Coil222

99.9% sure I spun a rod bearing friday night in my s2000. I'm somewhat new to austin, can anyone recommend a honda expert here? I have my 996tt worked on by boost logic but I'm not sure if they see a lot of s2000s so I'd prefer a shop w/ more focus on hondas.

SamWhited

I've used Auto Spec (Auto Repair | Round Rock+Georgetown | Auto-Spec) for a while and they've always been great. They don't focus on Honda's in particular, but they have quite a few S2000 customers and lots of other small Japanese cars.
I've also heard good things about and been meaning to try Badger Motorsports (https://www.badgermotorsports.com/), they have limited shop space so I don't know if they'd do something like this though, you'd have to ask.

Good luck, and welcome to Austin!

EDIT: since this post I've also gotten to the point where I need an engine rebuild. Followed up with Badger Motorsports and they will hold your car while they pull the engine out and ship it off to a machine shop to do whatever work on the engine needs to be done. They have a small shop though so work that requires that a car be taking up space for a while may have a wait list.

mhm4000

So I just did the same on my AP1. Dammit.
What did you end up doing?

512S2k

My work is done by SoulSpeed Performance. They specialize in track cars, Miata, boxster, bmw, Porsche, the guys are honest and helpful and do good work. I imagine they could help you guys out with a swap.

good luck!
casey

SamWhited

I just started a thread to ask about this sort of thing because I don't have any experience with machine shops in the area. I'd love to get your story about wherever you ended up taking yours and if it was a good experience or not if possible.

Coil222

Hey folks, Sam DM'd me to get an update so here it is:

I called around to A LOT of places to get someone who'd be willing to rebuild the motor rather than just swap in one, I ended up taking it allll the way down to smiley motorwerks in Kyle. They pulled the oil pan and sure enough the rod bearings had spun. The cause was the sealant used to hold the main seal was failing (the motor was rebuilt in late 2017 for bad compression on cylinder 1). Smiley did not recommend a rebuild w/ the same rotating assembly so after about 2 months of searching for an AP2 motor that wasnt $5K for 100K+ miles I opted to do the inline pro 2.4 build. For around 7K all in (just to inline pro) I had the 2.4 rotating assembly (I stayed w/ stock compression b/c I didn't want to commit to NA or FI at this time) and I did not upgrade the valvetrain/cams either though they were disassembled/checked/cleaned etc along w/ the lower end. I have a 1 year warranty on the block thru Inline pro, and I'm running 550 injectors on stock fuel pump/rail etc and hondata flashpro. Smiley did the motor remove/reinstall, some bolt ons, and the tuning. I'm at 246WHP/184WTQ with the 2.4 build at stock CR, KN intake, tuning, HFC/tanabe touring and a stg1 ACT clutch/fly. Smiley said I'm knock limited w/ the current tune and there is room for more power were I to switch to E85 and I might be pushing the need for a stronger clutch if more power is added. Also adding a mishimoto oil cooler as InlinePro couldn't locate a new OEM unit. Smiley recommends a new radiator 'soon' as well. (I run at 8 LEDs when warmed up on the water temp).

The 2.4 build is great, excellent lower end that this car desperately needed. Really easy to spin tires even in like 3rd, you have to really take it easy in the wet now. It doesn't ride/drive like a racecar and the fuel consumption is noticeably worse but its still better than my other cars (996TT and E90 335xi).
I realize this update may not be what people in the thread wanted to see because the original subject was more for locating a good machine shop in central texas, but I figured a good review of the inline pro 2.4 build would be a nice thing to have in the cloud since there doesn't tend to be a lot of end user post about them.

512S2k

Great to hear you are up and running, exciting with the in-line pro 2.4 that’s good stuff. Would you recommend Smiley for all of us AUSTIN S2k peeps?

512S2k

and how was the tuning? Do they have lots of experience with S2k and flashpro?

Coil222

Yes, experience w/ Smiley was excellent, and they do have experience w/ S2000 and hondata.

maranelloboy05

Just adding that from what I've seen I'd be very very hesitant to have an s2000 motor rebuilt by anyone who hasn't done 10+ rebuilds. It's really not a motor any old shop can work on. I used to live near Inline Pro and have a friend who works there and they are are probably one of the top s2k engine shops in the country if not the best. Personally if it were me needing a rebuild (knock on wood) I'd go the lengths to ship stuff to/from them to get it done rather than try and find a local shop.