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I've had a few e-mails back and forth with Eric R as well (who do you think has his extrude honed intake manifold now??? heh heh) and he does know what he is talking about. But, in terms of "is it worth it?" I'd have to say it depends on what your long term goals are.
I don't think you could ever have an all motor, STREETABLE (note: I said streetable), REALLY FAST, 2.0L car. The S2000 is for today's technology pushing the limits (240 hp from 2.0L, and it is shallow on the bottom end) and it is "only" a mid 14 sec car (I've seen them run, that's about what they do stock, most of my friends are faster than an S2000). With a small displacement engine once you get beyond that point the car isn't a streetable car anymore.
Now, if you had TONS of money, and dropped a high revving highly modded 420A in a tube frame drag racing chasis, it could be very fast and could be worth it, but it would become a drag racing only car like all of those "fast all motor hondas." If that's what you want then it is worth it.
I think the problem alot of people have is THEY DON'T SET THEIR GOALS OR PRIORITIES PROPERLY FROM THE OUTSET! What you have to do is know what you've already got in detail (know your engine and car, where improvements can be made and where you should leave things alone), it's potential (easy or hard to make fast? cheap to do or expensive?), and then MOST IMPORTANTLY know where you want to go with it.
You have to know that ANY small 4 cyl non turbo is only going to go so fast while still being streetable (if that's what you care about), and to go faster and still be streetable you need that turbo/supercharger/nitrous. That's why 1st gen DSMs are the wonderful cars they are, they can be bought cheap and modded easily and cheaply to go fast.
But what happens is people buy their cars wanting to run really fast and thinking they'll easily be able to run with Vettes with just a few mods, and it doesn't work like that. It is not an RX-7 or a 1st gen turbo DSM. It also doesn't help if you don't know what you are doing and mod the car the wrong way (like 18 inch heavy rims and tires while drag racing). I think all motor is fine, up to a point. That point is streetability. If it isn't streetable (you can use it as a daily driver) it is useless to me, but each person has to set their own priorities with their car.
I never intended to modify my car, but once I did decide to go with it, I was satisfied with the fact that a good but tough goal would be breaking into the 14's and still be streetable. I'm allright going 14's, I've got alot of years and learning ahead of me to run 12's 11's or whatever with my car later on or with something else. I've got more work to do to get to 14's, but 15.5's is damn good for what I've got on the car. It's all bolt ons, I haven't really done much to it, and the header doesn't help the 1/4 mile. The car is never going to be an all motor "monster" because I don't want it to be. If I get into the 14's with it and it's streetable I'll be happy with it as a non turbo. I have set my priorities with it.
What I'll do after that is either A. Put a turbo kit on it so it will be fast AND STILL STREETABLE, B. Keep it a 14 sec all motor daily driver and mod a turbo DSM (maybe a spyder GS-T, I always wanted a convertable ) or C. Keep it a 14 sec all motor daily driver and buy a Lancer EVO VII (they are coming over here at the end of 2002). But, I've got to finish with the goals I've already set before deciding on one of these three courses of action for the future. The thing is I'm thinking about what to do now so I can make a good choice down the road.
Once I decided to stick with my car in late 1999 I set my goals. My goals with my car are/were:
1. get into 15's (did that last year in 2000, gained alot of drag racing experience and learned alot of hard and valuable lessons in the process) 2. get a trophy at the shootout (did that this year, and I'll get one next year) 3. get the fastest time on the times page for NTs (also did that this year, after learning my lessons from last year) 4. get into 14's <--- That is what I have left to do. It will be the toughest challenge, but it will happen!
So, the point you should take away from this is, THINK LONG TERM. Think YEARS ahead! Yes, I said YEARS ahead into the future when you plan on modding your car. Set those goals and priorities (looks/speed/streetability) and you'll be happy when you achieve them. I've seen some turbo DSM owners thow all sorts of mods on their cars as fast as their checkbook can pay for them and they wern't happy with their 12 second cars because they didn't plan ahead or set any goals. You shouldn't be driven by what other people run for 1/4 mile times, you should plan your mods based on what YOU want to do and what YOU want your goals to be.
"Tutto fa brodo."
Todd Scungio 98 RS 15.173 @ 90.70 MPH
And also a 2011 Ralliart
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