tom_simes
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Organiser: South Wales
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Registered: 12th Jan 05
Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate
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As posted here, I got the S2000 just after New Year. To re-cap for those that didn't see it:
As a few will know, I've been on the look out for one of these for a little while now. Found this one for sale on Pistonheads, so travelled and viewed it Christmas Eve, put down a deposit and went back to pick it up just after New Year:
It's a 2005 Honda S2000 GT in Moonrock Grey, with a red and black leather interior. Here's a couple more pictures from the advert:
The best colour combination in my opinion, and as it's a 2005 it's not too horrendous on tax either - £280 a year.
Early thoughts are it's a fantastic car, with an engine and gearbox combo that's brilliant to drive. It's got a fantastic noise on VTEC, which just gets better as the revs rise towards the 9000 rpm limiter too.
As the weather was pretty good last Sunday I took the roof off and we went for a decent drive around the south west, ending up at Chew Valley lake before heading back home with the cloth roof raised as it got very cold as soon as it was dark! A few more pics:
As per that post: The 3 part kit are all Honda optional extra parts, fitted from factory. I like the front lip and 'sidestrakes' as I believe Honda call them - the small spats just in front of the rear wheel arch. However, I'm not too sure on the spoiler - I think at some point I'll change it for the low level lip from eBay that the guys over on S2ki rave about.
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tom_simes
Show Staff
Organiser: South Wales
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Registered: 12th Jan 05
Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate
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One of the first things I wanted to do was get the standard V1 17's refurbed with a silver powdercoat. However, as my garage isn't wide enough to lift a car on axle stands and take all 4 wheels off and I didn't fancy leaving it on stands on my sloping driveway for a few days, I decided to invest in some spare rims so I could keep it rolling. The mrs' Scirocco came into use to go and pick up some 16's from Wakefield:
Those eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted there's only 3 in there, but why do you need 4? So with them fitted 
The 17's were then taken to Platinum Alloy Wheel Solutions in Swindon, with a turn around of about 4 days. I decided that whilst I couldn't really drive it, I'd get on with some maintenance:
To assist me in getting the car high enough to use my low jack to access the central brace under the sump, I knocked these up from some spare 2x4 I had hanging about. They work brilliantly!:
With the gearbox and diff oil replaced, I built a hardtop stand following the trusty instructions I found on S2ki:
And changed the gearknob as the old titanium one was showing its age terribly:
The wheels were then ready for collection, so I picked them up and was over the moon with the amazing job that was completed! : : They then sat in my living room for a few days (which pleased the missus!) whilst they got a couple of coats of Autoglym polish, followed by 3 coats of Poorboys wheel sealant:
I got them wrapped in some lovely Bridgestone RE050 MZ's, then fitted them and went out for a drive. Here follows a big grin from her indoors!
I purchased a tall wind deflector from eBay too, with an inscription to remind me of the car I'm driving when I glance in the mirror. Got that fitted:
The standard centre caps were very badly corroded and didn't match the standard of the wheels, so I set about sorting them out. However, the price of buying new from Honda was crazy, so with some research I decided to make them myself using some aluminium foil tape, a drill, brillo pad, decals and some laquer:
And fitted 
I unfortunately came across a common problem whilst putting the roof back up after a day out 
It appears that the patch that had been there since I bought it got caught on the roof cross beam, which in turn ripped the roof more than it was previously. However, it's currently been repaired using a trusty waterproof patch from the inside, with the split filled with a wetsuit repair glue from the outside. It's lasted 3 months so far, with no leaks what so ever. If it gets worse, I'll book it in with Jack Smith instead!
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tom_simes
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Organiser: South Wales
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Registered: 12th Jan 05
Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate
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Next up, I visited the USA with work, so stocked up on some components from the local Honda dealer in the 3 days I was there. They did well do get all deliveries in on time for me, considering it was the coldest and whitest winter Chigaco had seen in 50 years, down to -14C! This included a cover for the hard top, a timing chin tensioner and a full selection of all adjustable suspension bolts. For £350 all in, it's so much cheaper than the UK!
I booked the car into Powerstation at Tewkesbury upon my return for a full alignment check and adjustment. I requested that all bolts I purchased were fitted, along with a marine grade lubricant to prevent them from seizing in the future. The guys there managed to replace all of the bolts at the front end without too much bother, but unfortunately a couple of rears didn't wanna play ball. It resulted in me needing to get lower wishbone and tiebar bushes fitted, so I went with Powerflex as recommended by the garage. However, it meant leaving the car with them for 2 weeks whilst waiting for the parts... To be fair, they did only charge me for half of the 28 hours labour spent fighting with the old bolts and fitting new!
