My 2003 Honda S2000 has but 36,743 miles on the clock. Since 2017 it only saw about 800 miles total with the last two years only 3. Circumstances and of course the stupid pandemic recently contributed to this low usage.

Despite my age and infirmities, I find myself suffering Spring Fever now as the weather is improving.

I want to spruce up the convertible for my anticipated short country outings so I've laid out the following "spa treatment" plan I hope to start this coming Thursday with the return of some warmer weather. It will probably take me the better part of a week to week and a half to do all this.


(Mount Rushmore is that white area directly above the top of the passenger's side window pillar.)

The first item on the list I'm going to try. It is said it is a great way to remove any insect debris.

And although I have a two decade old Craftsman 9" orbital buffer-polisher, I don't plan on using it unless I find the surface really needs it.

I'm no DSGrouse when it comes to car detailing but just an old fart trying to relive some of the past.



The car wash and wheel cleaner are Meguiars Gold Class.
The Lexol is both cleaner and conditioner products.
The claybar is Clay Magic (blue) with lubricant.
I've ordered a Nanoskin (AS-015) Autoscrub 7" x 7" Clay towel that I may use instead if it arrives in time.
The clay towels are said to be quicker and should be easier on my old back.

Those cars are real sleepers. Too bad they haven't built a new version.
I drove one belonging to a customer for about a month a few years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Those cars are real sleepers. Too bad they haven't built a new version.
I drove one belonging to a customer for about a month a few years ago.

I drove all sorts of brands (BMW, Porche, Audi, MB, etc.; even tried a Lotus Exige but the pedals were too close together for my uber wide feet) before settling on the S2000 new back in 2003.
Perfect 50-50 weight distribution, rear wheel drive, fantastic short throw shifter, fun 9k rpm VTEC engine, and yes, some snap oversteer for the unimitated, but a true enthusiasts car!
Torque fanboys simply don't appreciate the car for what it is.

Only 110k were made worldwide during its 10 year run. It was old man Honda's 50th year celebratory car and a tribute to the firm's Formula 1 success. And from all accounts a loss-leader being priced at or below what it cost to make.

Bald get that car out and enjoy it! I had one (2004) but chose to sell it because of the horrible condition of our roads. I would love to have a sports car again.

Quite a looker, though I'm partial to a Suzuka AP2.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Quite a looker, though I'm partial to a Suzuka AP2.

That Suzuka blue is nice. Frankly I can't think of a color scheme the S2000 was available in that I would reject.

A nephew in Netherlands has a pristine S2000. That car is his baby

When he and his g/f bought a house together there was a bit of a disagreement as to which car was going in the tiny one-car garage. Her argument was "Why yours and not mine?" I suggested to him that was easy: The S2000 is a collectible. Her car, like his daily driver, was just another car.

The S2000 ended-up in the garage

Tall as I am, I can actually fit in one of those. Comfortably, too. Tried it on in a showroom, years ago. That was with the top down, though. I don't know if I could even lever myself into one with the top up.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
The S2000 is a collectible.

Indeed. I've been offered over $25k for mine. It is pretty immaculate.

With Team VooDoo spun pearl aluminum finish shift knob


VooDoo replaced with custom Knobmeister mahogany knob


Engine bay with mild add-ons and customization including gutted insulated air box with extra feed from passenger wheel well.


With Skunk2 exhaust.
Classic Carrier black luggage rack w/black leather straps is normally stored as it was used only for long road trips.


Suspension sports a MUZ Whiteline front swaybar #BHF48 (30mm solid spring steel, 50% stiffer than stock tubular 26.5mm) along with the much more aggressive Honda UK spec AP1 4-wheel alignment. Combined they do a good job of taming the snap oversteer.

I have a 2005 in Sebring Silver. Prior to that I had leased a 2001 in Silverstone (my favorite color for the S2K). There are several notable differences in driving:
1. Only 8K red-line, so only 2,000 rpm between when VTEC kicks in and red-line--not as much fun
2. Sudden oversteer with loss of control and ending up ass-first in a ditch seems to have been licked with the new rear end
3. The 2.2 L engine does give enough torque to make it less necessary to shift as much (Car and Driver described it as shifting from crystal meth to caffeine)
4. Suspension is much more comfortable
5. No longer have an issue with the xenon lights bouncing up and down and annoying oncoming drivers

My current S2000 has 47,000 miles. It has a few dings and scratches, the roof has been replaced, the driver's seat shows some wear in the outside bolster; otherwise it's in great shape.

