You said you've been having track issues with the supercharger. Can you tell us what's happening? Do you know the cause and have a cost to fix the issue?

 

Get a regular S2000, buy CR seats and buy a CR trunk/wing, suspension

Done

 

It doesn't seem to be making much boost at the track...so far, the likely culprit seems to be a sticky bypass valve, maybe a loose belt. Whatever it is, it's directly correlated w/ being constantly on the gas, as it runs perfect on the street.

I don't expect it will be expensive, mostly an issue of diagnosis. Although it ran great @ the track w/ the S/C all summer, I still have my concerns that the aftercooler isn't efficient enough at removing heat in track-type situations.

Still, I'm leaning towards just sticking w/ what I have, and pulling the S/C if it doesn't get sorted out soon. Boost is a hoot, but I had a blast w/ the car even before the S/C was installed.

 

Go price out those parts (new or used, if you can find them from legit (not hot) sources), and then get back w/ me as to whether you still think it's a good idea.

 

Pretty sure that the consensus (on S2ki) will be : get the CR.


From a reliability standpoint, aftermarket boost and track use often don't seem a great long term mix.


If I was looking for a nice street car: it would be a toss up between the NC and the CR (probably lean toward the NC).

If I was looking for a track car: I would go for the CR.


If I was looking for an autoX car (BS or STR/BSP with mods) I would probably go for the CR.


If I was looking for a race car (NASA H1 or SCCA ITE etc) I would probably go for the CR as a start.

 

The seats go for $1200 (used and optional)
The suspension for $900 (used, but you could buy better aftermarket)
The sways are $200 (new)
The wing with bracing from HTG is ~ $700 (new)
etc

Considering you could buy a used 2006 S2000 and add those parts you will come out below the market value of a CR, which seems to be selling at $26-28k on average.

He stated he wanted the convertible top, and wouldn't enjoy the CR top down. It is the best of both worlds.

 

Seems like a lateral move, at best. From everything I've read on here you put a lot of thought and effort into getting the NC where it is and get a huge amount of enjoyment out of it. I say you stay on that track while you save up for the GT3 you really want. That is a true upgrade, instead of merely being a different version of the same thing.

 

Chris, the problem is that you are contemplating trading one car with mid-grade track competency for a car with another flavor of mid-grade track competency. The two are too similar for any strong opinions to develop.

Here's a thought, for the few thousand dollars that you would spend on switching to the CR, what performance gain could you achieve by putting that into the NC?

I would venture to guess that for a few thousand dollars into your NC that the difference in the performance envelope between the CR and your NC would be such that the CR seems even less attractive.

 

Then again, that couple thousand extra is "invested" and recouped on resale.

 

That sounds really, really easy to troubleshoot. Find a local guy and buy him a beer. Wire up a cheapo temperature gauge to your intake or under your hood.

Do you have a boost gauge to see if you're losing boost or losing power. Two completely different things. The symptoms of a loose belt are completely different. Look for rubber powder on the pulley and try some belt dressing (or a new belt altogether).