500WHP s2000 - Js Racing / ASM build AKA wedding crasher

[TerenceJCruz]

I bought the s2k when I had my bagged and heavily modified scion... I know the feeling, I still thoroughly enjoy low and slow and if funds weren't an option I would buy another s2000 to do that with. I actually had a 2001 NFR AP1 that I bought a set of BBS RS specifically with that in mind but never got around to it as this one took up all of my funds :/

Here's my last car, will probably be up some people's alley more so than this one.

If I could recommend anything to a NEW s2000 owner it is to enjoy it unmolested for a LONG time. There's something special about the car that you don't get to experience from many other cars and I've driven a fair share of heavily modified/stock cars in this market from heavily modified 996 911T to a 707WHP cobra and then the obvious 350z/miatas etc etc. Lotus exige is probably the closest you will get to the excitement stock but I haven't truthfully driven one and it's on my short list as my mechanic now has a 400WHP turbo exige, Not saying any of the other cars aren't amazing, simply saying there is something special that I found with this platform, amazing gearbox, handles amazing and the AP1s feel like they want to kill you around every turn and take a lot of understanding to be pushed. They of course lack in power/can't drift for crap and are heavier than they should be as they never came in a coupe. Give/Take

That TC is beautiful! But yeah man I definitely get what you mean. At least it was bagged so you had a little more function! Haha. I'm on Megan Coils with Swift springs, and I love it, but I feel myself drifting towards the function side. Either air ride or coils with a little wheel gap I think would make me much happier since I would be able to fully enjoy the car. Your advice was almost exactly the same as my friend Corey (guy who's making me want my s2k/function life) lol. He told me to enjoy it stock for a while to truly understand it and see how unforgiving it can be. We'll see, fingers crossed! Hopefully I find a black or red 04

[Punchit8K]

That TC is beautiful! But yeah man I definitely get what you mean. At least it was bagged so you had a little more function! Haha. I'm on Megan Coils with Swift springs, and I love it, but I feel myself drifting towards the function side. Either air ride or coils with a little wheel gap I think would make me much happier since I would be able to fully enjoy the car. Your advice was almost exactly the same as my friend Corey (guy who's making me want my s2k/function life) lol. He told me to enjoy it stock for a while to truly understand it and see how unforgiving it can be. We'll see, fingers crossed! Hopefully I find a black or red 04

Drive the major years (00/01 - 02/03 - 04/05 - 06+) and make a decision on a model, the 04/05 are expensive to modify but rewarding.

06+ do make the most power on a dyno even though everyone will say they don't... and any AP1 will be the most fun to drive and most raw.

Whatever you get will be a blast and just hope the first time you spin around it's somewhere safe. If you drive hard it's going to happen sooner or later and then if you learn won't happen again or so you hope.

If you want performance stay away from the bags on the S2K and get a good set of ohlin's/nitrons/jrz etc etc coilovers. KW3 and PSS9s are also good if you aren't in the mindset of 5-7K on one piece of the suspension puzzle

Best of luck on the hunt!

[Punchit8K]

So something amazing happened!



Here's some pics but it lives! Can't get to high cam profile right now *no vtec for 930 more miles but all good!

Build pics will probably be at an even lower all time lately as the cars back on the road and I just bought a motorcycle so I'm spending all my time riding/driving lately.

All that's left now is the canards and side splitters. Probably going to start ordering up more suspension bits now (roll center adjusters, control arms and sway bars along with some safety and aero).

[TWM Performance]

What an ABSOLUTE monster

- Renato

[Punchit8K]

Bit of an update since it's only gotten to stretch it's legs 150 miles after the motor break in was done...

Car hit the dyno and after the 9:1 compression change we hit 380/250 at the wheels however there is speculation the dyno wasn't reading correctly but still sitting AT LEAST 100WHP away from the target 500WHP goal.

Good news is the full Ti rebuilt head looks to be stable to 11K YUP 11,000 RPMs. Guess the handle punchit8k needs to change -_-

After the dyno we ran into some overheating issues that are EXTREMELY weird. Take the car out for a beat run no problem car holds nice and cold. Park it and on the next startup it will overheat. Burp the cooling system and it runs fine again.

Replace radiator with a koyo radiator, new cap, lines. Still doing the same thing. What we found was one of the coolant lines under 30psi had a SMALL SMALL leak. Now the coolant system will never hit 30psi BUT the theory is that on cool down the car was sucking in a small bit of air and these damn cars are temperamental. Anyways won't know if it's fixed 100% until the spring.

Here are some videos/photos of updates:

11K RPM dyno pull, we backed down to 9500 RPM redline due to the supercharger overspinning. Won't be an issue down the road



Strapped down:


Js racing Dry carbon canards installed with nutserts yea I know the whole car needs to be painted when it's done...




RX7 Side splitters installed finally:



In the spring we're looking at Intake manifold (matched 74mm TB), 3" exhaust, larger intake and possibly changing up some of the body panels.