I joined recently because I heard that this is one of the best places to receive advice related to this car specifically. I'm not picky when picking between supercharged or turbo'd setups. Ideally I just get the most bang for my buck with the peace of mind that whichever car I pull the trigger on will be reliable with boost. It seems like the f20c/f22c handle power quite well which I'm glad to see but I'd like opinions on a specific car and it's build sheet that I have had my eyes on for a while. The biggest red flag is that the last time the owner ran forced induction, he spun a bearing but he said that he took the car to a new shop and got a lot of work done. I have been advised not to buy though because it's a rule of thumb to not buy other people's builds/he has a lot of money in it and it's suspicious that he would sell it low/ it would be borderline unstreetable. In regards to the advice surrounding it's low price, I'd like to mention that he was never planning on selling it in the first place. I found the car by chance on Facebook and I think it's worth mentioning that he also has a fairly lucrative garage and job (2 or 3 MK4 Supras and a midrange daily driver). The car has a Clean title and 104k miles on the engine before the rebuild. For a hypothetical price of 25k usd would you recommend it?





Motor: s2000 built sheet3000 miles on everything Darton Sleeved Step Decked BlockWesico 10:5:1 armor plated pistons and ringsSkunk2 alpha rods King race bearings New OEM oil pump New OEM oil pump chain and guidesNew OEM timing chain/tensioner/guidesARP Head studsJE PRO SEAL Head gasketResurfaced HeadBlock machined/honedAll OEM seals newCompetition Clutch Stage 5Bullseye 62MM TurboLarge front mount intercool (3”piping)Greddy BOVUpgraded diffPrecision 46MM WastegateGreddy Tear Drop ExhaustCustom coolant runoff ID1300cc injectors Haltech elite 1000AEM AFR gaugeBoost gauge Mugen Slotted 2 Sided CF HardtopCF Trunk LipAP2 LED tail lights and a set of 2000 miles on Buddy Club Coilovers and Truhart camber kit (front and rear)Volk ce28n 17x8.5 with Michelin pilot sport AS/3Volk ray lug nuts

 

No. It has a ton of money and nice parts thrown at it but that's not the point. A highly modified car like that is going to require constant attention and $$$. It will never be reliable like a factory car, no matter who did the work and what parts are used. If you aren't capable of complex diagnostics and repairs, you are going to be paying $$$$$$ for a shop to do labor. You'll need a shop that is both capable and willing to work on this thing. There will probably be some things that are not done correctly and need to be re-done. Things will break.

Idk what you want out of this. You have given us very limited information. If you need a daily driver or something that you expect to work, absolutely not. If spending another $25k on it over the next 2 years would impact your life significantly, it's a bad idea. If you're wanting a fun car that you can learn about cars with, this is jumping into the deep end with lead attached to your feet.

Unless there is a secret past that you have not revealed to us where you have worked as a tech on modified cars or have built something high level, I don't see this ending in anything other than a heart break and $$$. Money can fix any of these material issues but it's going to require significant injections of it along the way and frustrate you deeply. That doesn't mean this is necessarily a bad deal or that the car is bad. There are very few people that should own a car like that and not have it impact their life negatively.

 

BLUF: I'd not touch a randomly supercharged car nor "built" engine with a stick.

Honda hand-built these engines. "Building" one with random aftermarket parts is kinda an oxymoron and rebuilds have dismal reputations for reliability. Add forced induction and you're into everything Jub just mentioned. The LHT supercharged cars seem reliable as they're not boosted to stupid pressures. They start with your low mileage, excellent condition car and your $15,000,

-- Chuck

 

Thank you so much! Your insight made a lot of sense and I really do appreciate it.