Luckily, the car came back with a lovely new geometry set up just in time for this pre-planned drive through my old stomping ground of the Black Mountains with my mate in his BMW M135. Turned out to be an epic day 
Those black marks in the last photo were not left by either of us, honest!
I've then spent today giving the car its first decent wash since buying it. It's had a hose and bucket job a few times, but today it got the works - vacuum, wash, de-tar, claybar and polish! I was going to use a sealant, but pretty much ran out of light and patience! However, I did go and take a couple of snaps when I was done:
I then had a little fun with the last pic:
Apologies for the quality of the photos - compressing them to post online has reduced them massively.
Next up is new rear callipers along with rear discs and pads, then a set of DS2500 for the front. Hopefully will be getting the UK exhaust mod too, we'll see!
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flybikeslee
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Registered: 2nd Jan 07
Location: Liverpool
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jacko198
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Registered: 1st Mar 07
Location: Buckinghamshire
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Still want one of these, need to come down in price though!
What year range is it with the cheeper tax?
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Ian
Site Administrator
Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
User status: Online
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Tax cutoff is 23rd March 2006.
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/advice/road-tax-guide/honda/s2000/roadster-1999/22905/
[Edited on 23-06-2014 by Ian]
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flybikeslee
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Registered: 2nd Jan 07
Location: Liverpool
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by jacko198
Still want one of these, need to come down in price though!
What year range is it with the cheeper tax?
your missus won't let you  04/05 is the one to go for 
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tom_simes
Show Staff
Organiser: South Wales
Premium Member
Registered: 12th Jan 05
Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by flybikeslee
04/05 is the one to go for
Yep - earlier than 2004 is pre-facelift, so looks older and has a different suspension geometry. Therefore, it is more twitchy, less easy to press on but is also more uncomfortable than an 04/05 model.
Once you go to 2006 onwards, the tax gets heavy and it gets fitted with a pretty crude version of traction/stability control whic you don't want.
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flybikeslee
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Registered: 2nd Jan 07
Location: Liverpool
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and whatever you do never buy an 09. chocolate engines
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corsadonk
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Registered: 4th Jul 09
Location: Marlborough, Wiltshire
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It looks like some has been having fun on that hairpin.
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tom_simes
Show Staff
Organiser: South Wales
Premium Member
Registered: 12th Jan 05
Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate
User status: Offline
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Late update, but in September I upgraded and replaced the majority of the braking system - fitted new rear callipers as the old ones were partially seized with pistons in the bores. Ordered replacements from brakeparts.co.uk, along with all 4 discs. Then ordered Pagid rear pads, DS2500 front pads, braided lines and ATE super blue fluid from HEL Performance.
I fitted the lot apart from the rear hoses as I couldn't separate the joint on one corner between the copper pipe and rubber hose, so left the standard lines fitted on the back end. Then bled right through and fitted a brake stopper from Tegiwa too.
However, I unfortunately caused problems by fitting new pads - pushing the piston back in to the callipers went past some rusty surfaces that I didn't note whilst doing the work, and this led to the front left seizing whilst driving near Silverstone at Trax last year. I had to gently drive back to Bristol with it like that, and as a result turned the disc blue and cooked my brand new pads
I therefore ordered replacement callipers, discs and pads and got those fitted, with great results and no further problems!
I treated myself to a birthday present and got the UK exhaust mod done at Infinity Exhausts near Bristol - they used 38mm stainless, and I love the sound.
Next up was a trip to see Tom at TGM Sport in November to get a few items done. First up was a full service including checking and adjusting valve clearances and replacement spark plugs. I also got Tom to check the alignment, but it had moved very little since I had it done at Powerstation earlier in the year. I also asked Tom to fit the rear braided lines which the guys managed to do, and rebled them with fresh blue fluid supplied by me. He also removed the clutch delay valve on my request as I found it very annoying, and this also meant fresh fluid throughout the clutch system.
The car did a fair few miles throughout December with various trips to Swindon, south Wales, Lancashire and Yorkshire and performed perfectly throughout.
Then in early January I decided it was time to remove the high-level spoiler as I'd never relly liked it, and preferred the low-level one. I ordered the new spoiler from the seller bmwchop on eBay, which arrived very quickly (5 days!) and was in great condition with a good paint match. I found a replacement bootlid on eBay too from the well known integrastella (who's an awesome chap) and drove to Lincolnshire to collect it in the missus' car on our annual trip to Autosport International:
With the help of my girlfriend I swapped the boots over and fitted the new spoiler, then a few weeks ago took a day out to Cheddar gorge in the S:
I'm now prepping the car for a trip to the Nurburgring and Spa in April/May. Still love my motor!
[Edited on 15-03-2015 by tom_simes]
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