Since it had been sitting for a year and a half, I had all the fluids replaced, already had replaced the tires with Michelin Pilot Super Sports.

I plan to do a less extensive spring cleaning than bald1, may get the interior detailed if I can find a good detailer.

Here in San Diego weather is great most of the year for top-down driving; but there are more great driving roads in Northern California where we used to live. And of course Maui had the Honda--I mean Hana--highway.

Mine is a 2016 in New Formula Red. I bought it from a coworker in 2009 when it came off lease with 6k miles on it. I paid about $19k - the amount of his residual. Last fall I paid for a set of rear Pilot S/S to go on as soon as the cover comes off. Mine has 44,600 on it now and has always been garaged when not driven. The only thing not OEM is the stereo.

My spring ritual includes detail hand wash, clay bar, Meguiars Ultimate wax (machine applied), 303 on top and vinyl trim and Meguiers tire dressing. Honda puts great paint on their vehicles and my ‘06 still looks great. I have filled a couple of rock chips with Dr. ColorChip. Great stuff.

These cars have only gone up in value. I hope to drive this for many years in the future.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Quite a looker, though I'm partial to a Suzuka AP2.

That Suzuka blue is nice. Frankly I can't think of a color scheme the S2000 was available in that I would reject.

IMO, the AP1 Suzuka with full smurf interior was the worst.
If I were in the market, a Suzuka AP2 with blue/black interior would be my top choice.

After reading about your S2000s, I decided to get mine out of hibernation today.

A project! Hope it goes well for you and the S2000!

BTW – one of the lesser-known benefits of San Diego: I average less than one bug splat per month on my windshield.

Get out and drive!
I put 108,000 miles on my NFR AP1(2000) and then replaced it with an AP2 (2004) in Silverstone with the red/black interior and drove it another 86,000 miles. Replaced the mechanical babies with 2 biological ones. Now drive a CrewMax Tundra as a DD. Miss having a sports car but the costs in VA are prohibitive.

quote:

Torque fanboys simply don't appreciate the car for what it is.

That can be fixed. I saw once an S2000 absolutely embarrass a ZR1 from a standing start once. I asked the driver what he had done to it when I caught up with him at the next light and he said it was supercharged making 450rwhp. I have a a 2000 S2000 sitting in the big garage that hasn’t moved since my oldest son was born 14 years ago. My daughter thinks it will be her first car.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Torque fanboys simply don't appreciate the car for what it is.

That can be fixed.

Yes there are supercharged and turbocharged kits for the S2000 out there in various states of tune. [LHT Performance channel on YouTube has some great videos on the S2000 including forced air mods]

I have a local friend who has his fitted with a turbo. I just have never felt the need for such staying naturally aspirated. That said I did tweak things so there is extra air fed from the passenger wheel well into the airbox augmenting the factory feed over the radiator. And steps were taken to insulate the intake air from engine heat (DIY modified insulated radmat under AUT Design cooling plate and insulated air box interior).

Here are some old snapshots illustrating the air feed DIY insulation tweaks I made.

This shot is when I was also installing a pair of Hella twin supertone horns to replace the anemic stock ones. You can see both the insulation I placed in the airbox as well as the "radmat" that insulates the stock air feed horn from the radiator. The later is somewhat obscured here with the wire strippers. It was a very popular mod back in the day on the S2Ki forum.


Here's another shot of the radmat but with a Coastal Metal engine bay air director plate which I subsequently replaced with the AUT Design cooling plate (sebring silver paint over carbon fiber by ImportTuningGarage).

The DIY radmat was modeled after this Japanese metal accessory:


Here you can see the passenger side wheel well air feed tubing into the airbox. The AUT cooling plate is also installed here.
Also shown is a reusable Sprint Super Competition (Italian) micron mesh dry polyester air filter that remains in use to this day.


Some folks on the S2K forum who did the same mods found a gain of several hp when dyno'ed. A fun cheap effective tweak.

Probably the only convertible I'd consider. I looked at them pretty hard a couple years back before buying a 911.

On Bring a Trailer today:

https://bringatrailer.com/list..._campaign=2021-05-04

quote:

Originally posted by Vanwall:
On Bring a Trailer today:

https://bringatrailer.com/list..._campaign=2021-05-04

WOW! 2004 AP2 sold for $36,500 with 36k miles on the clock. These cars keep appreciating in value!

That $25K offer for mine I mentioned earlier was several years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Mine is a 2016 in New Formula Red.

Mike, your red S2K really pops! VERY nice!