Contemplating selling up

[lower]

what you don't get in the s2000 is the same shove in back you get when the turbo comes on boost. consquently it doesn't feel as fast until you get used to it. what tends to happen put your foot down and suddenly realise your going 10-15mph faster than your realised. when you do get used to it you realise quite how quick it is. sees off boxters with ease.

there have been very few f20c failures in the uk. mine blew up because of a manufacturing fault. an inlet valve stem sheared (defect in the metal), valve dropped into the cylinder, disingetrated and got pushed back out the inlet port into the inlet manifold and consequently into all the other cylinders. a totaly lunched engine.

the oil issue you are reffering to is a oil jet underneath no4 piston that sprays the bottom of the piston and bore to keep it cool. honda did a recall for that.

if your'e interested the s2000 faq is

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=181443

how much you looking to spend? i know of a few cars for sale at present.

A friend of mine has an S2000, I made the mistake of getting a lift in it after my annoying saturday. Its not as fast as my MR2, but it feels so much better on the road, even from a passengers view.

New engine after 2 months? Was that from the oil issue I've heard about or something else?

I'm waiting to get prices back from a friendly importer I know. We'll see what they look like.

[stevecordiner]

Yeah I've been on the s2k forum. Theres quite a few nice ones for sale. There's one very nice black one for 13500 where the guy is a reluctant sale.

To be honest, the most I can afford is around 11500-12500 which should buy an early s2k from japan. Just waiting on prices really.

I assume theres no difference between the JDM cars and the European stuff. My friends is an import on a T reg. Very very good car too.

[Bender Unit]

Before I went down the route of rebuilding the engine I also looked at other cars. I could have slotted a spare engine in the MR2 and sold it on and bought another car to replace it.

Thing is I would have had to spend a fair whack to get a car of similar performance, to get a car that’s capabale performance wise of what my MR2 hopefully will achieve I would hae had to spent a lot.

I stuck with the MR2 because it owes me nothing, I know that for the few thousand spent I will have something special and also the main attraction to the car is that I havent mastered it so it represents a challenge. Cars I have had in the past have become boring mainly because I knew the limits, with the MR2 I am constantly pushing.

A Mr2 with 400RWHP will be stupidly rapid and will match most things on the road. Its very easy to get disheatended about your car when you cant drive it, I am in the same boat. Don’t loose the faith just replace that ring and get going! It will all change when the engine is back in.

[shafster]

i hear what you're saying mate. i've had mr2 turbo's for over 4 years now and the novelty is wearing off a bit.... i think im growing old as i like a bit of refinement too now.

the mr2 is a bit too hardcore especially with the state of uk roads and the increasing amount of speedbumps popping up all over the place. it's difficult to get any decent blast in the mr2 nowadays

[JJ]

with the state of uk roads and the increasing amount of speedbumps popping up all over the place. it's difficult to get any decent blast in the mr2 nowadays

Bah ! Thats just in the sarf chump !

Go up north and theres plenty of open roads .. !!

i think im growing old as i like a bit of refinement too now.

I have electric / heated leather seats now and the engine I can't hear !! Exhaust noise ... lol !! Dunno if it has any !!

20mpg though

[lower]

there's the usual minor differences, along the lines of the g-ltd compared to uk gti-16, but nothing significant. main thing is that jdm cars sold with half leather interiors are not leather but pvc.

keep your eye on autotrader and ebay. you get some quite low priced cars on there sometimes.

your main problem is that as a convertible, prices are starting to go up for the summer. expect to see a rise of between £500-£1000.

incidentily, insurance with a bit of shopping around is not much different than for a standard turbo (at least it was 2 years ago when i last bought turbo insurance)

Yeah I've been on the s2k forum. Theres quite a few nice ones for sale. There's one very nice black one for 13500 where the guy is a reluctant sale.

To be honest, the most I can afford is around 11500-12500 which should buy an early s2k from japan. Just waiting on prices really.

I assume theres no difference between the JDM cars and the European stuff. My friends is an import on a T reg. Very very good car too.

[V8Killer]

Steveo,

i've been without my MR2 for over 12 months now and even considered selling up on numerous occasions and i've plundered alot more money into it then you, me thinks. I've had to change engine builders, had the car transported one way and the other, pick up and drop of engine parts here there and everywhere...LOL! I've had more headache with my car then my wife and thats saying ALOT!!!!!!!!

