre-emptive clarifications:

...and NOT because I think these are not amazing tires. I just don't anticipate driving on them in such a way as to benefit from their performance any more than, say, 20% of the time. I had two generations of Potenzas on a two previous cars. They gripped well, and Honda made a good choice. However, I got tired of replacing them so frequently. I found that the longest-wearing, highest-gripping performance tire with good characteristics across the board that I could find were Michelin Pilots, with a treadwear index 2.5X that of my Potenzas, and still with a V-rated speed rating.

The S2K is a much different car, and its tread needs in a different class, so Pilots might not be sufficient for the car.

Then again, the rears will probably burn off long before the fronts, so that may be the determining factor that KEEPS me in S02s. I don't think I would want the imbalance of mixing front vs. rear, unless I sacrifice some not-yet-spent fronts.

If I had the unlimited cash, I should buy a second set of factory alloys, put a longer-life tread on them NOW for my daily driving, pull the Potenza-shod alloys off and keep them for auto-x.

Ooo! Auto-X! Controversial? I don't think so. I'm not into flogging my car to impress anyone or to beat the clock, but to have an open and relatively safe course to play with the limits of the car? I'm there.


...and I should add, that ANYTHING removed or replaced on the car will be stored, hermetically if possible.

(oh God, here gomes that nasty resale argument -- but hopefully with a difference)

Beig is completely right about how your way cool mods kill your resale value. To dealers and buyers, it screams "I'm a car that (probably) wasn't appreciated and (probably) flogged" -- even if this isn't the case, NOBODY will be made to think any different. Even changing the shift knob puts a huge stigma on the car. Your car will NOT be short-listed on their buy list and passed up for stock, whenever possible. Why do you think that "old-lady driven, garage kept except on Sunday" is the wet-dream phrase every car buyer or collector longs to hear?

Also, when you see the car sitting there, missing some basic OEM parts, replaced with aftermarket, you have to wonder: "someone obviously wants to SELL this car, but why the hell would they NOT have put the original {insert part here} back on? They must have thrown it out or sold it. Do I really want to buy a car which the previous owner(s) obviously cared or respected it so lowly as to scavenge it like that and not save everything?"

The used market can be sweet, and it can also be hell. The slightest indication of a hard-driven car or disrespected car puts your car on the buyer's "only if I am absolutely desperate for this car" list. And not because the buyer isn't cool enough to appreciate your choice of mods.

I've played the used-car market a lot in the past three years (only because there wasn't a NEW car that was compelling enough for me to take the depreciation hit, until the S2K) the last two models I sought, FYI, in chronological order, were a late-model (93+) Toyota MR2 Turbo and a late model (93+) Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo.

And just so nobody can accuse me of being narrow minded about the S2000, I do sometimes wonder if the 300ZX-TT wouldn't have been a better buy.

And, yes, I too bought this car with the full intention of taking it to the grave. What you cannot anticipate is: will Honda introduce a second or third generation of this car, or a new and superior model that I must have? Will something tragic happen in my life which requires me to haemorrhage assets?


Again, I am not an anti-mod Nazi (if you've been keeping up here, you'd know) and I may consider something like a supercharger in the future (long after that is a proven, mature product and I can statistically assure myself of not blowing my engine) -- but you can be sure as hell it had better be a bolt-on (and more importantly, bolt-off)solution for me.

 

SilverFog, when people mod the car, it's not like they personally think they can one-up Honda. If they tried to make a homemade exhaust, headers, etc. then that would be the case. As for you challenging Mugen/Comptech/etc. to better them, it's not surprising that they can. They don't have to work with the same price restrictions that Honda does, so that lends them more flexibility. I will agree that the S2000 comes better prepared from the factory than any other car within 10K of its price range, but that doesn't mean that improvement is impossible. Additionally, simple bolt-ons like the exhaust and headers won't sacrifice engine longevity...as for the supercharger, that's a different story.

 

You make some good points, Prolene.

Thats very true. As with a CRX I used to have, I replaced the turn-signal lenses with Japanese spec clear lenses. When I sold the car, it had the original lenses back on, and the Japanese-spec lenses in the original packaging in the trunk.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Prolene
[B]Regarding senior Honda's son, have there been writeups detailing the intents and attitudes between father and son? The scenario presented by SilverFog may not be the only one plausible.

 

Lets travel down these roads of opinions and perspectives for the curves they make tower in comparrison to any my car has ever traveled.

The Vain Glutton

A soon to be modded keyboard and vocabulary.

 

Thanks, SilverFog. The S2000 is quite a piece of artful machinery. Revs higher than the Modena...awesome.