Low weight trumps power for everyday for me. I can take advantage of the handling that low weight improves more often than I can power from a V8.
My wife’s Buick has the biggest motor and the most power of the three we own, it has a whopping 260hp from its 2.0 Turbo. My Abarth and Miata combined might make it 280HP.
Cool little car but I wouldn't want to maintain it.
You have an Abarth?
, that, and driving the "twisties.")
Agreed!
I haven't given it much thought or lost any sleep over it, just gone on with my day.
I feel better with you articulating it though!
S2Ks are cool cars even with a little bit of a love tap. Just lean up against it right there, take new pics, and it's like it never happened.
Good chance to get that supercharger put on it that you should have been meaning to get put on it too.
I had a friend in the car club (S2KCA) that dropped 10s of thousands of dollars into his S2000 & drove it for 20 yrs.
He said after he sold it to a friend & took up another hobby, that if he had to do it all over again, he'd just drive it stock, as God intended.
Gearing to a 4.77 is loosely like taking everything down 1 gear.
I used to do the same thing to the MCs that I had, replacing the front sprocket sprocket with one with 1 less tooth (or was it 2?).
It was like gearing it down 1000 rpms: gained quickness/power & took off the top end, which I didn't care about speed, but just the acceleration.
Stock gearing is the 4:10.
LOL... I own what I consider to be the poster child for "leave it stock" or "it's now a race car". I have a Fox Mustang... From the factory it's a fun car that is what it is, but it's pretty well balanced in terms of durability and capability. It's not that fast, but not that slow, the brakes aren't that good, but not that bad, etc, etc, and the stuff lives a decently long life.
It's when you start effecting the balance that things start going haywire. Add 100hp, start blowing out transmissions. Put it on sticky tires, start ripping the suspension out of the chassis, and on it goes. It's a fine line to walk and I can respect just "stock" being an answer. That's why the only real modification on my Jeep is tires. There's a little more wiggle room on Wranglers to turn this or that "up", but not much. I just don't want to get into all of that with it.
4:10 to 4.77 is a decent jump. I'd have to drive one stock to see what I really felt about it, but in my mind in a car with a normal power band, that sounds like from 3.08s to 3.73s and I'd do that every day and twice on Sundays. So... Count me in the bad influence camp. I mean... It's gonna be in the shop anyhow and you already said you wanted to do it. If it does truly take a full second off the 0-60, then how could you not?
Some only go to a 4.54 (if memory serves), which some say is the way it should have been geared from the factory.
I don't remember anymore if the 4.77 took a second off, maybe a hair more, but it's been too long since I've read such details.
How could I not? If I was younger, it would be more compelling, not as alluring to me now.
Many others have done it & while it is fun for the moment, I'm not that much of a gearhead to get addicted to it.
My normal use for the S2000 was a year-round work car (winter wheels/tires) & never went anywhere much with it, except for drives in the Club once or twice per year.
Outside of getting on the expressway or out on a straight stretch in a paved country road, I had no place to "sport around" in my daily routines.
I worked 2 jobs always, & this car took the place of having a MC & a car for work: my wife seemed to think I might live longer.
I saw others that I knew that had done it, but didn't bother to do it on the 2nd one.
It's a "been there, done that, sort of thing.
I have a close friend (60 yrs. old) who has a 2015 supercharged Vette & my own daughter (40 yrs. old) has a 2015 stock Vette, so I get to have a little fun.
Usually when the crowd talks about gears as how it should have came from the factory, that's a sign for me to drop one notch lower. So... Sounds like I'd be in the 4.77 camp. BUT... I understand where you're coming from. You basically just want the end all be all of a Civic with a drop top, and I can respect that. If you're gonna do the whole daily Honda thing, you picked a monster of a platform for it.
Sounds like I need to start applying pressure to your daughter's Vette next. I just turned 41 and I'd absolutely be looking for a procharger for that thing and it sounds like you know why. Is she also too old for that too?
If she's single enough I'd take a crack at the install for fun just because I want to work on a C7, yet do not desire to lay the cash out for one.