But then the likes of Andy F's car, Dino's car, they were without it for well over 12 months and their patience paid off. This is what wants me to keep going. Once it is done, i know it'll be fantastic.

Chin up duck!

[Jevansio]

Steve mate, I don't think I'm come across anyone who hasn't at one point or another thought of chucking it all in, but the best thing to do is not to make any rash decisions, don't let your current emotions rule your decision, you'll be guaranteed to fall back in with the MR2 if you stew it for a while.

Imagine if you sell up get a S2000 and one day find a white 2 on your tail which is kitted out with 500bhp, it pulls out and flies past with the ext gate screaming, guaranteed you'll release you made the wrong choice

Jay

[stevecordiner]

I appreciate the sentiments guys. But at the moment I need to think long and hard about it. I travel 40 miles a day to work an back and I havent room for a run about.

I've not made a decision either way on this but I just dunno what I want at the moment lol

[JJ]

I just dunno what I want at the moment lol

You wanna good naked woman !!!

[lower]

or the opposite view. imagine your sitting at the lights in your super fast mr2 when a really nice s2000 pulls along side. you think i'll have him off the lights but the s2000 flies off into the distance as your engine won't produce the power that day because of yet another expensive problem

christ, anyone would think that your thinking of taking up heroin!

Steve mate, I don't think I'm come across anyone who hasn't at one point or another thought of chucking it all in, but the best thing to do is not to make any rash decisions, don't let your current emotions rule your decision, you'll be guaranteed to fall back in with the MR2 if you stew it for a while.

Imagine if you sell up get a S2000 and one day find a white 2 on your tail which is kitted out with 500bhp, it pulls out and flies past with the ext gate screaming, guaranteed you'll release you made the wrong choice

Jay

[MR2Mania]

But then the likes of Andy F's car, Dino's car, they were without it for well over 12 months and their patience paid off. This is what wants me to keep going. Once it is done, i know it'll be fantastic.

Steve, Muhsin's right mate. I've now missed 2 TOTBs that I was hoping to enter, gone 18months without the car even running, and now that it's running, it's been going for over a year and STILL isn't properly finished. On top of that, I've pumped SO much money into the project that I could have pretty much have halved my mortgage!

I too get days when I feel like throwing the towel in. And the longer everything takes to get done, the harder it is to justify spending so much money on a car that's now over 10 years old.

But on the (rare) occassions that I get to enjoy the car to its fullest, and blow away some seriously more expensive machinery, I suddenly get thinking again. What else could I get for my money that would cause so much problems for cars costing over £100k?

When I embarked on the build (way back when), I realised that my MR2 was never going to be an everyday car again. I then got very focused with what I wanted out of my car. Hence what initially started off as wanting 600bhp, etc, etc, eventually came down to a more reasonable goal and I'm now concentrating on building a car that can give me loads of fun on trackdays, as well as still being driveable on the roads - would still love to be able to take a cruise across Europe and go Ferrari-bashing again!

Stay with it, mate. You've already committed and won't get your money back. If you genuinely don't think you can follow it through, then fair enough. Otherwise stick with it and look forward to having some more fun again.

[stevecordiner]

Lol ... firstly ... JJ ... you know me, I dont need a "good" naked women. Any naked women will do once I've got me beer goggle on

Its a tricky one. This will be an every day car, that looks respectable when I turn up at clients etc as well as being a sports car. I dunno, still waiting on prices for an S2k

I dont want a car thats not an everyday car, unreliable or going to be very expensive to maintain.

[MR2Mania]

Lol ... firstly ... JJ ... you know me, I dont need a "good" naked women. Any naked women will do once I've got me beer goggle on

Its a tricky one. This will be an every day car, that looks respectable when I turn up at clients etc as well as being a sports car. I dunno, still waiting on prices for an S2k

I dont want a car thats not an everyday car, unreliable or going to be very expensive to maintain.

Then I hate to say it mate, but this ain't the car for you! You can't expect to squeeze out anything over 400bhp from a 2litre and expect it to be reliable. Look at the Evo FQ400 (which I was involved with). There's many thousand of man hours that have gone into developing that, and testing it at extreme limits (ie flat out for 35k miles around Millbrook, etc), and they still have issues with it. A handful have already broken, and those given out to journos for testing didn't last very long at all!

If you're not prepared to make it a 2nd car, then this will only end in tears mate.

[Lauren]

Lol ... firstly ... JJ ... you know me, I dont need a "good" naked women. Any naked women will do once I've got me beer goggle on

Its a tricky one. This will be an every day car, that looks respectable when I turn up at clients etc as well as being a sports car. I dunno, still waiting on prices for an S2k

I dont want a car thats not an everyday car, unreliable or going to be very expensive to maintain.

agree with Dino here. It won't work as an everyday car. You'd be better off with an S2000, providing you keep it standard that is.

[tonigmr2]

Steve

There's always room for a second car

I know how you feel though, I bought the twincharger set-up parts three years ago this month, and it's STILL not finished. I had an engine builder sit on the parts for two years and do nothing, and the current one has promised me May (but told me he had to finish a pile of rally engines first) - if it's not ready in May...

I too look at the money I've spent and think what I could've done with it...the twincharger will have cost me nigh on £20K by the time it is finished - on a MK1 it's insane money and I'd be running around in the R34GTR I want by now if I hadn't of done it.

But at the end of the day I am doing it to own something special and unique...that's why we all spend money modding cars isn't it? Or restoring them. Or doing them up. Or whatever! Keep at it, I was looking forward to seeing a couple of serious cars on this board apart from anything else.
T

[stevecordiner]

Lol ... if I had room for 2 cars I would I have 1 parking space in my apartment block (I live in a city centre).

I've not made a decision yet, but I want to weigh up the factors first. While the parts arent fitted I can recoup what was spent. Once they go on the car it costs too much to retrofit normal stuff again lol!

Reliability is variable. I couldnt imagine anyone being able to thrash the pants off any 400hp 2 liter car every day and expect reliability. But if someone just gives it a few blasts a day then I'd hope it would be reliable providing its been built accordingly.

[MR2Mania]

Reliability is variable. I couldnt imagine anyone being able to thrash the pants off any 400hp 2 liter car every day and expect reliability. But if someone just gives it a few blasts a day then I'd hope it would be reliable providing its been built accordingly.

Oh yeah, for sure, mate. However, what a lot of people don't understand is that "built" engines, regardless of power, won't last as long between rebuilds as a bone stock engine!

Aside from the fact that you can't rival an OEM's tolerance and build quality, the fact that you have items like forged pistons in a built engine means that rebuilds will be more frequent. For a start, forgies need bigger tolerances because of the fact that the material expands under heat - hence why you sometimes get mild piston slap on a built engine when cold, which goes away when it's fully up to running temps.

Also, other parts use materials that are stronger than those used for a standard engine, but the wear rates are higher. After all, race engines are rebuilt pretty regularly, so they can easily justify this.

Speak to Fensport and see how long their built engines last. You don't get more knowledgeable companies with the 3SGTE than Fensport, and they've been through this LOADS of times.

Personally, I'd be exctatic if my engine lasted 100k miles without needing a rebuild, regardless of whether it was pampered most of the time or not.

[Jevansio]

or the opposite view. imagine your sitting at the lights in your super fast mr2 when a really nice s2000 pulls along side. you think i'll have him off the lights but the s2000 flies off into the distance as your engine won't produce the power that day because of yet another expensive problem

christ, anyone would think that your thinking of taking up heroin!

FFS, I'm trying to convince a good mate of mine to keep his MR2, I'm not having a dig at S2000's,

[Bender Unit]

Having looked into S2k's for my better half I can honestly say they are still quite expensive - A S2k in decent condition will still come in at 15k or more. I have seen some of the cheaper models but the price is reflected in the quality. Also whilst I rate Hondas and I love the VTEC they are not trouble free and can be expensive when parts need replacing. Either way S2k or Mr2 you will have a fantastic car, except the MR2 when finished will be a total rocketship and unique.

If the K20 responds to nitrous as well as the B16/B18 does then you could slap a 100bhp nitrous system in there without issues for when you need that extra kick up the butt.

Regards

James